All my dreams are coming true... I'm going to say "I DO"!
So this post is a wee bit late… almost three months late… But I have some exciting news in my life! I am engaged! I literally feel like I am living in a fairytale and am so over the moon that I will be spending the rest of my life with Matt, my partner and best friend.
Matt came to visit me in Orlando for the second time the first week of April. I hadn't seen him since I had gone home in January so we were very excited to see each other. He arrived on Saturday evening, and I was waiting for him at the hotel when he got off the magical express. Words can't describe how amazing it is to see your loved one after not seeing them for an extended period of time. We stayed at Coronado Springs this time, and it's actually quite nice! It's a moderate resort, and located a little bit farther out on Disney property, but we were fortunate to get a preferred room close to the lobby and the bus stops so it was easy to venture around the hotel and out to the parks.
After getting settled and grabbing some food to eat at Disney Springs that evening, we climbed into bed early because the next day we had plans to tackle Magic Kingdom. Matt had specifically requested to go to Magic Kingdom this day, so I had a feeling he was up to something. The plan was that we would sleep in a bit, then we would go to the Grand Floridian Cafe for lunch (vanilla bean French toast yum) before heading off to MK for the rest of the day until fireworks.
On Sunday, April 9th, we left the hotel a little bit early to do some exploring around the Magic Kingdom resorts. We took the monorail around, then decided to get off at the Polynesian resort to walk to the Grand Floridian. Matt had only ever seen these resorts from afar on the monorail so I was excited to show him some of the more beautiful parts of Disney. The walk from the Poly to the Grand Flo is absolutely gorgeous and I would recommend it to anyone who wants a peaceful or romantic stroll away from the hustle and bustle of Disney life. While on our walk, we came across the Grand Floridian wedding pavilion, which Matt is familiar with from the annoying snapchats I have sent him in the past, claiming that that is where we are to be married (lol). As we walked by, Matt asked if we could check it out and I obviously said yes.
Around the backside of the wedding pavilion is what’s called “picture point”. It's a beautiful archway on the water's edge, and in the distance through the archway you can see Cinderella’s castle. It is so peaceful and private here, and I loved sharing this place with Matt. It was here, in this moment that Matt decided to pop the question. Matt wrapped me up into his arms for a hug, and I could feel his heart pounding, and he told me how much he loved me. Next thing I knew, he was down on one knee, ring in hand, saying something that I didn't hear because I had basically gone into shock. I had to ask him to repeat himself! (Good job Steph lol) But once I fully heard and understood what he was asking, I of course said yes. I loved that Matt did it at the wedding pavilion because it was private (besides for a boatload of people sailing by, they cheered for us when I said yes!) but it still had a gorgeous view of my happy place. It was my perfect Cinderella Castle proposal!
After the proposal came the phone calls! We wanted to share with all of our closest family and friends the news of our engagement as soon as possible. We had some time before our lunch reservation so we took the time to call my parents and his parents, as well as our closest friends. Throughout lunch, the calls continued, to our grandparents, aunts and uncles, and so on. By about 7pm that evening we posted about the exciting news on Facebook so everyone knew about it.
The rest of the week was a whirlwind, but filled with so much love and good times. I was really lucky because I didn't have to work at all this time that Matt visited, so this was a bonus since we got to spend the entire week together. Prior to our engagement, I had also acquired some “Just Engaged” celebration buttons so I was prepared when he popped the big question (we had a good laugh when I pulled out the buttons and a permanent marker from my purse just moments after), and proudly wore them around the parks for the week.
The only kind of sucky thing about this vacation was that it was during spring break season, so the parks were pretty busy. Overall we did one day at MK, one day at Hollywood, a day at Epcot and a day at Universal. Matt had never been to Universal before, so he was super excited to check out the big rides they had there. We went with Darien and Eileen, and after an almost meltdown by me at the beginning of the day due to insane lines, it ended up being a pretty awesome day. Lines were crazy stupid long, but we made the best of it by doing single rider for most attractions.
On our Epcot day, I also took Matt to eat at Le Cellier! I wanted to share with him the place where I worked, so I made us an early evening reservation so that we could eat then use the rest of the day to explore the world showcase. We were so spoiled, I couldn't believe it. We were super lucky because Darien was working and ended up being our server. Even though she claims to “hate serving friends”, I was really happy to have her serve us and in the end she claimed that it “wasn’t so bad”. We ate like absolute kings. Champagne, poutine, filet mignon, kissing moose... we had it all! Then when it came time to pay we were surprised by my besties who decided to take care of the bill for us. As I said, we were so so spoiled and I am so blessed to have a home in the Canada pavilion with such great friends!
On Matts last night, I surprised him with a stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge, in a club level one bedroom villa. It was a treat for both of us because I hadn't stayed there either. And how can you go wrong with Club level?! Our last day was mostly spent relaxing. We went to Boma for breakfast which is absolutely AMAZING. They have these LITTY seasoned tater tots which I’m all about so I was basically in heaven. Then we took time to explore the resort and see the animals while we waited for our room to be ready. The room was STUNNING and absolutely massive and totally extra. It was way more than we needed but hey, we just got engaged and were celebrating so why not? It also had a massive balcony with gorgeous views of the Savannah where we could watch the sunset that evening. That evening, we also decided to join the Canada crew in going to Cowboys! Matt had heard all about Cowboys from my weekly adventures there so he was anxious to check it out and we had an absolutely blast (at least from what we remember lol).
The next morning we slept in until the last possible moment, then laid by the pool until it was time for Matt to get picked up by the magical express. As we laid by the pool we dreamt about our future together, our wedding, where we would live, and what our lives would be like after marriage. It was really nice just being about to spend some quiet one on one time together before he had to leave for Canada. This goodbye was one of the hardest. We had just gotten engaged and all we wanted to do was spend time with each other! But he left knowing that I would be home again to visit sometime before my contract was up, hopefully in May, so it would only be a month or so before we were reunited again.
Anyways, now it's almost three months later and being apart while engaged has been quite hard. I did end up going home in May so it was awesome to see Matt and our families. We have started some minor wedding planning, such as scoping out venues, but we are going to leave the major planning until we are reunited. At this point we are really counting down the days until I am home! I am missing him and home so much but I am also trying to enjoy my last few months here in Orlando!
As always, I apologize for the lack of blog posts. So much has happened since I last wrote and I am going to try to catch up as soon as I can! Thanks for reading! Until next time xoxo
