The Honeymoon!

So like I was saying, Tim and I desperately needed a break after the weekend of our wedding. Although it was a blast, we needed to get away from the stress of planning, executing, and dealing with the wedding, not to mention we both needed a vacation from work! Tim took care of planning our entire honeymoon, and with Dan's airline miles, Monday morning we were off for Maui, Hawaii!


Maui Airpot and Welcome (Aloha!) Sign

Our Condo looking inside. There was a loft too!

Day 1: Beach Day. It took us all day to get to Hawaii (3 flights), so we took the first day as a beach day. Tim found us a condo with an ocean view, and it was perfect. Full kitchen, eating area, and balcony, it was very relaxing for our time there. The first morning we made pancakes for breakfast with items previous vacationers had left there (delicious!). Then we headed to one of the many beaches in Hawaii. Tim played in the waves, trying to ride them back to shore. He succeeded at one point, and crashed onto the sand because he didn't expect it to work! We spent the day there, and then went grocery shopping. Boy, they aren't kidding when they say things in Hawaii are more expensive! We got groceries for the week, made sandwiches for lunch back at the condo, and hung out on our balcony listening to the ocean.

Me at the beach, and Tim jumping in the waves.

That night we went to the Hula Grill, and we each got a fish dinner (big step for both of us). Delicious!

Day 2: Snorkel Cruise. Today we went on an all day snorkel cruise. This meant we had to get up early (which even Tim was able to manage!). We left at 8am, and headed out to Molokini crater, a popular place for snorkeling. We had a continental breakfast and signed up for Snuba (a cross between snorkling and scuba diving, read here). We also rented a really nice digital camera with a waterproof covering so we could take all the pictures we wanted that they then gave to us on a CD. Best deal ever! The snorkling was amazing, and we got some incredible pictures! Then we tried snuba, which was amazing (and Tim's favorite part of our whole trip)! We got to dive deeper than we would from just snorkling, but did not require scuba certification or gear. It was so cool! Then we went to Turtle Town to snorkle some more after our BBQ lunch. It was really wavy at Turtle Town, so it was difficult to see with the sand kicked up from the bottom. It was still tons of fun to swim in the ocean and see all the fish! That night we went out for dinner at Stella Blues, another delicious meal!

Tim in the Snuba gear. Some of the fish we saw.

Turtle town, and Tim and I in our snorkle masks!

Day 3: Parasailing and Aquarium. Parasailing was a blast! They hook you up to a giant parachute and slowly reel you out to the right altitude and drive you around. It's so quiet that high up and so peaceful, and you can see everything! We were up there for almost 10 minutes, and it was really awesome. Unfortunately we thought we would have a chance to put on sunscreen and we did not (the boat bounced around too much), so we were a bit pink by the time we got back! So we decided to go to the aquarium to get out of the sun for a while! I wasn't as excited about the aquarium, because we've been to aquariums, but Tim loves them and honestly, it was a great choice! There were so many unique fish that we had never seen before! It was really cool!

Parasailing. Tons of fun!

The Maui Ocean Center, and the closest we got to sea turtle the entire time we were in Hawaii!

The displays were really cool, and some of the fish were really unique!


Day 4: Road to Hana. The road to Hana is a wonderful way to drive around the entire island. While Hana itself is not very exciting (it is a tiny tiny town), the drive was incredible. We packed a lunch and set out for the day. The first part of the drive takes you across the northern coast of Maui, which is lush, tropical, rainforest like right up against the ocean. It was beautiful. We stopped along the way to take pictures at a few select scenic areas. The road is so famous because every corner is a hairpin corner; no exaggeration. We averaged 24 mph according to our rental car over the 3 hours it took us to get to Hana! We stopped for lunch on a rocky beach outside of Hana, and then headed south to complete the drive. The southern part of the island is completely dry, like a desert right up against the ocean! Sand, dirt, rocks, and cattle farms, right along the ocean. It was an incredible drive, probably my favorite part of the trip! It took us the whole day, but it was tons of fun.

Hana was only 52 miles away, but it took us 3 hours!

We stopped to eat at the rocky beach, and then the dry side of the island looked like a desert!

