Ocho Rios, Jamaica

Nina & Vlad: Honeymoon

We went to Ocho Rios, Jamaica for 10 days. We didn't leave for Jamaica until a week after our wedding because we didn't want to be rushing around trying to leave the Sunday after our wedding in Dayton. Plus, I knew I'd be packing at 3 am the night of my wedding! :)

We stayed at an all-inclusive Sandals resort that offers free renewal of vows ceremonies to guests if you stay a certain amount of time. During the wedding planning process of our ceremony and reception in Dayton, Vlad and I would jokingly say that maybe we should just run off and get married by the beach just the two of us, but we knew how important it was to both of us to have that one chance to have all of our family and friends in one place for a wedding in Dayton. So, when we booked our honeymoon and saw that they offered free vow renewals, we thought it would be a great opportunity to still have that quiet wedding by the beach just the two of us. So, that's just what we did. We made a reservation with the wedding departments, and then got to meet with a wedding planner (who was fantastic!) when we arrived at the resort to choose final details such as flowers (a bout and bouquet were included), ceremony and cake reception location (we chose a gazebo that looked out over the beach for the ceremony and a shaded terrace for our first dance, cake, and champagne toast), cake flavor (Caribbean fruit), and music. We just kept it super basic, and tried to choose things completely different than what we did at home. Our wedding in Dayton was pretty big, more formal, with a full Catholic Mass, and all about winter and ice blue, and so we chose warm, summer, beachy colors and super casual clothes. We both wore flip flops (I got us both "Just Married" flip flops as our fun honeymoon gift). He wore khakis and a button down shirt, and I wore a simple white dress from David's bridal because my Dayton wedding dress was ice blue.

The ceremony was short and simple and nondenominational, and it gave us a chance to recommit to each other in a much calmer, more intimate way than the whirlwind that is a wedding day. We also got to have a first dance and cake and champagne alone together in such a beautiful setting. Then, the best part was that afterwards, we could go to our room and change and go straight to the beach and enjoy some tropical drinks on the Caribbean Sea!

The rest of the honeymoon was great, as well. Great food/drinks, great service, great beach and pool. Mostly, we just did a lot of relaxing because your honeymoon really is one of the only times in your life where people just leave you alone to spend time together regardless of where you go. We had a couples spa treatment that included a body scrub and wrap, an essential oil bath, and a massage (the hubby is not a big "spa" person, but he enjoyed it). We also tried to get off the resort property and hiked up Dunn's River Falls and went on a canopy tour, which is a series of zip lines through the trees in the canopy of the rain forest (the absolute highlight of the trip). 10 days absolutely flew by! Our last night, we wanted to splurge a bit before we got back to "normal life" so we had a private candlelit dinner in a gazebo atop the waterfall at the main pool area of the resort complete with 4 course meal and white glove service. It was a fantastic way to end a great trip!

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Thank you Nina for this great post!