Raul, looks like you have it figured out. My trip was for my wife as well and after 17 years things are no problem mon!Originally Posted by ralonzo29
Raul, looks like you have it figured out. My trip was for my wife as well and after 17 years things are no problem mon!
DAY FIVE (October 10, 2011)- Our Anniversary! :
My eyes are barely open as I ease into awakeness…..but what is that sound…..oh no, not again. Please, I am having flashbacks, and not good ones. One year ago to the day I was awoken by the sound of pouring down rain outside my room….it was my wedding day and when the rain woke me up I knew the sound to be, not the small brief raindrops, but more of the all day heavy downpour type. Please don’t let this be happening again. Sigh. What will everyone tell me this time…..since last year I was repeatedly told how rain on your wedding day is a sign of good luck (blah blah blah)….well what does it mean on your anniversary? The sound is loud too, ugh, this is not fair. So I get up head to the door and open it. Much to my surprise there is no rain at all, in fact the sun is shining so brightly that it nearly blinds me when I open the door….the sound…that sound I thought was rain, it was just the sound of the water and the waves crashing up against the cliff which we were perched directly over. That sound saddened me so greatly on our first morning in Negril, but it then became a sound that soothed me to sleep every night, and a sound that I will never forget and will always miss!
It’s our anniversary today, we are at Catcha, it is beautiful and it is NOT raining! Praise the Lord! And thank you Mother Nature…..you owed me!
We get up and head to breakfast. I ordered the French toast with warm pineapple, sounds delicious…and it was….but I have to say, being one of the biggest Catcha fans around that I claim to be, I still have to say, Xtabi has the world’s best French Toast…I don’t know what they put in it (crack, maybe?) but it is the BEST! Anyways, after breakfast we get our scooters and we head down to the beach to meet up with Chicken. We had asked him yesterday on our way in if he could recommend a good carver to us as we wanted to get a special order wood carving made to celebrate our anniversary. He said he had a good friend who he would recommend and to call him on Monday and we could go meet him. So we hooked up with Chicken who was hanging out by the Grand Pineapple and he took us over to his friend Bobby Ash’s place. Bobby is quite well known for his long standing work in wood carving, he has some amazing pieces and some portfolios of some really great things he has done over the years. We told him what we wanted, we wanted him to carve something that was a symbol of our wedding, and to carve our wedding date in it, and he said, of course….no problem! We gave him our deposit and told him we were in Negril until Sunday and he said he would call us when he was done.
With that we said our goodbyes to Bobby and Chicken and headed over to check out this new Boardwalk Village place. We arrive and the colors of all the buildings are so bright and pretty. We head in to the first shop and then Raul gets a call, he runs out of the shop so quickly and all seriously I know he is up to something but I play naive. So after the call he comes back in the shop and says to me, “Do you want to go over to Margaritaville after this?” Of course that sounds suspicious to me because we just got here why is he already wanting to leave. So I just say, sure…..do you want to go now? And he says, we can. So off we go, we are on the scooters and headed to Margaritaville….but I can tell he is driving with a purpose….what that purpose is though, I don’t know. We get off the scooters and he heads into the restaurant and is walking up to a table and then all of a sudden I recognize the back of the head of the person he is walking towards…..NO WAY…this can’t be real…but it is. He stops and says “Hey Ryan”
RYAN!!!! OMG….it is our wedding photographer, Ryan…or as I call him, Rye…I fell in love with this man last year when he took some of the most gorgeous wedding photos for us ever! Especially for a bride who was married in a place that had just recovered from a tropical storm on a day that had rained all day, and yet he was able to capture some beautiful photos! When we got home last year and had to tell and re-tell our story of our horrible wedding disaster, each and every time anyone saw our photos they would always say “I would have never known with just how beautiful your pictures are” For that I will forever be grateful to Rye! He is my hero, and I am forever a friend and fan of him and his work!
So with that I gave him a big hug and said Rye! What are you doing here? And of course he smirked and said, well, I just HAPPENED to be in Negril. (Ryan is from Kingston) And I said, yeah, I am sure. I look at Raul and he has a similar smirk on his face. These guys! So Raul tells me Rye is here to take pics of us tonight for our anniversary and tomorrow for a beach shoot that we never got to have. I was so excited. So we head back to Catcha and get dolled up and Ryan takes pictures of us all over the property at Catcha….just like he should have / would have last year. Then around 4pm, the moment we were getting married last year, we headed over to Negril Escape, the property where we got married and we said our hellos to everyone there (Amazing staff aka our lifesavers and angels) And we stood in the exact spot where just one year prior we were saying our vows. Ryan snapped some pics at the scene of the crime and then we headed back to Catcha to take more photos and get ready for our special anniversary dinner. As we are walking back up towards the bar I looked in and recognized two familiar faces……yep, ROB AND LISA! They had stopped by to greet us and help us celebrate! Even Tom H had come along, and they all said hello and wished us a Happy Anniversary….this is great! It is almost like a real Re-Do….we have friends, we have a photographer, and we have our new family at Catcha all here to celebrate our special day with us…this is just……Perfect!
