We loved Grotto Bay!  We seriously considered staying there again when we return in July.  We were able to book a great deal at a different hotel on the island as bermudatourism.com is currently hosting a booking special at half price and I believe Grotto Bay is included.  Grotto Bay is one of the middle price range hotels on the island and does include an optional meal plan.  Most of the island hotels are not all inclusive.

Grotto Bay is one of the closest hotels to the airport.  This meant we were going to have to travel all the way across the island from our ship which was docked at the Naval Yard.  The taxi took about an hour and cost about $100.

My parents rented us a room for the night so that we would be able to get dressed before the ceremony and stay there for the night.  The room was beautiful with wood floors, spacious bathroom which included granite. 

The room was very clean- we know this first hand since I thought I had dropped my new diamond earrings while getting dressed and my lovely new husband spend our wedding night looking at every square inch of the floor in search of them.  It turns out my Mom mistook them for hers and took the earrings back to the ship!

We chose to be married on the lawn at Grotto Bay since I knew the guests would be dressed formally and I didn’t want them to have to take off their shoes.  After the ceremony we went down to the beach, alone with our photographer to take some photos.  It was then that I realized how happy we were that  we chose the lawn.  There were many steps to get down to the beach and pool area and it was extremely humid the day of the wedding.  We realized quickly that  the guests would have been completely soaked with sweat by the time we got to the ceremony site if we would have had the wedding on the beach.

During the photo session we visited the pool and hot tub areas which were both beautiful and covered in Hibiscus.  There is a Moongate directly before the hot tub- it is said to be good luck for married couples to walk through a Moongate, and they are found all over the island.  In the photo below there is a couple behind us in the hot tub!

I stressed way too much before hand about the airport noise and airplanes taking off during the ceremony.  Honestly, Bermuda airport isn’t that busy and only one plane took off at the very end of the ceremony- which was pretty symbolic actually.

Everyone at Grotto Bay was completely accommodating and it only took a few e-mails to set up the buffet for our guests and cake.  Planning the menu is completely different than planning  a wedding locally.  Having never been to Grotto Bay or eaten the food there before we had to trust the chef and staff.  We chose seafood and fish as our main entree along with a chicken entree and vegtables. 

The food was excellent!  Our guests still talk about it.  After eating the cruise ship food-Grotto Bay’s food was fresher and tastier than the ship. Our cake was pretty- the fondant isn’t something that my husband and I were too fond of- it was a must have though, because the cake would have melted in the heat!

Our reception was set up inside a small (airconditioned!!) room adjacent to the main dining area.  We also had use of a small patio area which was lovely after the sun went down.  On the patio, Grotto Bay provided a lovely bar tender making the famous Rum Swizzles along with other top shelf drinks.  We provided a CD of mixed music that was played on a small stereo. 

At 9pm Bermuda surprised us with a beautiful fireworks show which we could see right from the patio.  It was a wonderful way to end the evening.

All photos in this post were taken by our wedding photographer Bruce Lesure.  He was wonderful!

So, I’m back!  I wanted to write about some of the cool things we did for our guests that were traveling with us for our wedding.   I knew that our guests were making a big effort not to mention expense to travel for our wedding.  I really wanted to make it special for them. 

OOT  Bags!  We used the Out of Town bags idea to gift our guests some of the things they may have forgotten or needed while they were cruising.

I started with a good sturdy bag from LLBean with Bermuda 05 embroidered on them.  Making 1 per cabin I wanted a bag that people could use to hit the beach or go shopping downtown even take out to the pool deck.  I also knew I wanted something that would last and they could use when they returned to Maryland.  After I ordered the bags  I found adorable silver luggage tags online in the shape of a cruise ship to identify them.

Then I hit all the dollar stores in the area to fill them with bandaids, candy, sunscreen, fun light up items for July 4th since we would be on the ship that night, beads as well as a folder with an itinerary and timeline along with fun facts about Bermuda.  I topped off the bags with beach towels for each person that I purchased in bulk from BJ’s. 

With all of the bags assembled I had a problem… they were huge!  I had no idea how I was ever going to get everything onto the ship along with my wedding dress, accessories and extra cruise clothing. 

We decided to box them all up (6 boxes in all) and pray that the ship would allow them on.  They did with no problem.  It  may have helped that they loaded the ship in a big  hurry and never even noticed my extra 6 boxes.  Thank goodness we didn’t fly.  When we arrived to our room they were already there taking up a LOT of space so we presented the bags to our guests the evening of the first dinner.

Our towels are still in use 5 years later and I will take my bag back this July!

Photos by Bruce Lesure.

Coming up next- A review of Grotto Bay.

Since I am starting this travel and destination blog I decided to go back to where it all started- Bermuda.  Actually, my love for travel began in college when I studied abroad for a month in Australia- one day I will pull out those photos and scan them so you can see a skinny me (I thought I was so fat then!) living large in the land of OZ.

After college were those poor years just surviving and starting my job when I barely traveled (skiing in Park City and one trip to the Dominican Republic I would soon forget along with the yearly vacations to Nags Head with the family) but I knew when or if I met the man of my dreams I wanted an unusual wedding in a neat place. 

