Proposal, Wedding, and Honeymoon

The Proposal (6/26/05):

Richard started the planning in advance. Before the weekend even arrived Richard was talking about wanting to pull out the mountain bikes. But then he though, hmmm, it's been raining a lot lately, so it could be too wet on the trails. Hey, maybe we could go to Tunica Falls, I bet the waterfalls are really nice with all of the rain lately! Great idea!!! We had been to Tunica once before and it was beautiful hiking and a number of small waterfalls.

So, when Sunday came, we headed out to Tunica Falls.

We hiked to the furthest waterfall first, one where last time we enjoyed hanging out, taking pictures and having lunch. So when we arrived this time, Richard suggested taking a picture! I LOVED the idea, as I LOVE pictures. So, I set up the camera on a rock (just like last time and he knew I'd do this)...snap! Let's check it out! Awww, cute! Richard suggested another one after he saw it was all set up perfect and I sure wasn't going to complain! I set up the camera, ran back, and in Richard's mind, oh shoot, not enough time! Snap! So, he suggested a third...again, I'm not complaining, he wants to take pictures...I'm all for it! I set up the camera again, ran back, and he got down on one knee...I'm so confused thinking, what are you doing, the picture is about to take...snap...he's proposing!!!!

Apparently my main response was..."are you serious"...but there was a "YES!" in there too!!!

The Wedding (2/25/06):

The day was great from start to finish! It started off a little overcast, but we weren't complaining about 60 degrees on a February day in North Carolina!

Michelle and her bridesmaids gathered to get ready at the Matthews House. They sat down with both her mom and Richard's mom to eat a little lunch before the preparations started! After they got ready, they had a little photo time before they left for the church.

Richard met his groomsmen outside the Matthews House, as they were not allowed to enter and see the bride. They rode in the limo to the church, where they had some photos taken before the ceremony.

Michelle cried a little as she walked down the aisle, but not nearly like she imagined that she would. The excited must have taken over by this point! Richard held himself together, even losing his own bet that he would cry!

We had such a wonderful time with our friends and family. We loved the company and were so excited to see everyone who was able to join us there. It was such a great feeling to be surrounded by those that love us! Thank you to so many of you who traveled so far to make our day perfect. And thank you to everyone for being there to share our special day with us. We loved every minute!

The Honeymoon (2/26/06-3/2/06):

We left Sunday morning for our honeymoon, a cruise on the Carnival Destiny. We flew into San Juan as the boat was leaving from there Sunday evening.

The first day we stopped at St. Thomas. We did a little shopping, but the highlight was the miniboat tour, where we got to drive our own 2 person boat around in the Caribbean Ocean. In addition, we had the chance to stop and snorkel by a private island.

The next day was Dominica. When we got off the boat there was a parade going on, so we were entertained by the locals for a while. Of course there were tons of people selling their crafts, but we weren't there to shop! We were scheduled for a river tubing trip, but apparently the water was a little rough and two people were injured earlier that morning...our trip was canceled!

Next was Barbados. We couldn't wait to get here and go on an ATV trip! We rode up a mountain on our own ATV's and had a great view of the island and the ocean below. Then we went down the mountain and hung out at the beach for a little while until it was time to go back to the cruise boat!

The next day was a nice lazy day at sea. We slept in, hung out on the pool deck, and of course ate...a lot!!

Our last island was Aruba. It was gorgeous! We did an all day sail trip that took us snorkeling at a reef, then a ship wreck, and then to the beach! The sail trip ended with a beautiful sunset as we sailed back to our cruise ship.

We had a chance to wind down the trip with our final day at sea before arriving back at San Juan. Sunday we flew back to NC and Monday we drove back to LA.

We had a wonderful time!

Short slideshow of the fun:

PS. That proposal picture is of the ACTUAL moment he proposed! YEAH!