Post Wedding Wrap Up

JCWhitey · March 2012

Hey ladies! I know many of you are getting married TODAY (!!!!) but I wanted to get this up while I can still kind of remember everything clearly.

We are at the Fort Lauderdale airport waiting for our flight which has now been delayed twice, so I have a lot of time to spare. Long story short, the wedding was amazing! I wouldn't change much, if anything.

Short story long... we left Vegas on Saturday morning to fly into Fort Lauderdale. We had a really scary flight heading into Atlanta for our lay over. Basically we went to land, were almost on the ground, when we suddenly started going back up. And we went pretty much all the way back up! No one said anything to us for a few minutes so people were kind of starting to get nervous. Add that to the turbulance we had and I really thought I was going to puke. Finally they informed us that a cross wind made it difficult for us to land. On the second try we touched ground! Woot!

Then we ended up having to run around Fort Lauderdale immediately upon arrival to find glasses frames for my photographer. We were at the airport and she went to clean her glasses and they snapped right in half! She didn't have a spare pair or contacts and is pretty much blind without them. That was fun. But we finally made it to our hotel and met up with my parents.

Sunday we left on the cruise. If any of you are sailing on Royal Caribbean, specifically on the Navigator, you will not be disappointed! Best ship, crew, and experience I have ever had on a cruise ship! It's really a great ship.

Tuesday was the wedding day. We were having a 10:30AM ceremony so I woke up at 6:50AM to start getting ready. I did my own make-up and my sister did my hair and that took no time at all. I slathered myself with sun block and then got my dress on by 9AM. We caught the tender at about 9:40.

We had PERFECT weather! It was a little hot but not horrible yet since it was so early. The sun was out with the occasional white fluffy cloud. The water at Smith's Cove was a beautiful turquoise blue, just like I'd hoped for! We were able to get married IN the water even though there were some waves that kept knocking us around. It added to the experience. Only bad thing was my planner forgot the CD player, so we didn't have any music walking down the aisle. I had originally planned for no music so this wasn't really a big deal to me. I jokingly told my MOH to sing and she said she did... really really softly!

I was surprised to find out that we got a certified copy of our marriage license THAT DAY! Usually it takes a few weeks with Destination Weddings, but I guess Grand Cayman does things a little faster. After the ceremony we did portraits with the family on the beach and then parted ways with them and went into Grand Cayman to the Pedro St. James Castle. It wasn't exactly a castle like I was expecting, but it was a neat place to go take pictures. We met the only donkey on the island (his name is Jack) and got pictures with him.

At this point we were pretty hungry so we went to Margaritaville with my photographer and maid of honor. I participated in (and horrible lost) a booty shaking contest. I have no butt but it was fun to do in a wedding dress. We got shots out of the deal which led to a fun picture of a bartender pouring tequila into my mouth.

We took a few quick pictures in candy store before heading back to the ship and taking pictures around there while it was still pretty empty. I have pictures up on Facebook and I'll post the gallery when that's ready.

We didn't have our reception dinner until 6PM when everyone got back on the boat after exploring Grand Cayman. I really don't remember what I ate! I journaled about it so when I go back and read that I'll let you know.

We had ordered a cake from guest services and when they found out what the occasion was they paid for it for us! So we ended up getting a FREE wedding cake!!! It was delicious, too!

And that was pretty much the wedding day. Low key and laid back like I wanted. I was a little uptight just trying to make sure everything went OK but really enjoyed it. I LOVED only having 10 guests!! Definitely would NOT change that!

The rest of the cruise went great. We went to Jamaica next and just did some shopping and then our next port was Labadee, Haiti. My Dad and I did the zip line and I'll have to share the video when I get it loaded up. It was awesome. We spent the rest of the day sitting on the beach and soaking in the ocean. A great way to relax after the wedding! I do feel bad because my Mom, brother, and SIL ended up going to the wrong beach and we couldn't find them, so my Dad was without his bathing suit the whole day because he was with us. So he didn't really get to enjoy Haiti, which is a shame since he paid for all of us to go! That was really the only bad part of the cruise in general.

The last day was a Day at Sea and we spent it just hanging out at the pool and on our huge, awesome balcony playing card games with friends and family.

We ate tons of great food, drank a ton of wine, got tan, got a little burned, and generally had a fun time.

And now, we're married! I'm going in on Tuesday to change my name. We have to go to the DMV anyway because my lovely husband decided to go swimming in the ocean with his driver's license. Yeah... that's loooooong gone!

My advice... just relax and enjoy the day! I had what I kept calling the anti-wedding wedding, barely planned anything with only 10 guests and was still letting myself get stressed from time to time. I wish that I'd relaxed more (or just had more wine). Everything went great or as good as it was going to go. There was really nothing I could do to change the things that weren't perfect and in the end they really didn't matter. Everyone had a great time and we are married! My Dad even wrote in my guest book that we'd all have to go on another cruise together someday. I'm thinking next year. Haha!!!