Orlando Wedding Venues: The Hidden Gems

I did my fair share of research on wedding venues in Central Florida back when I was planning our wedding and have attended over a dozen weddings in the Orlando area. Some of these venues are fairly new and some have been around for a long time.

Vacation Highlights

I'm back and hoping to catch up on all the blogging over the weekend!

Thankfully Friday arrived really quickly this week after returning home from Jamaica on Wednesday night. It's never fun jumping right back into reality but a two-day work week makes it so much more bearable to deal with the post-vacation blues.

We flew to Montego Bay last week Friday for my cousin's wedding and had an amazing time catching up with 20+ family members that came in from three different countries. It was really good for the soul and, being at an all-inclusive resort in paradise, made it that much sweeter!

 

I plan to post a full travel recap next week when I've had time to organize my photos...and my brain, let's be honest...but I wanted to share some highlights from the trip.

Family Time
K and I are the only ones that live in the US so spending time with my parents, sister, and the extended family was much needed. Especially being able to catch up with my cousins and meet their babies (and not-so-much-babies anymore) for the first time.

 

Pre-Wedding Fun
On night one, the bride-to-be willingly agreed to participate in the Miss Iberostar "pageant" which was really a very unorthodox competition involving collecting as many shirts and pants from the audience. Guess who won?



On night two, we secretly organized some extra entertainment from the staff that came to the beat of the Magic Mike soundtrack. She was a good sport and it was no rated-R show but it was so fun and pretty hilarious to cap off the night before her wedding.



The Wedding

This is a given because it was the purpose of our trip but we got to witness my cousin and her love say their vows in a beautiful setting.

Post-Wedding Fun
We only had time to leave the resort and do one excursion on this trip so we picked a catamaran cruise (more to come on this) but snorkeling was one fun part of the excursion.

On our last night we had a bonfire cocktail party on the beach for one last get-together before saying our goodbyes the next day.

Bonus Highlights
Other than all the quality time with my family which is priceless, a huge highlight of our trip was winning two free gifts. I chose a 50-minute massage at the and K picked two tickets to the VIP departure lounge in the Montego Bay airport. So much unexpected pampering but we loved it!

The MoBay VIP departure area offers complimentary food, drinks, and a really comfortable lounge with reliable WiFi access so it was a really nice end to our trip.

So happy to be home to be with my Lola but lots of detoxing and cleaning eating is much needed for the next few weeks.

I hope you enjoy the weekend just as much as I will enjoy sleeping in my own bed!

Tobago Love: A Tropical Wedding

This is a not a wedding guide of any sort.  It's more like a mini gallery since the professional photos from my girl friend's wedding back in February just became available. It was also the most gorgeous wedding I've attended so I thought the details shown in the photos could be helpful to future brides out there looking for ideas and inspiration. 

The venue was in the backyard of an oceanfront villa that sits on the coast of Tobago in the southern Caribbean.  Tobago is the sister island of Trinidad where I grew up and a lot of my family and friends still live there. 

Photography by: Dos Imagery

Multiway Bridesmaid dresses: In One Clothing

The bride gifted her girls with these cute kimono robes from Etsy along with some gorgeous angel wing earrings made with white bone and shiny tattoo jewelry.

 

 

  

  

The sand ceremony included sand from Denmark (groom) and Trinidad (bride).

 

Breathless Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

The Dominican Republic is one of the most beautiful countries ~ if not THE most beautiful country ~ I've visited yet. Our trip to Punta Cana was amazing - the beaches, the resort, the food, the weather and the people. It was magnificent, or as they say magnifico!

We stayed at Breathless Resorts & Spa, which is an adults-only, all-inclusive resort. It just opened in November 2013 so it's a brand new resort that's perfect for a destination wedding, honeymoon or just a vacation in paradise.

The Resort

The Food

The Wedding 

The reason we went to the DR was to celebrate the marriage of two friends and I have to say the ceremony and reception was absolutely gorgeous! I've been to destination weddings in Jamaica, Florida and several different tropical spots but this was by far the most beautiful wedding I've attended yet.

 

Entertainment & Fun

Our Excursion

We went on the Marinarium catamaran cruise which took us around the coast of Punta Cana and stopped at an area where we snorkeled around the reef and swam with stingrays and nurse sharks. They fed us lunch and tropical cocktails on the cruise and the crew entertained everyone with dancing and singing to local music. We had a blast! 

 

What I would give to be back there right now!