Sunday, January 4, 2009

We're MARRIED!!!

and we're back from our honeymoon! We loved every second of our wedding. We had so much fun seeing everyone, dancing, talking, goofing around, and rejoicing in the fact that we were finally married!

After the reception ended (in a very sparkly, celebratory manner), we went to Embassy Suites on Deerfield Beach and stayed in a gorgeous ocean-front suite. Sunday morning we checked out, retrieved our beautifully decorated car, and were on our way to St. Augustine!


We loved both of our decorated cars...the one we left the ceremony in with its flags, ribbons, cans, and paint, and Zak's car that had to be taken out of valet to be decorated! Zak's car had paint all over the windows (even on the sunroof!) and long curly ribbons tied to both side view mirrors. Lots of people honked at us on our wedding night and on our way to St. Augustine.



This is the little house we stayed in on Vilano Beach, which is about 3 miles north of St. Augustine. It was only one house away from the beach and was so cute!



This was one of our favorite parts of St. Augustine....Kilwin's ice cream!! We got ice cream three times, one time making a trip into town specifically for the ice cream. The waffle cones are to die for.


St. Augustine was all lit up for 'Nights of Lights' which they do November-January. It was very pretty and festive at night. This is the Lightner Museum, and the photo above it is of the central plaza area between King and Cathedral Street.

We splurged on a fancy 4-course dinner at 95 Cordova for New Year's Eve. We had delicious appetizers (Jess had Filet Mignon and blue cheese eggroll! It doesn't get much fancier than that...), soup or salad, entree, and some incredible Chocolate Lava Cake for dessert. The greatest part of the restaurant was that the menu had LED lights in it that glowed when it was opened. Crazy...


We didn't spend a whole lot of time in St. Augustine, but we did go to the fort, the light house (photos above), a few antique shops, mini-golfing, and went on a walking ghost tour.

We walked on the beach almost every morning and/or night. We found lots of interesting shells, sand dollars, and sea glass. We also saw a dead puffer fish, huge horseshoe crab, and this speckled crab that Jess is holding. The beach was so quiet and peaceful--the only other people were fishing! It was perfect.


We went out and saw the sunrise the first day we were there, and Jess went out a few other times to take photos. The weather was perfect. It got windy and cold the last day or two we were there, but it was still sunny and blue skies!


Our honeymoon was exactly what we both needed after Zak's crazy first semester as a grad student, Jess's full-time internship, planning a wedding, and setting everything up in Tallahassee. We relaxed completely and had a wonderful time, but we were also happy to get back to our apartment. Tomorrow Zak starts work, and Tuesday Jess starts work and Zak's classes begin. We're excited to start real life together! Thanks for all of the support and prayers...we definitely appreciate them!!

love,
z&j