Here Comes the Bride – On a Trapeze?

Posted on by

Destination Wedding Jamaica

This week, a few readers asked about my wedding and how I meet Darren so I thought I’d share one of my wedding posts. It explains a lot. With our anniversary approaching, it’s beautiful to reminisce about our special day anyway.

When you marry your best friend who is equally as crazy and foolish, its amazing what free-spirited pictures can be taken on your wedding day. From rock climbing, trapeze-swinging, sand-jumping, and over-the-shoulder throwing, we had it all. But what else would you expect from a couple that knew each other for a month before moving in together, explored countries together, and sold everything to move across the continent and start a new life together? This is my fairy tale.

Darren and I met in April, 2010. We had moved in together within a month and traveled to 5 countries by 5 months. I don’t think you ever fully understand a person’s personality or habits until you’ve lived and traveled together so we got that part out of the way quickly. Our adventures in Costa Rica proved his wild side; our journey through Nicaragua showed his love and commitment; our day cruise to the Bahamas exhibited his free-spirit; and our struggles with overheating in Florida were a testament to his patience. It didn’t take long to realize that I had met someone with a similar attitude toward life and I thrived on his love.

Living in a dream location was the only missing piece to our puzzle of a perfect life. Discussing ideal living locations was one thing, but actually moving was another. A job offer in southern California, our top pick from any place around the world, was the match that sparked our cross-continent move. Within two weeks, we had sold our house and almost everything in it, drove across the US, and landed at our new home in Orange County, California. Our intense journey proved that getting married wasn’t something to worry about, rather something to embrace head-on like everything else thus far in our lives as a couple.

We had found love and happiness within it. A destination wedding fit our lives to a tee so our family joined us at Breezes Trelawny in Jamaica while we tied the knot.

Before the ceremony started, my only worry was that I was too far away from Darren. We had only been apart for the evening but I missed his thoughtful words, his beautiful eyes, and his constant embrace.  The thought of running down the isle, which was the beach, crossed my mind but I settled for dancing my way to my soon-to-be husband.

After a relaxed, easy-going ceremony, we made our way up the beach for some action shots and ridiculous poses. Our life, so far, had consisted of laughing regularly and having fun together.  Why should our wedding be any different?

Our first stop was the rock climbing wall where I hiked up my dress and raced Darren to the top. It was a good idea to wear my bathing suit under my dress because I was ready for adventure at new heights. 

Jump shots on the beach followed rock climbing and our bridal party joined in. The “bad” or “off” shots brought us to tears with laughter. Onlookers joined with laughter as we jumped, kicked, and wiggled our way to the perfect shot.

We saved the trapeze for the end just in case something went wrong. I might have been a little upset if I ruined my dress before getting any photos. I strapped on the harness all the same and climbed the steps to the platform. My dress looked similar to a diaper while I cautiously found each step with my toes but the reward of swinging high above the resort on my special day was worth the embarrassment of getting to the top.

Making our wedding day pictures fit our life was a memorable venture. A wedding should be about the bride and groom. It should be fun and exciting and include little pieces of each of you. We made sure our wedding was our fairy tale.

69 thoughts on “Here Comes the Bride – On a Trapeze?”

      • I started my blog 11-11-11 in Germany and you were one of the first people I think to “like” me. I had traveled back to August ’11 to your first ‘hello’ 🙂 I was amazed and impressed then how you busted out in less than 3 months and now that you have really stuck to it. Your innovation and journeys are an inspiration but it always makes me hope you get some down time! cheers.. wt

        Like

        Reply ↓

  2. What a cool and unique wedding. My husband and I also had a bit of a “whirlwind” romance. Everything went wrong in our lives in the months leading up to the wedding, which I cursed at the time but looking back now I am so grateful because it made me realise that if I still wanted to marry him through all the chaos, it had to be meant to be!

    Like

    Reply ↓

  3. Simply beautiful and inspiring!
    Gives me hope that LOVE will find a way into my heart again one day.
    Looks like you are both having the time of your life. Happy Soon-To-Be Anniversary!
    Wishing you a lifetime of HAPPINESS!!!

