With a Side of Hope

Hi there!  Happy Wednesday!  It is officially my favorite day of the week in the blogging world.  I love doing Wedding Talk Wednesday!  I surprised myself how I’ve been able to keep this going every Wednesday since I started.  I only have 17 more Wednesdays before we are married!  That is crazy!  After our wedding, I will be sure to recap everything including all of the details and whatnot.  I’m sure that those posts will take a while for me to recap everything.

Anyway, before I get to what all of you have been waiting for, I’ll go over yesterday with you.  Yesterday was uneventful.  It was a very busy day at work and before I knew it, it was time to go home.  I love days like that.  The best is when you are just so busy and before you know it, the day is over with.  Once I got home, I arrived to a package of something that I ordered for our wedding! I was excited about it and it looked exactly like it did online.  I’m so happy about it.  I saved so much money by ordering it online, specifically on Ebay.  You can really find some amazing deals for your wedding if you put forth the effort and look online.  I’ve saved so much money this way.

I waited until Mike got home from the gym to ask if he was in the mood for Boston Market.  They were having a special for tax day that if you ordered one individual meal with a drink, you got another individual meal for free!  So we essentially only paid for one meal and we got 2 meals and 2 drinks.  The girl made a mistake and gave us two cups for drinks.  I didn’t realize it until we had already left the register and there was a super long line anyway.  So we had a great dinner and I have leftovers for tonight.  My stomach was really bothering me halfway through and I had to stop.  I hate when that happens.

So enough about what happened yesterday!  Let’s get to the good stuff.  So Mike and I had some ideas of where we wanted to go for our honeymoon.  We wanted to go somewhere tropical and relaxing and it had to be all-inclusive.  Our first choice was Hawaii but unfortunately we just cannot manage to afford going there right now.  Someday we will get there.  Next up, were Sandals Resorts.  I have always wanted to go to a Sandals resort as has Mike.  I kept reading about the Butler service that they have at the resorts and the more I read, the more I kept falling in love with the idea of going to one of their resorts.  They also include perks for Honeymooners which I think is great.

So we starting researching St. Lucia.  We priced out flights and a trip there and it was just entirely too much money plus there were no direct flights and we really wanted to be able to take a direct flight to wherever we go.  So we starting moving St. Lucia out of the picture.  We then started focusing primarily on Jamaica.  I’ve always wanted to see Jamaica but I just wasn’t sure if that is where I pictured us honeymooning.  Mike had reservations about going there too.  It just seemed like both of us were settling because of the cost and it wasn’t where we really had wanted to go.

We decided to go to a travel agency to get some ideas and to get input on Sandals and their resorts.  We happened to meet with a super nice travel agent who both of us clicked with instantly.  She was very knowledgeable.  However as you all know, I am an excessive planner.  I like to plan every single detail and do everything myself so I know it’s done right.  The thought of handing over our vacation for someone else to handle made me nervous and stressed out.  The more I thought about it though, the more I liked the idea of working with someone and having her handle some of those things that I just don’t have time or energy to do.  I can still book our butler preferences and set up excursions, spa treatments, restaurant reservations, etc, but she is there to help me along the way.    So we decided to go with her to book our trip.

We did a lot of talking and we starting looking at pictures of the Sandals Grande in Antigua.  Mike and I last year talked about going to Antigua and then we stopped.  I’m not exactly sure why we stopped but we did.  Our travel agent went there before and said how much she loved it.  She said it was definitely one of the best vacations she had ever been on.  We looked at pictures of the resort and of Antigua in general.  I did a ton of research on reviews of the hotel and before we knew it, we were set and had our honeymoon booked!

Sandals Grande Antigua was voted one of the most romantic resorts in the world.  The resort itself has two sides to it.  It has a Caribbean side and a Mediterranean side.  We are staying on the Mediterranean side which is the newer side.  Our room is a Butler level room.  This is a picture of what our room will look like to give you an idea:

We are very excited to stay at this resort!  The resort itself has 11 different restaurants to choose from.  If you are staying in a butler level room, the butler will make all of your dining reservations for you.  There are a few restaurants that require reservations.  The butlers will go above and beyond for you to make your stay perfect.  These are a few examples of what a butler will do during your stay:

• Serve you your favorite drinks while you lounge on the beach or pool
• Serve you lunch on the beach or on the pool
• Arrange a perfect romantic dinner for two in the privacy of your suite on or your patio. Butler level guests can order from any resort restaurant menu for dining in their room or suite
• Bring you amenities before dinner
• Escort you to dinner where they have reserved a beautifully decorated table at the restaurant of your choice – with preferential seating
• Ensure your suite is turned down and your room has all it needs for the night   (credit: Sandals)

This is just a sample of the things that they say the butler will do to make your stay comfortable.  All of your meals and drinks are included as well as airport transfers, unlimited scuba, motorized water-sports, fitness centers, and landsports.

If you are honeymooning they offer these special perks as long as you submit a copy of your marriage certificate and a copy of your wedding invitation:

• A Bubbly Welcome: A bottle of chilled sparkling wine elegantly arranged in your room upon arrival to toast your future.
• A Romantic Gesture: A special turn-down service that includes flower petals on your bed on the first evening of your honeymoon.
• Wake up to Wedded Bliss: Delight in a delivery of fresh flowers and a decadent breakfast in bed one morning of your choice.   (sandals)

Not bad if you ask me!  We are just so excited to get away and relax.  The only negative aspect of everything is that we have to leave the day after our wedding which means we will not be sleeping the entire night.  We wanted to take a direct flight to Antigua and there is only one the day after our wedding.  It is at an airport an hour and a half away.  So our wedding ends at 12am which means we probably won’t be home until 1am or 2am.  Then you have to be at the airport 3-4 hours before an international flight and our flight leaves in the 8am hour.  So we will not be sleeping at all.

I think it will be fun though.  We can rush home and drop off my wedding gown and pick up our luggage and go straight to the airport with my hair and makeup still done. I think it will be fun and hopefully we will get to sleep on the plane or take a nap when we arrive at the resort.  The flight it 4 and a half hours.  So it won’t be too bad.  I’m counting down the days!  I’m happy with our decision.  I think we will have a great time.

Have you ever been to a Sandals resort before?  Have you ever been to Antigua?  Tell me one place that you would absolutely love to visit one day.

Have a great Wednesday!

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