Wedding Bells for the Wells!

What is more fun than a destination wedding, especially when that destination is in the Florida Keys?

Our Florida Daughter, Amanda, got married last weekend at the Post Card Inn in Islamorada, Florida!  Okay, the "Florida Daughter" term probably need some explanation.  It's kind of a long story.  We hosted a German Intern some years ago that we refer to as our "German Daughter".  Our German Daughter, Carina, made friends with Amanda who is from Tampa, Florida.  We ended up becoming good friends with Amanda as well and started referring to her as our "Florida Daughter" and she calls us her "Georgia Parents".

The really good thing about having a "Florida Daughter" and a "German Daughter" that you "adopted" when they were in their 20's is that you didn't have to pay for college and you don't have to pay for their wedding!  They have real parents to take care of those expenses!  We get to just enjoy the festivities!

We flew to Fort Lauderdale and rented a car for the drive to Islamorada.  We stopped for some supplies on the way and found what we thought would make a great gag gift for the bride!

It is a little liquor bottle shaped like sperm!  We bought one and then had great fun with it in the car.  Sperm related comments kept us laughing the rest of the way to Islamorada.  If you happen to be in the area, "Best Buy Liquors" has the most unusual collection of liquor bottle shapes I've ever seen.  There was a wine box shaped like a purse, a vodka bottle shaped like a skull and a tequila bottle shaped like a hand-gun to name a few!

We got to the hotel well before check-in time.  The desk clerk (with fingernails manicured to resemble claws) was nice enough to give us some drink coupons to use while we waited for our room.  We took our drink coupons and went to "Rumrunners".

The bartender recommended that we get a frozen drink with our coupon since that would be the best deal! We're always up for a deal so Tony got the Pina Colada and I got a Rumrunner.

  Apparently I forgot my "Just say No to Red Drinks" mantra!  Thankfully I didn't spill any on my clothes so only my tongue got stained!

We had lunch at the Shula Burger.  Well, most of us had lunch.  Tony's hamburger order was somehow overlooked by the kitchen staff so he didn't get it until long after the rest of us had finished eating.

After lunch, we checked at the desk again and claw woman said our room was ready.  We were in building 300 which was a bit dilapidated, but relatively clean and very convenient to Rumrunner's. 

We relaxed for the rest of the afternoon until it was time to go to the Wedding Welcome Dinner at the Ocean View Pub, described on the wedding website as "a dive bar in every sense".

The bride's mom greeted us & gave us bracelets to identify us as part of the wedding party.  This would get us access to the open bar and the buffet of sliders and wings.

I found the groom over by the bar receiving some medical attention from the bartender.  It seems he had an injury from opening a beer.  In her bag of medical supplies, the "nurse" had a bottle of gin and some band-aids.

We had a great time meeting new friends and greeting folks we had met before.  

The bride and groom wore themselves out making sure everyone had a good time. They took a few minutes to relax toward the end of the evening.

It was not quite 1/2 mile walk back to the hotel where we joined some of the bridesmaids at Shula's for a late night snack and then made our way to Rumrunner's to party with the bride and groom.

The next morning, we got started bright and early, around 11:00AM!  We were glad not to be in the bridal party since they had an early brunch and then hair and make-up appointments all afternoon.

I spent an hour or so in the shade by the pool watching two adorable little girls play in the water.  The older one's name was Birdie. I wondered if that was her given name or if it was short for something.  

I brought the AARP magazine to read by the pool so everyone would know I was young and hip!  When I finished the magazine, I joined Tony at Rumrunners.  We positioned ourselves on one of the upper decks where there was a great breeze. We watched them setting up the chairs for the wedding.

We wanted to get something to eat but didn't want to give up our prime real estate at Rumrunners.  I looked on the internet and the website said they had light bites at the bar.  The bartender didn't know anything about that so I ran to the quickie mart that is at the front of the property and bought us some buffet items (peanuts, pretzels & snack mix).  I failed to notice that the peanuts I picked up were "5 Alarm" peanuts.

Before we knew it, it was time to head back to the room to get dressed for the wedding.  Dress was fairly casual which was a good thing because it was HOT!

A Steel Drummer was playing as we got seated.

The groomsmen tried to stay cool using the lovely teal wedding fans.

Our German Daughter was one of the bridesmaids.  That's her in the middle.  Isn't she pretty?

The bride and her father were beaming as they walked down the aisle.  Somehow they both managed to look cool despite the heat!

The Right Reverend I-Can't-Remember-His-Name performed the ceremony. He had been the bride's Sunday School Teacher and got himself ordained just so he could perform the ceremony.  He did a GREAT job.  The ceremony was very sweet and just the right length, especially given the heat!

The kiss went on long enough for me to get 2 pictures!

Mr. and Mrs. Wells!

To view our other travels, please visit www.bjandtony.com