Day 18 - How timely! :)

So I'm pretty excited about the topic for Day 18 of my 30 Day Blog Journal! But before I get into it, I wanted to share a little bit about this past weekend.

My car was in the shop all day on Friday and it seemed to take FOREVER because I was anxious to get it back and head to the airport! My soldier had been gone all week for a special training he and a few others in his unit had to go to and he was flying back Friday night and I couldn't wait to get there and pick him up. His plane didn't come in until 11pm, but I was just excited! I got my car back, went home and loaded up the car with my bag and dogs, stopped on my way out of town for a Firehouse sub and hit the road! I waited as long as I could stand it before heading to the airport. I got there about 30 minutes early and played Angry Birds to pass the time. As soon as his plane landed I started watching for him, and slowly people started coming through the hallway, and as soon as I saw him walking through the security checkpoint I was smiling from ear to ear and as giddy as a little school girl! He had only been gone for a week, but lately I have been so thankful for every single MOMENT that I get to spend with him.

We spent the day Saturday together and visiting as many of his family members as we could squeeze in. Brunch with his mom, sister, grandparents and a friend of ours. Daytime with his mom and little sis. Late afternoon with his other grandparents for a bit. Evening birthday dinner for his other little sister with his dad and stepmom, other grandparents and some family friends. And a late night Starbucks stop with his sister and her mom. I'm so glad we got to spend the whole day together and he was able to see most of his family before he left.

Sunday morning we got up way early and finished the last bit of packing he had to do and we headed to Camp to say goodbye. His parents and sisters were there and we got to spend about an hour together before he got on the bus. I cried nearly the whole time, of course. His unit was relocated to another post for the next 2 months before he deploys. I am already counting down the days until I see him again!

This is a picture his mom took of us right before he boarded. It is so precious to me. I absolutely cannot WAIT to be back in his arms, and for this to be a "welcome home" kiss rather than a "goodbye" kiss!

Anyways...now I get to move onto Day 18, and as I mentioned in the title, it's very timely for me :) The topic is My Wedding/Future Wedding/Past Wedding. I obviously am not married yet, but over the past couple of months, my incredible boyfriend and I have been discussing our plans for our future wedding once he returns! We have a pretty solid date in mind, and a lot of the details thought out. Here is a glimpse of what to expect :)

Yep, that's right...BEACH WEDDING! For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to get married barefoot on the beach. I think it's the perfect setting...calm, peaceful, relaxing...and FUN! I hate how so many traditional weddings always turn into drama and chaos...mine will NOT! :)

I know it may seem premature to some people because we are not "officially" engaged yet, but he's kinda busy at the moment with the whole soldier thing, and we decided it was best to get an idea of what we really wanted, and to let some people know what we were planning and when...because we know it is going to cost a lot of money, and we wanted to give ourselves and our family and closest friends the opportunity to save up so they could come share in our special day if they wanted to! But anyways...premature or not, we have put a lot of thought into what we want and where we want it :)

I've looked up a lot of information about destination weddings and flights to different destinations. It is really expensive to fly most places in the U.S....St. Thomas, Bahamas, Hawaii, etc. So I definitely wanted to look into various destinations. Jamaica, Fiji, Domican Republic...all super expensive to fly there as well. Mexico, however...I can fly to Mexico for cheaper than I can fly to Florida or California! So that was our first decision...we picked a country! :) After that, it got a tiny bit more complicated.

We both pictured doing the ceremony at sunset...tell me that isn't BEAUTIFUL?! :) That being said...If we had a sunset ceremony, we knew we'd want the sun to set OVER the water, not over land. So that put us basically looking at places like Puerto Vallarta and Cabo, on the west side of Mexico. This is where I got bummed, because I just LOVE the Caribbean water. It is absolutely breathtaking. Pacific water...still pretty, but not the same :( Then it hit me....

Cozumel!!!! Cozumel is an island right off the coast from Playa del Carmen, which is south of Cancun. In the Caribbean! But also facing WEST so we can do the sunset wedding! :) :) :) We decided this would be the perfect place!

Next, we started looking at different resorts. I knew I definitely wanted to do something nice, but also affordable so that it was more reasonable for our guests. I also knew I wanted to do stay at an all-inclusive resort, where all your food is paid for with the cost of the room. That way, everyone knows exactly what their stay at the hotel is going to cost and they don't have to worry about the cost of food on top of everything else! So I started looking at as many resorts in Cozumel as I could find online.  One thing I did NOT like, was the idea of looking back from the beach toward the resort, and seeing some giant, 30-story hotel building. We wanted something more simple and quaint. With some help from my friend Nicki who is a travel agent out of Dallas the specializes in Mexico honeymoons and destination weddings, I think we finally found the perfect resort :)

This is an aerial view of the hotel from the beach. It is called the Iberostar Cozumel, and has these adorable bungalow-style huts for the hotel rooms! I think it is just the perfect, quaint little setting for what we want.

This is a photo from the porch of one of the rooms. How relaxing does this look?! :)

Aside from the resort, we have also picked out colors (okay...I picked them, he just agreed with me ;) 

We have chosen to do turquoise with a bright orange! I think it will be perfect for a tropical setting :) And I just think orange calla lilies are so pretty! 

I haven't gotten much further than this on the "planning"...but I still have PLENTY of time. I have quite a few other ideas in my head, just waiting until it gets closer to actually decide and start purchasing things :)

Hopefully it will be pretty simple to make all the choices and book trips when it is official and the day approaches! It is fun to think about it and a good distraction while the future hubby is away, so I'm enjoying myself! 

That's all for now...I'm sure that once my "future wedding" becomes my actual wedding, I will tell you all about it with plenty of pictures! :) What a good day to do this post...it's so gloomy outside and this is way prettier weather to dream about :)