Ashley's Wedding (AKA The longest and most over due post EVER)

So as you know, I had the priviledge of attending my friend, Ashley's wedding, which was in November!! Time really does fly by when you neglect your blog! But I can't move on to Christmas until I do this, so hopefully I can stop being 3 months behind.

FRIDAY

On the Friday after Thanksgiving, 51 guests boarded the Carnival Fascination cruise and were immediately greeted by dozens of fruity drinks with umbrellas in it. It was so much fun to see everyone and meet Ashley's family! The energy was so charged with excitement of the impending wedding that it was impossible to not be having a good time!

As mentioned, we were greeted with drinks so we all got a prompt start to our weekend. Our waiter was kind enough to provide me with my fav, strawberry margaritas, and he made sure that by the time I had a 1/4 left of my drink, he brought over a new one! Gotta love excellent service!

Isn't this just classy with a k?? Red tongue and my magic blue drink card that allows me to get said unlimited margaritas and pay for them later is tucked into my bathingsuit....nice! We are only on Friday, folks, so keep up!

Friday night dinner was great, but I was fairly tame since I had an early morning wakeup call. All of the guests were seated in one area, so it was easy to mingle and enjoy everyone's company. This was the night we discoverd the melting chocolate cake desert that all of us ordered, without fail, each evening! Oh how I miss it, I wish I would have taken a picture to capture it in all its gooey glory! Here I am on the way to dinner, apparently thinking I look hot to trot judging by my pose:

Again, klassy right?

(Marcie, Ashley, Kemely, Chrissy, Me, Rachel and Emily)

SATURDAY

Saturday morning was an early one. I woke up and had breakfast with Chrissy and Jess before meeting the bride and her wedding party so the limo could pick us up at port and bring us to Compass Point, the ceremony location.

I knew that I would like Compass Point just fine, but I was not prepared to fall in love with it! It is so colorful and festive that you are automatically placed into a good mood! The views were beatiful and I could not stop gawking. If I had the magic ability to freeze time, I probably would have done it, but more importantly, there was a wedding to get ready for!

The ceremony site

The fabulous view from the bridal suite

Here is Ashley's gorgeous gown after an hour of ironing ;) Hopefully somewhere I will find a picture of the back so you can see the beutiful, mermaid-like train in the back!

For you wedding buffs, some of the accessories and little something extras for her big day. The lace is actually a part of the sleeve from her mother's wedding gown. The brooch is her grandmother's, if I remember correctly, and was placed onto her bouquet. And most touching, was the pink cancer awareness pin that she had to remember the spirit of her husband's mother who couldn't be with them on their wedding day.

My role throughout the day was to do Ashley's makeup. Unfortunately, her hair lady was a wee bit late so I only had 15 minutes to do a girl's makeup on the most important day of her life!! My hands were shaking up a storm! I was so incredibly nervous. I would have preferred to take my time and perfect as I went along, but I had to move quickly. It was hard to mess her up though since she is beautiful without a stitch of makeup on the first place! Once she had her hair and makeup done, it was time to get in the dress and, of course, the waterworks began all around the room! One of the most emotional things to see is a girl transformed into a bride and then, a wife! I felt so lucky to be a part of the process!

Courtesy of Art of Light Photography

The ceremony was held out on the pier overlooking the ocean. It was one of the most emotional ceremonies I have attended and I loved every second of it. Unfortunately, all my pictures from the ceremony came out really dark, so I refer you to Rachel's blog entry on this because it has better pictures. I doubt she would mind if I stole hers, but either way, she has many a funn entries, so go over there anyway.

Here is "THE KISS" that I have about 10 pictures of because it was the longest kiss ever! The happy couple are finally a Mr. and Mrs.

After the ceremony was the cocktail hour by the water. In my white dress, I steered clear of the incredibly red rum punch. Besides, I knew what was going to happen later.....

We then all convened back at the boat for dinner before going to the after party at Señor Frogs. THIS is why I didn't drink during the cocktail hour nor at dinner......
It all started out with a little Bud Light....

But I switched to Tequila and started dancing....Keep your shirt on Marcie, I am almost done! (PS, while I am getting down, I think Em is getting "jiggy" with it as best as I can tell).

Thankfully, I had the foresight to switch to water.

What, you thought my day was over? No, no, no, my friends! That is simply not how I roll.

This is us at the after party's after party at "Club Diamond" -- yep, you heard me correctly. This was the only "club" open and I think it was for the tweens on the ship. It was great fun and provided us with an Epcot-esque laser light show (who doesn't adore a laser light show when you are feeling tipsy). Rachel is in her PJs and I love it! We were soooo past "caring" at that point, we just didn't want the night to end.

SUNDAY

So finally Saturday has ended, Mr. and Mrs. W are Mr. and Mrs. and it is now Sunday morning.

Needless to say I am hungover. Not only am I hungover, but I am hungover in rocking box!!! The cheapskate that I am opted to save a whopping $50 and take an inside cabin with no window. So there is no window and my box is going back and forth, back and forth, BACK AND FRIGGIN' FORTH.

Clearly, I was dying, so I threw on the suit and ran to the highest level of the ship to get a bloody mary and some air. I think we all pull off "the morning after" quite well.

By dinner, I was feeling fancy free again. Here are some of the girls in the wee hours of the evening after all the men had ditched us for their beds.

It was such a great weekend!! Thanks girls for keeping an eye on me and obeying by the "10 feet" rule at all times (special thanks to Chrissy, Rachel and Jack for that one).

I had so much fun and here's a belated CHEERS to the newlyweds! Congratulations!!