Saturday, October 8, 2022
We spent a while last night over at Nikki and Kevin’s two-bedroom condo. They were only a few doors down from us. They have a much larger balcony also. We ordered pizza from the resort bar and grill. It was definitely not a late night. We were all tired from the travel.
Unfortunately, I had a restless night. The bed was comfortable, but I tossed and turned most of the night. Just got on up at 6:30 to see the sun rise.
After we finished our coffee, we decided to walk on the beach. Kevin and Nikki joined us. The sand was warm, but the ocean was cold. I could also see some small jelly fish in the water too. No swimming for me.
Once we got back, Chuck, Kevin, and Kyler decided to go to the hotel pools. One of them was advertised as heated – Chuck said neither was heated. I stayed in the room and got cleaned up.
At noon, the women met in Nikki’s room for mimosas and primping. I met Nikki’s best friend who was the matron of honor and her two daughters – one who was the bridesmaid and the other was the ring bearer.
The men tried to watch college football in our condo but our TV, which had no cable but only worked on WIFI, kept giving them an error message. They left and went to the groomsman’s room. Kevin would be getting ready over there.
At 3:30, the videographer arrived to start filming Nikki’s final preparations. I came back to our room to finish getting ready. At 4:00, Chuck was able to see Nikki in her gown. He got choked up which got me teary-eyed. Thank goodness for waterproof mascara.
At 4:15, Chuck, Beverly, Kyler, his friend, and I rode to the wedding venue together – Henderson Beach State Park. Kevin, his groomsman, his best man and his wife were already there. The wedding planner and the pastor showed up at 4:45. Nikki and her attendants were there but waiting in the car. The pastor took the wedding party men and the guests to the designated beach area. The wedding planner kept Chuck there and went to get the women.
Soon, it was time to get the groomsmen and best man in position to escort the women down the beach. We could see Nikki and Chuck at the end of the boardwalk. I held my breath that Chuck’s knee and/or ankle would not give out on the steep steps or in the sand. However, they made it fine.
When Kevin turned around to see Nikki for the first time in her dress, he started crying. Caused tears in the rest of us too.
A number of people on the beach stopped what they were doing and watched the ceremony. Everyone was respectful and did not walk through or behind our designated area.
The ceremony was very moving and afterwards the videographer and the wedding planner took many photos. It was a beautiful day. The only fly in the ointment was literally “flies” – small, nasty, black biting flies that attacked our legs almost immediately. We were not warned that they were a possibility. Extremely annoying.
The videographer had some oil that was supposed to repel them – it did not. I had a can of Off back at the condo and was so wishing I had brought it. It was weird that they only seemed to bite our calves and ankles.
By the time we were finished with photos, the moon was just coming out. We were headed back to the condo to change clothes. Our table at Lulu’s was scheduled to be ready at 8:00 pm.
Fondest Travel Memories 