Laurie & Kyle 1/16/10 Wedding PJ **TR Started Beach Party & Bio Bay Up**

[pezaddict231]

I hope you had a fantastic wedding day and have a great time on your disneymoon. Can't wait to hear all about it when you get back.

 

[shippedtosea]

can't wait to see how everything went! Hope you are having an amazing time!

 

[LLLBelle]

I'm so excited to see all your pictures, Laurie! Miss you and hope it was all fabulous (I can't imagine it was anything less though!).

I hope you had a fantastic wedding day and have a great time on your disneymoon. Can't wait to hear all about it when you get back.

can't wait to see how everything went! Hope you are having an amazing time!

Thank you ladies! The wedding day itself ended up gorgeous and we really had a beautiful wedding day. But the entire weekend wasn't without it's cavets, like hurricane-like rain and wind when it was suppose to be the island's dry season, cancelled flights, and getting locked out.

We did have fun in Disney, we got back Saturday, just in hinesight, I think we would have saved Disney for our 1 year and stayed in Puerto Rico or done a cruise. We were just exhausted by the time we got to Florida and I think that may have affected our ability to enjoy our time there. But I will do a TR over the next couple weeks of our Disneymoon and I may do a dining review as well.

Since I am at work I can not do a long entry, but wanted to at least drop a little response to you ladies. I also have some teaser pictures from my photographer:

http://www.studio222photography.com/blog/

I am in love with them and this is only a handful.

I will say this, because you all are getting so close, it will go fast, Kyle and I were talking yesterday and he asked where the past two weeks went. I mean after 14 months of planning and then it's over, I guess it's the wedding downer. You just can't believe that it is here and gone. So savior every second and enjoy your husband-to-be. And don't sweat the small stuff, it doesn't matter in the end.

 

[malibustacey]

absolutely stunning ... i looked at those yesterday and i didnt realise it was your wedding!

so amazing!

 

[MainStMandy]

Laurie everything looks gorgeous!! Congratulations!!

 

[PrincessShea]

I will say this, because you all are getting so close, it will go fast, Kyle and I were talking yesterday and he asked where the past two weeks went. I mean after 14 months of planning and then it's over, I guess it's the wedding downer. You just can't believe that it is here and gone. So savior every second and enjoy your husband-to-be. And don't sweat the small stuff, it doesn't matter in the end.

I hear ya on that one! Oh to be a wedding planner...Don't worry though now you'll spend the next 2 years coming here everyday and giving tips to future brides while living vicariously through them.

Your teaser pics look great! Can't wait to hear all the details.

 

[ghoulish delight]

Your wedding looks like it was SO beautiful!! I'm so happy for you! You looked gorgeous, btw! Looking forward to more photos and your TR!

 

[LLLBelle]

I hear ya on that one! Oh to be a wedding planner...Don't worry though now you'll spend the next 2 years coming here everyday and giving tips to future brides while living vicariously through them.

Your teaser pics look great! Can't wait to hear all the details.

I know right, I need to get some more hobbies to fill the void Thanks! I'm waiting patiently to get the rest of them.

Your wedding looks like it was SO beautiful!! I'm so happy for you! You looked gorgeous, btw! Looking forward to more photos and your TR!

Thank you my dear! For all the headache we went through, the ceremony and reception itself really turned out beautiful. I will start my TR slowly (even if it's not a Disney wedding ) in hopes that I will get my pro pictures soon.

 

[LLLBelle]

Ok, I can brush the dust off my PJ now TR and post some of my pictures from the wedding and Disneymoon. I know it's not a Disney wedding, but I enjoy reading about everyone else's weddings and wanted to share.

We were up bright eyed and not so bushy tailed for a 7 am flight to Newark, the flight was pretty uneventful, I do have to say if you can avoid having to carry your dress, do it! It was going to cost too much to send it to Puerto Rico so I ended up carrying it, but I should have at least put it in a carry on, but my wedding planner said I would ruin the trash. Anyway at least most of the people were nice about it. . .

I couldn't sleep and was playing with our new camera, the pictures actually came out pretty good, although I will not bore you with them.

Roosevelt Dam in AZ (or at least I'm pretty sure it was )

Finally in Jersey.

We had an uneventful overnight stay in Newark, we were going to go into the city, but were exhausted so Kyle slept, I wrote thank-you cards and we had sub-par NY style pizza, but it was good to be on the east coast again, if only for about 18 hours.

Another early morning, way too much luggage and we didn't have any problems, the whole trip with the airlines, it was just too much luggage.

I only slept about 3 hours since I kept waking up thinking we were going to miss our flight so I was exhausted by the time 4 am rolled around.

We grabbed a shuttle about 5 am and after wasting 30 minutes trying to argue with Continental trying to find someone competent we waited in the super long security line (although I have never been to Newark when there was a short line) and we were finally on our way. My parents, brother, and grandparents were leaving the same time we were out of Philly and they didn't have any really problems, accept that my step-dad and brother were pulled out of line and searched by TSA. But my step-dad had to bring a cpap machine with him, they weren't sure why they pulled my brother.

