Tag Archives: party

#39 Find my Soul Mate, Fall in Love and Get Married–Part 2

14 Oct

It happened! I met my soul mate, my match. I fell madly, deeply in love. And now I’m a married woman living my happily ever after.

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On September 22, 2018, in front of our closest family and friends, on a beautiful beach in Mexico, Mychael and I proclaimed our love for each other. It was such a special day, and really an unforgettable week.

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We decided early on in the wedding planning process that we wanted to do a destination wedding. A couple of years ago, we attended my cousin Ali’s wedding in Tulum and had the most incredible time. It wasn’t about the actual wedding day per say, although that was lovely, it was about all the quality time we got to spend with everyone. We loved so many things about that trip that we decided to do something really similar. Fortunately my cousin is really cool and was flattered, not upset, when I called to ask if we could model our wedding after hers.

We worked with an awesome travel agency out of Dallas called Legacy Travel. Our travel agent Lesley was super helpful from the get-go. She made venue recommendations and arranged for us to do a site check trip. We looked at 8 hotels in the Riviera Maya, specifically in Playa Mujeres, Cancun, Puerto Morelos and Playa del Carmen. In the end, we decided on Dreams Riviera Cancun in Puerto Morelos. The hotel was tucked away and felt very private, but was still only a short distance to the airport, which was something we kept in mind for some of our older guests and those that were apprehensius about traveling out of the country. It is an all-inclusive resort, which looks expensive upfront, but when you factor in food and alcohol costs, it’s actually a great deal (especially considering how much our friends and family like to drink šŸ»).

We worked with their in-house wedding planning staff to put together the event of our dreams (well, really just mine…I don’t think Mychael ever dreamed of his wedding šŸ˜†). They do a ton of weddings at this hotel, so I felt really confident in their ability to pull it off. We planned to have our ceremony right on the beach, no shoes required, the cocktail hour on a restaurant rooftop at sunset, and the reception on a deck on the beach.

You always hear people complain about wedding planning, but for me, it was really fun. It probably helps that event planning is a part of my job and both my parents are in marketing so they had great advice. I tried hard to think through every little detail to ensure the trip would be a memorable experience for all our guests. Our ultimate goal was to throw an amazing party so people would have a great time celebrating and getting to know each other.

When the week came, we were ready to go. We’d packed up several big suitcases of decorations and sent one with each of our parents (I’d ordered a lot of stuff…I wish Etsy had something equivalent to a frequent flyer program! They literally have anything you can think of for weddings and believe me, I put that site to the the test.)

My parents spoiled us and upgraded everything about our trip, so we were picked up by a car service and taken to the airport. Then hung at the lounge and flew first class.

When we changed planes in LA, they surprised us by booking the seats right across from us (we didn’t think they were coming until the next day!). I love surprises so much and it was so fun to travel with them to Cancun.

Once we got to the hotel, everything went by so quickly. The first couple of days were filled with wedding-related meetings to make sure everything was ready to go. And then before you know it, the wedding activities began!

We had a welcome karaoke party so everyone could get to know each other over a few (or 10 drinks).

The following night was the rehearsal dinner. It was a beautiful private dinner that felt like we were eating in the jungle. Following dinner, we had a surprise fire dancer show. It was pretty cool!

And before you know it, it was the BIG DAY! My amazing maid-of-honor Anita got some super-cute matching bathing suits for the bridesmaids and my girls and I did a fun photoshoot that morning.

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And then it was time to head to the spa to get ready. I invited the bridesmaids, flower girl, the moms and Mychael’s sister to all get ready together, so we completely took over the spa. It was so fun!

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Then, we went back to my room to all get dressed, hang out and toast with some champagne.

And I found the sweetest card from Mychael.

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He’s not a mushy guy, so this meant so much to me. It talked about how people kept asking if he was nervous, but he wasn’t. He was sure. It resonated because I felt the exact same way. I wasn’t nervous about marrying him or spending the rest of my life with him. I was excited. This was the moment I’d been waiting for and I had found the man of my dreams.

It all came and went in a flash.

Family is really important to both Mychael and I so our ceremony consisted of only family members. My dad was our officiant (and he nailed it…funny and sentimental at the same time), Mychael’s dad did a special Irish bell ringing ceremony to honor their family’s heritage, his sister did a sweet reading about love and my brother did a more light-hearted reading from The Wedding Singer. Our ceremony was heart-felt and there were some candid moments that I will treasure forever. It was perfect. Everything I had ever imagined and so much more.

From there we took a million photos (Mychael’s personal nightmare) and our guests headed to the cocktail hour.

During the cocktail hour it started pouring. We knew this was coming and had planned earlier in the day to move the reception inside. Ideally it would have held off another 30 minutes, but the staff was really on top of it and moved everyone downstairs inside the restaurant just in time to avoid the rain and finish up the cocktail hour. It wasn’t my dream to have the reception in a ballroom, but in the end it wasn’t a big deal. Everyone had a great time and some people even said they liked it better because there was air conditioning. And the staff did a great job of making it look beautiful.

