Married... Key West non-pro pics

[treefrog]

Thanks Porridge and swedish bean! I wanted a nice but very small wedding. She had other wishes. With her family and friends living all over the place, there was no way to please everybody. Although I totally blew my budget, it was a nice compromise.

It was fun. Key West is famously laid-back. It would be difficult not to have fun there. There were a few little things beyond the scope of this that we''ll all soon forget but in the end - I think everybody absolutely loved it. I don''t know about Sara but everybody went out of their way to attend so I wanted to kind of make it a wedding week instead of a wedding day. We spent a lot of time with subsets of guests both before and after the wedding. Sara had a long list of things she wanted to do there so managed to fit all that in too. More on that later...

I don''t know much about the dress. All I know is I believe my mother was involved in the veil and dress alterations of some degree. I believe my mother either made the veil or sewed all the sparkly thingamabobs on it. That was all a secret as was what I would be wearing. My shirt was a second choice. My first choice was the Tommy Bahama Wai-Tiki but his stuff is cut so big a small did not even fit me. My mother looked at it and decided there was no way she could alter it to fit me. I went with a 7 Diamonds shirt since they are honestly sized and fit me well.

Treefrog

 

[treefrog]

Date: 12/15/2009 7:56:47 AM
Author: noelwr
I have to say, hearing about a wedding day from a guy''s perspective and all the funny little tidbits about the photos is really enjoyable.

thanks for that!

and sorry to thread hi-jack, but
swedish bean - your kitten is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO cute. have you posted more photos somewhere?

Thanks noelwr! I''m glad you enjoyed it. I''m an aspiring closet screenwriter so I like to write to entertain. A picture may be worth a thousand words but there is always more to a picture than what meets the eye.

Hi-jacking allowed here. It is a cute little kitty!

Treefrog

 

[purselover]

Your wedding sounds and looks incredible! You and your wife looked amazing, I loved your wife''s dress and your khakis. Congratulations

 

[doodle]

Date: 12/14/2009 8:21:54 PM
Author: treefrog
We were starving so we ventured across the street to the Rum Barrel. We had some incredible Philly cheese steak nachos (the owner of the restaurant is from Philly) and some yummy drinks.


I guess we had a bit too much to drink because I later met a woman in a nearby store. I could tell she was interested in me. She watched my every move and just stood there listening to every word I said. I thought about my selfish desires... I pondered the Tiger Woods situation. It was a tough call but in the end, I just felt it wasn''t worth risking my upcoming marriage for somebody that didn''t seem to have a good head on her shoulders...

LOL!!! I was thinking, "MAN, this guy''s a jerk!" until I saw your next post! Too funny! Your wedding looks like it was an absolute blast, and I hope you''ll come back with some pro pix when you get them. I LOOOOVE Key West--kinda wish DH and I had gotten married there sometimes! Any place that defines "drag race" as men racing down the street in heels and wigs is bound to be a fun time!

 

[lulu66]

from your pics you can really feel the love and fun and beauty surrounding you, your wife, and family! congrats & thanks for sharing the photos. i''m looking forward to more.

 

[treefrog]

Date: 12/15/2009 10:46:11 AM
Author: lulu66
from your pics you can really feel the love and fun and beauty surrounding you, your wife, and family! congrats & thanks for sharing the photos. i''m looking forward to more.

It takes a little work but I am fortunate indeed. Thanks so much.

i''m looking forward to more.

Be careful what you wish for...

 

[treefrog]

This picture is mostly for happydreams. The cool part of site #12 at Smathers Beach is the palm trees right out on the beach. We didn''t take full advantage of them with our pictures but they offer so much more than just sand and water beach pictures. I don''t have a picture from this trip that shows it well but this one will give you some idea... if you''re even considering a beach wedding down there.

 

[treefrog]

I don''t have any other beach wedding pictures. Due to the late start, plan B on the photos involved a drive down to a spot near Higgs beach for more photos. We split from our guests for these pictures and sent them off to eat most of the coconut shrimp at the Conch Republic.

