After nearly 10 years of dating, Jim and I were married in the beautiful country of Jamaica, surrounded by 25 of our nearest and dearest.
I woke up this morning sick to my stomach. I don't think it was nerves, per se. I think that the drinks, food, lack of sleep, heat and sun had finally caught up with me, and what a terrible day for it!! We woke up at about 7:00 am, but I really could not get out of bed, so I went back to sleep while Jim went to visit with people. An hour later he and Felicia returned with some food for me and then left me alone. Sweet Felicia wanted to stay with me, but I told her no, as she really had very little time to spend in Jamaica, and all I wanted to do was sleep.
Jamaica, RIU Ocho Rios, wedding
I manged to wake up and eat sometime around 10 a.m. I decided a little fresh air would be good for me, so I went out onto the balcony. Lo and behold, there are all the friends at the upper level of the tranquillity pool. For some perspective, this is what is looks like:
So what do I see? One cup hits the water below...then another...then another....and then there goes Jim, right over the edge!! Now, he and Ed had been doing this over the past few days, but come on!! This is our wedding day!!! So I just went back inside and pretended I wasn't seeing that!
At about 11:30 a.m., I headed to the spa to see Kelly and Debbie as they were first in line to get ready. Mom and Marta trickled in afterward. The ladies at the spa did a fantastic job on our hair and mine and Debbie's makeup. It was such a great choice to have that done, as I really didn't want to worry about it.
Since it was taking awhile for everyone to get done at the spa, I headed back to my room to begin getting ready. The bridal party started trickling in and we had Dana running all the errands between my room and Jim's! Brian showed up at about 3:15 and I sent him to Jim's room first to capture him getting ready:
It was now my turn! I was actually really calm. The only time I wish I had a larger room was at this point. With mom, Marta, Kelly, Felicia, Ashley, Kasia and Dana in the room it was PACKED!! But I was so glad to have everyone there. Too bad my veil kept getting stood on!!
Flowers:
Made by the talented Roberta Wands of Plumeria's Wedding Flower Boutique. She does some amazing work. These flowers looked amazingly real!
Dress:
My dress was purchased at Mecklenburg Bridal (as were the Charlotte girls and mom's dress). Great place to buy a dress!
Getting ready was nice and easy and we had lots of time for Brian to take photos and to have a champagne toast (thanks mom!)
We had a great steel drum band. I really don't remember much of them! But they sounded great during Cannon in D. Nikki came to get me right at 4 p.m. as Chandlyn was lining up the guys. It took a few minutes but finally everyone was in place.
First up - Rick and Debbie (parents of the groom)
Ashley:
Kelly:
Marta & Kasia:
Felicia:
Then it was our turn. I decided to walk down the aisle with both of my parents, not as a Jewish tradition, but because it only made sense. Why would I have one but not the other walk me down if they are both my parents??? This was my first up-close peek at Jim....and he was SUNBURNED!! Oh and its nearly impossible to walk in a long dress, with a long veil and sand!
Our rehearsal did not come in handy after all...I think my parents were on the wrong side, and we were beyond confused as to who did what and when!
Jim and I compiled our own ceremony from others that we had read. We added a little here and there, and really made it our own. Considering it was the first time seeing it, the minister did a fantastic job.
We included "who gives this woman away?"
We had both sets of parents stand and give their blessings to us.
We then asked for our sibling's blessings and then finally our family and friends blessings. This was a nice addition to the ceremony and really involved everyone.
Jim wrote me his vows which were very sweet.
Then I read him mine.
Jeremy managed not to lose the rings.
If anyone has been to the tropics, you realize how hot and humid it is. What happens to fingers when they are hot? They swell....we got 'em on, but not without a fight!
Dana read an excerpt from The Little Prince
And then we had our sand ceremony.
Signing the register what felt like 20 times came next. The steel drum band played for us while doing this.
Kelly and Erik were the perfect choice for witnesses.
And then it went from "me" to "we"
Mr. and Mrs. James and Julie "ACUMAAAA" - yeah, we need to work on that!!
Mr. and Mrs. James and Julie Acuna:
On the next installment:
Photos...photos....and more photos!!!
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