Cancun, Mexico

I just left Cancun yesterday. It was so beautiful - a perfect place for Stacey Yano and Dave Flood's destination wedding. (Sorry Stacey, this is the only picture I have of you and Dave together.)

Anyways, I arrived there the night of Sept.15. I couldn't reach Stacey in her room, but I figured she'd be somewhere close to the buffet and the bar. Sure enough, her and the guests that had arrived earlier were at a table on the beach directly between the outdoor buffet and one of the bars. I know Stacey so well!

After dinner, Stacey gave me a night tour of the resort. But it wasn't til the next morning that I could really appreciate the beauty of the place.......

Hands down, the best part of the whole resort were the dolphins. My room was on the 2nd floor with a balcony that looked down on these beautiful creatures. During the day they would swim around playing and every few hours they would be swimming with people who signed up to swim with them. I've already done it before, but it was thrilling to watch other people do it (Stacey, her mom Millie, mother in law Linda, and sister in law Heather all did it). The best part was at night when I would wake up giggling because I could hear the dolphins splashing and jumping around at night. I don't know when these creatures sleep!

The rest of the resort was beautiful. Right across the dolphins was a man-made lagoon that you could go into with little fishies living in it. And there were several pools all around. I never went swimming in any of them, because I stuck to the ocean. It was just like being in Cayman - actually we were really close to Cayman. I bet I could have borrowed one of the kayaks and battled myself to Monette's place in Cayman pretty quick.




Since all of Stacey and my friends couldn't make it to this destination wedding I had already made alternate plans......at the wedding shower I arranged for Dave's mom Linda to temporarily adopt me while we were there. I shared a room with her daughter Heather who is the same age as me. Heather was a great roommate. She was fun and laid back and most importantly she didn't snore! (I had brought ear plugs just in case).





There were 25 people in total who came down for the wedding. Most were friends and family of Dave, but Stacey had her parents, her godmother and other family friends there as well.

Oh I forgot to mention the free food and free drinks. I lived on virgin strawberry margaritas and pina coladas the whole time I was there. There was a buffet that served every food you could imagine. Not to mention the 4 or 5 restaurants specializing in everything from steak to seafood to Japanese cuisine.
And I can't forget to mention all the little deli/bakery/coffee shops on every corner.

And free room service too!
I don't know if all this free food really goes well with being in a bikini all day. ; )
















Let me talk about the spa for a while. If anyone knows of a way that I can make a living testing out spas, could you let me know. We had to wait for out appointment in their waiting room. It was so beautiful. We laid in this room where all the lounges faced a tall tiled wall with plants along the floor. There was a constant stream of water that fell down along the wall. Luckily, since Stacey and her mom were both getting hour long manicures and I was only getting a half hour pedicure, I got to spend an extra half hour in this room. A guy even came in and gave me a heated cinammom scented neck pillow. I could have stayed there all day.

The pedicure itself was so relaxing too. I soaked the bottom part of my legs for a long time and she massaged my feet for quite a long time. She actually went over the half hour, which I really appreciated. My nails were done a dark purple to match my maid of honour dress.









That night we had a rehearsal dinner at a neighbouring Mexican restaurant. Yum, Yum! I ate way too much, but my maid of honour dress had an empire waste, so I knew I would fit in it no matter what!







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The wedding was on Friday and it was the perfect day. I was woken up at 7:30 am by the people who wanted to know about my shuttle the next day. Since I couldn't go back to sleep I decided to go for an early dip in the ocean. It was great - I had the whole beach to myself. Then I hunkered down on a lounge chair and chilled for about an hour just soaking up the morning sun and reading a magazine. A great way to start the day.

Then I went back to the room to shower and then went for a buffet breakfast. After walking around the resort and meeting up with my adoptive family on the beach I went back to the room for a nap. The people came to clean the room, so I was forced to have lunch again at the buffet - I was actually supposed to wait til 2pm to have room service lunch with Stacey (she was spending the morning at the spa getting a massage and her hair and make up done). I did have fun getting ready for the wedding in Stacey's room. No picture though of Stacey in her wedding dress. Her new sister-in-law joined us at the end so we could all get ready together. We walked to the side of the hotel to make our big entrance.....




















Sorry, I got no pictures of the actual wedding, I was busy being the maid of honour. The wedding was in a gazebo on a small hill that looked out onto the ocean. No rain! The ceremony was beautiful - Stacey looked breathtaking in her gown! I'm a little mad at Dave though - I pride myself on the fact that I am not one of those sappy people that cry at weddings. But when Dave started saying his vows he started crying, which made his sister beside me cry, and then I couldn't help it and started weeping too!

After the ceremony the bridal party went to the other side of the hotel to take pictures by a lighthouse. Now I wasn't expecting to be hiking in my gown, but I made it there without falling on the rocks and wrecking my dress!

After those pics were taken, Stacey and Dave still had their pictures to take, so the rest of the bridal party went to join the other guests for a little party on the beach. There was a Mexican mariachi band playing and lots of little hors douevers (did I spell any of these words right?).









When Stacey and Dave arrived we went to a covered-in-area attached to a larger room that was part of the hotel. We had a beautiful dinner and lots of speeches. I was forced to make one as well. I told a few funny anecdotes about growing up with Stacey - including the one with both of us ending up in a hotel bathtub with 2 other people. The guests really wanted to know more, but I just said sorry "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas!"





After we finished the wedding cake, it started raining so we moved the party indoors and just sat around talking for a while.
After that we had originally made plans to go dancing at the club next door, but we ended up just sitting around the lounge near the front of the hotel.

Have you noticed the number of times I used the word "lounge" in this story? That one word describes the whole trip. Aaaahhhhhh! What a great trip!