Cassie & Derek tie the knot!

This summer we had the great privilege of attending the wedding of the century!  Cassie was the last of our group of girlfriends to get married and to top it off, she and Derek planned a destination beach wedding in the Dominican Republic!  Thanks to my mom generously giving us her airline miles and her hotel points  for our first night in Miami we were able to attend and only pay for our hotel room and any other incidentals while we were away.

My mom also did the majority of looking after the boys which is no easy task!

The flight schedule worked best for us to spend the first night away in Miami.  We got in late, but didn’t hesitate to use our free drink voucher for the evening.  We were so excited to have some time alone where we could converse without being interrupted!

The next day we were up bright and early for a wonderful breakfast at the hotel and then it was off to the airport to wait to board our flight to the Dominican.

Excitement was building as we descended and could see the gorgeous blue hues of the ocean!

The DR airport was so adorable and tropical.  We exited the plane outside of course and found our way into customs.  There was a groovy drum band playing while we all snaked through the customs line which made the experience much more fun.  They were quick, too!

Check out the little air traffic control tower there behind the ever so tropical grass roofs!

Once at the hotel we didn’t waste any time getting into our swimsuits and hooking up with friends who were already there.  Poor Jeff and Justin were fighting some kind of food poisoning that we were fortunate enough to fight off until the last night we were there.  Later we found out that the culprit was most likely an amoeba.  Yuck.

Our room was perfect!  We were on the first floor which meant that we had a patio with its own jacuzzi tub and a couple of very comfortable lounge chairs.  One of the best parts about the hotel is the pool that snakes its way through the resort giving everyone a “step out your door and into the pool” atmosphere.  Being on the first floor, we could literally do this!  It was paradise!

Champagne and a jacuzzi bath!

 

The view from one of the resort restaurants

After lunch we hurried off to the beach.  Ahhhhh!  Those white sands….those blue waters.  It doesn’t get much better than this!

We arrived in the DR on the fourth of July.  Being in another country we weren’t sure if there would be any sort of festivities, but we were wrong!  This place went all out for Americans!  They had a huge event happening in the courtyard with food, a karaoke contest, and lots of music.  They even had a replica of the statue of liberty!

The next day we had the entire day to laze around and enjoy the beautiful scenery.  We spent the morning at the beach and the rest of the afternoon at the pool.  Our resort was a bit of a party place and one day we got caught up in a foam pool party!  It was so much fun…I’m pretty sure we were too old to be having so much fun with it, but it was fun, nonetheless.

We visited the swim up bar frequently and drank enough Mamajuana to last us a lifetime!

The guys signed up for the volleyball tournament and needed an extra player.  Stacey was a true sport and happily joined in.  It was a really exciting match!  Our guys did quite well actually and made it to the championship game.  David turned out to be an excellent server and scored a lot of points for the team.

Friday night we attended the rehearsal dinner and had a lovely meal with all of Cassie and Derek’s family.  There was not an official wedding rehearsal but we all found ourselves walking toward the beach and decided to orchestrate our own impromptu practice!  It was so much fun and a sweet memory to hold on to.

The next day was wedding day!  After grabbing a quick brunch with David I headed over to Mrs. Debbie’s suite to begin getting prettied up for the wedding.  All day long, I couldn’t help thinking about how we were never going to be doing this again.  Going through all of the steps of having a wedding for each friend has been such a fun chapter in our lives.  I will certainly miss it, but will hold on to so many sweet memories!

The beautiful bride

Absolutely stunning!

Bridesmaids

The wedding was perfect!  The beach was breathtaking just like the bride.  The pictures that the photographer took were amazing.  I wish I could include them here!

Mr. & Mrs. Blackwell after the wedding!

Cassie switched out her white sash for her coral pink party sash and we were off to the boat reception!

The bus ride was long and bumpy and when we finally made it to the beach we were all surprised to find this little boat waiting for us!  Peering out toward the bigger boats in the water we were wondering which boat could hold us all for a wedding reception!  We all managed to make it across in our wedding clothes without falling in and were pleasantly surprised to find ourselves aboard a beautifully decorated two-story reception boat.  Everything was just perfect!

David and I chowed down on our dinner and both agreed that it was the best food we had the entire trip!  After dinner the tables were pushed aside so that we could dance the night away!  We pulled off our last bridesmaids’ dance without a hitch and Cassie was definitely the star of the show.  It was so much fun…so much so that I really did not want to get off that boat!

We had the entire day after the wedding to relax before heading home super early the next morning.  The guys made up some pool games to entertain themselves.  Silly boys.   And, we joined the Parkers on what turned out to be the longest beach walk ever to go buy souvenirs from the locals.  It was fun, but walking for over an hour in the sand is quite a work out on your legs!

After our long walk on the beach we were surprised to come back to our room and find this waiting for us!  We thought they’d made a mistake, but apparently everyone received one.  Honeymoon or not, we gobbled it up!

We all met for dinner at the French restaurant at the resort our last night there.  The food was nothing to write home about, but sharing the evening with these friends made it all worthwhile!

I still cannot say how much this trip meant to me.  What a special treat and wonderful life we live to get to do things like this!  I am so thankful for my friends and the memories we made that will last a lifetime.