We''ll have to wait for the pro pics for more. In hindsight, I should have given our photographer some extra cash to at least cover the beginning part of the dinner (it was more of a post wedding dinner than a reception. We did not have a bridal party.) I didn''t have my good D-SLR with me and wasn''t impressed with my point and shoot.

But... you ladies liked her dress so here are two that show a bit more of the bride and the front and back of her dress at the Conch Republic Seafood Company.

 

[treefrog]

We didn''t have a band but the Conch Republic had a band playing inside. There was a rehearsal dinner party going on inside the restaurant and the band acknowledged both groups at times throughout the night. They played a song so Sara could get a dance in with her father.

 

[OUpearlgirl]

Your wedding looked like a lot of fun and you two really seem to love each other! This post totally brightened my day.

 

[treefrog]

So... after the dinner it was only about 9:30. We tried kidnapping as many 45 year old and younger people as possible but there was a glitch in the communication and we only wound up with Sara''s friend and her husband. We headed out for Duval Street. This couple came from Northern California and had somebody watch their kids for almost a week. It was the first time I had met them and they were a lot of fun. We were glad we got to spend time with them. We took them into shops all along Duval Street and ducked into a watering hole every now and then. We met a lot of great people. A wedding dress sure attracts a lot of attention in public!

While venturing down Duval Street, we heard sirens. I''ve been a volunteer firefighter and EMT for 20+ years so naturally, I just had to do a Key West fire engine shot. The crew was accomodatting and we managed to get a shot. It''s a bit blurry... the smaller I make it, the better it looks! Maybe it will make a great custom stamp for our Christmas cards this year...

 

[monarch64]

Congrats, Treefrog! Everything looked beautiful!

 

[treefrog]

So... what''s a wedding without drama?

I really couldn''t tell you. My parents got to the hotel and everybody seemed to end up in better rooms than us. We had a great view of a tree and if we looked just right through the branches, we could catch a sliver of a view of the pool. No chance of seeing open water.

Personally, I didn''t care that much; knowing we wouldn''t be in the room a lot. After about 10 minutes of what seemed like two mad cats locked together in a closet, we had a new room key! Actually, it wasn''t quite that bad. The staff at the Hyatt was great. It wasn''t their fault the reservation system somehow allows it to get overbooked. It took them most of the day and I don''t even want to know what they had to do but while we were out delivering goodie bags the morning of our wedding, the hotel packed us up and moved us into a room with a view. I could see the pool and part of the Gulf of Mexico! Libby, Sharlisa, Mike - you guys rock!

This is really the only bad weather we had. We were having breakfast outside with my sisters one minute and the next minute, we were running for cover. It was pretty short-lived. Ironically, it was snowing just as hard back home. My neighbors sent me camera phone messages of the snow so I had to wait a few hours but I sent them messages back saying it was sunny and in the 80''s!

The view from our new room:

 

[treefrog]

This was our view at breakfast. That''s Sunset Key on the left and Christmas Tree Island on the right. About 1 minute after I took this picture, the rain let loose and both islands disappeared.

 

[treefrog]

Anybody looking through all of my pictures would have to wonder if I liked the Rum Barrel restaurant or the Wyland Gallery more. I guess it would have to be the Rum Barrel if I had to pick. At least I could afford most things on the menu there. I just couldn''t justify a $50 shot of Pyrate cask 123 rum. I probably wouldn''t be happy the next day but I could have splurged...

... unlike the table I saw at the Wyland Gallery. But it''s currently $5,911 off... priced just for Christmas!

This tiny picture doesn''t do it justice.

The kitchen table of my dreams!

Anyway, digital images were all I was able to afford from that wonderful place! Really wish I had my Canon D-SLR but these next twowere the best I could manage with my point and shoot. I should go back for a re-take!

