My Twilleager Life: The Wedding, Part II

We always knew we wanted a destination wedding. We lived in Texas with no family within a 4 hour flight. We also knew we wanted a small wedding. The idea of planning a big wedding does not sound fun. Spending all of my free time (and money) searching for venues, finding a caterer, deciding the menu, deciding between a DJ and a band, and then researching and choosing the DJ/band, deciding on colors, centerpieces, linens, seating charts....etc, etc! That is overwhelming to me, and I knew I would hate most of it and resent the time and energy it would take. As a little girl I never dreamed of a big wedding. I never really thought I would even have a wedding. So a small destination wedding was an easy choice. We just needed to decide where. I wanted Bora Bora. :) Just a tad too far and expensive.

Mike's mother suggested Zihuatanejo (which I will will shorten to Zihua). She lived there for five years, and loved the small town and beautiful scenery. She lived in an amazing house with views of the bay, enough room for 5 couples, a palapa roof and no walls in the common areas. The bedrooms were downstairs and had AC, but the upstairs was completely open with spectacular views of the bay (this will be know as "the house").

View from the dinning table

View of the bay. I stole this picture from Jimmy Ho's Facebook page :)

Hand painted mural above the couch

This picture doesn't due it justice, but this is a steep hill leading up to the house. Most taxis and people struggled to make it up.

The garden

The kitchen

Mike and I visited Zihuatanejo in May 2013. We thought about having the ceremony at the house but we would have to bring in caters, chairs, tables and decided against it. Instead we looked at hotels that also had a restaurant. We only looked at two hotels, and after we saw Tentaciones (I'll refer to as "the hotel") we didn't need to look any further. The view was amazing, they've done plenty of weddings, and their restaurant was ranked in the top 3 restaurants in Zihua. We booked the 4 rooms at the hotel for our wedding week and scheduled to have the ceremony and reception there. People in Mexico are so laid back, that we didn't need to plan anything else for another 9 months. Destination weddings are so easy. I highly recommend them.

We had very few decisions to make. Colors for the flowers, MOH dress, ties, my dress, the wedding cake flavor, playlist for our iPod (fancy entertainment...I know), Mike's suit, the dinner menu, and we wanted to plan a couple other events during the wedding week. That's it. I can't say the entire process was stress free. I shed a few tears and stress filled moments but in the grand scheme of wedding planning it wasn't bad.

On to the wedding week. Here's pictures of Zihuatanejo:

Mike and I planned to get to Zihua on Sunday May 11th. We left our house at 2pm on Saturday and arrived in Zihua 30 hours later. We took a tram, a train, 3 planes and a taxi. The trip was actually pretty easy. We had a 6 hour layover in Mexico City and there we learned that my parent's Sunday morning flight was cancelled and they couldn't fly out till Monday! I was upset, not for myself but for them losing a day of vacation. United Airlines dropped the ball. Besides that all of our guests made it safely to Mexico. Everyone either stayed at the house or at the hotel.

On Monday the 12th, Mike and I had engagement photos with our photographer at the house.

Acting causal

Looking super short in this picture

A plaque with the house name

My friend Andrew came not only as a guest but also did my hair and make up

Mike needed a little touch up too...he was a little too pale

After pictures we meet up with everyone at a restaurant in town.

Walking into town

The resturant

During dinner the waiter asked why we were there. When they found out if was for a wedding they played Endless Love by Lionel Richie and Shania Twain. This is now our unofficial wedding song.

Listen to it here: Endless Love

After dinner we bought hats! Floppy hats are a must

On Tuesday the 13th the boys went to play golf in Ixtapa and the girls (and Andrew) went to the beach at La Ropa. I made day reservations at Viceroy Hotel to use their beach chairs and pool. I really just wanted to lay in the hanging bed. For $25 each we got to use their facilities, and each got 5 small beers. And since no one else was there we got 4 waiters. They also set up a table on the beach for us to have lunch there. The service was fast and they did a good job. Viceroy was the other hotel we looked at. It's beautiful but a little too big for our intimate party....and I would have had to get married in the sand. No thank you.

That night we had a Welcome Party for everyone at the house. Mike's mom put together the menu and was lead chef. It was a good time for everyone to mingle before the wedding day.

On Thursday the 14th we took a catamaran around Zihuatanejo Bay. This was a great time, everyone enjoyed it. I don't think I've ever seen my dad so happy. He got to steer the boat and raise the sail.