Becoming Mrs.Juju: June 2009

So after only sleeping 2.5 hours the night before Juju and i were up at 4 in the morning to catch our 8 o'clock flight out of Chicago. Gaby and Jessie drove us to Chicago, well...er- not really, I drove while everyone else slept. Thanks a lot, you guys suck as co-captains. But i held down the fort just fine thankyouverymuch.

Here we are on the plane. See how tired i look?

I love to travel.I want to do as much traveling as possible as we can before we start thinking about children. Which wont be for a while, for those who keep asking =-) I was super excited about our honeymoon, not only was i still on an incredible high from the last couple of days, but this was my first actual vacation vacation. I mean, I've been to Mexico a few times, the dells, Chicago and what not, but never on a full blown tropical island vacation.

The flight was good, we experienced little to no turbulence, but i still squeezed Juju's hand tight when we took off and landed. You can see the Island as we are approaching it. The airport was on the northeast of the island (i think) so we flew over the whole thing. It looked a bit cloudy but once we got on the ground it was hot and sunny.As soon as we got our luggage we tried using a concierge phone at the airport to check on rentals. We had decided late in the game that we would get a rental for a couple of the day we were there. I called a few places only to find out that they were all out of cars for the day. Hmm... Oh Yeah! Its memorial day weekend...then it made it sense. We decided to fetch a taxi and try taking care of it when we got to the hotel. We walked outside to hotel and there was palm trees everywhere. I want to say that this was my first time ever seeing a palm tree. A real one. I don't think I've had the pleasure. I swear i was looking up at them with my mouth open. They were just so pretty and green.Here we are in the taxi driving to the hotel. The guys must of thought i was a weirdo because i was snapping away.

We actually weren't too far from the airport, it took us about 15 minutes to get to the hotel. We stayed at the Intercontinental San Juan Resort. The driveway up to the hotel was full of lush greenery. Almost like when the Tanners went to Hawaii (the one with the Beach Boys). We were met by what had to be the best customer service ever. I mean these men were tripping over each other to open our doors. We checked in and met Nestor- the head of concierge. We got a great upgrade because we were on our honeymoon, and then we joined their ambassador club which got us a top floor ocean view room, plus other perks. We quick put our things down and set out to explore the Isla Verde vicinity.

Is it that its bad luck to see the bride before the wedding or the bride in her dress or just the dress? Either way i was at Jujus house the day of the wedding getting my brows done and picking up my mini bride. I don't believe in the kinda stuff. It was nice to see him because it actually calmed my nerves. I kissed him goodbye and said 'see you at the wedding'

We were running a few minutes late to get our hair done since we had to stop at the McD's drive thru. Once i was in the chair, my hairdresser was telling me how nervous she was about the wedding. She told me she couldn't sleep and was up by 4 in the morning making sure she didn't over sleep and be late to our appointment. I, was cool as a cucumber. That is until I became bit shaky, i had not yet had any coffee. Tori, my hairdresser, got me a cup of coffee. Maria was also there which helped me relax. Once my make up was done and i took a look at myself in the mirror, veil on and everything and then it happened.

I was getting married in a couple of hours. I started to get butterflies in my stomach and a knot in throat. Tori fanned me until I collected myself . By the time i dropped off my miniature bride at Juju's house and made it home, my photographers were waiting outside my house. They snapped away and before i knew it Juju and I were on our way up to our honeymoon suite.

The entire day was amazing. The weather was perfect. Sunny, breezy and a clear sky. Bo, Juju's cousin, picked me up after my mom and my sister laced me into my dress. We rushed to the church ( once again running late) because of the technical difficulties i had with my dress. I waited outside to ensure that Juju didn't see me. Irma said to me " oh you look so beautiful, don't you start crying, we already have some crying going on inside". And there goes the water works.

I went up the aisle with out a bouquet, because my entire wedding party was up the aisle already and i had no idea where it was. Oh well, there we went, keeping my eyes focused straight ahead, holding my tears in. My parents gave me away and I took Jujus hand. The priest proceeded with all the readings and then came the moment we'd been planning for for the last 13 months.

