It started with a Southwest flight on Feb. 15 from BWI with Valerie and Ben - but my cousins were also on the flight!
The week leading up to the trip had had its bumps - with a major one being that Mark's best man had pneumonia and was prohibited from flying. He still had his sister to be by his side, but Paul was missed.
Getting in, we checked into the hotel we'd be at for the long weekend - the suite at the Coral Princess Hotel. Just a few blocks from the beach, we'd rented out every room for the days around the wedding. I had made little room signs for each guest, and then I ensured that the sparkling wine that was promised as a gift basket was given to each room. Also on Friday, with the wedding party in town, we did a pre-rehearsal dinner.
In the week leading up to this trip, the original restaurant I had booked for our rehearsal dinner had backed out on us. With 24 people and 5 days before the booking, I had reached out to Asere, where we were having our pre-wedding reception. So, we got a preview of what we'd be eating and drinking on Saturday, but on Friday night.
It was steaks and Old Fashioneds, for quite a lot of the folks. However, not all mixed drinks are created equal. It became a dinnertime roulette of which server or bartender was going to make the drink and thus how drinkable it actually was.
Saturday morning (the 16th), we started the morning with a rehearsal at Hacienda Siesta Alegre. It was early in the morning, but the sun was hot! We hid in the shade in between the walks up and down the aisle, as we scanned our memory to see what we remembered when we visited in January of 2018. If anything, it was greener and more luscious!
Mid-afternoon, Mark and I met with the owners of Kabanas, which was doing our post-wedding brunch. We looked around the place, finalized the menu, then got ready for our pre-wedding reception at Asere - this time, we were taking up nearly the entire top floor, including an outside balcony, for all wedding guests. It was a delightful time of talking with rugby friends, family, college friends, and more. We ordered a couple extra rounds of vegetarian appetizers, but overall, we'd guessed fairly correctly. We'd pre-ordered two drinks per person, then any remaining drinks the guest would have to cover. We had tickets to help with the pre-payment, but with not everyone showing up, a few more free drinks were handed out.
Then, it was our wedding day: Sunday, February 17th, 2019. First was hair and makeup, which were easy since we'd brought Kath with us to PR. Then it was time for Saul the photographer to show up... but he was much later than we'd expected or talked about with the day-of planner. Turns out, she had gotten her schedule wrong and reminded him of the wrong time.
So, Saul came in, and worked miracles in the time he did after. Glamour shots, dress shots, then the wedding party (plus two good friends of Mark, to sub in for his best man) piled into our van/bus to hit Old San Juan.
We did our first look at the fort, tried to look alluring and serious and fancy, then walked around the cobblestones and brilliantly-colored houses. I had to fling my dress to get some good action shots.
We ended up with an extra bouquet, which featured in some of our great pictures around the old city.
Next was getting to the venue. Hacienda Siesta Allegre had a room below the bar area where I finished getting ready by putting on my lace bolero - and met up with the flower girls.
With just enough benches to fit our 100 guests, it was a full house when showtime began.
Charlotte stole the show (and broke the tension) by dumping her basket of flowers. Claire and Paige just looked lost - they knew what they were supposed to do, but not how to handle this wildcard.
Mark held it together, then we hugged our parents, listened to Pastor Scott and the readings by our sisters, said some vows, exchanged some rings, then got the shot I wanted - us kissing with our entire group of guests cheering behind us.
We went straight to the library, where we did the legal part with our friend-of-a-friend judge, then it was photo time while everyone did reception. We corralled a variety of pictures, then tucked into the back for our intro.
We had our own table, and we got to pause to watch the tables full of our family and friends before dancing and drinking the night away. The desserts of churros and ice cream were a hit - we barely got any! Charlotte stayed on the dance floor all night, while Claire and Paige feel asleep watching movies in the big bed downstairs - which I saw when I popped off to use that bathroom halfway through the night.
A few rugby friends had been eyeing the pool, and we thought they might not want photos of their escapade (and didn't want them too wet too early in the evening), so had them wait until Saul was nearly done. However, he didn't want to miss the shot, so we got some happy, damp friends to ride back to the hotel on buses with.
As we were pulling onto the main road, the bus ahead of us stopped on the side of the road. Concerned, we didn't realize it was because there was a gas station - a source of libations - that Nyk had conceived of and Duma had rallied the troops for.
That started the after-party, which was on the top floor of the hotel. Changing out of my dress, I got to relax with one of the many, many bottle of champagne that kept showing up - I guess our free gift from the hotel was a gift that came in very useful that night! Mark dropped one on the stone floor, and God was smiling, because it bounced instead of breaking.
As we were headed to bed, we ran into Ashley and Rory, who'd been invited along to help with childcare. They had done their duties and were off to have some fun of their own.
The next morning, we made it up for our post-wedding brunch at Kabanas. We sat with friends coming in from the beach, just getting up, and those headed out. It was also delicious.
Mark and I were around for another few days - saw my dad's sisters and families out at the house they'd rented, then stuck around with his family at a condo as well. We flew back on Saturday the 23rd after our "family-moon", now a married couple.
