Burning River Wedding: Pre-Wedding Fun!

We have our pro pics from Ted and Rachel so I can *finally* start recaps. Actually wedding day recaps will have a wait a bit because I want to talk about the days leading up to the wedding first.

Josh and I wanted to spend as much time with our friends from out of town (and in town, of course) as possible before the wedding. We had people traveling from Ft. Lauderdale, NYC, San Antonio, Phoenix (that is nowhere near an exhaustive list) - literally all across the country.

The Thursday before the wedding I invited some friends to come over to my house for some pre-gaming and then we hit the town. And by "hit the town" I mean we went to the bar we ALWAYS go to when we're in Lakewood (my hometown.) Fun times and more than a few drinks were had by all.

Ready to wed!

Josh and BM Ena.

They love each other and secretly I think they *want* each other!

BM Ena, me and Tyrone. We used to call each other the Three Musketeers. 

Summer 2005 with them was the best summer of my life

Added in BM Helen :)

Mary, BM Helen and me. Mary flew in from Texas for the occasion!

Dancing on Tyrone. 

This is very normal and despite his face, he loves it.

It felt a-mazing to get out with my best friends for a few hours. I was able to forget my stresses and the details and just *enjoy* myself. The beers didn't hurt, either :)

Burning River Bride Tip #1: If you're not too busy, and hell, even if you ARE too busy, take some time to spend with your friends and family before the craziness of the wedding begins. Whether at your favorite watering hole or your house, your friends will be so happy to spend time with the COH (Couple of Honor. Just made that up!)

*All photos by me. Please don't take them and pretend to be me and or my friends.

Gettin' Buzzed

Buzzz buzzzzz!!!!

What's that sound, you ask? It's the sound of 20+ Bees and Weddingbee readers descending upon Ping Pong Dim Sum in DC's Chinatown.

Last weekend the fabulous Mrs. Pencils posted about plans for a DC WB meet-up and you KNOW I was all about that. I convinced my WB-novice bff Claire (of A Realistic Wedding) to accompany me. Weddingbee is a fantastic community and I knew once she met some of the girls she'd get into it.

We had such a fun time and definitely ran the joint.

Can you spot the Bees?

The Ping Pong site calls these "little steamed parcels of deliciousness." I'd have to agree.

Me and Claire! Excuse the shininess, it was hot. 

Ps, is that how shininess is spelled? It looks weird.

This is Megan. She is adorable. Read her blog.

Everyone was incredibly nice and I hope we can keep in touch. Since I'm new to the DC area I need some girls to hang out with! Let's do it again soon, ladies!

Antiguan Antics: Our "WTF?" Massage

My good friend Kelly has a whole blog dedicated to the awkward situations she gets in. I only hope the story I'm about to tell meets her standards.

Josh and I knew we wanted some kind of massage or other spa treatment on our honeymoon. Our package came with a $250 credit and I'm aaallll about "free" stuff (I'm sure that $250 was hidden somewhere in the cost of our honeymoon.) Early in the week we headed to Red Lane Spa to check out what it had to offer.

A lovely (and tiny!) woman told us all about their spa and recommended a few services we might enjoy. We decided on something called Champagne Romance Couple's Massage or something close to that. She even threw in a complimentary body scrub. We were given a day/time (Thursday afternoon) to come in and instructed to remember our camera. This should have been my first indication that this may be rather strange.

Thursday rolled around and after lounging on the beach for a few hours (and getting *really* red) we headed to the spa. After being welcomed by the staff we were lead to private changing rooms and given bathrobes and slippers. Josh was nervous about the "fully naked" part, but I assured him it was normal and no one would see his peeps.

Everything looked perfectly normal at first glance. There was a nice soaking tub:

And a shower:

And towels with flowers:

Nice and spa-like. Our scrub was first and unfortunately for me it hurt like hell. Remember how I said I got *really* red earlier in the day? Right. Really red plus salt scrub equals ouchies. After the scrub we were told to get up and go shower. Together. Naked.

