Today’s real wedding story features a sweet couple who met while she was working as a flight attendant and he was traveling home on her plane– Jenn and Mike turned a storybook romance into a fairytale wedding on the sandy beach terrace of the WDW Swan and Dolphin in July 2011. Our thanks to the happy couple for sharing their story and to photographer Ginger Midgett for the gorgeous photos.

Susan: Tell us about the proposal.
Jenn: The day that Mike chooses to propose to me started out to be “the worst day of my life”. Mike was out on a trip and I was having car issues that just had me really upset. By the time that Mike had landed and was really excited to go spend the day with me and propose, I was just content staying in bed all day sulking about my car. He called me and told me to get ready and we were going to go to the park for a walk. I really did not want to go but after realizing I was not going to get out of going to the park, I relented and went along. We had a nice little stroll around the park and decided to sit on a bench by the water and a little bridge. In the past Mike had written me a little “fairy tale books” about a princess who was looking for her prince, I had always asked him when I was going to get the next chapter of my book. Well that day was my lucky day! After we had sat on the bench for a bit, he asked if I wanted my last birthday present. So he pulls out another book, it was the sequel to my story. In this story is told about how the princess had moved to another land and the prince couldn’t live without her… In the end of the book the prince took the princess to a park and as they were sitting in a bench beside the water and a little bridge he asked the princess to be his wife so they could live happily ever after. Well when I got to that point in the story is when Mike pulled out my ring and proposed. So, needless to say the “worst day of my life” turned out to be one of the best days of my life.

Susan: Why did you choose your particular wedding location?
Jenn: We choose the Swan because it was a good mixture of the beach location that I was wanting and the Disney wedding that Mike was wanting.

Susan: What was the most memorable part of the day for you and your spouse?
Jenn: Our most memorable part of the day was when we first got to see each other! We got to do our first sighting by a little fountain in the garden. The look on his face when he turned around was a perfect!

Susan: Were there any particular elements of your wedding day that you considered unique or personal touches?
Jenn: The only unique part of our wedding is that we had the traditional wedding cake but we also had a plate of Oreo cookies. Mike’s nephew has a food allergy that made it so he couldn’t have any of the wedding cake. We had a plate of cookies out for him to have instead of the cake.

Susan: Based off of your experience, would you share some advice for other brides and grooms who may still be planning their weddings?
Jenn: Our biggest advice is to stay calm and just roll with what happens. Don’t stress over little details that aren’t going to be a big deal. A few days before our wedding we got an email that said the Swan was overbooked on the day of our wedding, so we just adjusted our plans for my hair and makeup to be done at our hotel room instead. Then the day before we received another message that one opened up and we were back on schedule to get ready at the Swan. I didn’t stress about the change in plans. It wasn’t going to affect any part of the wedding and it wasn’t anything to stress over. So just relax and don’t sweat the small stuff!!

Thanks again to Jennifer and Michael for sharing their gorgeous wedding with us! Do you have a real wedding story to share? Contact us if you’re interested; you could be the next couple featured!

If you have questions on this or any other wedding related topic, please post for me here on the wedding blog or send me an email to susan(dot)southerland(at)pwg.com. Also become a fan on Facebook (search: Susan Southerland Secret) or follow me on Twitter (@Susansoutherlan).

Your partner in perfect planning,
Susan