It took me two weeks to get to it but here it is: My Good/Bad/ugly of my april 22nd wedding in the Bahamas. I like to end things on a high note, so I'm starting with the Ugly.
Nothing was truly ugly in the day, but if I had to pick something...
UGLY: Our minister was truly UGLY. Obviously, not his appearance but his peformance was ugly. Despite sending over the ceremony WEEKS in advance, the minister clearly looked at it for the first time as he was performing the ceremony. He was reading things outloud that obviously didn't need to be read and using run-on sentences. For example, he read the titels of each section outloud like "Ring Exchange," "giving away of the parents,", etc. Obviously, there is no need to read the subtitles outloud. It was just there for organizational purposes. I was so upset about the minister's performance. He was truly a let down.
BAD: I was bit disappointed with the weather. There was a rain forecast up to the two hours before the ceremony so we had to have the ceremony in this public terrace overlooking the pool instead of the private garden we wanted. Of course, it didn't rain once during the ENTIRE ceremony so we had a public wedding for no reason at all. Though, they had good intentions I wasn't too thrilled with the poolside folks cheering us on during the wedding. Throughout the entire wedding all you heard were screams down below from other vacationers.
The other bad part was the disorganization of the ceremony. I feel like the ceremony didn't flow at all. The photographer was horrible and kept stopping us to take a pictures. NEWSFLASH: You aren't supposed to stop the ceremony to take a photo. You are supposed to take photos while the ceremony happens. Also, the photographer missed our first kiss. She also didn't take get any decent photos of my brother, which he was really upset about. She took like 2 photos of him and both of them sucked. - Things for the ceremony weren't where they were supposed to be. For example, instead of a sand ceremony we decided to pour two jars of paint on a canvas, but for some reason the canvas was at the back of the room instead of near the top of the aisle. So we had to wait for the coordinator and the setup crew to move everything to the front of the room in the middle of the ceremony. - The minister was standing in the wrong spot. Rather than standing in the center of the aisle with his back towards the "altar" He was on the left with is back towards the guests so we were standing in this awkard position the whole time.
During the reception, the waiters gave people the wrong meal despite having everything labeled accordingly. Everyone was able to switch though so it was no biggie. And the waiters bailed before we got to cute the cake for some reason, so my mom had to cut and distribute the cake. (I didn't even notice, but my mom wasn't too thrilled about that.) She also had to clean up the room after the reception since everyone left.
We had like 4 people give speeches. I was a bit annoyed at first, because I made it clear that I didn't want speeches during the reception but I must admit they all had really nice things to say.
NOW onto the fun part:
THE GOOD: Trust me, even though there was alot in the "bad" section the day really was great. First the day started with myself and my MOH trying to hide from the groom. We agreed not to see each other before the ceremony, but the resort was on the small side, so I found myself ducking into odd places whenever my MOH yelled, "He's coming. Hide!" It was so funny and a memorable part of the day. While I was getting my hair and makeup done, the resort sent up wine and a fruit platter. My girlfriends, mom, and MOH got to toast and indulge in delectable fruits while getting ready. The Makeup artist/hairstylist was FABULOUS. I sent him a pictures of how I wanted my hair too look and he totally exceeded all expectations. He was so pleasant. And he gave me flawless makeup. I was worried about looking like someone I didn't identify with, but his makeup application was fabulous making me feel like an even prettier me.
I' m a stickler for time, so when the coordinator told me that I needed to be ready by 3:45, I made it my mission to be done by 3:30. I succeeded. the funny part was getting a call from the coordinator at 3:45 to learn that they are running late because the men weren't ready yet! I still make fun of hubby about it to this day! Seriously, the men aren't supposed to take longer than the girls to get dressed.
When it was time for the ceremony, I started tearing up before we even got to the location. I was proud of myself though, because I didn't cry at all while I read my vows. (Though, I admit it was difficult.) And though, I was kind of against the idea of being "given away by a man", I enjoyed having my dad walking me down the aisle.
The first kiss was great and funny. Brian surprised me by dipping me. It was so unexpected and funny!
Reception was a blast. Our DJ was amazing. He played the best music and everyone was on the dance floor all night. We even had hotel employees dancing with us. Like most brides I was so pumped up with adrenaline that I didn't have an appetite and didn't eat a thing. But from what I hear the food was amazing. Our first dance started as soon as we walked in from our entrance. WE danced to Usher's "Here I stand" but the hubby had a surprise for me and later switched the song to this fast beat Caribbean song. It was such a fun surprise. After we ate, everyone went outside to light the wishing lanterns. I think it was the highlight of the day. EVERYONE loved it and we got great photos of it. Then we went back inside to party some more. We had such a good time. I was so pleased that everyone got along great. There really was no drama between anyone.
AFter the wedding was over, everyone went to the jacuzzi for some more fun. And then we all went this club on the resort, HUrricane, for the "after party." Even family members who didn't stay at the resort bought a day pass to go in the Jacuzzi and club with us.
Well once again, this post is longwinded so I'm going to stop here even though there are so many other good things to share. The NIGHT was absolutely amazing and it was so much fun reliving it all while typing this.