The big day! Felipe and I bucked tradition and both stayed in the honeymoon suite the night before the wedding. Basically the resort offered him another room but he told me no chance he was leaving the honeymoon suite and if I wanted to stay separately I could stay in the other room. Needless to say I also had no interest in leaving the luxurious, oceanfront honeymoon suite. So that was that:) The morning of the big day he did make the move to the other room and then I met up with my bridesmaids and my mom at the spa to start hair and makeup - and of course mimosas. The time flew by and it was a blast. One of the highlights for me was the following conversation between myself and the bridesmaids:
M: You girls have to be on wig patrol on the pier, in case there's a strong wind and my wig goes flying
Me: I don't want that to happen to you but man would that be hilarious. We also have to keep an eye on Vicente with the rings, Diego said he has an obsession with water so he could make a break for it
L: So there's a strong chance that you could be jumping in after a wig and someone could be jumping in after the rings
ST: Is anyone concerned about the baby in the water at this point?!
After lots of laughs and a few mimosas, the photographer arrived. He took some getting ready pictures and then we moved on to the first look pictures. We got those in right before it started to rain so our options for bridal party and family pictures were quickly limited. Luckily the lobby was beautiful and made for a perfect backdrop.
My dress, for me, was perfection. I had done some dress research when we were still living in Santiago. I knew I loved the designer Maggie Sottero and I had a clear idea of what I wanted. I narrowed it down to a couple of dresses and one specifically that was exactly what I was looking for. I then found a store in Alexandria, VA (ironically the same store that Elaine bought her dress from!) that carried this dress and made an appointment for when I knew I'd be home that summer. In July I tried on other dresses to be sure but when I put this dress on there was no question it was the dress. I had known it was perfect before I even walked into the store.
After the group photos the weather miraculously cleared up just in time from the ceremony! Everyone was seated and the music we had so meticulously chosen began to play...the bridesmaids and ring bearer (Vicente carried by Diego) walked to the instrumental "A Thousand Years" by The Piano Guys and then my dad walked me down the aisle to "Canon in D" by Pachelbel.
We had two officiants for our ceremony, my Uncle Neil, and Felipe's older brother, Fernando. We wanted the ceremony to be in Spanish and in English so that everyone would feel included and no one would be confused at any point. That part went perfectly. We had gone back and forth with whether or not to let our ring bearer, the year and a half old Vicente, really carry the rings. I had a pillow that the rings could be tied to so I thought it would probably be ok. However Diego convinced us it was too risky and we should just let him carry the rings and have Vicente carry the empty pillow. We felt comfortable with that decision. However when the moment came for Diego to pull out the rings we got a little surprise. Diego pulled out the box, which had both rings in it, and as he opened it one of the rings just popped out. The best part is I turn towards our guests and audibly said "oh, shit!", classy I know. Luckily the ring landed, did a little spin and stopped without falling through the cracks of the pier so no one had to jump in the water and we were all able to breath a sigh of relief and laugh about it. I have to mention that we did have a videographer so that magic moment was captured on video, including my classy words, so thank god we can enjoy that for years to come. We would say that moment could be summed up in one word, a favorite of our ring bearer - chuuuta! Chuta is basically a nice way to say shit in Spanish and it's really cute when a 1.5 year old says it. It became the unofficial go to saying of the wedding and my mom regularly uses it when we Skype now. Oh and in the guestbook, after his entry in Spanish, Diego wrote "PS Sorry about the ring and Vicente wants a cousin chuuuuta":)
M: You girls have to be on wig patrol on the pier, in case there's a strong wind and my wig goes flying
Me: I don't want that to happen to you but man would that be hilarious. We also have to keep an eye on Vicente with the rings, Diego said he has an obsession with water so he could make a break for it
L: So there's a strong chance that you could be jumping in after a wig and someone could be jumping in after the rings
ST: Is anyone concerned about the baby in the water at this point?!
After lots of laughs and a few mimosas, the photographer arrived. He took some getting ready pictures and then we moved on to the first look pictures. We got those in right before it started to rain so our options for bridal party and family pictures were quickly limited. Luckily the lobby was beautiful and made for a perfect backdrop.
