Our Disney Wedding, Part 2

Our ceremony was held at Disney’s Wedding Pavilion, a stunning, picture-perfect, Victorian-style chapel on the edge of the Seven Seas Lagoon. Our ceremony would have been several hours before sunset, but thanks to the rain, it was dreamy and candelit inside the pavilion. Just flawless.

Our guests had all arrived, and the scene was set

 

Our procession included “One Hand, One Heart” on cello, “The Swan” (from Carnival of the Animals) also on cello, “Ave Maria” (the Fantasia version), and my bridal march, “Love’s First Kiss” from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

My flower girls scattering their petals

Our Disney Wedding

I’ve kept this blog for about two weeks now, and that’s as long as I can possibly go without talking about our wedding.

We were married on October 8, 2011 in Walt Disney World. People have tons of misconceptions about Disney World weddings. It’s hard to describe them in one sentence. The most concise way to put it is this: Disney can do pretty much anything you want. They have dozens of venues and will accomodate any number of requests. The only thing that’s similar throughout all Disney weddings is that they are magnificent. I had dreamed of a Disney wedding for years, so for me it was a natural choice. Brandon was sold once he heard that Disney serves as ALL of your vendors– you don’t have to find a florist or baker or photographer, etc. It’s one stop shopping.

So after a year and a half of planning, we packed up and met our dearest friends and family at the House of Mouse. It was the most fabulous weekend ever.

Where We’re From

Brandon and I are from very different places. In terms of climate, culture, history, demographics, politics, religion… they really have nothing in common. I will certainly have the chance to do posts on our visits to both places in the future.

For now, Brandon is from here:

Pizi Poo

Stella, from my last post, is one half of our Pomeranian population.

The second half is Pizana Rose Bullard Huffman Mercury.

Our Pizi (pronounced like the letters P-Z). My heart.

Pizi and Stella are real sisters, from the same litter. Although I went to Alabama that day to get Stella, I came home with Pizi, too. I picked Stella, Pizi picked me. Where Stella was shy and scared, Pizi was all over me. On my shoulders, my head, down my back, in my lap. She said, “I’m going to go home with you, and you’re going to be my mom, ok?” I hadn’t planned it, but it was obvious in that moment that Pizi was mine. My godmom Pam drove with me to get the puppies. On the way back, Pizi rode in Pam’s hand (Pizi was 2.1 lbs) and watched EVERY single car that passed us.

Pizi is my adventurous girl

CAR RIDE!

Next Up… Stella

Oh my Stella.

My Stella Catherine Elizabeth Middleton Bullard Huffman Fiennes.

I started looking for puppies after my first year of college. I had always grown up with animals and life just wasn’t right without them. I needed something small to fit in my college condo, and I settled on Pomeranians after seeing one in the Westminster dog show. Stella was one of a litter of four, born in Birmingham AL, to a family that owned her mom & dad. I emailed them for pictures, and agreed to take her from those pictures alone. In person, she was shy and quiet.

Fast forward to today, where she is my ultra-sassy, very yippy, fancy-pants, high maintenance baby. Mommy’s perfect angel baby. She is beautiful and she knows it. She was named after A Streetcar Named Desire, but if I could name her again, she would be Sassyfras. She has more personality than you’ve even seen squeaked into one dog. If we’re not doing what she wants, you better believe she lets us know.

She does actually think she’s a human baby.

If you only knew how much she loves it

Meet Darcy

We have three girls, and they are the most spoiled dogs you’ve ever seen. They sleep on the bed, sit on the couch, and always drink my cereal milk. We narrate for them and dote on them constantly.

Here they are asking (demanding) to share my mom’s snack

So let’s start with Darcy

Darcy is our most passive and even-tempered dog. She is gentle and sweet. She adores other dogs, especially big ones.

Darcy’s start as a Huffman was not a smooth one. Brandon adopted her from a Columbus OH pound when he started law school. (We think she was about one year old.) The pound told Brandon she was voluntarily surrendered by her first family. Our poor baby was so nervous at this strange man putting her in his car, she had lots (and lots) of diarrhea all over his backseat. Then, when Brandon brought her to NC to meet me and the poms two weeks later, she ate a pair of high heels that I had bought that day. THAT DAY. They had never been worn. It was also several weeks until Darcy would accept affection.

A Little Backstory…

I figured our story would be a good place to start. Most of you know this already, but it’s a fun excuse to dig through my old pictures.

So without further ado…

“The Story of the Huffmans”

or, “Oh My Gawd We Sure Have Moved Around A Lot”

We met at our alma mater, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I suspected it at the time, but I can now confirm that Chapel Hill is the best place on earth. It’s naturally gorgeous, especially in the fall

It also has the best basketball team ever (yeah, yeah, unless you went to UCLA or Kentucky, keep walking)

Welcome!

Hello! Welcome to our family blog. We’re the Huffmans– Brandon, Michelle, Darcy, Pizi & Stella.

Brandon & Michelle

Brandon is a lawyer, Cleveland native, Tar Heel, politico, amateur photographer, mediocre gambler.

And I’m Michelle– writer, Disney fanatic, Tar Heel, Southern Belle, amateur chef, hippie, fashion devotee.

Our girls, plus their spaniel cousin Bella

I decided to start this blog so our family and friends can keep up with our goings-on (although I suspect that Pam will be 90% of the visits). I will always be the writer, but most of the pictures will come from Brandon, since he’s our in-house photographer.

Thanks for stopping by!