A Leap of Faith

Today marks exactly a year and a half since our wedding day! I felt like doing a post reminiscing back on our special day & everything it took to get to it!

A little flash back before the big day...

Sean and I met in Cancun, Mexico on vacation in March 2009. He was the first Canadian I had met &   we talked the night away on the beach about our different worlds. We instantly clicked. We only had 2 short days together in Mexico, but exchanged numbers and said we would keep in touch. Little did we know, that spring break trip was going to change our lives.

We went back to our daily lives and talked every single day with texting, Skyping, talking on the phone and through Facebook. I remember sometimes feeling like I didn't understand WHY exactly I felt SO drawn to someone that I barely knew... He lives in Canada for crying out loud! We had something special though and I couldn't let that go. (Funny fact, when we met I was currently living in a city called Little Canada in Minnesota. A little foreshadowing?)

First trip to Canada (I look so young!)

Before dropping me off at the airport from my first trip up to visit Sean

We did long distance for a year and a half, had a few trips to visit each other & finally had the discussion about what exactly we were going to do if we continued our relationship. I'll be honest, I never thought about moving to Canada. Ever. But I was 19, young and didn't exactly know what or where I wanted to go in life. Sean was starting his career, more settled where he was living at the time and I guess it just seemed right. I'll never forget telling my mom that I was going to start looking into moving to Canada. The look on her face and the long pause. She wasn't exactly happy. I mean what mom would be happy to hear that her 19 year old daughter is moving to a different country to be with a guy that she barely knew?? My mom told me something really interesting though. Her mom, so my grandma, actually loved Canada. One of her favorite places in the world was Vancouver. (My grandma passed away when I was 1 years old so I never got to know her.) My mom also told me that in my grandma's casket there were maple leaves printed all over. I remember it gave me goosebumps.  I believe hearing my mom talk about my grandma and her connection with Canada helped make my decision. Even till this day I know my grandma is the reason I met Sean and guided me to make the big, difficult & unsure move to Canada to be with him. 

Sean's first trip to Minnesota

Seems like so long ago..

Flying back to Canada for another trip

Moving to Canada wasn't easy. It was a complete leap of faith. I left my family, friends and everything I knew to come to a small town in northern British Columbia. Besides going through frequent lonely and homesick moments I was going through a lot of stress with applying for Canadian residency. (This is a whole other subject/post I could write about! Uh.) There were many moments of feeling like everything was against us being together. 

So after 2.5 years of living in Canada as a visitor so I could live with Sean, working on a work permit, filling out endless paper work, collecting every photo that we had together for proof & asking friends and family to sign a form starting they were aware of our relationship... I FINALLY received my Canadian residency! I'll be honest and say that wasn't an easy time for our relationship. We had to stay strong & stay focused on WHY we were going through everything. To be together. I think some couples wouldn't have been able to make it. It was a very long, draining, made you question yourself and stressful process! But we did it and I really believe it made us closer. To receive my residency made me feel like for the FIRST time I could breathe & know that I can stay in Canada and be with Sean. Everything we had worked for was worth it!

My approved application!!

After I walked across the border into Canada and received my Canadian residency! I can't even explain in words how I felt on this day. 

May 1st, 2014

Our wedding day of course was a special day and meant the world to me, but I felt it symbolized more than becoming man & wife. For me it also felt like a celebration day of "we did it". After some days of feeling like everything was against our relationship & us being together this was the day all of that went away. We had been through quite a rollercoaster ride and now here we are standing back in Mexico on the beach exchanging vows. 

For my "something blue" I had a piece of material from my grandma's dress that she wore to my mom's wedding sown into my dress

 

To have our family and friends together for the first time was amazing! With everyone living so far away from each other we knew this wasn't going to happen very often, so we definitely appreciated it and took in the special moment!

 It was the best day of my life so far... soon with the birth of our baby girl I know I will be experiencing an even MORE best day of my life! I couldn't be happier and feel more blessed to be married to my best friend every single day. 

You just never know where life will take you.

xo Ashley

Our Wedding Day

Our wedding day was honestly the best day of my life so far! It was amazing to have mine and Sean's family all together in Mexico. We don't get to have our families together very often since they live in different countries! Like all brides say, the wedding day FLEW by! It was so nice to have the whole week in Mexico to celebrate and be with everyone though. That's another reason why I think a destination wedding is the way to go! I hope you enjoy these photos from our special day! 

Getting ready with my bridesmaids 

Getting into my dress

My wedding dress felt like it was MADE for me. It was one of the first dresses I saw online & I couldn't stop thinking about it! I am so in love with it!

The guys taking tequila shots!

My mommy walking me down the aisle 

My sweet emotional groom

Bridesmaids 

For our unity we did a wine box with letters we had written for each other 

Having a guitarist play at our ceremony was a must & the music was lovely 

The kiss

New Mr. & Mrs. Murphy!