But first! We had to get off the massage table. Naked. In front of the massage ladies. We did a little turn over, wrap the towel song and dance and I'm pretty sure they didn't see anything. Not that I would have really cared necessarily, it was just kinda weird.

Ok, so we shower (together, naked) and the ladies return about 10 minutes later. It was weird but we got through it.

Next up, the massage! This was heavenly, no complaints.

But then...then they tell us to get in the tub. Together. Naked. Again, we did the towel song and dance to get off the table, but then we still needed to get in the tub. So the massage ladies helped us with that and it was SO WEIRD.

Josh went first. His masseuse held up a towel to shield him from her while he awkwardly stepped into the tub. Then it was my turn and I did the same with my masseuse. Like before I'm pretty sure they didn't see anything (when did I all of a sudden become so modest?).

Now we're in the tub. The ladies bring out a plate of fruit and 2 glasses of champagne. We start awkwardly sipping and eating while one of the girls gets our camera. The following pictures document our "tub time."

Oh, hi! Just sittin' here in a bubble bath with our champagne.

Mmm this champagne sure is tasty!

Fruit? Don't mind if I do!

Lady and the Tramp we are not.

Ok let's just kiss and get this over with.

Then they left us alone. "We'll be back in 20 minutes!" they said. This was probably the most awkward part of the whole thing. Were we supposed to...do it? Because that was NOT going to happen. Hell no. Plus I had to pee really bad. I couldn't relax and honestly just wanted the whole thing to be over at this point. But no, we chilled there for 20 minutes and I thought to myself "When I do honeymoon recaps this is going to be the BEST story to tell." 

After all was said and done Josh took a few pics of me being, you guessed it, awkward in my robe.

Needless to say, it was a fairly enjoyable but incredibly uncomfortable experience. I knew I should have just got a damn manicure.

Have any of you experienced anything like this? Please tell me I'm not alone. And since we're all friends here, would you have "done it" in the tub??

Antiguan Antics: Hot Nights, Cool Drinks, & Sweet Peeps

Josh and I are really social people. We love to go out, meet people, and generally have a good time with friends, both new and old. Frankly, we're not all that interested in hanging out with *only* each other because eventually we run out of things to say. So, we make friends! Our honeymoon was no exception.

We met some of the nicest people on the planet in Antigua. The vast majority of the couples vacationing were on their honeymoon and many shared our wedding date. It was a great ice breaker!

On our first night we met a lovely British couples, Mick and Serena. We went to a beach party and asked to sit with them since all of the tables were taken. Best decision ever! We spent the next few days hanging out with them during the day and at night. They also introduced us to a Scottish couple, Claire and Darren.

L-R: Me, Josh, Mick, Serena, Claire, Darren

Also noteworthy: people from across the pond know how to drink. Do not think you can out-drink them because I assure you, you cannot.

We also met a really nice couple from Philly, Raye and Matt. The night we met Raye and Matt was the same night I drank about a bottle and a half of wine. Therefore, they got to experience "wine-drunk Emily." (Something everyone should experience at least once in their life.) I knew Raye and I would get along amazingly well when she suggested we go dancing at the pub with the DJ. Oh yes, this girl and I will do just fine. 

Needless to say, Raye and I were the only ones dancing at the pub. And here are a few pics from that night:

Sweat about sums it up.

Oh, Emily...

The next day Raye told us that when she got back to the room that night she apparently wrote herself a message for the following morning: "Emily. Green dress. So much fun!" When she woke up the next morning she didn't even remember writing it! 

Here are the four of us on Raye and Matt's last night in Antigua:

L-R: Matt, Raye, me, Josh. Terrible lighting but you get the idea

Josh even saw someone he knew from college! Very small world. We spent a good deal of time with them and a few other couples as well. 

I highly recommend making friends with other couples while honeymooning. We have awesome memories of not only spending time with each other, but with our new friends as well. 

Are you part of a social butterfly couple? Is one of you more outgoing than the other? 

