The Honeymoon {Day 1}

Everything from the week before our wedding to our wedding weekend to our honeymoon was an absolute dream! It was undoubtedly the best two weeks of my life. Everything went perfectly and I am so excited to share every last detail with all of you, starting with our Honeymoon in Riviera Maya, Mexico!

We woke up bright and early on Monday morning, well it wasn't actually bright because the sun wasn't up yet, but it was early. My mom brought us to the airport and after we had checked in and gotten through security we did what was only natural....headed for the bar for a Bloody Mary. 

{please excuse the no makeup, it was early}

Our flight to Dallas was smooth and easy, we slept pretty much the whole way. Once in Dallas we had about an hour to kill so we checked out a couple of little shops and got our final Starbucks for the week. Then, we were on board our flight to MEXICO! Again, it was an easy flight. We had on-air entertainment and I wrote thank you cards.

We made it safely in to Cancun and after going through customs and finding our transportation we finally rolled in to our resort, The El Dorado Royale, around 4:30pm. 

{the gorgeous main lobby...look at that chandelier!}

We were greeted immediately upon arrival with a glass of champagne with a mango syrup in it. SO GOOD! We sipped our champagne while waiting for our room to be confirmed and our bags to be delivered.

{nasty picture, but we had been traveling all day, give us a break}

After about 20 minutes of waiting we began to wonder what the heck was taking so long....turns out we got upgraded from a suite to a casita!!! A friendly little gentleman scooped us up in his golf cart and we were on our way to our private guest house.

{so excited to be here!}

Once to the Casitas we were introduced to our personal concierge, Ceci. Each group has about 10 casitas in it and each group has their own concierge. She was amazing and so sweet and immediately brought us up to our room to show us around:

{our bed}

{the living space...TV in the armoire, table, a desk which is behind me in the pic and a whirlpool which is under that archway}

{the whirlpool}

{this is our personal patio with a cute little table and chairs and a super comfy bed. as you can see there is curtains for privacy, or you can open them to enjoy the view and get some sun}

{our bathroom. i wish i had a better picture, but there's the shower and tub straight ahead,  we had a double sink vanity (to the right) and a private room for the toilet (behind the door)}

The best part of our casita.....the outdoor shower just right off the bathroom!

{the water comes out of those roots. it was amazing. showering inside totally sucks now}

 There was also a ton of closet space on the other side of the bed and really cool light fixtures hanging from ropes on the ceiling, both of which I forgot to photograph.

Once we got settled in the room we both showered and got ready to explore the resort. The El Dorado Royale was an adult-only and all-inclusive gourmet resort complete with 10 restaurants, 3 bars and 10 more swim-up and beach bars. 

We decided to try D'Italia first, which was a 5-star contemporary Italian restaurant. 

We started with a Thai Peanut salad and a bowl of Cream of Asparagus soup:

For dinner J had a Filet Mignon with Sweet Potato Puree and Green Beans and I had Gnocchi in a Chipotle Goat Cheese Cream Sauce. I swore I took a picture of the main course...but I guess not. It was delicious! The steak was so tender and I could have licked the sauce on the Gnocchi. 

And for dessert, I ordered a roasted pear and J got a Fudge Cake.

 After dinner we went back to the main lobby to check out the Martini Bar.

 I originally ordered a Jalapeno Martini, to be festive....but let me tell you that tequila, mandarin vodka and jalapeno slices are not good together. Probably the strongest drink I've ever tasted. I swapped it out for a French Martini {which was something fruity with pineapple, and I was drinking those the rest of the week}

 After a couple of martinis we decided to head back towards the casita and see what we could discover along the way. During our walk home it started to pour, we ran and took cover under a little hut and that is where we discovered what would become our favorite bar, an adorable little tiki bar right on the beach and just outside of our casita.

 Within minutes of ordering our first drinks we had started talking to a group of couples across the bar. Turns out two of the couples were also married on 11.05.11. All it took was a couple of super strong gusts of wind coming off the ocean and all of us girls were taking cover behind the bar and that is where we met the crew.

{instant friends}

{the boys with the bartender, Juan}

 Meet Juan. The cutest, most hilarious and greatest bartender to have ever lived. 

 We got to know him and love him that first night and even nicknamed the beach bar "Juan's Bar." J and I were asking him about the resort's food and what we needed to try. He explained to us that the employees are served different food and can't eat in the restaurants...but he did say that the room service cheeseburgers were his absolute favorite food. So we decided right then and there that it was our mission to bring Juan dinner from room service every night. And we did, starting the next night with a cheeseburger.

After we closed down Juan's Bar we headed back to the casita and ordered room service....I hadn't stopped talking about guacamole since we had landed, so we got two orders and an order of quesadillas. SO GOOD.