We were so thankful to have our closest friends & family with us on our big day!

I want to relive this day

We wanted a romantic, whimsical and glamour chic wedding 

Our center pieces were multiple small floral settings with roses & peonies along with candle lit lanterns

Our chair signs 

We had a buffet (I wanted a plated dinner, but Sean really wanted a buffet so I gave in) but I still wanted printed menus 

Our guests book was a family name sign and we now have it hanging in our home!

The lighting at our reception was important to me! We had chandeliers, string lights above the dance floor, lanterns with candles on the tables and floating candles in the pool.

We searched for a cake topper that we loved, but honestly couldn't find one! So we went with something that meant a lot to us. 

Our first dance to "Make You Feel My Love" by Adele 

We had such an amazing night and danced the night away! I can't believe our wedding was over 5 months ago already. I honestly miss having a wedding to plan for! 

xo Ashley

Planning a Destination Wedding

I wanted to write a post about planning our destination wedding and hopefully I can give a few helpful tips to other soon to be brides who are planning! Sean and I had always known we were going to have a beach wedding. When we started looking into exactly where we would have our wedding it only made sense that we went back to the place we met, Mexico. I started researching All Inclusive Adults Only resorts in the Riviera Maya and made a list of the top 5 resorts we liked based upon the resort itself, wedding packages, location, and price.

 Sean and I did a trip to the Riviera Maya a year before our wedding day to check out our top 5 resorts that we were potentially considering to host our wedding. I had emailed the 5 resorts before the trip to set up meetings with the resort's wedding coordinators and I would have to say I am SO glad we were able to do this! We saw a couple of resorts that we loved online, but then in person we didn't feel it was what we were looking for. The last resort we had a meeting with was Secrets Maroma Beach Resort (the one I was most excited to see!) and WOW did we fall in love with it! The resort was exactly what Sean and I were looking for!

After the meeting with the WC at Secrets Maroma we went in for a swim!

The beach is absolutely STUNNING!

Loved how the resort was so modern & chic

All of the rooms were gorgeous! (the "Tropical View" rooms as well!)

One of the options was to have a Swim Out Room and there is a pool right outside your balcony to step into! Sean and I had this room for the first part of our trip and it was SO nice!

The pools were beautiful. There was the infinity pool and the middle pool with a swim up bar.

The Spa was amazing! You HAVE to experience the royal treatments at this spa! 

 Just a few more tips:

 -Keep in mind when seeing the Wedding Package prices that this does NOT include everything for your wedding! There will be an additional cost for extra guests (a lot of the resorts have a limit of number of guests included), decor, flowers, upgrade on flowers, upgrade on food, DJ, photographer, videographer, upgrade on cake etc.

 - Do your research on the resorts! I found TripAdvisor was very helpful. I also liked reading reviews and discussing with other brides to be on bestdestionationwedding.com

 - The sooner notice you can give your wedding guests the BETTER! Also, ask your wedding party ASAP! We sent out our Save the Dates a year before our wedding and I asked my sister & girlfriends to be my MOH/bridesmaids a year in advance!

Our Save the Dates were a "Message in a Bottle

I "Popped the Question" to my sister/MOH when trying on wedding dresses!

My Bridesmaids live in Minnesota so we Skyped when I "popped the question"

 -Having a destination wedding your guests have to RSVP much sooner to book their flights and make their hotel reservations! We sent out our Wedding Invitations 9 months before the wedding day!

Our Wedding Invitations were "Passports" with RSVP "Boarding Passes"

 - Our wedding package included a wedding photographer that came with the resort, but Sean and I had found wedding photographers in the Riviera Maya that we fell in love with! So we had to pay our wedding photographers separate, pay a fee to have the come on to the Secrets Maroma property and then we used the "included" photographer from the wedding package to come later in the night of our wedding to take "dancing & party" pictures! We think it worked out great! 

 - I definitely would recommend working with a travel agent. It is great to have someone help your wedding guests with booking their hotel and flights. Also, our TA was there to answer our guests questions and they did not have to contact the bride & groom. Plus you are able to get Group Rates with your TA! We found our wedding TA on bestdestinationwedding.com

 - Email, email, email your wedding coordinator! I sent tons of photos to show what we wanted for decor and ideas at our wedding. You can not be detailed enough! Also, be patient when waiting to hear back from your WC if your wedding is over 3 months away when contacting her. She is busy dealing with sooner weddings, but she WILL respond to you! 

 - Your resort works with a decor company and will go through them to rent the decor that you are NOT bringing to the wedding. We brought all of our signs, table runners (they didn't have the ones I was looking for), guests Welcome Bags, and items the decor company did not have available. I would recommend emailing the decor company directly not through your wedding coordinator! 

 I hope this helped and please let me know if you have any questions I didn't cover! Even if you're not planning a destination wedding I hope you'll be able to go to Secrets Maroma for a vacation!! I can't wait to go back!! 

 xo Ashley