Wedding Play-byPlay

A very good friend of mine made a nice post detailing the wedding on her blog “Med Obsession.” If you weren’t able to attend, or were and just want to reminisce, you should take a look. The post is titled “A Beautiful Wedding.”

In the post she comments on a slide show that was played in the background during the reception. You can find it below. (As always, the flash player quality sucks but has the best chance of being compatible with whatever computer and browser readers happen to be using. The slide show is 12 minutes long. I’ve been having some problems with, so please let me know if they haven’t all been resolved)

Photo Roll Out

Pictures of our nephew’s 3rd birthday party have been posted to my flickr account. It was a few days before the wedding, but with everything going on, we didn’t have a chance to post about it.

I am going to try and post pictures from the rehearsal dinner, wedding ceremony and departure breakfast tomorrow, Wednesday at the latest. Honeymoon photos will go up the day after that. There should be a few videos going up this week, but they will require some editing and I have few things that need get done for the lab before getting to that.

As always, a link to my flickr account can be found in the right hand sidebar.

Reentry

We’re back! Turks & Caicos may be the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen and to spend a week there with my new wife was simply amazing. 50 years from now I will still be reflecting upon the memories we created these past two weeks.

I was supposed to make a post on Friday detailing our day, but relaxing and doing nothing got in the way. We spent all day at the beach Friday. We floated around on a few water toys, did a little snorkeling and reclined under our own canopy. The highlight, for me anyway, was sailing a hobiecat “wave,” a 13 foot catarmaran. (Apparently it doesn’t matter if you don’t already know how to sail, only that you can sign a wavier form.) We tried for the third evening to catch a sun set and the “green flash” Kyllan told you about, only to miss it due to cloud cover again. There was also a wedding that evening. It took place at the spa (you’ll understand after you see the pictures) and later they took photos on the beach. Even with the cloud cover, the sky was beautiful. Unfortunately for the couple, their photographer did not take a single photo into the setting sun. I snapped off a couple from my lounge chair on the boardwalk though. Friday night we ate at Grace’s Cottage, which is apparently one of the nicest restaurants on the island. Afterwards we walked about a quarter of a mile along the beach back to our resort and took a quick dip in the hot tub.

We left the resort at noon Saturday. We didn’t do very much before leaving, besides try to take in just how breathtaking the entire week had been. It’s Sunday morning now and we are trying to catch up on what happened in the real world while we were gone. There are over 650 photos on my camera, after deleting the unwanteds and duplicates. My Uncle Sam also gave me over 200 photos he took of the rehearsal dinner, wedding and breakfast, each. Oh, and we never posted about my nephew’s 3rd birthday and party on the 3rd. I have 200 photos of that. We simply can’t post all of those photos, but don’t worry, in the next 24 to 48 hours we will decided which ones are going up on flickr and make a post. (That gives me enough time to air brush on some abs!)

What magazines are made for

Today William and I discovered what magazines were made for. We spent all morning laying by the pool reading magazines and it was absolutely great. We were able to get outside early enough to snag a “pod” (the pictures will explain the popularity, but they are basically round lounge beds that are great for relaxing. After lunch we returned the scooter and were glad there were no mishaps with that. We also took the time to stop for souvenirs. We attempted to catch a sunset, and did except for the final part. The clouds kept us from seeing the final moments and the “green flash” that you see just as the sun sets, so hopefully it will be free of clouds and haze tomorrow. For dinner, we ate at Parallel 23, the resort’s restaurant, and celebrated 5 years since our first date. Tomorrow(Friday) we plan to relax by the pool and the beach again. There is also a wedding here, so we will probably watch at least a little bit of it.

5 years

So, apparently there were a lot of people that did not know why we chose September for our wedding. We went on our first date September 13, 2002, five years ago today…

(Speaking of wedding, ours was an incredible experience that has continued right into the honeymoon. Kyllan and I will be doing a wedding reflections post shortly after we return from our honeymoon, so I will save the rest of my comments for then.)

To celebrate five years together, the two of us will be spending the entire morning and afternoon by the pool. This evening we will be eating at The 23rd Parallel, a very nice restaurant at our hotel. After an afternoon of exploring the island by scooter, I am very excited about another day of doing nothing. Kyllan and I managed to only almost kill ourselves 3 times. Once when Kyllan, who was sitting behind me, grabbed the handle bars while I was accelerating from a full stop and twice in a round-a-bout. (They drive on the left hand side of the road in TCI.)

We are having a great time and I can’t wait to share all of the pictures; Only 301 from the honeymoon so far.

A little piece of Heaven

Surprise, Suprise!!! We decided to bring the laptop and we are having such an amazing time that we thought it was a necessity to share out first few hours with everyone. Don’t worry… we didn’t bring the computer to do work, we brought it to use as a resource to find info on Turks and Caicos (they have a lot of good sites about restaurants, sites to visits, and other good info online), and to download pictures, update the blog, etc…

