Day 0 - Pt. 2
Saturday, May 27, 2017
MY DESTI WEDDING DAY!!!!
I’m changing this format because there’s no way I can keep up with the organized Journal Entries from Day 200 to Day 5.
Shit is real...wonderful
And I’m gonna wing it from now on!
Days 4, 3, 2, and 1 will be however I damn well please...
Let’s go!
Temperature:
Playa del Carmen, Mexico High 89° / Low 79°
What Kind of Day Did I Have & Why?
I got married today!
And I gave exactly ZERO shits about anything other than that fact. I know that people say "best day ever" and it sounds cliché, but we really did the damn thang on our wedding day!
...This is Part 2!
Where was I? Oh yeah, Part 1 ended with me saying:
I looked amazing and was ready to marry my man!
After Ivory fought through my nerves as she pinned my headpiece, and jeweled comb and 2 pink veils in just as I needed. Damn, I gave her a hard time - I have to ask her just HOW bad I was, because I know I was an emotional mess at that point.
But she got me right - I got the thumbs up from the Bridefriends, and I can’t remember whether Genya was still taking pictures, but I think so...I’ll know for sure when we get our photos… but I did know that it was time to get outta there!
Since my dress was so much EVERYTHING, Alecia grabbed my train, I grabbed my bouquet, Genya kept her camera and we were on our way to the shuttle as Ivory packed up her kit and locked up.
On our way to the shuttle, the hotel guests were going crazy and clapping and yelling well wishes on my wedding and compliments about my dress and bouquet and I will never forget that feeling! But in that moment I was also happy that we were having our wedding at a private venue because it would have been too much outside attention - for me.
We slowly made our way to the shuttle and because my dress was so structured and tight, we had to get creative to get me up and into the shuttle...Alecia jumped in with my train and we decided to back me in like a truck laughing the whole time - seriously, like beep, beep beep...But it worked!
And we were on our way!
We rode to the venue and my nerves on kept going - I didn’t want to be late and was ready to see Che - so I started freaking again...but we were told that the guest shuttle was late, so we were running on time.
Because Ivory was busy getting everyone else glammed up, she didn't get to work on herself at the suite, but she worked her own magic in the shuttle. I swear I looked back and she was ready to party - a beauty genius!
We made our way down the rugged driveway and our private venue appeared! We had FINALLY arrived and Joyce met us at the shuttle and ushered my Bridefriends on to the ceremony space. I got out of the shuttle and asked for my dad but hadn't realized that he was behind me.
I turned to him and he started crying immediately! We shared a special moment together, he told me how much he loved me, that he was proud of me and “I did good”. I thanked him, kissed him and wiped his tears. He was crying so much I think he cried enough for the both of us! And I'm glad because Ivory was already in her seat.
We were ushered to our starting point and I was nervous about people seeing me too early, but my dad and Joyce assured me that I was hidden and reminded me that Che couldn’t see me and that was what mattered. I took a deep breath, kissed my dad, he put on his white gloves to complete his Naval uniform - which I’m so glad I requested because he looked great and we connected arms. Joyce explained to us that once we heard our song, we will start walking slowly and she would hold my dress down the paved walkway until I could be seen by everyone and then fan my giant train out when my feet hit the sand - and that’s exactly what happened. We heard Whitney and were on our way...
Deep breaths...
Before my feet hit the sand, my dad resumed crying, I connected eyes with Che and had instant tunnel vision. Actually, I remember doing a quick decor-glance, approving of the ceremony setup and then slowing my dad down a bit because I needed time to maneuver in the sand and wanted to savor the moment. THEN the tunnel vision was real.
My eyes stayed on Che as I walked down the aisle and I saw no one else. I remember making it to the end and my dad releasing my arm and I almost forgot to kiss him - but I didn’t. He sat down, Che told me that I looked great and I was so happy and nervous at the same time.
We planned it all, but it was really happening! I attempted to move my dress behind me (I envisioned it spread out behind me), but I quickly stopped giving a shit and gave up on that - it wasn’t important anyway.
We had a perfectly heartfelt ceremony and I remember seeing someone on the right side of my peripheral get up and take photos a couple of time, but I quickly snapped back into the moment and enjoyed the hell out of it!
Our officiant shared her reading, we said our I Do’s, shared our proclamations (it was less vows, and more proclamations), Che went first and I followed and they were remarkably similar at certain parts.
There were tears and kisses sprinkled throughout the ceremony too - in no way did we wait to kiss at the end and I’m glad because we were natural and there were times that I just plain needed a kiss to calm my emotions.
We exchanged our actual vows by repeating our officiant’s words, Bridefriend Alecia and Jay came up for a reading and there was another reading that led to us being announced...
Husband and Wife!
I kissed my HUSBAND as our song came on - “Amazing” by Alaine and we did a little dance (incited by Che), clutched hands, turned to our guests and walked down the aisle as they threw rose petals!
