I think everyone should book a honeymoon, today

I don't see why we only get one. That was fabulous. We went to St. Thomas and stayed at the Marriott because my (gasp) husband has a million points. St. Thomas was a great spot to be, and be able to travel to other islands but I think we liked St. John better. We went to St. John for a day and did a cruise of four British Virgin Islands one day. Stopped at the Baths at Virgin Gorda where Steve had some difficulty with the "path," went to Guana Island for snorkeling (Steve remained in the boat), had lunch at Marina Cay and then finished up at Jost Van Dyke at the Soggy Dollar bar where I almost lost my (gasp) husband as he waded in. We ate, well, the entire weekend but nothing was as good at Havana Blue, which we had twice. Oh, and we had a few rum drinks. Here are some pictures:




Steve, hiking. For the first time. In flip flops.

But the hike gives you a view like this, of St. John. And it's all worth it.

And then to Honeymoon Beach .. where we could take a dip.

Snorkeling in Trunk Bay, by myself ..

Lunch at Marina Cay - Pussers Cafe

Fake smiles at the Baths

Dinner at Mim's on St. Thomas

Quick recap of the wedding, since I know I didn't say much before. We got in Wednesday, got our marriage license which took all of about 15 minutes (though 45 minutes and a fun argument trying to find the building). Chick-fil-A for lunch cures all and we stayed in Alabama that night.

Thursday we met with the Pastor who was wonderful and just reminded me during the ceremony .. "Jennifer, I'm married. Look at your husband." Drove down to Santa Rosa Beach to find Kim and Jeremy already camped at the bar. We decided to BBQ that night and as people got in to town they stopped by. Met our two new nieces for the first time. They were so lovely! Great night. The west coast people got in late but we fed them too. Had a blast just catching up.

Friday AM Karrie, Andrea and I hit the spa and then had lunch. Then we all spent the rest of the day on the beach, me in the shade and had dinner at the Beach Club for our rehearsal. We couldn't do the actual rehearsal on the beach because Tabi was practicing her circle but at this point, we've all been in enough weddings. Just tell us when to go and we're good.

Saturday the fun began! Steve made breakfast for everyone and we had our hair and make-up done. I saw Steve up until about an hour before the wedding. I'm not a traditionalist. Steve has seen my hair and make-up done before and I wanted everyone to be at the house just enjoying themselves instead of worrying about him and I not seeing each other. So around 5, everyone left me to start the wedding and I called Shannon. No one told me they were going to leave me alone like that! In my wedding dress. Staring at myself and down at the beach hoping to God I don't fall down those stairs. Then luckily my Dad came and got me, we walked me down the aisle with no problems. Someone also told me to just look at Steve when I walked down (can't remember who) but that was probably one of the best pieces of advice I got. That's why I had that big ol' smile on my face. I think if I would have looked at everyone I probably would have started crying and I had far too much makeup on for that to be appropriate. The ceremony was short, but incredibly spiritual for me. All I could hear was the pastors voice and the waves crashing in. And all I could see was Steve. It was worth it. Every second we had hard decisions to make, checks to write, questions to answer, dresses to pick, it was all worth it for that moment. And then the reception went off perfectly, after I asked the DJ to stop playing Kenny G and stick with my excel chart. Everyone danced. The vendors were all so nice and our photographer I know really captured a lot of wonderful moments. Carly was the hit. The Shannon-fan was everywhere.

I think Shannon gave Steve and I the best piece of advice at the beginning of the weekend. She told us to just make sure we focused on each other, the entire weekend. I had such a wonderful time with family and friends but the time was truly for Steve and I and we've never had so much fun together. Great advice - for any bride or groom.

I really want to see Iron Man. My love for Gwyneth knows no boundaries.