Day 5: Helicopter Tour and Sunset Dinner Cruise. We ended our trip with a helicopter tour of Maui. I was not sure this trip would be very exciting, but Tim went ahead and signed us up anyway. It was super cool! We got upgraded to the longer tour that included another island (Moliki), that has a few small towns and cities but a large part of the island is uninhabited. It's know for having the worlds largest seacliffs, and some of the most spectacular waterfalls that start way up in the mountains and run all the way down to the valley floors. It was beautiful. The view from the ocean was amazing. We also flew around Maui seeing a few select spots that we were not able to visit by car. That evening we went on a sunset dinner cruise with lots of other couples. We had a delicious dinner, and watched the sunset from the harbor. It was a wonderful way to end our tour!

The valleys of Moliki, and the fishing areas that they used to use to catch fish.

The worlds steepest sea cliffs, and the waterfalls!


Day 6: Last Day. The next day we had to leave, but not until later in the evening. We decided to spend the day down at the pool of the condo. As we were getting ready, someone was trying to get into our room. We opened the door and found a confused man standing there. Turns out he was with the cleaning crew, and we were supposed to be gone by noon! Luckily they let us stay, because our flight was not until 9pm. We relaxed by the beach, went out to each one last time, and wrapped up one incredible trip to Hawaii!

Our Wedding Day!!

For a visual documentation of the day, check out our wedding pictures from our photographer:

www.angelicangles.com
-- Go to Client Galleries
-- Click on Caitlin and Tim (June 13, 2009)
-- username: cemacnair@gmail.com
password: mcnair (yes, without the 'a')

The Big Day: The only thing I was nervous about the morning of our wedding was hoping that all of the pieces necessary to make the day run smoothly would fit together perfectly! It had rained the night before, so it was wet outside, but it didn't take long for the sun to come out and dry up the little bit of moisture remaining. The weather was perfect, not too hot, not too cold, and a bit overcast so we weren't squinting in all the pictures! I was up at 7:30am to shower and get ready for our hair appointments, while Tim rolled over and slept for another hour (at least!). My mom, the girls and I were at the hair salon by 9:00am. We each had our own hair stylist, and one our hair was done we got our make-up done. We were running a bit late though, and didn't get to the country club until close to 11:00am (when we were supposed to be leaving in the limo). We quickly got ready, and Tim and I staged our first meeting (he stood facing the gazebo and I walked up behind him while I photographer took pictures... it was cute :o) ).

Then we were off! The limo was perfectly on time, and I hoped that the list Tim and I had made of everything that needed to get done at the country club would be finished without much problem (and it was, not a single problem!). We first went to the Memorial Union to get pictures, and then to the Wisconsin Capitol to get some more pictures. The pictures were great! We had champagne, sandwiches from Milios, and had a great time. I also had my high school friends come along, since most of them had never been to Wisconsin and our wedding was on the outskirts of town. It was nice to show them around since they had all traveled so far to come out here!

Once we were done at the Capitol we headed back to the country club. There we finished up photos before our guests arrived. Everything had been taken care of while we were away. Everything was in place, chairs were set, centerpieces perfect, everything was great, we really had the best help would could have hoped for! Nothing was late, nothing was missing, it was wonderful. Tim stayed out to greet our arriving guests, while I went off to hide in the changing room (no one is supposed to see the bride, yada yada). The ceremony got started right on time, and it was short and sweet just as we had planned. 15 minutes, we had our friend Chrissy marry us (ordained online, and we are eternally greatful, Chrissy did an amazing job!), and we walked back down the aisle to Beer Barrell Polka (we didn't tell anyone, the crowd got a kick out of it!). We finished up family pictures, and then the party took off.

We did a grand march to enter for dinner, so they announced each of our names in the wedding party, as well as our parents, and we all danced it! Dinner was delicious. Instead of having people ding glasses, they were required to sing us a song with the word "love" or "kiss" in it. Luckily (ha) we had a creative crowd, and the microphone was passed around the room and barely ever rested for longer than a few minutes! We were kissing quite a bit through dinner, but it was very entetaining to see the kinds of songs people chose! It was far more fun than dinging of glasses.

