Another excursion we were stoked to do was hike the Gros Piton! Gros Piton is the second largest mountain on St. Lucia, after Mt. Gimie, and rises 2,619 feet. We had heard it was a tough hike, but didn’t realize how tough until we started the actual hike!
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Gros Piton, as seen from the water
We woke up early and had a hearty breakfast on the beach. It was pouring while we ate, but by the time we left for the mountain the storm had passed.
Cheryl is selling a lot of colorful paper napkins. She is asking $25 for 392 napkins. Check out her listing for other items as well.
Have a wedding item for sale? Post it with pictures in the Weddingbee Classifieds, and you might see it featured on the blog!
Other great items for sale:
All good things must come to an end. Mr. Wallaby and I wanted to go out with a bang…but not before one last dance. (We’re big dancing people. But y’all probably know that by now. 
) One of the evenings before the wedding, while we were sitting around talking wedding deets with my parents, we realized we hadn’t picked a last-dance song. Several weddings we attended last year ended with everyone belting out “Don’t Stop Believin’”—so Journey was off the table. We tried to brainstorm other anthems that could spur a flash karaoke—but “Call Me Maybe” or “Livin’ on a Prayer” didn’t seem totally apropos.
As if like magic, a song popped up on shuffle, and all four of us instantly agreed that it was the perfect last-dance song. OK, it’s extremely obvious from the song name. Michael Buble, anyone?
Press play!
Oh, I know that the music’s fine
Like sparkling wine go and have your fun
Laugh and sing but while we’re apart
Don’t give your heart to anyone
And don’t forget who’s taking you home
And in whose arms you’re gonna be
So darlin’, save the last dance for me
Cheesy, yes. But all weddings need a little cheese.
I always knew I would walk down the aisle with my dad on my wedding day.
I know there are a lot of mixed feelings concerning the concept of being “given away.” I didn’t look at it that way; I thought about it as him walking there beside me, just as he has done my entire life. But being honest, to some extent, it felt like he was giving me away.
I’ve never been a daddy’s girl; my dad and I are too much alike to have that close relationship, but he’s been a great support in my life and to some extent it feels like I’ve always been under his wing, for better or worse. So this felt like the last straw of him coming to terms with the fact that I am leaving home, I am all grown up now, I am in a serious relationship with a great man, and I’ll be living with him now (eek!).
There was only one small flaw in my “walk down the aisle with my dad” plan. He had no idea it was happening.
This is the only pic I could find with my dad, and I had to crop out my sister…true story.
anny posted a photo of her semi-DIY invitations.
Keep on loading your inspirational wedding pics to the Weddingbee Gallery to see them featured here on the blog! Remember, your images must be under 1MB in size, or they won’t load.
If your photo is featured as the Gallery of the Day, you’re eligible for a special Weddingbee badge for your blog or website! Check out instructions on how to grab the badge here!
We’ve been fielding some juicy shoe questions from one of our favorite news outlets in the past few days, and rather than report on general sentiments on our shoe obsessions, we wanted to bring the questions STRAIGHT to the hive! While you’re at it, check out some of our favorite wedding day shoe p0rn, too. Yerrr welcome. 
OK, hive, this is it: the final round of Mates for Life Madness, where you vote for your favorite dynamic animal duo for a chance to win a $200 Gift Card for Valentine’s Dream Date + a lifetime subscription of Avocado unlimited. This contest is brought to the hive by Avocado, a brand new app designed just for couples! See which couples won round 1 and round 2 to get us here today.
Want to learn more?
Avocado is the app made just for couples. It’s a reliable, secure, and fun way to privately stay connected to your fiancé no matter where you go and features fast messaging, photo sharing, and mobile Hugs and Kisses (yes, really). Engaged couples who use Avocado love using Avocado’s shared lists to get things done before the big day, and the shared calendar makes reminding their sweetie about upcoming appointments a breeze! Avocado is available for Android and iPhone and on the web: avocado.io
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To win, participate in our Mates for Life Madness vote off, then let us know you voted in the comments! It’s down to the final round of adorable animal pairs. It’s up to you to decide which couple is the ultimate winner!
What’s up for grabs? There will be a total of 3 winners, with prizes just right for a Valentine’s Day celebration!
Ready to help choose the winner? Here we go…
WHICH COUPLE IS CUTER:
Voting in the final round will close Monday, February 11th, 2013 at 8AM PST. We’ll tally up your votes and let you know the winner on Monday afternoon. And remember, everyone that comments on any of the four “Mates for Life Madness” posts is eligible to win! The more rounds you participate in, the higher your chances of winning.
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More about Avocado.io:
Our society has created soooo much software and social tech, but no one—aside from Avocado and the very few other couple-focused apps—have made technology JUST for couples. Avocado is a fun, fast, reliable, and private way to stay connected to the one you love most. Head to Avocado.io to use Avocado on the web, and download it for free on the App Store or for Android.
Avocado tip #3: Is your sweetie on the road? Check out the Hugs and Kisses features to let them know you’re thinking of them no matter where they are.
I have one of the smallest families I have ever known. There are six of us. Mum, Dad, brother, sister, Grandma, and me. Six.
Jack has two of the biggest families I have ever known. He’s half Sicilian—so you can expect a large family on that side. Except it’s not his Sicilian family that’s the big one—it’s his English family. And these people see each other all the time.
Every single year a fireworks party is held at his Grandma’s house, and her five siblings arrive, each with their own children and grandchildren, and in some cases great-grandchildren! His mother is one of four, and one of her sisters has six kids of her own…that’s a lot of people!
So what do you do when you have a family this big? You have to put them into groups. The Immediate Family, the Close Family, and the Extended Family.
The Immediate Family. Mum, Dad, brother, sister, two grandmas, and grandad. Not bad.
I mean, say you want to register for a toaster. You go to the Bed Bath & Beyond site and look up toasters—and get this.
Image via Bed Bath & Beyond
Four pages of toasters—and with 15 on each page that’s over 45 toasters. For people who have really specific tastes, this is probably awesome. Lots of choices! Customize your toaster! Heck, if you want you can get this toaster at $339.99.
One of my first posts that went live here on Weddingbee was the admittance of my total obsession over Etsy seller Lollipop Workshop’s cake toppers. In case you need a refresher of what these gorgeous babies look like, here you go:
Image via Etsy / seller Lollipop Workshop
Determined to make my own cake topper inspired by the Etsy version, the peg people version of Mr. A and myself went from this…
We wanted to get all the “official” wedding stuff done quickly so people could just relax and have fun, so we did our dances to get everything going. We did not prepare a cool choreographed dance for our first move. We slow shuffled with Cherry Bomb, who would occasionally reach up and push our faces together to make us kiss. Even though the first dance is usually really awkward for everyone, both participating and observing, I really loved it. (I can’t speak for my guests. They look pretty damn bored in the background of these pictures.) We danced to the song I had dreamed we would dance to at our wedding since we first started dating. And, if you remember from earlier, it is also the inspiration behind the engraving on my wedding ring—Jonathan Richman’s “My Baby Love Love Loves Me.”
My baby love love loves me now/Even more than I prayed for/My baby love love loves me now/Even more than I praaaayed
I prayed/I asked/But I didn’t expect this/My baby love love loves me now/Even more than I prayed for/Even more than I prayed