Well, the trip got off to a rough start, but less than 24 hours later, we have forgotten completely about that part of our honeymoon experience.  However, I will share anyway. We arrived at the airport at about 5:45am Monday morning for our 7am flight. The flight was on time and although storm clouds were rolling in, we boarded and taxied to the tarmac ready to head to Miami. Unfortunately the tarmac is where we spent the next 2 hours since we did not get in the air before the storms began. We finally took off and made it to Miami only 10 minutes before our next flight was supposed to depart, so we were hopeful that it would be delayed or they could wait for us, but….. we arrived at a gate that required us to be “tugged” into the gate and before we could make it, the tug broke. We then sat on the plane for an additional 40 minutes before making it off the plane just after 1pm (in just enough time to allow the honeymoon couples going to Cozumel, Mexico to make their connection). Our connecting flight to Turks and Caicos was scheduled to depart at 12:35pm and had departed without us. We were told we were re-booked on the next flight that was scheduled to depart at 7:20pm…6 1/2 hours later! We tried to negotiate at least being given a day pass to the AA Admirals Club (as well as another couple that missed their flight), but that request was quickly denied by the airline reps (long story.. William has already typed a letter to American Airlines during our 6 1/2 hr layover using the little battery that was left in the laptop since the Miami airport has no working electrical outlets to plug in cell phones or computers. That’s not an exaggeration…. that went in the letter also). After another small delay on our second flight, we were underway to Turks and Caicos and arrived just after 9pm. We made it through customs with no problems and our luggage was the first out.

Here is where the real honeymoon story begins. We were taken by taxi to our resort, the Regent Palms, and were greeted by front desk staff with cold towels and punch in their open air lobby. While we drank our punch, one of the front desk associates gave us some general info about the resort and then gave us a brief tour (it was dark, but we were able to get an idea of where we were). Our suite is absolutely incredible. We have 1,500 sq feet of space complete with a full living room, dining room, kitchen (with Viking appliances, sub zero fridge, pots, pans, dishes, and silverware), bedroom, 1 1/2 baths and a balcony with a day bed. We even have a laundry room with complimentary detergent.

When we woke up this morning, we were like kids on Christmas morning as we went into the living room and see what the view would be like out our window and it was simply breathtaking. We started off the morning with buffet breakfast at the resort that had a good selection on cereals, yogurt, fruit, breads, cold cuts, eggs, grits, potatoes, bacon and sausage. We then explored the amenities the resort had to offer (gift shop, boutique, swimwear boutique, and convenience store). We also confirmed our couples massage for tomorrow (really looking forward to this!). Then, it was off to the pool for a little relaxing. I would just like to make sure you know that William and I have discovered a new definition for relaxation. He told me I ruined his old feeling that tv and video games are what you do to relax. He had no idea that sitting by the pool for almost 5 hours could be so much fun. I have to admit that I did not know that either. We found a couple of really comfy lounge chairs with an umbrella, so we just chilled there all afternoon reading magazines and mixed it with a couple dips in the pool, a dip in the ocean, and a bite to eat at the swim up pool bar. The pool staff frequently brought around cold towels and frozen fruit to keep everyone cool (the weather is hot and humid). Towards the afternoon, it started to get a bit crowded around the pool, so we came back inside to relax. In the morning, there were only about 10 or so people around the pool (September in Turks and Caicos is apparently the hottest month and the slowest month). In the afternoon, there were some people who came in for a wedding this weekend, so it may be a bit more crowded than we would have liked, but there is no doubt in our minds that this will be a truly unforgettable experience. For dinner, we decided to venture out from the resort and tried a restaurant suggested by the concierge. We enjoyed our meal and the service was excellent. We even brought back leftovers since we have a full kitchen. At this moment, we are just relaxing in the living room and excited about our couples massage tomorrow.

Well… that covers the highlights on Day 1. William will try to post pictures soon.

We’re Married!!!

We are now officially Mr. & Mrs. and we could not be more excited!!!! The weekend festivities were absolutely beautiful and way beyond our expectations. We were completely overwhelmed with the love we were shown by everyone and the way things turned out. I hope that those who came had as wonderful a time as we did. For those not able to make it, we know we were in your thoughts and prayers and appreciate that also. We hope to have a link to pictures from the wedding when we return from our Honeymoon, but for now… we are off and we’ll catch back up on our blogging in a week (we will be sure to post pics from the honeymoon on Flickr when we return).

1 week to go!

It has definitely not sunk in yet that we are only 1 week away.  After 18 months of planning, September is finally here!  My mother and grandmother are arriving in town today, my dad and William are arriving in town tomorrow and William’s parents on Wednesday, so I am sure it will start to sink in a little more as family and friends arrive in town.  Everything seems to be falling in place very nicely, so hopefully this week I can just relax and prepare for a day William and I will never forget.  There is a hurricane in the  Atlantic, but it is far far south, so it shouldn’t affect us here in the States.  For those of you traveling in for the celebration, I pray you have a safe trip and look forward to seeing you next weekend!

Honeymoon!

 

William pointed out to me that I had not talked about the honeymoon on the blog and suggested I share where we are going, especially since some people have never even heard of this destination. Bright and early on the Monday after the wedding, William and I will be flying to the Turks and Caicos Islands for a week, which are a group of islands in the Caribbean southeast of the Bahamas and north of the Dominican Republic (map). We researched several locations (mostly in the Caribbean), but I really wanted to go somewhere neither of us had been to before and we could really relax on the beach and enjoy the first week of being married. It is not as well known as many of the other islands, but has become a popular destination for several celebs, such as Eva Longoria and Tony Parker who honeymooned there last month.

We will be staying in the island of Providenciales (Provo) at the Regent Palms in a 1,500 square foot 1 bedroom suite complete with living room, dining room, full kitchen and 1 ½ baths, so we will truly be spoiled!!

We really have nothing planned at this moment besides a couples massage and a snorkeling excursion. We plan to just enjoy being with each other and truly relax since the past few weeks of work have been really busy for both of us and so will the next couple of weeks.  So… we are praying the the hurricanes stay away for the next few weeks so our plans do not get interrupted although it seems hurricanes like to follow William and I, so hopefully this will be the exception!  We will definitely share pictures with everyone!!