Up next, the awkward massage story.

Real Wedding? Us? Really?

Last week I got an email from Ted Linczak, one half of our fabulous photographers, Linczak Photography (ps, expect massive pimping of them on here. Sorry in advance.) telling me that wedding photography blog Cake and Pictures was interested in using our wedding on their blog. Um HELL YES.

Today I got word that our Cleveland wedding was featured as a Daily Destination! They used words like "fresh" and "modern." Oh, and they called me a "knockout." Who, me? Yes, me :)

So please head on over to Cake and Pictures and show them some loooove. They feature some FAB weddings from all over the country. Maybe you could rep your city!

Antiguan Antics: Sandals Overview

Josh booked us a fabulous room at Sandals Grande Antigua. We really wanted something all-inclusive and in the Caribbean. We're beach vacation people and after the wedding I didn't want to think. About anything. For a week. So I didn't and it was pure bliss. We slept (a lot), we ate (even more), and we drank (oh man, did we drink).

The grounds at Sandals Antigua are beautiful. Here is a little tour of the grounds of our home away from home. (Very picture heavy!)

View from our balcony. 

Through the trees you can see the pool and past that, the ocean.

Another pool that is actually not for swimming. 

I think they held wedding-related events here.

Private villas with plunge pools. Sadly these were out of our price range.

The building where we stayed. The other side of the resort is all villas.

Beach!

Cool fountain.

Entry of the resort. I tried to get this guy out of the pic, but I don't think he got it.

Life size chess board. We never played. I'm a checkers kind of gal, anyway.

And here are a few photos of our beautiful room:

Oh hell yes. 

Bragging rights if you can tell me what movie is playing in the background.

Our awesome balcony

The huge tub that we never used. Sad face :(

The shower head was one of those "rain" type things. I didn't like it, not enough pressure. Also didn't like how exposed I felt. There was no door separating the bathroom from the hallway of the suite and the door was right there. I'm a VERY private bathroom person so this was uncomfortable even though it was only Josh.

At least there was a door to the toilet.

Double sinks!! Thank ya, Jesus!

If you want to see some nicer pics please check out the Sandals Grande Antigua website.

What kind of honeymoon are you planning? Are you the maxin' and relaxin' type or the go-go-go type?

Up next, what we did for 6 days.

Antiguan Antics: Flyin' first class...

...up in the sky. Hopefully you have the classic Fergie Ferg song "Glamorous" in your head now. You're welcome :)

Back when Josh booked our honeymoon my mom offered to upgrade us to first class on our "long leg" (about 5 hours). Thanks, Mom!! Let me say, we were spoiled. First class is really nice and if you can swing it I *totally* recommend it for your honeymoon, especially if you have a ridiculous flight schedule.

I didn't want to look like a total nerd-o and take pics of everything, but here are a few.

Satellite TV! And what did I watch? Basketball Wives, of course! The only thing that sucked is TV shows didn't work when we flew over the ocean so we were stuck with some pretty crappy movies. When in Rome, anyone?

But the food more than made up for it (and hello, we were in first class, why am I complaining?). We were given a menu (a MENU!) with some super yummy choices. Josh and I both got a duet of veal and beef with rice and veggies. Delish!

On our return flight we were served shrimp cocktail (um, what??), yummy salad, and stuffed shells (which I didn't take a picture of.) Sorry it's kinda blurry. Damn cell phone.

Oh and you totally get warm, moist towels, too. I have no idea why (and honestly I think it's kind of silly), but still sort of cool. I guess? You also get a blanket that I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to take, but I totally did.

This next pic has nothing to do with flying first class, but it has everything to do with poor hygiene and airport etiquette.

Need a better look?

Dude is freakin' barefoot! In an AIRPORT. Come on, guy. This was in the San Juan airport where they have the hands-down nastiest bathrooms I've ever had the "pleasure" of visiting.

Am I totally nerdy for thinking first class is a bit deal? Have you ever flown in first?

Up next, a tour of our resort!