Felipe had his suit custom made in Dubai and it turned out perfectly.
We got our wedding bands in Dubai at an amazing jeweler. We knew exactly what we wanted and were able to go in and design them.
I was obsessed with my bouquet. It was made of white orchids, my favorite flower:) The bouquet was wrapped in light blue ribbon to match our wedding colors.
My dress, for me, was perfection. I had done some dress research when we were still living in Santiago. I knew I loved the designer Maggie Sottero and I had a clear idea of what I wanted. I narrowed it down to a couple of dresses and one specifically that was exactly what I was looking for. I then found a store in Alexandria, VA (ironically the same store that Elaine bought her dress from!) that carried this dress and made an appointment for when I knew I'd be home that summer. In July I tried on other dresses to be sure but when I put this dress on there was no question it was the dress. I had known it was perfect before I even walked into the store.
The bridesmaids bouquets were one of the things we got the most compliments on. All I knew was that I wanted them to be bright, tropical colors that would pop. It was our wedding coordinator's idea to have each bridesmaid have her own color, which we loved immediately. The groomsmen had boutonnieres that matched the bouquet of the bridesmaid they were walking with.
At the resort we had three options of ceremony location: the garden gazebo, the beach gazebo and the pier. All three were beautiful but Felipe and I were instantly in love with the pier and knew that it would be the perfect location for us. It was unique, surrounded by stunning caribbean water and something that neither of us had ever seen before. My mom voiced her opinion that she felt the pier was not the best option. Her reasoning was that 1) people sitting in the back may not be able to hear well and 2) what if someone gets really drunk before the ceremony and falls off the pier? followed up by "like your dad"... I said, first of all Susie, you're in the first row so what the f do you care if people in the back can hear? (we did have a sound system so everyone could hear) and two, if dad or anyone gets drunk enough to fall off the pier I will throw them off the pier myself. That put that to rest and we were not budging on the pier:) The florist then tried to convince us that we needed an aisle runner and additional decorations but we felt strongly in our opinions and our vision. We knew we didn't want to take away from the natural beauty of the location and that all we wanted were the silver chiavari chairs and the large white flower arrangements in tall glass cylindrical vases. In our opinion, it was perfect.
After the group photos the weather miraculously cleared up just in time from the ceremony! Everyone was seated and the music we had so meticulously chosen began to play...the bridesmaids and ring bearer (Vicente carried by Diego) walked to the instrumental "A Thousand Years" by The Piano Guys and then my dad walked me down the aisle to "Canon in D" by Pachelbel.
We had two officiants for our ceremony, my Uncle Neil, and Felipe's older brother, Fernando. We wanted the ceremony to be in Spanish and in English so that everyone would feel included and no one would be confused at any point. That part went perfectly. We had gone back and forth with whether or not to let our ring bearer, the year and a half old Vicente, really carry the rings. I had a pillow that the rings could be tied to so I thought it would probably be ok. However Diego convinced us it was too risky and we should just let him carry the rings and have Vicente carry the empty pillow. We felt comfortable with that decision. However when the moment came for Diego to pull out the rings we got a little surprise. Diego pulled out the box, which had both rings in it, and as he opened it one of the rings just popped out. The best part is I turn towards our guests and audibly said "oh, shit!", classy I know. Luckily the ring landed, did a little spin and stopped without falling through the cracks of the pier so no one had to jump in the water and we were all able to breath a sigh of relief and laugh about it. I have to mention that we did have a videographer so that magic moment was captured on video, including my classy words, so thank god we can enjoy that for years to come. We would say that moment could be summed up in one word, a favorite of our ring bearer - chuuuta! Chuta is basically a nice way to say shit in Spanish and it's really cute when a 1.5 year old says it. It became the unofficial go to saying of the wedding and my mom regularly uses it when we Skype now. Oh and in the guestbook, after his entry in Spanish, Diego wrote "PS Sorry about the ring and Vicente wants a cousin chuuuuta":)
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