Hello readers!  After two weeks away from the blog, I thought it was about time for me to write a little something about the wedding.  That’s right- I’m married now.  After ten months of waiting, the big day has come and gone.  After all the anticipation, the many festivities surrounding our wedding day have ended.  Our families have returned to their homes.  Our friends have gone back to their regular lives.  We’ve been all the way to Florida and back.  And now that all the craziness has come to end, Andrew and I can finally sit back and take in the fact that we’re actually married.  Married.

As you can imagine from a blogger who was only very recently a blushing bride (and hasn’t even looked through all her wedding photos yet), I’ll be spending the next few weeks reflecting on our wedding, marriage, and our honeymoon.  Since I know who my readers are, I figure I’ll start backwards with the honeymoon.  It’s the freshest in my mind after all.

Several months ago, Andrew and I had a very difficult decision to make.  Since this was probably going to be our only opportunity to go on a nice trip for a while, where were we going for our honeymoon?  The possibilities seemed endless: Aruba, Jamaica, Ireland, Italy, Hawaii, California.  We could go somewhere sunny and warm, and while away the hours lounging on the beach and reading.  Or we could go to a bustling city where our hours could be spent sight-seeing.  But in the end, the decision came easily: Disney World.  I was a Disney princess in the flesh (in my own eyes), and Andrew had always loved Disney.  It was a match made in heaven, just like Andrew and I were.

Fast-forward half a year, and we found ourselves on a plane, married for just over a day, and flying to Orlando International Airport.  We were both giddy with excitement, mixed with some butterflies brought on by the anticipation of flying (at least on my part).  I was definitely looking forward to a week in Disney World, away from the stress of work and pre-wedding life.  It was just going to be me and Andrew, enjoying each other’s company and the many perks offered by Disney.  I couldn’t have been more excited as we entered the hotel room that was going to be our home for the next week.

To be honest, I’m not exactly sure what I had in mind when I decided honeymooning in Disney would be a good idea ( don’t worry- it was).  Some of my friends had just gone there on their honeymoons, so it seemed like the perfect destination for us.  Plus, I had absolutely loved Disney World the last time I had vacationed there, and I was eager to do it again.  Andrew and I had painstakingly made all the dining reservations and FastPass arrangements.  We had done all the research, planning out every activity we could until there was nothing left to pre-arrange.  I had even woken up at 6AM while on Thanksgiving vacation to make sure that we got our reservations at Beauty and the Beast’s “Be Our Guest” restaurant (it was totally worth it).  All of the preparations had gotten us very excited, and we were eager to take Disney World by storm.

The first few days of our honeymoon were absolutely heavenly.  We woke up early, spent our days in the different parks, and dined at some of the best restaurants that Disney had to offer.  We stayed out late to take advantage of the night-time activities, and often we didn’t return to our hotel room until after midnight.  But we were young, and newly married, and I incorrectly assumed that I could function like the Energizer Bunny: just keep going, just keep going.  Eventually I remembered that I do not run on battery and I was running out of steam.

It began with a slight tickle in the throat, the sensation that my feet were getting steadily heavier as the night wore on.  Whereas just hours before, I had felt fine, suddenly I felt like I just needed to go back to the hotel room and sleep for a day or so.  But this was our honeymoon, and I wasn’t going to cave to a cold.

And so every morning, I got myself out of bed and out into the parks.  I refused to let my cold get in the way of my honeymoon fun, even if it involved dragging myself from park to park to take advantage of all our FastPasses and dining reservations.  During our entire honeymoon, there was only one night that I let myself just be sick and go home right after dinner was over.  That night I slept nine hours and woke up the next morning feeling much better (though not well).

By the time we boarded our plane on Sunday, I seemed to be over the worst of the illness and had reached some key conclusions about honeymooning in Disney.  In some ways, it seems like one of the best options for a honeymoon destination: it’s in sunny Florida, everything is pre-paid and pre-planned so you don’t have to stress about where you’re going to eat or how you’re going to pay for everything, and of course Disney cast members, as the employees are called, take incredibly good care of you.

In my opinion, Disney was the perfect honeymoon destination for us, but in light of the desire for rest that came about as a result of my cold, I could appreciate something that had not occurred to me about Disney until just then.  If you’re looking for a restful honeymoon filled with hours lounging by the pool and relaxing, Disney probably isn’t the place for you.  As I fought off my cold, there were moments where I wanted nothing more than to just stay at the hotel and lounge by the pool all afternoon.  But then I would remember where I was.  I was in Disney.  Not in Wildwood.  Not in Hawaii.  Not in Jamaica.  I was in Disney.  If I had wanted a honeymoon filled with sleepy mornings and restful afternoons, Andrew and I could have opted to go to an island.  But we didn’t.  We decided to go to Disney because it’s the place where dreams come true and the vacation of my dreams.

So do I regret Disney now that I’m back in Maryland?  Do I wish that I had opted for a more restful honeymoon destination after the exhaustion of Florida?  Not in the least.  Disney World was the perfect vacation spot for Andrew and me, and it was also the perfect honeymoon.  If we had wanted to spend our time at the beach, we would have chosen to go to Jamaica.  But we wanted to go to Disney.  I wanted to go to the place where all girls are princesses and all boys are knights in shining armor.  Because after years of searching for him, this princess finally found her knight, her Prince Charming, and I couldn’t be happier.

Mary Help of Christians, pray for us!