    Like

    Reply ↓

  5. I feel like I knew all this already from previous posts but I’m more curious about how you specifically met Darren for the very first time–in a coffee shop? Shopping in the aisles of Home Depot? Through some mutual friends? I know the story of your wedding and it is very romantic–but what did you think of Darren when you first met him? Do you remember what you talked about and that kind of thing?

    Like

    Reply ↓

    • We actually met on eHarmony. 😉 Our first “date” was a walk in the park near my house. We both knew right away 🙂 I instantly loved his passion for life and huge dreams/goals. But what really got me was how funny he was/is. I could imagine laughing together for the rest of our lives.

      Like

      Reply ↓

      • That’s so cute! I know a few people who have met their significant others online (including my own uncle who got remarried a few years ago). It really makes you think about how people meet nowadays–without the Internet, such encounters would be impossible! You could probably star in an Eharmony commercial as one of the successful couples!

        Like

        Reply ↓

  10. I love this! I am clearly not yet ready to be i a relationship with all the cruising around I do. But I have hope that one day I will meet someone likeminded and as adventurous as I am! It’s great to see that a love like that is possible! Congrats!!!

    Like

    Reply ↓

  14. Having fun and adventure together must be a perfect basis for a good marriage! This is why my wife and I enjoyed yacht racing as a sport – we could do it as a team and suffer hardship, excitement, tension and triumph together.

    Like

    Reply ↓

  18. Loved seeing the pictures again and really embraces the love that you have for life and each other. Met my other also online and that will be 9 years this coming February. Have enjoyed your blog for some time!

    Like

    Reply ↓

  31. What a wonderful wedding you guys had! The picture I like the most is the one where you’re (supposed to be) dragging him by his shirt across the sand. It’s not always easy finding your soul mate, but you sure found your’s. I married mine too. It’s been 43 years for us.

    Like

    Reply ↓

  32. Thanks for liking my post and love the picture with you dragging him to the altar…lol! That picture of you jumping alone on the beach, with the stunning sky drop should be placed somewhere prominent, to get u thru the ‘soggy’ days! Trust me… after a few years, It helps 😉

    Like

    Reply ↓

  34. Loved reading about your wedding day – what fun you had. Live life to your rules I say. I succumbed to convention with mine 24 years ago but had always wanted to marry in Vegas – which would have sooo suited me and my hubby. Keep up with the dreams, I like to hear about your life, i’m built that way. 🙂

    Like

    Reply ↓

  37. My wife had the BRILLIANT idea of having some of our wedding photos taken during a sky diving drop. Our photographer was 100% on board. Unfortunately, planning a wedding FROM Florida, for a wedding in the mountains of Oregon, inviting all our friends and family FROM Arizona, did not afford us the time. What beautiful pictures! Thanks for sharing.

    Like

    Reply ↓

  38. Oh man. Thank you so very much for sharing. Amazing. The ones of you tugging him around by the shirt made me smile so hard…and the PURE JOY on your face…wow. I am so very lucky to have found the right one for me and I love seeing other happy couples!!!

    Like

    Reply ↓

  39. You are truly amazing–I would expect no less from you, and I’m so glad you shared these photos and to know two such free spirits found each other and are living happily ever after! My favorite is the one where you are all up in the air.

    Like

    Reply ↓

  41. Pingback: Here Comes the Bride – On a Trapeze? | katywaltersreviews

  45. What a beautiful love story!

    I met my other half at the border crossing between Thailand and Laos – nearly six years and 13 countries later, I’m marrying him in England. Love knows no boundaries, does it?

    Like

    Reply ↓

  46. I love it!! Our wedding is now only two weeks away and I am getting to excited about making all of these great memories in our own way. We have a Day of the Dead theme and are including a bunch of fun touches that are truly just US!!! I wrote a post entitled “Let’s Give Em Something to Talk About” that focuses on the idea if making a wedding unique…love it!

    Like

    Reply ↓

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s