With a quivering voice he read his vowels, we said "i do" and we sealed our marriage with a kiss. We greeted our guest at the entrance of the church and began to take all of our wedding party pictures. We proceeded to go downtown for more pictures before heading to the reception to catch the last few minutes of the cocktail hour.

The doors to the reception hall open to reveal what looked like a wedding out of a dream, fairytale i might suggest. Its hard to explain what our reception looked like with out sounding too cliche. It was jaw dropping , amazingly, gorgeous. It was everything we could have dreamed of and imagined what it would look like.

The dinner was fantastic and we began with all the introductions and the wedding stuff. We cut our wedding cake, and surprise juju with his grooms cake which was a replica of his BMW. Everything went off without a hitch. The night was perfect, with the exception of the ubberly slippery dance floor.

I snuck out of the ballroom to slip into my reception dress. Only a few people new of the second dress, but only my mom, sister and moh actually knew what it looked like. We danced our first dance as the entire ballroom watched. I felt like i just melted in his arms. I was overwhelmed with the reality that i was his wife. And he was my husband.

We danced until we couldn't dance anymore- or rather until they turned off the music. We said our goodbye and headed up to our honeymoon suite. That is without waiting for Dulce to bring back my over night bag.. What? it was a very hectic day! i forgot it. It's funny because i realized this when juju brought up the important point that i couldn't go home wearing my dress. Or could i? I mean I spent almost 2 grand on them, that gives me the right to re-wear, right?

So i guess here is what everyone has been waiting for...These are our professional pictures, which we got 2 weeks after the wedding! They were amazing and the pictures speak for themselves. They are in order of the nights events. Enjoy! (with little to no captioning)

Here I am getting ready at my moms house. Trying to put on the earrings Juju bought for me.

My mom lacing up my dress. I never really thought of who was going to lace me up the day of, so we had a few difficulties. We had to call Gaby to come and finish it up.

I'm waiting patiently as she slowly makes her way to the bottom of the eyelets

The photographers were making fun of me because i wasn't able to put on my own bracelet because of my nails. One of the photographers actually had to put it on for me, that is not with out giving me a hard time.

I was very sad that cookie couldn't par take in the days activities, though she was sporting her latest couture white linen dress. She was with me all morning. The photographers got a few good shots of her. This on is my favorite.

Here is My husband to be walking down with Nico and Evelyn

Here i go, with my mom and dad down the aisle....Note my bouquet is MIA

Here is some church stuff

More church stuff...

And here you have, We are now husband and wife. Sealed with a kiss

Making our way down the aisle..

Our entire wedding party

Nick, Nico, Evelyn and I

My Mom, Dad, Nick and I

My Uncle Juan, Aunt Aurelia, Cousin Ramon and I. This was my family that came from out of town for the wedding.

My new ENITRE family.

The sopranos; (Children: left to right) Canaan, Miguel, Julio & Juan (Adults: left to right) Victor, Leah, Dad, Mom, Me, Juju, Gaby, Jessie, Samantha & Juan.

Juju and my sister-in-law Sasha

Nicks Uncles- Placido Jr., Jaime, Nick and I

My sister-in-law Leah, Bro Victor and I

Me! and my DYI monogrammed aisle runner. I think this is the only one where you can actually see it.

My brother-in-law Jessie, Sis Gaby, Nick and I

And the rest are just fun pictures that dont need much captioning.

I look at this picture and it still seems surreal. I still cant believe how beautiful every thing turned out. It was picture perfect. Everything that i couldnt have possible imagined of, and a lot more.

Me and Candy, my maid of honor.

I think i was laughing at the best man's speech. I dont remember, but it must have been hilarious.

My MOH giving her speech

The best man giving his speech

Cake anyone? I still got some in my fridge. I do, i swear.

Here is after i slipped into my reception dress. I think the dress was awesome. I cant imagine being in the big dress the whole night.

Mother/Son Dance

Father/Daughter dance

And here is our first dance

Juju and Candy

Mon and I

My husband- staying hydrated

Bouquet toss, Im looking back to see who caught it. Someone sitting in the crowd actually caught it and then gave it to Sasha. Who knew i had such an arm?

Retrieving the garter... these, uh.. well they speak for themselves.