Then my husband tells me of his next surprise (Another surprise I say?!?!?!) He got us massages on our porch over the water at sunset. Woo Hoo! So off I go back to our room and I had my relaxing massage in paradise. As soon as that was done it was back to Ivan’s to enjoy our special anniversary dinner. Nicki our waitress had decorated the special table for us so beautifully. We sat and ordered and we toasted with our Mango Bellinis (yum) Everything was perfect….no, better than perfect. After dinner Raul tells me there is one more surprise…wow, really? And with that Nicki brings over a two-tier wedding cake. It seems that Raul and Andrea and Mauvette had been planning this for a while and they placed the order with their wedding cake baker. She remembered the original order from last year so she recreated it to include our theme and our wedding colors…..I was blown away…..and then I had a piece.
OMG, there are no words for how good this rum cake wedding cake was. It was the BEST rum cake I have ever had. If you don’t believe me ask Raul, Rye, Rob, Lisa, Tom H, Kevin and Ty, Nicki, Mr and Mrs. Twister, and I think some other random folks at the bar…because everyone had some and EVERYONE loved it! OMG that is some good rum cake. We have already decided that we will be ordering one every time we go from now on! Hell Yeah! Delicious.
So after dinner we headed to Ivan’s bar, with, as already mentioned above, the rest of our wedding cake and we proceeded to celebrate late into the night with Rob, Lisa, Tom H, Rye, and Kevin and we had the BEST wedding anniversary in the history of all wedding anniversaries.
Thank you Raul….thank you Rye….thank you Andrea and Mauvette and Kevin and Nicki and every single person at Catcha…..thank you Rob and Lisa…and Tom H for coming to celebrate with us…and thank you God, and Mother Nature for giving me a break this time. I now feel I have officially accomplished my dream wedding, in one way or another, and I am thankful and satisfied!
Our anniversary breakfast, yum
This may just be my very favorite picture of all. Our wedding theme was dragonflies, because they are my favorite and you can see them everywhere throughout my life, my jewelry, my shoes, they are just everywhere. This picture was taken on our anniversary while we were waiting for Bobby Ash to tell him what we wanted him to carve for us. I looked over and it was perched right next to me and then I remembered Raul's good friend telling me last year on our wedding day that he saw a dragonfly and he took it as a sign that everything was going to be ok. When I saw this dragonfly next to me I paused for a moment and wondered if it was the same one from my wedding day last year....it was our wedding dragonfly! I told Raul to take this pic!
My hero, our photographer Rye! (Ryan)
From our anniversary photo shoot
All photos taken by Ryan Lue-Clarke (www.ryanlueclarke.com)
These first shots are from Negril Escape when we went over at 4:00pm to celebrate the exact moment we were getting married last year
And these are from Catcha Falling Star
Sunset on our Anniversary at Catcha Falling Star
(All photos by Ryan Lue-Clarke)
Last edited by marley9808; 10-27-2011 at 08:59 PM.
Our Anniversary Dinner....our RUM CAKE.....and our celebration with friends! <3
(All photos by Ryan Lue-Clarke)
Check out Rye's site and his blog about our shoot: http://blog.ryanlueclarke.com/weddin...r-anniversary/
Oh, and so by the way....the answer to the question I posed earlier as to whether Raul was listening.......YES! He was definitely listening
To my husband....thank you for planning the anniversary of my dreams
I love you <3
Great photos! You guys have captured some amazing shots and moments. Tom Hudson I'm envious. You were in town my first day and are probably still there.....
Thanks for sharing your story, it's a great read.
Beautiful pictures! You guys are so cute together and you both look so incredibly happy in every shot! That's such a beautiful dress and I love the dragonfly necklace. Great capture of the dragon fly perched on that stone edge too! My favorite pic is the two of you making the heart with your hands and smiling into the camera! So sweet! thanks for sharing these pictures, you can just feel the joy and happiness when you look at them. I'm so glad your anniversary was wonderful and that's so cool that Rob & Lisa joined in the celebration. That cake looks delicious!
Loving this trip report, Totally brightened up my day!
I'm looking forward to hearing about your birthday coming up next!
Carpe Diem
Aw so sweet...I'm glad you had a great anniversary.
Congratulations on your anniversary - and so happy you had a great one. Catcha is awesome - can't wait until January!!
Your pictures are great and so glad Mother Nature listened this time
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