Greg and Carrie Nichols: July 2009

Monday, July 27, 2009

Honeymoon

The day after our wedding we left for our honeymoon. My parents picked us up from the hotel and took us to the airport. We were flying from Phoenix to Houston TX. We stayed the night in Houston and then woke up the next morning ready to head to Gavelston TX for our cruise! Our itinerary was to be at sea for the first two days, then Montego Bay Jamaica, Grand Cayman Islands, Cozumel Mexico, and then a final day at sea before being back in Texas. Once we boarded the ship, we headed to our stateroom which was 7250. Once we got there we immediately went out on our private balcony and just sat down and took in the moment. We took some pictures. We were on the port side of the ship. Once we got settled and unpacked in our room we had to do the stupid safety drill with the life jackets. That took forever as always but it was nice once that was over. By now we were starving so we headed to Deck 9, the Lido Deck, and got something to eat. The food was so amazing! By this point we have started to leave port and we are back in our room on our balcony watching us set sail into the open ocean. There were lots of Activities to do on the ship. The first thing we did was take a nap because we were so exhausted. That was our favorite thing to do every afternoon. It was just like clockwork. haha Being at sea the first two days was great. It gave us a chance to recover from our wedding so we could enjoy the rest of our honeymoon. Our ship was the Carnival Conquest and it was a beautiful ship. We spent the two days at sea exploring the ship and all the marvelous features. We even gambled for the first time. We played black jack and eventually broke even. That is when we decided it was a good time to quit. It was a great first gambling experience.

Greg's favorite thing to do was lock me out on the balcony and then make me beg to be let back in. I never got smart enough about that and I believe he locked me out 3 or 4 times. You would think you would learn the first time, but apparently not for me. Another favorite for both of us was the towel animals we received each night in our stateroom when we came back from dinner. It was a different animal each night and they were so cute. Did you know they actually have a book published that tells you how to make all the different towel creations. I was so close to buying it but then I figured I would leave that task up to the professionals.

Our Cruise Ship

Stingray eating our chocolates

Seductive looking rabbit

Cute elephant

Sunset the first night at Sea

Our Stateroom

They took my sunglasses it made the dog look groovy

The first time Greg locked me out on the balcony

On our balcony before we set sail

Greg relaxing and loving our balcony

I will create a new post for each place we stopped along our cruise in the Caribbean.

Wedding Day Details

On June 19, 2009 I walked down the aisle at Trinity Baptist Church in Mesa, AZ and became Mrs. Carrie Lynn Nichols! I could not of asked for a more perfect day. It started out in the morning where I went a looked at my flowers. They were gorgeous. After that I went to where the reception was going to be held to look at the final set up. I stood in that room and it hit me that in roughly 6 hours I was going to be back there in my wedding dress and ready to party! That was a surreal feeling. After that I went home and made sure that everything was packed for our honeymoon because we were leaving right away the next day for the Caribbean. Once that was done it was a waiting game until I needed to head to the church to start getting ready. I went to the church around 2pm and started getting my hair done. My hairstylist did any amazing job. While my hair was being done, I also had my make-up done. Both ladies did such an amazing job. Soon my bridesmaids starting arriving and the event began to pick up. I finally was able to get into my dress for pictures. This whole time it was a game to make sure that Greg didn't see me before the ceremony. I had everyone on the look out when I was out of the dressing room. Once pictures started everything went smoothly. I saw the groomsmen and took pictures with them. They went back to Greg and kept telling him and taunting him because they go to see me first. I thought it was really sweet that they kept telling me how beautiful I looked. I was in a daze the whole time this was happening. I couldn't believe my day was finally here. Once pictures were done, they hid me back in the dressing room and the guests started to arrive. The ceremony started without a hitch and things went perfectly. Greg's smile the first time he saw me come down the isle was priceless. It was everything that I imagined. We both could not stop smiling from that point on. The ceremony was beautiful. Once we were announced Mr. and Mrs. Gregory Nichols we greeted everyone in a receiving line. It was great to get to say hello to everyone, even though it was just a quick second. Once that was over we took family pictures and then it was off to the reception. We had a blast once we got there. We had our first dance and I almost cried. It was an amazing feeling to dance with my husband for the first time. Once the dance was over we headed over to our head table and my best friend gave her speech. It was very touching and I love her to death! Finally then we got to go through the buffet line and eat! I was so hungry by that time. The food was amazing. Soon after that came the cutting of the cake. We didn't smash the cake in each others face at the reception, but we did how ever at the rehearsal dinner. Greg's parents got us a cake so we could practice cutting it and I couldn't resist then. That was a great feeling! Once all of the formalities were out of the way, then we got to dancing! We had a blast and the night just flew by. Everyone was so great to us and we are so thankful that we got to share our special day with so many people.