We met Joyce at the end with our photographers, Genya and Erik, and were told that we had a little bit of time so we could greet our guests. This extra time quickly turned into an impromptu receiving line and we hugged and greeted each person and realized that everyone was crying! It was surprising but warmed my heart.
Once we greeted our last guest and they headed off to cocktail hour, it was time to sign our marriage certificate, thank our officiant and then begin picture time!
We took approximately
1.2 zillion photos
around blue venado!
On the beach...next to trees...in a field/wooded area (my idea)...facing East and West (as if I know the difference...I don’t)...and back to the beach to take photos with family…
Make that 1.3 zillion photos!
And we missed the cocktail hour food!
And drinks… but at least we could hear the music - and my HUSBAND’s playlist was the shit!
As the sun set it was time do my bustle and get the reception going so my Bridefriends united and Alecia took out her bustle video for reference and they got to work and I worked on keeping my balance. Che held his phone as a flashlight and I can’t even remember how many people were working on my bustle, but it took what felt like forever - there were a bunch of buttons and ribbons to connect - but they got it right enough and Ivory pulled my bun down so my ponytail could swing and I did get a drink, so I was cool.
Once they conquered my bustle, Joyce ushered everyone to have a seat at their respective tables (and I don’t remember thanking them now that I think about it - gotta do that) and then...
...we entered our reception and were announced as MR. AND MRS. ALLEN!
We made our way to the dance floor with intermittent dance moves, cheesy poses and tons of smiles and the REAL fun began!
💖 We had our first dance - I cried…
💖 I danced with my dad - he spun me around and let me spin him too! I enjoyed that moment...and cried…
💖Che gave our champagne toast - which was a thank you to our guests for being a part of it all and we toasted to them!
💖 We sat at our perfect sweetheart table, took in the sight of our vision becoming our reality decor and shared happy feelings as we enjoyed dinner together.
💖 Guests took photos and came to greet us intermittently and we both made a round to greet and check on everyone at the tables, and everyone looked genuinely happy! I went back to our table and as soon as dessert arrived, we opened up the dance floor and started jammin’!
And I never tasted our dessert so I’m glad that I pigged out during our tasting on Wednesday!
Greediness paid off!
The rest of our night was filled with dancing, drinking, crying (happy tears - mainly (probably only mine), laughing and more dancing...and drinking!
We were really worried about the weather being too hot, or guests being bothered about being in the sand all night and no one seemed phased and the weather was perfect! There was a breeze all night - we got really lucky!
I MUST mention the passed out drunk bestie that appeared into my sight about halfway through MY WEDDING RECEPTION...passed out, laid the fuck out in a beach chair on the side of my beautifully designed dinner table and hopefully not in any of my wedding photos.
Feelings hurt? Oh yeah... Embarrassed? Definitely... Pissed off? Fo' sho'... Wedding Day ruined? NO CHANCE!
Moving along now…
💖 Instead of wedding cake, we decided to have a local guy with a Churro Cart come to make fresh churros in front of our guests and he was late and the first couple of batches of churros were great, but I think he got nervous about being so late and turned the oil up too high which resulted in the rest of the batches going from overdone to burned - make that burnt. But oh well - we meant well and I think everyone enjoyed it anyway.
💖 At one point in the evening, we thought our photographers, Genya and Erik, left us but they re-appeared and we took another set of photos together around the property before they did finally leave us!
I can’t wait to see all the pics they captured! I swear they were ghosts...perfect memory keeping ghosts!
Ferron's Jerk Chicken made our guests mini midnight meals for our wedding! Deeeelicious!
💖 Because we kept our guests hostage and made them party until 1:30 am, we surprised them with a midnight meal of Jerk Chicken and the owner of the restaurant personally delivered it to us, so they thanked us for the business and we thanked them for the service and then watched our friends enjoy the late night meal...they were super hype about it!
💖 We danced more, took more pictures and then our last song came on and we didn't plan it or even ask for it, but everyone cleared the dance floor and we danced to the last song alone. So we wrapped up our wedding night with a solo dance to one of our favorite songs - 1+1
💖I looked around the reception space to figure out how I was going to get our napkins and remaining decor but it was all gone. Joyce appeared out of nowhere with everything packed up and ready for us to go. We thanked her for everything, gathered into our respective shuttles and we were off again…
We had an amazing night - hell - an amazing DAY!
We successfully...make that triumphantly...pulled off a destination wedding that our guests are sure to remember!
And did I say that I can't wait to see our photos?!? because i can't!
Our shuttle dropped us off back at the bridal suite before taking the rest of our guests back to the resort - a great send off - and we made our way inside, Che got me out of my dress, I put my bouquet in water...and...we called it a night!
What am I doing tomorrow?
Starting the rest of my life with my HUSBAND! And getting some rest and relaxation - we earned it!
