Chad & Crystal's Wedding: Chapter 3

JAMAICA!

32 people made their way to Dunns River, Jamaica for Chad & Crystal's big day. Mike and I were excited for the trip, but sad to leave Carson behind. Grandma & Grandpa B babysat Carson, while Grandma & Grandpa Lowe watched Kava the dog. :)

Once we landed in Montego Bay, we travelled by bus for another 2 hours to Dunns River. It was pretty rough to actually see Jamaica. It is an extremely poor country and it was depressing. We were riding a coach bus and going to a 5 star resort, and we drove by a distressing image of how the people live in Jamaica. There was a weird vibe there--it was like the Jamaicans were resentful of all the tourists and even bitter at times. I don't think Mike and I will venture back to Jamaica any time soon, but never say never!

We stayed at the Sandals resort. It was beautiful! Here are some pics of the view:

The beach was nice, but I mostly enjoyed the raft in the middle of their swimming area (it reminded me of the Boulder Reservoir), and the 2 pools there.
Here is the main pool. The waterfall was a nice touch, and this is one big pool bar!

Here I am relaxing and trying to look sexy...

Crystal put together a Shuffleboard Tournament so that everyone could get to know each other. Crystal had some bridesmaids from college that flew in from Minnesota, Idaho, and N. Carolina, while Chad's boys flew in from Virginia. We had met Chris and Marcus before, but is was great to meet their wives on this trip! In this picture, you can see Mike warming up for his round of shuffleboard:

Well, it just so happens that I am good at shuffleboard! In fact, my partner Nate and I won the whole tournament! Here we are posing "in the zone" after our wins...

One of the only excursions that we were able to do away from the resort was a trip to Dunn's River Falls. At the falls, you climb up the waterfall--in the waterfall in a vertical hike of 950 feet. It...was...AWESOME!! Unfortunately for Mike--this was a really BAD idea with his new knee replacement, so he opted out and was able to take some pretty sweet pictures:

I absolutely LOVED this--but I love waterfalls in general. It was not easy, either. We had on aqua socks for some traction, and it was hard to see where you were stepping in the water. What a great time!

Chad and Crystal had a rehearsal dinner that was really special. It was in one of the restaurants at the resort, but they closed the restaurant except for our party. We had a fun night of dancing and night swimming aferwards!

Crystal and I posed for the camera

Missy and I took a minute to get a picture taken on the dance floor. Missy played basketball with Crystal in college. She and I got along really well!

I really like this picture of Crystal's mom helping her with her veil.

It was pretty neat that Mike, Jeff, and I got to walk up the aisle together!

It was a very intimate ceremony. Chad & Crystal wrote their own vows. I might have even teared up a little :)

Mr. & Mrs. CHAD SENSENEY!!

In this picture, Chad and Crystal are jumping over a broomstick. This custom goes back to the days of African slavery when marriages were not recognized by slave owners--slaves would ceremoniously jump over a broom to acknowledge marriages. Crystal really wanted to bring in all parts of her heritage to the ceremony.

Here are the girls...pointing out the new "bling" on Crystal ring finger!

And here are the guys--all for one!!

You gotta have some pictures like these, right?

We were not about to be left out of the fun!!There was a nice reception afterwards, and again it was really touching to hear some toasts for the bride and groom. The cake, however, was the nastiest thing I've ever eaten. It is a great joke now--because everyone was trying to choke it down and aferwards we talked about how horrible it was! I think they left out an ingredient or something. :)

We had a wonderful time at the wedding. The reception is this weekend, and it should be more celebration and fun!

Another great thing about this trip was coming home--we could not WAIT to get back and see Carson! How fun to take a trip and be just as excited to come home. :)