It has been a long time since my last post. I have been busier than I care to write about. Lots has happened but I want to take a few minutes to blog about my wedding day...why???? Well, Chet came home last week and told me as I was cleaning the stove "Hey, I am going to the Alabama Roadbuilders Convention and I can take the family"I really didn't really respond. Don't get me wrong. I LOVE to travel. It is my most favorite thing to do in the world. I love the feeling of heading out on an adventure to somewhere different than my living room, BUT Alabama RoadBuilders....All I could envision was a smoky Holiday Inn in Podunk, Nebraska. Chet then followed up with, "The convention this year is at the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas." The postnote was enough to make me drop my sponge and perk up. So in June, our entire family is headed to Paradise Island, Bahamas to the Atlantis Resort. I am 150% excited and the kids are double that.
This is my second trip to Nassau. The first time I went to Nassau was 9 years ago to marry the love-of-my-life, Chester...thus, my memories of my wedding day on Sandyport Beach in Nassau, Bahamas.
It was a beautiful hot July day when we arrived to Nassau via cruise ship. I had made all of the plans a new bride could make (via the internet) to ensure a perfect sunset wedding. Our wedding "coordinator" arrived to pick us up from the ship via luxury vehicle (Toyota Camry) We rode to the beach together nervous but terribly excited. We got there and met our videographer and photographer - both very cordial Bahamians. We met the minister who would perform our ceremony - Pastor Marvin, also a sweet man.
After a few minutes preparing and going over the ceremony, we exchanged our vows at sunset on a beautiful beach with God and a few stray Bahamaian strangers watching over.
After Pastor Marvin pronounced us man and wife and our photographer stopped crying, (He said that the sweetness of our ceremony brought him to tears) we took another round of post-nuptial pictures including us toasting and cutting our cake. (a beautiful white cake with raspberry filling just like I requested) After photos, we spoke briefly with our wedding coordinator and Pastor Marvin signed our certificate. I was so pleased with myself with having planned and executed a beautiful wedding. (the internet was still a novelty to lots of people 9 years ago)
The plan was for us to walk to the Sandyport Restaurant down the beach and have a romantic dinner there before heading back to our ship. Well, as things wrapped up, something was missing. Our cake!!! The crying photographer had taken our cake, glasses, champagne and cake serving pieces. The coordinator was gone. Videographer - couldn't find the guy. Pastor Marvin - no where to be found. So, it was just Chet and I left barefoot on a faraway private beach. We did walk down to the restaurant to have dinner. Our ride home (the coordinator) still never showed up. With much trepidation, we finally got a ride with the dishwasher man from the restaurant to make it back to the ship before it departed.
In the end, we were left with a roll of film left for us by our photographer and memories to last a lifetime. Ours wasn't the perfect wedding story but it certainly is one that we can never forget.
If I knew or could remember that wedding coordinator's name or photographer's name, we would definitely be looking them up next month when we are there.
We do plan to go visit Sandyport Beach with the kids on our trip. We cannot go to Nassau and not visit our wedding spot. I plan to take all of the pictures though and we will bring our own snacks!
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