Wedding and Honeymoon, Day 1

All the things I need to update on are far too lengthy for one post, so I'll try to stagger as much as possible.

The wedding went off without a hitch. We had a grand time with the best people. The ceremony was beautiful, the reception was fun, the food was delicious, the music was entertaining and the toasts were touching.

Afterward the chaos began. I still have no clue where half of the stuff ended up, and am in the process of piecing together the last bits.

We left the reception around 10:30, an hour later than our anticipated departure. We were held up by longer-than-expected goodbyes. I'm not complaining, I love all those people very much.

We had to drive back to the church to pick up Brad's car. We made it back to the hotel around 11:30. Apparently Sarah Mann coordinated a "short sheeting" of our bed, which I didn't even realize was a joke until Queen told me about it. I just remember Brad and I almost fighting because I couldn't get under the covers with the lights out!

Day 1
I couldn't sleep much because I was too worried about the things I left in other people's cars that we would need on the honeymoon. Namely prescriptions and my flip flops. We woke up at 4:30 and headed out at 5 to meet Lori halfway between downtown and my middle-of-nowhere home. We made it to the Charlotte airport in time for our flight. Whew.

We almost didn't make it to Houston in time for the connecting flight. The Puerto Vallarta airport was nicer than I expected, but still very small. There was a shuttle waiting for us. We rode with a couple from Michigan, Dave and Deb, who were celebrating a birthday, 15th wedding anniversary and Dave's retirement in one big trip.

Samba Vallarta (our hotel) was a dream. Manicured pool, beautiful seascape, tile-floored room. The floors were funny because the maid's shoes squeaked a lot.

As soon as we were left alone, I started getting out of my clothes and into my bikini for the pool. I get my pants off and there is a knock on the door. The maid entered and I did the first thing I could think to keep from exposing my Vickies to a foreign stranger: I got in the closet and shut the doors. The closet was big, and had wooden screen doors.

Little did I know she came back to put the pillows on our bed. Little did I know the pillows were stored in the closet. Luckily I got another pair of pants of the luggage and redressed. Brad was a little awkward trying to keep the lady from going in the closet, but I opened the door and tried to act like it was completely normal for me to be in the closet.

She just laughed, as I probably would have done. How embarrassing.

After a few hours at the pool, we went back to the room to freshen up for dinner. A little nap would be great.

Should we set an alarm, Brad asked. Let's just see what happens, I said.

It was 6:30. We didn't wake up until the next morning.