Once the cake had been served, we watched a 3 minute slideshow that Diana put together of pictures from both of our childhoods. It was really sweet, and I loved it! Then the dancing started, and the alcohol started to flow, and the craziness started. The rest of the night was fantastic. We danced the hora, sang Badger songs, tossed the bouquet, drank beer, sang more songs, and had a great night! There were only a few bad things that happened. One of our wedding guests was out of control, and caused a scene at the wedding, at the hotel, and issues the following day as well. We also lost one of our wedding guests, who was so drunk he tried to sleep on a tree at the golf course (luckily we found him, safe and sound!). Also, my dad was trying to take down the decorations from the gazebo at the very end of the night, and the chair he was standing on slipped off the gazebo and he fell face first onto the concrete, breaking his upper jaw in 2 places. He was a trooper though, and stayed for the next 2 days in Madison, didn't need pain medication, and had a good time (although on a liquid diet). He did have to have his jaw wired shut for 4 weeks, but he is doing just fine!

Aside from the few minor mishaps, the wedding was perfect! The next day the brunch was great (thanks again to John and Jennifer!), although Tim was deathly sick (not from drinking). Luckily he had been on my health insurance for exactly 12 hours, so we got him to urgent care and got him put on allergy medication. Turns out his allergies were so bad it was giving him sinus headaches and upset stomachs and all sorts of issues. The medicine is doing wonders and he seems to be pretty healthy now! The rest of Sunday went well, we said goodbye to many of our guests, brought the gifts back to our apartment, hung out with Tim's parents before they left, and finished up some last minute things. It was a great weekend, but after the stress of the end of the night and Sunday morning I was ready for our honeymoon!

Overall, our wedding was fantastic! Tim and I had a great time, and it sounds like our guests did too. Thanks again to everyone who helped us plan it! My parents, Tim's parents, our wedding party, and everyone who helped us set up, clean up, and keep things running smoothly! We couldn't have done it without all the help that we had, and we really appreciate that we had such a great support network. Thanks for making our day so wonderful!

Pre-Wedding Events!!

On June 13 Tim and I said our vows, tied the knot, and celebrated! But the celebrating actually began Thursday night, when many people arrived in Wisconsin. Here's a quick recap of the events from Friday and Saturday, I'll get to the wedding soon:

Thursday: My parents and Tim's parents got in Thursday morning. My Maid-of-Honor Jamie and our friend Roger got in Thursday morning as well. Jamie and I got our nails done, picked up my dress, and then met Roger for lunch. We went down to State Street, ate at BW3, and wandered around for a little bit. Later, we went to Tim's softball game, where we met up with Tim's parents, my parents, and Tim's uncle and grandmother. Then most of the wedding party, my parents, and some of our college friends all went to Essen Haus. My friends Roger and Jamie made our group shirts that said "Final Fling, Before the Ring!" with goofy pictures of Tim and myself on the front. They were hilarious! Tim and I had special ones that said Groom and Bride. We drank, and partied, and had a great time! The night got blurry, but it was awesome!


We had a great group, and it was a lot of fun!


Jamie, Tim, and my parents drinking from the boot!


The end of the night was very fuzzy.... ah, another good night Essen Haus!


Friday: We all got a slow start to Friday morning, considering our activities of the night before ;o) We headed over to Lake Windsor Golf Club to help set up. This involved setting up the room, gettings things ready and in place for the next day! We also had our rehearsal practice, where we ran through the entire ceremony. We were missing 2 groomsmen, but we made do!


Roger and Diana helped us put the tulle up on the ceiling to decorate, and Julia and John took care of removing all spiderwebs and nastiness from the gazebo.



The rehearsal, and our rehearsal guests! When we were saying out "I Do's" I threw in a "Maybe", just for fun. Tim was mildly amused (everyone else thought it was hilarious!).

Everything ran smoothly. Then we went to the rehearsal dinner at Frescos restaurant. Tim's parents took care of all these arrangements, and it went perfectly! The food was delicious, Tim's dad made a wonderful toast, we gave our wedding party their gifts (miniboots for the men, chocolate gift baskets for the girls), and we mingled with our guests.



Then we headed to the hotel for the meet-and-greet with all of our out-of-town guests. It was wondeful. Jennifer and her friend Carol did a wonderful job, and went above and beyond to make the rooms we used look amazing! Jennifer, her sister Jody, and Tim's cousin Abby presented us with a scrapbook made from photos and memories of our friends and families! It was beautiful! There were stories that people shared in letters pasted onto scrapbook pages with photos of the past and present. There was stuff from friends, family, stories of the childhood, stories from college, poems, collages, everything! It was amazing. Here are a few shots from the night:






We mingled for the night, and had a great time! It was a long day, but it was a really good day! The next day was our wedding!