Wedding Week: Events, Crises, and Lots of Love

I'll try to keep it short and sweet, with some fun pics included. But in a coconut shell, it was busy, chaotic, amazing, fun, emotional, and IT JUST FLEW BY! We had gorgeous weather; we swam, kayaked, surfed, ate, drank, cruised around the island in golf carts, combed beaches, did some boating, barely slept, hugged, cried, loved, got lost, and more...

Location: Hope Town, Elbow Cay, Abaco, Bahamas

Arrival by boat or or public ferry only

Groom & Best Man, Nate

DAY 1 (SUNDAY): This was the day most of our guests arrived and we were available to help with transportation. Ben & I were busy with picking people up at the airport, getting them to the house, on the boat and to the island...It was Hectic for Sure! Finally, around 9pm we arrive with the last load of guests. Elbow Cay is a fairly quiet island, so most businesses are closed, except for (and luckily) the Sea Spray Marina's Outdoor Tiki "Garbanzo Reef Bar"! Yay! We were thrilled to be able to relax, share platters of appetizers and imbibe in island cocktails, Kaliks, and wine. It was a long day with many more to come. Cheers!

Follow us to Paradise!

DAY 2 (MONDAY): We are up early to get back to the main island to pick up my dad and step-mom, Wanda. They arrived in the morning and after getting some Bloody Marys, we are off back to the island to prep for a "boat and beach day". Everyone who is "in" meets us at the docks and we head over to Lubber's Quarters (another island) to enjoy some sun and relaxing at Lubber's Landing. This amazing Eco-restaurant, bar, and resort is owned by 2 wonderful people and friends, Amy & Austin. They do it right- only the freshest veggies, fruits, seafood, and ingredients. They are famous for their fresh squeezed-lime Saltwater Margaritas and their Island Burger. To.Die.For. They also have other amazing food and drinks. Usually there is just one chef and one bartender, so things take island-time...but they are so worth the wait. Just order an easy pour (yes, Kalik on draft!) beer while you wait for your luscious margarita. It was a great day of sunning, drinking, eating, laughing, etc. Here are some pics to prove it!

The Sea of Abaco through the trees

chillin on Lubbers

Bob Marley lives everywhere!

Bride & Groom Anchored Together

Jen & Alicia BFF's forever

Dad being silly

We're waiting for our Saltwater Margaritas!

View through a bird

Well, Crazy Fun that is!

You can see the squall coming!

DAY 3 (TUESDAY):  A few of the guests, including Ben headed down to Winding Bay, the Ritz Carlton Resort on the southern end of Great Abaco Island. They started early and had a beautiful first few holes...until Ben's phone rang. It turned out to be his mom's husband Rob with news that they might not be able to make it due to Anita's passport being missing. Somehow it got lost in the Miami airport (or plane) and she couldn't leave. It was a stressful period as we searched for ways to solve this issue, emotions were running high for sure. Our friend, Greg, saved the day for them by having lunch delivered on the course and the crew quickly scarfed down fish tacos and sides. They then tried to finish up the round, not before getting totally drenched on the 15th hole by a typical island squall. Ben (on the course) and I (back at the house) worked frantically by phone to help out as much as we could. Rob and Anita finally decided to drive back from Miami to New Orleans (with a quick stop home in Destin) to get another passport for Anita. At least there was a plan...

Evening: The night of the Welcome Party!

Our friend and local caterer, Tania, came early to set up food for the party. I and some family/friends helped her set up a delicious spread. The golf crew arrived home late, but not too late, due to helping some ladies and their small children get out of the squall and back to Elbow Cay (Heroes!!- their husands had gotten too drunk and they got stuck down island). After quick showers and tidying up, we proceeded to have a wonderful Welcome Party and new guests even arrived that evening!

My Sweet Pea-Jen!

Sean & I

Tre & Aunt Sheryl

Sunset Conch Blowing

Key Lime Cheesecake Bites

Coconut Macaroons

the Party Spread

Ben, his brother Chris, and our friend Blane 

Cousins representing Maryland!

more delicious treats!

DAY 4 (WEDNESDAY): A day with NO plans. Perfect time to deal with a crisis. Remember a previous post how I discussed Besita's surgery and difficult healing? Well, this is going on the whole time- her healing that is. Because of the chaos and new situations, she was a bit anxious all week and wanted to clean her wounds herself (not good). And we would give her a "break" from the big plastic cone she had to wear and then forget or walk away for a moment and...she's reopened her wound. That's about as graphic as I will get, but not as bad as it got. Finally, after my anxiety had hit the roof with this, we jump on a rental boat and head back to Marsh Harbour to take her to some Vet we knew nothing about. Luckily he was professional, knowledgeable, and fairly courteous. We got her some meds and antibiotic and stern instructions on how to proceed. We guilted ourselves over not being the best parents that week and made some serious changes in our supervision of her. It sure was scary...and in the end, all is well and she's back to her amazing self...

The evening however, was beautifully planned by my best friend Jen, as a Bachelorette Party (Gays and Gals). There was only a handful of places to go on the island but we were going to hit them! We started at the house and soon golf carted to the North end of the island to start at Wine Down & Sip Sip; as it turns out we were the party everywhere we went- which was awesome! All we needed was each other to have fun anyway! Here are the only allowable pics of the night:

my adornments for the night:
a symbolically decorated boa and
headband with this matching pink flamingo

Atlanta Crew!

leaving our mark at Harbour's Edge Bar

and yes, I had to stand up on a barstool
and scream "I love Benjamin Dunable and
I'm going to marry him!"

