Our Honeymoon (Part 1)

I realized while doing my recap of 2014 that I teased you guys with my honeymoon recap, but I never actually did one! And since the weather here has been cold lately, it feels like a good time to escape (even if it's through pictures) back to sunny, warm and relaxing Antigua!

MG and I got to Antigua on Monday April 14th in the early afternoon. Unfortunately our bags did not make the same flight due to a layover in Newark, so as soon as we got to the resort, we went shopping! (there may have been a mini break down at this time on my part due to frustration and exhaustion, followed by some hugs by the Antiguan women in the shop and a very supportive husband, but we'll skip over that part and get to the good stuff haha)

this was basically our daily view for the week

We spent the afternoon lounging by the pool in our new bathing suits and that night went to dinner at one of the 7 restaurants at the resort. Luckily there was a casual one since we didn't have any of our nice clothes with us. We stopped by the resort bar afterwards and caught the tail end of trivia and then went check out the local casino.  It was an early night for us as we were still exhausted from all the wedding festivities and early flights.

The next day we spent at the pool and in the afternoon made friends with a few couples at the pool bar--such fast friends, in fact, that we made dinner reservations together to all go to hibachi that night! Our luggage arrived that afternoon (hurrahhh!!) and we finally had all of our stuff! We met the couples at the resort bar, had a pre-dinner drink and then walked to hibachi. At our table were two other couples and then our group of 8. We went around the table introducing ourselves and sharing where we were from and then one of the new couples asked "you all are from such different places, how do you know each other?" Apparently we were all getting along so well it seemed like we'd known each other for a while, and hadn't just met that afternoon!

We stayed there so long just talking and laughing with our new friends that the employees left and turned the lights out on us! A joke that lasted us the rest of the trip!

After dinner we went to the piano bar at the resort and then the main bar where the guys did Karaoke. It was hilarious! (I still see the video on my phone as I scroll through old photos sometimes and it cracks me up every time).

The next day we spent the entire day at the pool, enjoying the gorgeously perfect weather (and I'm pretty sure it was snowing back home). We took walks on the beach, drank endless amounts of tropical drinks, and just relaxed together, talking about the wedding, etc. That night we went to dinner at the fancy restaurant on the resort. It rained for a quick couple of minutes while we waited for our table, but turned into a beautiful night.

I'd bought this dress right after we got engaged in anticipation of the honeymoon

After dinner we met up with one of the couples we'd befriended since it was their last night. We played pool, and then went to a dance party at one of the bars to wrap up the night. We ended up dancing with a ton of the staff at one point and having an all around awesome time!

They are such a fun couple and we're still in touch with them today (and they have a baby on the way!!)

hello, sunburn!

The next day we had an excursion on a catamaran all the way around the island of Antigua (The Power360 excursion if you ever go--HIGHLY recommend!) When waiting for the catamaran, we made friends with another couple from NY, who had gotten married the same day we did! 

The catamaran pulled right up to the beach, lowered some stairs and we climbed on board! After some rough seas around the first part of the island, the catamaran took us to a private beach where you could go snorkeling. MG took advantage of that, while I chose to lay out on the beach. We took the opportunity to sip our rum punches while walking around on the private beach, soaking it all in:

Nothing like rum punch, a catamaran and a stop at a private island with your hubby!

While we were on the catamaran we had endless drinks, and they cooked us lunch that we ate while we were on the private island. It was SUCH good food, too!

When we got cruising again, we saw Oprah's vacation house (on an island that you have to have specific Identification/permission to get on), Eric Clapton's insanely large compound, and one of the British Royal's yachts!

We also got to sail around English Harbor (where we saw the Royals' yacht!) which was such a cool area!

On our way around the island, back to the hotel, the winds picked up big time on the catamaran and the boys took this funny picture (they actually were that bent over walking)

We also saw the Pillars of Hercules on our ride back which was a really neat nature-made phenomenon--pictures just don't do it justice.

 For about 3 minutes on the ride back, the skies opened up and it rained. Luckily our catamaran was covered, but the storm lent itself to some beautiful pictures and views!

Once we got back, we spent the rest of the afternoon lounging at the pool (with some napping--always some napping! haha) and then went back to our room to get ready for dinner at the Mexican restaurant, which overlooked the beach and ocean:

We had a delicious meal and some of the most amazing margaritas I've had in a long time! I don't remember what they were, but they were super tasty!

After dinner there was The Newlywed Game going on with some of the couples on the resort, so we went and watched (and laughed a bunch because some of the couples were super funny) and then headed back to the room since it had been a long day!

basically ;)

I'll recap the last half of our trip in my next honeymoon post! Hope you liked seeing the first part--it was really fun looking back through these pictures and re-living it again!

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I'm also being featured over on Lisa's blog for Wedding Q+A today, answering questions about all things related to MG's and my wedding, so go check it out!