I met Dave in the late summer of 2001 and on our second date at an Orioles game I asked him if he was interested in me and if he wanted to eventually get married and have kids.  I was sick of playing games at that point so I figured I would put all my cards on the table and if he said no I was moving on.  Thank goodness he said yes but then it took 3 YEARS, along with the purchase of a car, a house, a boat and me turning 30 for him to be comfortable enough to get me an engagement ring.

My sweet husband and I with the waiters on the ship post wedding-

Our proposal story is fairly uneventful- he came in from work on July 1st (eleven days before my 30th birthday) and asked me if I wanted to go shopping.  We were headed to Disney and a Destination wedding in August so I didn’t think twice about him needing new clothes.  When I said sure- he said- “what jewelry store do you want to go to?”  Totally dumbfounded but catching on quickly I said “what do you mean?”  He said, I think it’s time you get a ring.  Apparently, he was really stressing out about whether or not to take me to shop for the ring and he “took a poll” at work- something he has done on more than one occasion…later, I’ll tell you about the “poll” he took at work where he found out that most wives make their husband’s a packed lunch and the 3 day argument that followed! 

 He talked to most of the women at his work and they said she will wear it forever- take her with you.  Thanks ladies at work!  I owe you all except he has much more expensive taste than I do and I talked him out of the first diamond because I envisioned teacher lady with big ring erasing the chalkboard while blinding the students.

We got my ring “we went to Jared’s” by the way, but it needed to be sized.  It was soooo hard to go a whole day without telling anyone until I got the ring back.  First person we told was my Mom and Dad when he got home from work.  First thing my Dad said is “where are we going to go?” 

Hmmm that was the question?  I went the next day- like most newly engaged women and hit the grocery store to buy every wedding magazine and travel magazine they had.  Those suckers add up.  I still buy destination wedding magazines- under the premise that I am doing research for my photography.  The truth is I just love them- everyone is so pretty and happy in beautiful gowns with “Ken” husbands in awesome locations- so much like real life don’t you think- especially if you are a “real wife” in Orange County!

By mid-July we had it narrowed down to three places.  Nags Head, NC where we had vacationed many times before.  The Frenchmans Reef Marriott in St. Thomas one of Dave’s favorite places in the Carribean or Bermuda Cruising from Baltimore.  I had cruised to Bermuda in high school and my parents had a wonderful cruise for my grandparent’s 50th wedding anniversary so I was pushing hard for Bermuda.

After a little more discussion and me stalking the Knot wedding board every chance I got we decided to go with Bermuda.  I found a wedding coordinator online at A Wedding For You http://www.aweddingforyou.com/ These ladies were a little more laid back than I wanted at first.  Looking back at the whole thing- those ladies are worth their weight in GOLD!  Two days before the wedding when the ship didn’t show and we weren’t sure if we were even going to Bermuda I needed some really laid back ladies.  More on that later.

Locally, we talked to Severn Travel http://www.severntravel.com/to help us book the cruise.   We went back to Severn Travel this year to book our 5 year anniversary.  It definitely helps when coordinating a group of people to hire a travel agent.  My advice to brides and grooms- don’t try to book the travel yourself.  These people are professionals and when the family member is upset about their seat assignment on the plane or the view from their room you have someone to send them to!  Planning the wedding is hard enough don’t add the stress of planning the travel too-ugh it gets ugly!

Our group taken by one of those lovely laid back ladies from A Wedding for You-

We really wanted family and friends to attend.  We tried to be as sensitive to everyone’s financial situation as possible.  First we gave everyone 11 months notice.  We knew by August 5th that we were going to Bermuda and we sent out simple letters I printed on our home computer to all of our closest family and friends explaining that we were traveling to Bermuda and we hoped they would take their family vacation with us.  This was our subtle way of saying “you need to pay for your own trip” but we’ll feed you one night at a great resort on the island. 

By cruising we could hit all budgets- my Grandparents went all out with a balcony room knowing that this may be the last cruise they take and my Mother-in- law who was able to book last minute and got a room that was able to get her there cheaper than a plane ticket would cost.  We also took advantage of the July 4th holiday being a Monday and most of our group had off from work.  Sailing out of Baltimore was a great deal since most of the family was local there was no added expense of getting to the ship.  Out of the 55 letters we sent 27 people were in our group.  If you count the people in the photo there is 28- we had a stowaway to the wedding.  A friend of my Aunt’s lived in Bermuda-she drove over to the ship when it was so late getting into port and the taxis wouldn’t come over to us.  She put my sister, niece and my brother-in-law in her tiny car and took them to the ceremony site all the way across the island.  I would have gone but the car was so tiny I wouldn’t have fit with the dress!  For her kindness we told her to tag along to the wedding.  For my kind of shy husband and my low key self (really, I am!) 28 was a perfect number of people. 

I’ll stop for now in my review…

Here is what is to come -review #2- I’ll explain some of the neat things we did for our guests to make our week special and talk more in depth about Grotto Bay and the fantastic on-site catering coordinator there and some more about the bumpy cruise to Bermuda.

Review #3 will be details about the actual wedding that almost didn’t happen because the ship blew and engine coming in the bay to pick us up resulting in my almost nervous breakdown on July 3rd.

Review #4- Will be a great story about my diamond earings and a little boy with the middle name Hamilton:)

So- will you come back for more?