Another uneventful flight and we arrived in Puerto Rico! I got a text from my brother that they saw us land (or thought they did) so it was good to now that everyone arrived safely. And we were off to catch our puddle jumper flight while my family were taking the ferry from Fajardo, I tried to convince them otherwise, but that is what they wanted to do.

So they were able to bump us to an earlier Cape Air flight, which was exciting I called our wedding planner since she was meeting us at the airport and made sure all of our luggage was transferred from our Continental flight. I do have to say that it was the smallest plane I have ever been on.

But we were in Puerto Rico and it was humid.

It was such a full flight, we had to squeeze in. . .it was pretty cool to have our own private flight

Again, I was picture happy.

The very first time we are setting our eyes on the island where we are to be married.

As soon as I stepped off the plane I began to second guessing my wedding dress (a little late to be doing so), but it worried me none the less.

Parrie, our wedding planner's assistant, was there to greet us. We loaded everything up and she took us to get our rental car and took us to the Malecon so we could get lunch. We were so hot we ended up changing in the parking lot since when we left Newark it was about 35 degrees and we were in jeans and sneakers.

We had lunch at a place called Bili, it was excellent. I had a beef tenderloin sandwich with all kinds of fabulous stuff on it that I can not remember and Kyle had a Mahi Mahi sandwich, but we both agree that my was better. And the thing in the middle is a fried plantain with a black bean dip of some sorts. I was very happy to have Puerto Rican food again.

After lunch we were off to meet with our wedding planner Sandy and Parrie to go over some things and check into the villa my parent's were staying at.

UP NEXT: An unexpected text message throws off our plans.

 

[PrincessShea]

Yea! Glad to see you are starting your TR...I can't wait to read all about the big day

 

[figmentfan814]

So excited to see that you're giong to be doing your report

The landscape pictures are beautiful, it reminds me of when I went to visit Jamaica with my friend who is from there. Its a lot more detailed landscape than in the Bahamas.

Interested to hear the story behind your dress and the text message.

I love plantains, of course I have only eaten them on vacations

 

[LLLBelle]

Yea! Glad to see you are starting your TR...I can't wait to read all about the big day

So excited to see that you're giong to be doing your report

The landscape pictures are beautiful, it reminds me of when I went to visit Jamaica with my friend who is from there. Its a lot more detailed landscape than in the Bahamas.

Interested to hear the story behind your dress and the text message.

I love plantains, of course I have only eaten them on vacations

I know, I put it off for too long. But better late than never I guess. Although after looking at the post I suppose I should have made the pictures a little bigger, maybe I will try to post the wedding ones bigger.

I have only been to St. Croix so I cannot compare, but I really want to go back and check out the main island too, I have never been and it looked beautiful from the air. My step-dad is Puerto Rican so I grew up with a lot of the food, I love it!

I'm going to try to get the next installment up tonight.

 

[pezaddict231]

Yay! I'm so excited you started a trip report. Wow, love the shots of the water from the plane, it looks so beautiful!

 

[LLLBelle]

I don't have any pictures of the rest of the night so I will sum up the rest of the rest of day one quickly.

On the way to meet with Sandy and Parrie, I received a text from my mom saying that they were taking a puddle jumper instead of the ferry . This created a caveat since they were supposed to arrive at 6 now they would be arriving about at about 330. And we were suppose to pick up their car, stop to pick up stuff for the welcome party, go over final payments and final details for the wedding day.

So we check in at my parent's villa and hop back in the car and I go over the final details with Sandy while racing to the airport to meet up with my family. We arrive at the airport only to find that my parent’s luggage had to be sent over on a different flight because of a weight issue, however, one bag was missing. . .figures. Mind you the flight from Fajardo to Vieques is 8 minutes! And I try to remain as positive as possible, but my step-dad and grandfather refuse to leave the airport.

So within an hour and a half we get my parent’s rental car, wait at the airport, went over final payments with Sandy, wait at the airport, and finally head to the villa to get ready for dinner.

Everyone was tired, but I had made reservations at El Quenepo, looking back I probably would have just made it Kyle and I, but what can you do. And if you do go to Vieques, you must eat here. Although it was expensive, it was fantastic; no one could say anything bad about the meal. I don’t totally remember what everyone had, but I know that the bread was good, my grandfather and I had pork tenderloin, DH and my mom had a fabulous salmon, and my step-dad had lobster mofongo. The vanilla flan that I had for dessert was out of this world.

After a wonderful meal, we all crashed for the night.

 

[LLLBelle]

It was an early morning, my mom and I got up and took a walk on the beach.

After that we met Parrie at the hospital to take care of our marriage license. It didn’t take too long and then we were off to the grocery store to get supplies for the welcome party and to check in to our villa!

The house was beautiful. For some reason I don’t have any pictures of the inside, but I will have better pictures when I put up the wedding photos. These are some pictures of the view from the master suite balcony.

