Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Caribbean Honeymoon!

Soo.. I am not sure if we would choose to take a red-eye on our wedding night again! It was rough, but we wanted a 7-day cruise and thats what we had to do!! This was on our way from the airport to the cruise ship, I am surprised we look so awake!
We loved exploring the ship and people watching :)
This was our dining room/table every night and we loved trying out all the new menu items every night! We had choices of 3 courses and Jake often got multiple!
We only made 3 of our 4 destinations and only got to go on 2 of our 4 excursions! Little did we know, June in the caribbean is HURRICANE season! It not only made the sailing not as smooth but also hard to anchor in some of the ports. Because of that we did not get to stop in Belize! It also made the weather not the perfect laying out weather, even though you can tell in the pictures we managed to get some sun!

Our first stop was the Cayman Islands! Probably our favorite!! We got to jet ski 5 miles out into the ocean to a sand bar full of sting rays! The jet ski's were a little interesting considering neither jake and i had driven one ever... and it was very rough!! haha good memories though! We got out there and everyone else was prepared with water proof cameras... so we didn't catch us feeding and kissing the sting rays but we braved getting my nice canon out on the jet ski while going to snorkel! After we had time to walk around the town and look at some shops and make a stop for lunch at Margaritaville! Here i got my fountain diet coke, those who know me will know finding out they only had cans on the cruise was HIGHLY disappointing.

Next stop: COZUMEL! Our excursion was supposed to be parasailing which we were both really excited for BUT it was too windy! So we walked down the main street in Cozumel and i NEEDED my fountain drink :) we figured we could pretty much count on Margaritaville having it.. i was VERY bummed when the waitress brought me this...
Next was Mahogany Bay, Isla Roatan was was so beautiful! We were supposed to go zip lining and then snorkeling, but because of the wind we were not able to get into the port on time! So we only had time for the zip lining but thats alright! We went a couple times with our guides and they pointed out all the fun iguanas in the trees, then they let us get a little crazy!
Let me just say- we did what they told us to... looking back on these I cant help but think they were playing some joke with each other haha

A couple of the guides just had these cute little monkeys hanging out on them and i couldn't resist asking if we could hold em! isn't he cute??
Every night we got our ice cream & lets just say I am a PRO
We made it to some comedy shows and even walked out of a few adult shows we were hoping would be clean :) We were the butt of some jokes being one of the only newlywed couples, guess thats what we get for raising our hands!
Picture in our room before headed to dinner...
Out on our balcony, its too bad you cant see all the white caps!!
We had so much fun and would definitely do it again- just maybe in December :)

Backyard Reception!

The night of June 25th we held a reception in the backyard of my house! This was something that I always wanted to do because it was a tradition for the "shaw girls". I love looking at these pictures and seeing the transformation of the yard and all the hard work that my family and friends put in to making it the wedding reception of my dreams! The food, people, music and decor was PERFECT! I wouldn't change a thing!
This candy station (done by britt) was one of my favorite parts! Little goody bags were there for the guests to fill their bags with some treats! "Love SWEET Love"
My mom did all the flowers and they were incredible!
The cheesecake pops were a hit! ESP with the Uffen's girls :)
So glad so many of my friends could make it and celebrate with us!
Jami, Amber and I! Great friends!!
Cutting our cake! My dad made this cake stand for Brittany & Lance's wedding and we were lucky enough to not only share their anniversary but use their cake stand :) each cake was a different delicious flavor with different designs! I loved it!
Leaving for our RED-EYE flight... :)
Hugging the moms :)
Perfect beginning to our fairytale!
Thank you MOM & DAD, sisters and friends for all the hard work and love!
Engagements/Bridals Photographer: Jaquilyn Shumate Photography
Wedding day Photographer: Michael Rowley Photography