Weddingbee Blog

As I mentioned earlier, the trip to Naples, Florida with Champ our sophomore year of college was where I really fell in love with my best friend. So it only seemed fitting that five years later we would visit the same spots, swim at the same beach, and enjoy the same company we had enjoyed so much before. When Mr. C asked if I would be interested in heading back to Naples, my heart fluttered a little in hope that this would be “THE vacation.”  So off we went to Naples!

We hung out at the beach, walked around the town, shopped, and this time around I was actually 21, so we enjoyed a few of the local place in Naples, including Yabba’s, a local restaurant that turns into a fun dance spot at night. It’s amazing how much a vacation changes when you become “of age!” A few nights into the vacation, we decided to have dinner on the beach.

We grabbed gyros from a local Greek diner, a few Coronas, and headed to the beach. I just happened to grab my camera and got this shot of Champ walking onto the beach before our big moment. So as we were eating, I noticed Champ was shaking so much that he couldn’t hold his gyro. Then, completely out of character, he wrapped up half the wrap and said he’d finish it later. I knew something was up… he always finishes his dinner!

He got down on one knee, and said so many incredible things, all of which I can’t recall. I wish I could have pressed pause on my life for two seconds just to really take it all in… I was so happy!

Here we are after I stopped crying hysterically—I’m a crier!

So we headed back to our house to celebrate and I think I must have taken a million pictures that night. Ever notice how all the pictures you take during the week after your engagement, you position your hand so that you can see the ring? Well I’m no different! I think every picture has this same pose with my hand on his shoulder—so awkward now when I look at it. (And, um, please ignore the boobage—whoops!)

The vacation continued with a fan boat into the Everglades where we saw huuuge alligators. They came so close to our boat! We even managed to find an old restaurant/’gator shack we had visited five years earlier on the side of the road where we ate frog legs and ‘gator. I guess you could say they both kinda taste like chicken.

We went to the zoo (remember, Champ is a big zoo nerd!) where we saw even more ‘gators and we ended the perfect trip with an amazing view from 1500 feet. We went parasailing!

So at the end of that week I could claim three things: I ate alligator, I had a tan, and I kissed my future husband at 1500 feet!!! Perfect, perfect vacation… but I’d still like to go back and pause that one surreal moment.