We drove around the island a little bit checking out a couple beaches before we had to get ready for the welcome party and meet the caterer who was dropping the food off.

Although we received a call from DH’s mom and my cousin who were at the airport in San Juan, one of the afternoon puddle jumper flights had been cancelled, which delayed everyone at least an hour. So to keep the story short, the wind really started to pick up and we eventually received the call that all the remaining flights had been cancelled and all of our remaining wedding guests were stuck in San Juan until the following morning. Kyle was devastated, but it was better for them to be safe in San Juan. I tried to convince my cousin to try to make it to the ferry, which was also behind, but would continue to run in the dark, but she felt bad leaving Kyle’s family who was traveling with our nieces (2 and 5) and didn’t think it best to try to make it.

So we tried to make the best of it. We had assorted sandwiches with island slaw and potato salad and some dessert bites. My brother even jumped in the pool for a bit.

The ending of the wind and rain the following morning brought a beautiful sight. And everyone arrived safe and sound.

I hope to put the Beach Party up this afternoon and get to the wedding today or tomorrow.

 

[LLLBelle]

Everyone arrived safe and sound, but with the rest of our wedding guests came some very dark clouds.

The beach party was set to be that afternoon so Kyle spent some time with his family going to the grocery store and I went with my mom to settle my cousins into their villa. Not the best decision we could make, but we thought it was the right thing to do at the time. We were both tired.

It rained on and off all day. As it got closer to the time of the beach party I was getting more and more frustrated since no one was ready to go. So we decided to give everyone directions and head off to Sun Bay Beach to meet up with Parrie, I HATE being late. On the way it starts pouring, I text Parrie to see the weather at the beach (since the party is set on the other side of the island) and she said there was no rain. Yea, umm the island isn’t that big. So we debated about whether to skip the beach and take the food back to our villa.

Well at this point I affectionately called the weather Tropical Storm Allen. It was suppose to be the dry season for crying out loud. The whole reason I did not choose October was because it would be my luck that the island would get hit by a hurricane.

After we went back and forth about what to do, we decided to stay since we paid for it to be there and we were set on having a beach party. I was just very happy that we had bought a water proof camera. The cool thing was too is that since it is the Caribbean side of the island, the water was relatively calm and warm, which made it nice.

At this point I upgraded the weather to Hurricane Allen. If you look at the back ground of this picture you can see the palm trees going sideways and the rain. But my hubby and the oldest flower girl are still cute.

But everyone enjoyed the food and made the best of it (the theme of the weekend) plus the rum punch didn't hurt, our flower girls didn’t mind the rain at all .

This is the only sign of a clear sky all day. We also saw dolphins swimming way in the distance, I was never able to catch a picture of them though.

I love this picture of our flower girl, she is adorable.

After the Beach Party we went back to our villa to shower and get ready for the Bio Bay!

I am making the pictures a little bigger, but I should have them up shortly.

 

[LLLBelle]

After the Beach Party we went back to our villa to shower and get ready for the Bio Bay!
Now it was time for the Bio Bay. And yes everyone was running late and I was not happy. Before leaving for the Bio Bay we had birthday cake for the four January birthdays we had, considering the 16th was Kyle’s sisters birthday and the 17th was my brother birthday.

The photos of the Bio Bay were taken by Studio 222.

Our photographers Becka and Nate of Studio 222 met up with us to go on the tour. I wish I had been a little more talkative at the time, but I was utterly exhausted and annoyed at some things that had happened.

But regardless, we loaded up on a school bus and headed off for the Bio Bay, and it was an adventure in itself to even get there. There were trees hitting the windows and it was so bumpy I wasn't sure my mom was going to make it. Although his name escapes me, our guide was entertaining and told us a lot of great facts and stories.

The bay was not as bright as usually because of the continually rain, but it was still amazing to see. Here is a website that tells you about it, if any one is curious http://www.biobay.com/. Our guide also said that the government may be forcing them to stop the tours to preserve the area, but Islands of Adventures company we used took great measures to ensure they did not harm the habitat.

Towards the end you were allowed to get in the water. I was all set to get in until they told me that there is the possibility of jelly fish. I have very sensitive skin so I did not want to chance getting stung with the wedding on Saturday.

This is the waves off the back of the boat

And some of our family swimming in the water

 

[shippedtosea]

Love these pictures so far! Looks like you guys had fun! Can't wait to read more

 

[Disney9.9.10]

Pictures look great so far! It is really beautiful scenery!

 

[LLLBelle]

I know, I have been slacking, but here are some of the getting ready and scenic photos.

DH's parents and sisters stayed next door to us. You can see both houses.

The view from the master bedroom in our villa.

This is one of my favorite landscape pictures. I am going to get it blown up to go over our bed.

I thought this was a cool shot, it's the ceiling in our room.

Getting ready:

I thought the pictures were too small before, now they seem too big Photobucket is such a pain sometimes.