LindaL
Well-Known Member
When Deb and I planned our trip to Florida, it was meant to be to meet/visit with her friends there and just "play" (at the amusement parks). We had planned to have a ceremony for our domestic partnership sometime in the summer here in Oregon on the coast (we got legally domestic partnered back in December). We talked about everything we had planned to do while in Florida, including having a beach party/BBQ on St Pete Beach which we planned for the Saturday after we arrived.
We got to Florida on Friday morning (the 3rd), decided to drive down to Tampa Bay and take a dolphin cruise around the bay, which was really neat...sighted several dolphins and also got to see many millionaires homes right on the shoreline. Afterwards, we decided to drive down to Deb's best friend's house in Venice (1.5 hr drive) where we planned to stay for 3 days. When we arrived, I was told to "stay out" while Deb, Holly and Holly's partner Vic went into a bedroom...(something was UP! LOL) When they opened the door, Deb ushered me inside and there was a beautiful dress hanging up, rings set open in their boxes and wedding vows printed out..."surprise!!" Deb planned our whole ceremony in secret...bought my dress even (which totally shocked and impressed me, because she chose a dress that I would have chosen...I loved it!)...we were going to have the ceremony on the beach the next day (
) at our beach BBQ party!! Needless to say, I was a little shellshocked, but after I had a chance to really take it all in, read our vows that Deb had chosen, tried on the dress and of course go shopping for a proper undergarment...lol...I was really excited about it!!
All of Deb's friends from Florida were there with their families (15 people?), it was extremely casual and non-rushed. We sat around drinking beer beforehand talking, then decided it was "time", dressed, went out on the beach (which was a public beach and there were several families around) and said our vows and went out to the water for some pics. Came back to change into swimsuits, swam for a bit, cooked our burgers and hotdogs, ate, drank more beer and talked. Had brownies for our "wedding cake"...lol Very non-traditional, which is what made it even more special....I loved every second of our day!!
Here are a few pics from that day...most have not even been downloaded yet off the camera...but just wanted to share a bit of our day thru pics...(sorry for the quality...oh yeah, Deb's friend Rane "officiated")
After that day, we spent the next week visiting Busch Gardens, visting with my godmother up in Springhill, then on to Orlando, where we went to Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure and SeaWorld. I have many pics of those things as well, but I am too wiped out to download, edit and post pics tonight....
We drove almost 900 miles total to these different places and when Sunday came, we had planned to go back to Busch Gardens for part of the day before our plane left at 6:30 pm, but I was just too pooped to do another park! LOL We did stop on our way back to visit the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Tampa (I love Hard Rocks!). We landed back in Portland at midnight Monday, got home at 1 AM, got up at 5:15 AM and was back at work by 7 AM this morning!!
I am dead tired!! LOL!!
I can post more pics when we get them off the camera in the next day or so...
We got to Florida on Friday morning (the 3rd), decided to drive down to Tampa Bay and take a dolphin cruise around the bay, which was really neat...sighted several dolphins and also got to see many millionaires homes right on the shoreline. Afterwards, we decided to drive down to Deb's best friend's house in Venice (1.5 hr drive) where we planned to stay for 3 days. When we arrived, I was told to "stay out" while Deb, Holly and Holly's partner Vic went into a bedroom...(something was UP! LOL) When they opened the door, Deb ushered me inside and there was a beautiful dress hanging up, rings set open in their boxes and wedding vows printed out..."surprise!!" Deb planned our whole ceremony in secret...bought my dress even (which totally shocked and impressed me, because she chose a dress that I would have chosen...I loved it!)...we were going to have the ceremony on the beach the next day (
All of Deb's friends from Florida were there with their families (15 people?), it was extremely casual and non-rushed. We sat around drinking beer beforehand talking, then decided it was "time", dressed, went out on the beach (which was a public beach and there were several families around) and said our vows and went out to the water for some pics. Came back to change into swimsuits, swam for a bit, cooked our burgers and hotdogs, ate, drank more beer and talked. Had brownies for our "wedding cake"...lol Very non-traditional, which is what made it even more special....I loved every second of our day!!
Here are a few pics from that day...most have not even been downloaded yet off the camera...but just wanted to share a bit of our day thru pics...(sorry for the quality...oh yeah, Deb's friend Rane "officiated")
After that day, we spent the next week visiting Busch Gardens, visting with my godmother up in Springhill, then on to Orlando, where we went to Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure and SeaWorld. I have many pics of those things as well, but I am too wiped out to download, edit and post pics tonight....
I can post more pics when we get them off the camera in the next day or so...
