When we got married in 2012, we had a tremendous amount of faith. We knew we were in love from about the 6-week mark of our relationship. We actually talked seriously about marriage pretty early on. Spencer told his mom and brother that he was going to marry me before we hit the 6-month mark.
There were...obstacles.
We were not a 'normal' couple, from Jump Street. There were also a few folks who were definitely not on board with our Happy. Spencer was not even in medical school when we got engaged. We were broke. I had also never wanted a huge wedding; I hate being in front of a crowd. I always wanted to be married, I never dreamed about the actual wedding. I am a crybaby, and there was no way that I wanted to voluntarily cry in front of people. (Spoiler Alert: I cried for a full two minutes during the ceremony. My husband and the Pastor were very patient.) I am from a divorced family, and 'mixed company' has never been my favorite thing.
So, we got engaged on my birthday and immediately started looking at our options. We settled on a destination wedding for just the two of us. It turned out to be one of those really good decisions in life. We chose the Sandals Royal Bahamian Resort in Nassau, Bahamas. Plane tickets were fairly cheap from Florida, and it is an all-inclusive resort. They planned the whole wedding, which was fantastic. They chose beautiful flowers, a scenic location, provided the official wedding certificate, and arranged for a photographer and a small reception. We were able to put our own stamp on a few things (we supplied our own wedding music and wrote our own vows), but other than that we just had to taste some cake and show up at a specified time.
Finding the right guy was hard, the wedding was easy. We had exactly $100 in our pockets that week. Family members and friends paid for our trip. We had dinner on Cable Beach the night of our wedding; we went for a walk after and talked about our future. We had no idea how tough medical school would be; we didn't know we'd be moving for residency. We were clueless how ridiculously hard residency would actually be. We didn't know that someday, 6 and 1/2 years later, we would make it through all of the ups and downs and be lucky enough to revisit that magical place. Spencer took me back to that sacred location for my birthday.
(I maybe cried, from the hot tub, listening to complete strangers get married in 'our' spot. Please let them be as happy as we are.)
Game On
One of the best parts about a good resort is the activities. We did have to pay to jet ski, but kayaking, shuffleboard, corn hole, and so many other fun things are right there at your fingertips.
Eats
Have we met? You know that I am a foodie. Room Service plus 10 restaurants are included. We had my birthday dinner at a French Restaurant named Baccarat, it was perfect.
Our Valentine's Day dinner was on a pier overlooking the water.
I believe I ate my weight in shrimp over the course of our five night stay.
Treat YoSelf
I love a good spa day. There are many ways at Sandals to relax with your sweetheart. Our favorite was an outdoor couples' massage overlooking the water. The weirdest was a lavender scalp massage; I have never been that greasy before in my life. The funnest was to get a blow out and sit in the exact same salon chair that I sat in almost seven years ago getting wedding ready.
Romance
This whole resort is geared towards making couples happy.
Photographers are everywhere; you can capture all of those sweet moments. We loved revisiting some of the places where we took wedding photos.
I often say that Spencer makes every day Valentine's Day, and that seemed amplified in this beautiful location.
This is also an adults-only resort, so there are no kids running around which is a huge bonus for us. Please don't hate me for that comment; I feel like the 'No Kids' topic is just about as explosive as politics these days. We are a couple that actively chooses to not have children; therefore we enjoy places that are not teeming with kiddos.
Where did you get married? Would you change anything? Do you get to revisit your magical place?
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