Our wedding was an incredible day, but moreso than that, the week was an unforgettable celebration of love. And man, it was fun. All our friends and family meshed so well and we’ve even seen new friendships forming because of that trip. I had the best time ever and I wish we could do it all again. Maybe I can talk Mychael into inviting 75 of our closest family and friends on a trip to celebrate our first anniversary. šŸ˜‰

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#28 Watch a futbol game in Spain ā€“ Part 2 (Ibiza)

31 Oct

Due to the delay at the Barcelona airport, I arrived in Ibiza around 10 p.m. I felt bad about getting there so late because I had planned to meet up with my cousin and introduce her to my LA friends Heidi and Ronnie. Well, turns out I had nothing to worry about. Being the social, resourceful people they are somehow the three of them met up on their own. The other problem with being late was that my cell phone didn’t work, so if everyone had already left to go out for the night, there was no way I would find them. I dropped my stuff in my room and quickly ran over to the room registered to HeidiĀ Ā (no phones in the room, so you have to get off your butt and actually walk over there). To my pleasant surprise, Heidi opened the door to reveal my cousin and Ronnie hanging out and ready to go out for the night.

I was quick to learn that in Ibiza time works on a completely different schedule. Let me walk you through a typical day – wake up at noon, have lunch, take a siesta until 5 p.m., get up and have some drinks, get ready, go to dinner around 11 p.m., go to the club at 3 a.m., go to bed at 11 a.m. Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m getting old and I can’t keep up with a schedule like that. Don’t get me wrong, I gave it a shot (literally), but my body quickly reminded me that I’m not 21 anymore.

We went out the first night to one of the big typical Ibiza clubs. The word big doesn’t really do this place justice though. It was gigantic. So many different rooms. At one point we were in a room with a stage and a rock concert going on. This place put Hollywood to shame!

One awesome (read: not so awesome) thing about Ibiza is the cost of a drink. It’s somewhere in the neighborhood of $25 for one drink. And this isn’t even a large, generously poured drink. This is one measured out shot, two ice cubes and a can of coke on the side. Needless to say, I definitely recommend drinking before going to the club.

So after a couple hundred dollars in alcohol, endless rooms of different types of music, dancing on a platform, meeting some of my cousins friends and nearly 100 photos (we tend to take a lot of pics when we’re drunk), we finally decided to head home.

Now while you probably think the next morning is the moment when I remembered I’m not in college anymore, prepare to be shocked. None of us felt amazing, but we did make it out of the room the next day. Here is the mistake though – we started drinking out at the beach (where I met my future husbands – see below) and NEVER stopped!

I realize I’m making us all sound like lushesĀ right now, but understand that’s what people do in Ibiza. We went out that night to a more loungy, Miami-style place, which did indeed close at 2 a.m., but the damage had already been done…

The next morning we woke up early to take a ferry over to the island of FormenteraĀ with a group of Brittany’s friends and I was not in good shape. **This is the moment I was referring to earlier.** This was the moment that I wished I could just curl up in my own bedĀ at home. Instead, I made the decisionĀ to get on a ferry in incredibly choppy waters. Needless to say, that was not a good idea. We made it to the island and after renting three motos and a car, we made our way to a couple of beaches. It was absolutely gorgeous and the water was so clear that even I swam in it! In retrospect, IĀ probably should have just stayed at the hotel and recovered, but I never want to miss out on the fun.

We made it safely back to Ibiza and parted ways from Brittany’s friends. We decided to just keep it mellow that night and the four of us went to dinner in the harbor. One really cool part about this is around midnight every night all the dancers from the clubs walk through the street singing and performing, basically trying to entice people to come to their club. I think it is a really cool idea and provided for some good entertainment as well.

We had one, absolutely amazing drink and then called it a night.

Well, most of us that is. Brit ran into some old friends from when she used to live on the island and decided to go check out one of the clubs. It was the perfect night for me and Brit got to do what she wanted as well, so it was a win-win for all!

For our next and final day in Ibiza Heidi, Ronnie and I wanted to go do some touristy stuff, so we parted ways from Brittany, who went meet up with her friends. The three of us walked around an old castle that overlooks the island and the ocean. It was beautiful and actually very interesting. I would have never expected to find history on a party island.

It was also a cool experience because it was completely deserted, as we were there during siesta (since we went to bed at a decent hour the night before, we didn’t need a siesta).

After that we did some souvenir shopping and then headed back to the hotel.

I hadn’t had paella yet, so we decided to go out for a nice final dinner. We ended up finding a place that had the most interesting menu I have ever seen. Zebra? Really?

It worked out well for us though because Heidi wanted sushi, which they had, and I wanted paella, which they also had. I’m not sure if there’s anything this restaurant didn’t have!

It was a great dinner and a perfect ending to the trip.

The next morning I got up and went back to the airport. Three quick flights (Ibiza to Barcelona, Barcelona to Paris and Paris to LA) and I was back at home.

I had the most amazing time in Spain. It wasĀ so greatĀ to see and experience the culture firsthand. I can’t wait to go back sometime and if you’ve never been I highly recommend it. Just be sure if you’re going to Ibiza, you know what you’re in for!

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