Well, let me first start off by saying that I am a married woman! After 14 years of knowing the love of my life I can officially say that we are both so happy start the beginning of our life together.
Secondly, I am so sorry it has taken me two weeks to post anything. You will understand why during my post.
Third, thank you so much to everyone on this board. All of your love and support and help has been very much appreciated!
Okay, now to my post.......
My DH and I (Wow, it is so great to use those 2 words) drove down to Fort Lauderdale a week before the wedding and were thankfully able to spend some quality time with both of our family's before the wedding/ cruise. I had gotten everything done for the wedding a few weeks prior (I am not a procrastinator... LOL) so we were able to just relax and enjoy every moment of the day that entire week.
The night before the wedding we had an amazing rehearsal dinner at my grandfathers steak house in Fort Lauderdale. Since we were on a pretty tight budget we only had the bridal part attend. We chose a pre planned menu and everyone was really happy with it. We also had our own private area just for the 20 of us who were there so we were able to do a quick run though of the ceremony. We did a quick gift exchange to all of our bridal party and parents and that was it.
I wanted to get to sleep pretty early so I did not want to have any sort of bachelorrette party. I went straight home to my fathers house with my 2 sisters and we watched the wedding singer. My DH went to his parents house.
I woke up at 5:30 am on my wedding day for hair and makeup. Darcy, did a wonderful job. I did not have a trial run so I was a tad bit nervous but everything came out picture prefect. She also did my sisters hair.
My father, 2 sisters and I got in my fathers car at 9:00 to head over to the Port of Miami. Traffic was pretty rough but we got there a few minutes before we were told to. The Port of Miami had a blinking banner that said Congrats Jacqueline & Xavier that was displayed... Everyone who drove into the port could see it. It was a great touch...My father dropped us off at the curb so we did not have to get too sweaty walking from the parking lot. I did see at least 20 of our guests standing outside chatting but it was slightly raining so I darted right inside into the a/c. Because we were at port before the cruising people going through customs was a total breeze. It took maybe 2 minutes. As soon as I headed up the escalator there was a wedding coordinator there waiting for me and she immediately pulled me off to the side in the room where all of my guests were waiting to start going through the minute by minute activities for the day. I handed her everything that she needed for the ceremony and reception. I was a little bummbed out because I really thought I would get a chance to talk and mingle with all of our guests in this room while everyone was arriving but I did not have a chance to. Bummer....Within 30 minutes they made an announcement to enter the cruise ship for wedding guests only. The wedding guests are able to enter 1st followed by the VIP guests. As soon as we got onto the ship the bridal party did a quick walk-through of the ceremony then after, I went immediately to my stateroom to relax and unwind and put on my dress. We had about an hour wait for the ceremony to begin.
My best friend came in a few minutes later with some food from the buffet. Some fresh fruit and veggies.
It was soon time to get dressed, so I quickly put the wedding dress on as the photographer knocked on the door for some pre wedding pictures. Let me say this was the most scary for me. I really shy away from photos but he did an amazing job!
A few minutes later the coordinator came knocking on my door to walk me down to the Palladium (we were getting married on the big stage where they have the nightly shows).
I was not nervous at all, completely calm. That was until the bridal party started walking. Then the tears did not stop coming. I was a whole wreck the whole time. The bridal party walked down to This Years Love by David Grey. And I walked down to Big & Rich- Lost in this Moment. The ceremony flew by. I do not really remember a thing. So sorry.
Immediately after, the photographer took some quick photos and whisked our guests to the reception (It was a night club). A few minutes after, we had our entrance (Sugarland- Stuck Like Glue), immediately had our first dance (Wedding Singer- Grow Old with You), Father Daughter dance (Natalie Merchant- Kind and Generous) Mother/ Son Dance?? and Cake Cutting (Def Leopard- Pour Some Sugar on Me). Then, we had time to mingle.
everything was amazing.
Before we knew it, it was over. Our 42 non-sailing guests were asked to leave the ship and our 42 sailing guests were able to do whatever they wanted.
My DH and I took about an hour more of pictures after the reception.
At dinner that night we gave our oot bags out and I said a thank you speech which made everyone cry. Everything was perfect.
The second day we went to Key West, third day we went to Cozumel, fourth day Fun Day at Sea and fifth day we were back in port in Miami.
We stayed in Ft. Lauderdale one more day to relax and drove home to Orlando the following day.
Then...... I fell apart. The one whole year of planning was over and I was a wreck. Please do not get me wrong, I am so incredibly happy to be married to the love of my life!
For a week straight I cried. And cried. And cried. I was emotionally done. I did not want it to be over... AT ALL!!!!!! I was really dreading coming back on the knot and giving you my recap because I knew, this would be that last of it. Once I wrote this last post there was no more wedding planning to look forward to anymore. It was all over. As I am sitting here writing this I am still very emotional and I am shaking. I really, really hope this does not happen to any of you.
Let me end by saying this, I would not change a thing. I would do the destination wedding all over again. I was able to pretty much have a 5 day long wedding. Filled with love from all of our family and friends.... If you are thinking about having a destination wedding... DO IT!
Here is a link to our pictures
http://jacquelinexavier.shutterfly.com