Actually, it was quite tame and loads of fun. Of course, we ran into the guys (inevitable) and had one big party at the end...dancing our sunkissed bodies off at Cap'n Jacks.  We lost only one person, well, okay 3 total, but found them before the night was over (I say they got lost!) I do fondly remember my soon-to-be-brother-in-law shouting "I LOVE MY FAMILY" as we were all drunk-ily dancing in a 10'x10' area overlooking the harbour...it was a perfect ending and a perfect memory.

DAY 5 (THURSDAY): ONLY ONE MORE DAY UNTIL WE WED!

Lazy Day...although I cooked a large breakfast for the second time. I love to cook, and we had all this lovely food that no one was eating!!! So, why not, even if it was my wedding week?? Food is love and Food is Social...

The rest of the day:  Beach Time, Kayaking, Exploring the Island, etc. Very Casual and very necessary.  Really it was a bunch of this:

You see why it was hard to put a cone on her?

Mother of the Bride!

Wanda & Dad visiting us at "Always Wendy"

 The house we stayed at was called "Always Wendy", no doubt named after a family member but symbolic for the constant wind from the Atlantic. It really was always windy... (hmmm....and we're getting married on the beach....)

Anyway, I also was able to squeeze in a bridal mani and pedi with my mom and Jen...and yes, we brought a bottle of wine and all squeezed into this tiny but lovely salon (maybe 9'x9'?) with 2 hair stations and a few other chairs with a portable mani-pedi station (ooohhh, how I missed Salon Nouvelle in Atlanta for this day!) But it was an experience for sure; we got to hear some local gossip! There sure are some characters in Abaco! (Local and Home Owners) Especially when they drink too much and have a reputation ;) Only Mom & Jen will know what I mean...

Evening: Rehearsal and Rehearsal Dinner

Rehearsal was of course at the Lodge and it was led by Bonnie, who ironically is the minister's daughter (small town, really.) It was short and sweet. Perfect. We were still missing Ben's mom by the way!! They were due to arrive Friday (hours before the wedding!!!!)

The dinner was wonderful, and we chose the Abaco Inn because it has always been a favorite spot and we just love Judy the owner/manager. We had a private room overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and feasted on local food and beverages and also shared laughs, speeches, and gifts! It was a beautiful night full of tears, hugs, and lots of love. We were all feeling very blessed.

Golf Carting to our Rehearsal!

Practicing the Big Walk with my Dad

Arrival to the Dinne

Jen, Me, Tre & Sean

Ben and his new Mom!

Sentimental Moments~ Gifts to the Bridal Party!

Dad with Nate & Julz

More Love~ Hugging Wanda

So far, I was holding it together. WE were holding it together quite well. We had so many people tell us how "CALM" we were the days, weeks, months leading up to our wedding, including the week of. I am not sure how we did it, especially that week because we were expending so much energy- physically, emotionally, mentally... we had some reminders...

As the Brits say:                                                                                        And as Sailors say:                                      

Prepping for Wedding Week

If you recall in previous posts, I had a lot of time on my hands from mid Jan to early March. I did spend a lot of time helping Ben with Boat and Caretaking projects and activities, but I could only do so much. In my down times, I worked on planning, organizing, and creating our wedding. I wanted it to truly represent us, our lives here, and the beauty of Abaco.
Here are a few of my projects that I have pictures of:

The Proverbial Driftwood Sign for the Islands

Anchorage had to be on top with 4060 miles of travel (Ben's brother Chris and his wife Erin)

Florida represents with Jacksonville, Niceville, and Destin

Coloradians (Mom & Dan) traveled 1831 miles

Maryland family traveled a bit easier with 865

California totally represented with guests from San Diego, Temecula, Los Angeles, and San Fransisco

Junction City, Kansas was also uniquely represented (they are so happy to have moved away from there!)

The Bosses from Huntsville, Alabama joined for just the wedding

And of course, Atlanta was in the house!

Driftwood pieces

Driftwood sign of the Travel Miles of our Guests
Ben made the base and screwed/nailed the small signs on and
I painted all of the signs

The Wedding Sign for guests to find our ceremony

hand painted driftwood with boating rope screwed into place and expoxied shells (local of course)
Ben did the epoxy and rope work


                            Name Cards and Decorative Shells

Picking out Shells for Name Cards (all local)

Dinner name tags: sponge blotted with blue and yellow; my step-mom Wanda did the calligraphy;
Shells: I polished the shells with baby oil, drilled tiny holes in each shell, and used jute twine to hold them together (42 of them!)

Shells used in decoration during the reception and dinner vases

Finished Dinner Settings: Burlap Runners, Shell Name Tags, Bamboo Chargers,  Local and Personal  Shells in Vases

Projects were the fun part! Including all the Welcome bags filled with local Maps, Activities, Must See Things, Local Restaurants/shops and Do's and Dont's.  We also included a local history book of Hope Town, water bottles, Handmade soaps made by the children and teens of ECC- Every Child Counts, invitations to wedding events (welcome party, day after brunch, rehearsal dinner, etc.)
It really was fun making and prepping everything. I thought I had more pictures of everything but unfortunately I can't find them (one of the down sides to having your "things" spread out over several countries and locations!) Maybe my mom took some pics :) Mom, you have any???

The not-so-fun-parts, which you would know if you ever planned a destination wedding, were: trying to communicate the logistics of travel and accommodations to others (numerous times), budgeting and working with island-time businesses, trying to confirm RSVP's (are you coming or not?!?), talking money with parents, and of course getting the groom to be to focus and help make some decisions during his busy busy days working.

Fortunately everything worked out wonderfully, except a few major issues that ended up working out in the end...as you will see in the next post.