The Wedding

I am now married! Yes, it happened 6 weeks ago...and yes, I’m just now writing about it.

We got married on 5-5-10 at El Dorado Royale, an adults-only “gourmet inclusive” resort located about 25 minutes south of the Cancun airport. We were joined by 16 family members and friends. I’m going to go out on a limb and say everyone had a great time.

For anyone even a little bit interested in a destination wedding, I highly recommend it. To take it a step further: if you KNOW anyone who is getting married, I would plant the proverbial bug in their ear and say, “Have you thought about a destination wedding?“ Because it was a whole lot of fun.

If you’re going to do it, you’re not going to do any better than our resort.

All the details are handled professionally, the place is gorgeous, and all your food (oh, the food) and drinks are included.

It’s an interesting process. You reserve a date and pay a small deposit. Then, you go through and select all the details: flowers, aisle runners, chairs, etc. Instead of contacting 15 different vendors, you can handle it all online. It’s as if you’re shopping on Amazon.com…

Turquoise chair covers? I need 12…*update quantity*…done. Photographer? Yes, please.

It seemed a little strange at first, but once we got down there we found that a highly competent wedding coordinator was handling all the details. We went through a checklist item by item to make sure everything matched up.

The setup was quite nice:



The wedding itself was perfect, and I know everyone says things like that, but I honestly couldn’t have asked for a better ceremony, better treatment, or a more beautiful setting.



We got married as the sun was setting, hence the difference in light levels:





Besides the ceremony itself, there were all sorts of little extras that the resort adds for weddings, honeymoons, and anniversaries. Examples:

Our jacuzzi, decorated on our wedding night


Breakfast in bed the next morning, which included...rack of lamb?!?



Candlelight dinner on the beach, including a custom dessert


The resort advertises itself as “gourmet inclusive”. This means all the food is both delicious and beautifully presented. They have 7 different restaurants, each of which serves a different type of cuisine.

The restaurant in the main lobby serves a breakfast spread that is just a perfect way to start your day. Everything from fresh papaya and pomegranates to empanadas and wedges of expensive cheese…you know, if you’re tired of all the chorizo, bacon, and cinnamon French toast with maple-infused whipped cream.

The dinners are all a la carte, and you can order as many courses as you want. If you’re in a group, you can even ask the server to bring out a sampler of everything and the chef will happily oblige.





Though the beer selection is limited to Mexican labels, you can drink premium spirits and crazy blender drinks all day. Their house wine isn’t bad either.
Most of all, it’s a wonderful opportunity to get a group of people together and go on a nice, grown-up vacation. How often do you get to do THAT?



Since we had 11 people willing to go, we were able to take a private tour of Chichen Itza:


Followed by an incredibly refreshing swim in a cenote (sinkhole).


There’s even horseback riding onsite:


All in all, it was an amazing experience. I highly recommend it to anyone who would like to get married next to the ocean in a tropical climate with delicious food, great friends, and waking up to this on the morning of your wedding.

Weekend Recap

What a weekend.

I went to the Flaming Lips show Friday night. My level of busy-ness in recent weeks and the threat of nasty weather caused me to be less than stoked for this show.

That was a mistake.

The Flaming Lips, if you like their music even a tiny bit, are a must-see. Their show is just a visual and sonic onslaught on your senses. Fabulous stuff. It is a truly joyful experience.

I didn't care much for the Dead Weather, Jack White's current project. He's the drummer for the band, and all the energy and charisma he brings to a show is wasted when he's at the back of the stage behind a drum kit.

Those were the only two bands we saw, as the show started at 4:15pm and we didn't have 7+ hours of music in us.

Saturday was my bachelor party, and it was a blast. BBQ was ingested, beer was consumed, and we may have seen a couple things not appropriate for a family blog. It was wonderful to just be taken care of for an evening. Thanks to all who came out, particularly my brother Jarod and brother-from-another-mother Pete for organizing everything. I couldn't have asked for/hoped for a better time.

And speaking of bachelorhood, this will be my final post as a single man. I am going to marry the love of my life next week.

I am beyond happy.

I am beyond excited.

I never thought I could have it so good.

I occasionally have that wonderful Talking Heads "Once In a Lifetime" moment--you know, the beautiful house, beautiful wife, how did I get here moment?

She's how I got here. She has changed my life immeasurably, and I never want to be without her.

So Now What?

The thing about getting engaged? Now we have to discuss a wedding. We’re trying to find that balance of keeping it simple, yet keeping it fun.

We’ve come to realize there are three general options:

1) Have a traditional ceremony here in Kansas City, followed by a traditional reception.
Pros: Almost everyone we know would be able to attend. We would be able to make educated decisions on the venue and such.
Cons: We would have to actually plan the wedding and fuss over all the little details, which we have no interest in doing. We would have to make (potentially tough) decisions about the guest list and wedding party. There is meddling potential as well.

2) Have a domestic destination wedding (Las Vegas was discussed), followed by a party once we get home.
Pros: The wedding would be more or less planned for us. A fair percentage of the people close to us would be able to attend without too much difficulty, and those who couldn’t would be able to make it to the party (i.e. the good part). Vegas would make for a nice quick getaway for all the attendees.
Cons: We want to honeymoon outside the country, so we would be flying somewhere to then get on a plane and fly somewhere else. Some people wouldn’t be able to make it to the ceremony due to money or health reasons.

3) Have an international destination wedding (thinking Riviera Maya in Mexico), followed by a party once we get home.
Pros: The wedding would be more or less planned for us. We would already be on our honeymoon when the ceremony takes place. Very low stress.
Cons: Obviously, this would be a substantial time, money, and documentation commitment for guests (though I would add that it’s WORTH IT), so the attendance would be rather small. Some important people in our lives wouldn’t be able to make it, and I don’t know how those people would feel about that.

We’re leaning a certain way, but it would be silly to even suggest that anything has been determined at this point.