H-moon Recap: Saving the best for last

So we were on our honeymoon from the day after our wedding (left Saturday night April 17th at 11 pm) until Saturday May 1st.  This was our schedule:

Saturday April 17th - Depart for Brisbane Australia 11 pm
Monday April 19th - Arrive Brisbane 6 am
Monday April 19th - Found our apartment in Burleigh Heads, Queensland
Thursday April 22nd - Stayed for one night at O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat
Sunday April 25th - Depart for Bali, Indonesia arrived at about 2:30 pm
Sunday April 25th - Took a few hours to find a rental car in Bali, find a gas station after we left and realized the rental car 'guy' left us with an empty tank and we had not yet exchanged our US Dollars for Rhupia and then find the Wina Holiday Villas to stay at.

We stayed at the Wina for 3 nights and it was great...Mr Fix It stayed there several times and loved it.  But let me tell you, we were most excited about the last 3 nights of our honeymoon.  From Wednesday morning until Saturday afternoon, we got to stay at the Blue Point Bay Villas in Uluwatu, Indonesia.  And let me say - THAT is what a honeymoon resort is all about!

We were a bit confused at first as we drove from Kuta to Uluwatu through the city and into a more remote location.  As we got close to the resort and eventually turned onto the street, we realized that we could be in for trouble since the 'road' was nothing but a horribly bumpy dirt gravel path.  We passed a cow and a bunch of workers apparently building something but who knows what?  However, from the moment we arrived we were totally in awe!

This was the view of the open area reception area where we checked in.

They told us they'd let us check in several hours early but needed about 20 - 30 minutes to get the room ready.  So we headed out to the pool to check out the view of the ocean and surfers below.  While we waited, a waiter suddenly walked up and gave us free citrusy drinks that were bright and fun and yummy!  We were already lovin' this place!

I scoped out what I determined to be the best spot at the pool and then a bellhop came and helped load our luggage onto a cart.  He headed us down the path to the rooms and stopped at #204.  We were a little confused when he had to unlock a padlock on a gate.  And this is what we saw:

You have your own private yard surrounding your room.  Complete with a plunge pool and a lounge/bed under a gazebo (right side of the pic):

We made good use of that little lounge bed outside...we watched movies on it one day on our portable DVD player and also took some good naps and other stuff.  We also ordered room service and ate at the little table on the patio.  It was a shrimp cocktail served with a citrusy sauce in a carved out pineapple..so yummy!

Here's another shot of the plunge pool in the yard:

And here's the view from off of the little cliff that the room sits on:

Mr Fix It in the plunge pool:

But of course to truly appreciate it, including seeing inside our AMAZING room,
you need to check out the video tour: 

More on this amazing resort and our adventures here coming up later this week - but tomorrow, a sneak peek at some pro pics of the wedding day - FINALLY!

Wedding Recap: Photobooth fun!

I don't care what you do, if it all possible, the one thing I highly encourage you to have at your wedding is a photobooth.  I know it's trendy and overdone nowadays but it is only because your guests absolutely LOVE it!  Whether you make your own 'faux-to-booth' or rent one like we did from a company like Cheesy Photobooths, it is the best investment you'll make for entertaining your guests.  And it also serves as a great favor for them to remember your special day by.  I personally loved it because it also served dual purpose as part of our guestbook so we'd have a pic of all of our guests from our special day. 

But seriously, the entertainment value alone is phenomenal and ours was packed all night long.  So without further ado, here are just some of the many, many different types and styles of people and photos we discovered after browsing through our photobooth photos:

You'll get people of all ages:

 20 Somethings:

 Teens:

 

Moms (mine and my sister's mother-in-law):

Parents (of the groom and their friend):

Families:

Even sleeping babies!

By the way, how freaking cute is our banner at the bottom of the pictures?

And of course, you'll get the silly photos and crazy shots:

Little Miss and her dad:

The kids were in that thing all night long - like 20 times each! 

(Our Junior Groomsmen, Mr Fix It's nephew)

My crazy cousin, the flower girl

My best friend from high school who I invited 5 days before the wedding!

I love this pic in the top left of my cousins with the afro - so genius!

And you'll get the pics to see how many people you can fit inside for one picture:

This one is me and my bible study girls I lead:

Me and all my bridesmaids (and my cousin jumped in at the very end)!

My team of coordinators even jumped in at the end of the night:

For some reason, everyone thinks it's necessary to kiss and/or stick your tongue out in photobooths:

Truly disgusting...I don't need to see that!

You'll get sweet shots:

Me and Little Miss

And of course there's "What the hell is going on in this photo" shots:

Mr Fix It thought we were gonna get busy in there...silly boy!

And then finally, the "They were obviously hammered by this point" shots:

And then there's the random "Why are there totally different people in each one of these?" shots

I felt horrible about this one.  These are Mr Fix It's friends.  I didn't see anyone in line and didn't know they were inside and I barged in on them to take the pic of me and my girls right when they were kissing.  What a horrible selfish bride!  I apologized profusely and they were totally cool about it :)

Mr Fix It likes to think that he can raise his 'pimp hand' to me.  He thinks it's hilarious...not really:

But my favorite of the entire night was my wedding coordinator's husband,

 who brilliantly came up with this little beauty:

Now granted, not every single guest got in the photobooth which was a bummer.  Some left early because of kids or early mornings the next day.  Some said they were in line or on their way to the booth and then got sidetracked or ended up having to come in for the grand entrance, dinner, cake cutting, etc.  To try to offset this, we had our company set up the booth and split our hours.  We had the booth open at 4:30 and the ceremony was at 5 or 5:30 pm.  They shut down for an hour during the ceremony and then reopened from 6:30 to 11:30 during cocktails, dinner and dancing.  We booked them for a total of 6 hours and it was packed the whole time! 

I only wish I would have taken more advantage of the booth myself :(  Like much that was going on that day, I just never found enough time to focus on what I wanted and do all I wanted to.  (sigh)

So, what are your thoughts?  Did/Are you having a photobooth?  When/How do you plan to incorporate it?

Today's Tip:   Be sure to have lots of props on hand for a photobooth and set them out clearly and obviously. (I bought most of mine the day after Halloween at a costume store for a huge discount.)  I also had a dry erase board (couldn't find a chalk board I liked) and markers for people to write messages on and somehow it did not get used in any photos!  I think it ended up in the kids' play area or someone used the wrong pen on it and ruined it.  Have a photobooth attendant there all night instructing guests on what to do, encouraging them to use props, etc.  And tell them in advance about things like a chalk board or whatever.  Be sure to have your DJ or emcee announce the booth is open as well and remind guests to go use it!

(We did have an attendant who came from the rental company but I don't think that I told him about the dry erase board and I was too caught up in everything else to realize it until later.)