 

[treefrog]

You can''t really tell but it''s a mermaid and a man and she has our rings. This would be a good time to mention the words "careful balance", "crazy", and "water fountain below". While setting up the shot, the whole time I was envisioning the photo on the front page of the Key West Citizen the next morning showing a groom snorkeling in the fountain in the front of the Wyland gallery.

I''m guessing it''s not an image Wyland has thought of for his next work of art.

 

[treefrog]

Christmas in Key West. The bike is an icon of KW so this is a classic image:

 

[treefrog]

We were able to get one of Sara''s friends out for a bit. We walked from one end of Duval to the other. The poor girl... she was so thirsty, she was pleading with a wax figure for a drink...

 

[treefrog]

Meanwhile, Sara was oogling over the other man of her dreams. Good thing he''s already married. Crazy Jersey girls! All the money she spends on Springsteen concerts... I could almost buy a 2 inch piece of a fin from the dolphin on that Wyland table!

 

[treefrog]

I found out kind of late about a Christmas parade but got the word out in time to have about half of our guests catch a 90 minute Christmas parade. Somebody made the comment that it''s the only parade they''ve been to where kids were throwing candy out to adults!

 

[treefrog]

My first trip to Key West was in 1995 for a 10 year commemorative dive on the Spanish treasure galleon Nuestra Senora de Atocha. Mel Fisher found the galleon in 1985 and I found out about a once in a lifetime dive on it. Sunken galleons, gold, silver, emeralds, treasure chests... the stuff every boy dreams of. I had to sign up! I''ve met most of the Fisher family, spent an afternoon in their conservation lab conserving silver coins, and I''ve been to many of their annual celebrations in KW. I had to take a group to their museum. This is my father trying to steal a 7 pound gold bar.

 

[treefrog]

The gold bar was only 18 3/4 carats unlike the 23+ carat stuff in the next display. Sara wasn''t interested in such low quality gold (

) so she decided it was a better opportunity for a ring shot.

 

[treefrog]

Our honeymoon is drawing to an end and I finally manage to get in a morning dive. We did a wreck dive on the newly sunk Vandenberg and it was Sara''s first dive on it. She doesn''t have a lot of dives under her belt but she made it to about 90 feet and flashes me an "ok" sign from the deck of the ship.

 

[treefrog]

Then she ponders a career in underwater modeling in front of the ships bridge:

 

[treefrog]

This French Angelfish thinks it''s an underwater model as well:

 

[treefrog]

Later that day, Sara decides she wants to go on a romantic sunset sail. As soon as we got of the harbor, the sailboat shuts down the motor and raises the sail. We didn't move. At all. Not even an inch. Seaweed was floating past faster than we were moving. No disrespect to the sailors out there but I spent 3 years aboard an aircraft carrier with jets taking off and landing day and night. When I'm on a boat, I like to go somewhere. Fast. I considered jumping over but finally, we caught a little breeze and moved a little. We saw some dolphins and saw part of the island from the water. We caught a pretty nice sunset. I wasn't planning on the sunset sail and my camera battery was as close to dead as a box turtle in the middle lane of the Washington Beltway at 5PM... on a Friday. There was just enough battery life left in my camera to capture what may have been the reason of why we weren't going very fast (Sara at the helm):

 

[treefrog]

It was our last full day in Key West and I hoped to get one more dive in. Instead, I thought it would be more fun to push Sara out of an airplane. A roller coaster freak, she always wanted to go skydiving. It was my birthday present to her last year but she never cashed in on it. I decided with all the farmland around our closest drop zone, there really was no better place for her to jump out of a perfectly good airplane than in the FL Keys:

 

[treefrog]

I just missed the dive boat for an afternoon trip so we went to the Rum Barrel to drown out my misery. Did I mention their nachos... and drinks? A couple of "maroon''s" and I didn''t care quite so much about not getting another dive in.

 

[treefrog]

Driving back through the Keys on the way back to the airport, we stopped for a little swim.

 

[treefrog]

Sara was ecstatic over this opportunity: