High School Sweethearts Brianna and Matt Tie the Knot on Playa Martineau
Hello Everybody!
I know, I know… I’m behind in writing again. But I have an excellent excuse. It has been a couple of very, very busy weeks here in Vieques. First and foremost, Brianna Grant and Matt Rothman got married at sunset on November 7th on the beach in front of a posh waterfront villa while 50 friends and family from their hometown in Maine witnessed their special moment.
Brianna and Matt hired me a long, long time ago. In fact, I think she was one of my first clients because they started planning their wedding more than two years ago. The high school sweethearts from a small town in Maine had discovered Vieques as guests of a friend (who would be Best Man at their wedding) and knew they had to return to our island to get married when the time finally arrived. Not only did Bri and Matt return to Vieques to get married, but I’m pretty sure they brought most of their hometown with them — including their high school German teacher and her entire family!
Brianna and Matt arrived the Monday before their wedding, and so did most of their wedding guests. This group seemed to do pretty well, but I always caution brides about turning their destination wedding weekends into destination weeks instead. It’s a lot of stress, money and responsibility to keep everybody entertained and out of trouble for that many days. But this crew managed to do it, despite the fact that there weren’t as many bars and restaurants open while they were here as there usually would be because it’s the heart of “off season” here right now.
All of Brianna and Matt’s guests were greeted with Vieques Island beach bags that held welcome packets, maps, coupons for local vendors, bottles of water, and locally-made hot sauce. As always, the dedicated staff of Weddings in Vieques filled up the bags and then ran all over the island delivering them to their guests’ accommodations prior to their arrival on the island. That way there is something waiting for each and every one of them when they get to where they’re staying so they immediately have an anchor — and our contact information in case they’re having any problems.
The one big bugaboo of the entire weekend occurred the day after the happy couple arrived on the island. I was on my way home from a pedicure appointment on Tuesday evening when the groom called my cell phone to tell me that they had a BIG problem. Their photographer, a good friend from back home, wasn’t going to be able to come to the wedding because she’d been diagnosed with swine flu!!! Well, that was certainly a first for me, as far as trouble-shooting goes, but I couldn’t help feeling like we’d dodged a big bullet in having her get sick and be diagnosed before she arrived here in Puerto Rico. Unfortunately, she had to stay in Maine. And I had to work quickly to fill the gap. Matt and Brianna had pre-paid for a rental car and accommodations for their photographer and it was too late to get that money back, so my best bet was to find a substitute from out-of-town who wanted to make a quickie, last-minute vacation out of the weekend. And I didn’t have much budget to work with under the circumstances. A special thank you for Michele and Bruce Valliere from Unique Video Productions for hopping on a plane and coming down here for me at the last minute. Not only did Michele take fabulous pictures, but her husband threw in a wedding video at a price so low that he’d kick my butt if I told you guys about it on here. Suffice to say that they did me a very solid favor from a number of angles and I really appreciate it. So did the bride and groom!
Once that potential catastrophe was averted, we breathed a little easier knowing that nothing worse than that could happen — and if it did, we could totally handle it. 
The real wedding weekend activities began on Thursday evening with a welcome cocktail party at Al’s Mar Azul in Isabel Segunda. The bar was open for regular happy hour, but they kindly let us set up our own table of appetizers for the wedding guests. I spent the evening “guarding” the table but the locals were good sports about letting our wedding guests have their own event at one end of the venue. Most of the food lasted throughout the entire event — crab cakes, chorizo en vino, Puerto Rican-style stuffed mushrooms, local avocado guacamole and a number of other yummies — and when my staff and I abandoned ship at the time the event was supposed to end, most of the wedding guests were just getting going. It made for a subdued group at the wedding rehearsal the next morning.
And that was a good thing because this was a really big wedding party. Seven bridesmaids and seven groomsmen, plus immediate family (several sets of parents and grandparents) and friends who were helping with the sand-blending ceremony. I think we kept the entire process to about 45 minutes, but it wouldn’t have taken as long as it did if Mother Nature hadn’t chosen to drop about a zillion gallons of water on us in a five-minute period, right in the middle of the rehearsal. The good news was that, like a sponge that had been squeezed empty, the sky cleared after rehearsal and we had an absolutely beautiful afternoon for Brianna and Matt’s beach party.
Guests were treated to a make-your-own-taco buffet on Sun Bay beach, with icy local beer and plentiful margaritas. It was a hot afternoon and I saw lots of people floating around on bright-colored noodles in the water while others took refuge under the umbrellas we’d set up on the beach for them.
On Friday evening, all of their wedding guests went on tours of the bioluminescent bay. They’d reserved one entire big electric boat, and the overflow guests travelled out to the glowing waters in kayaks. Everybody gave rave reviews to the tours — as usual, it’s almost everybody’s favorite part of the trip!
Saturday morning arrived bright and early for this group! Matt and his groomsmen were unceremoniously tossed from the bridal villa while the girls made themselves beautiful. Brianna is a professional hairdresser so she planned to do all of her own styling, but several of her girls went to see our local hair lady and came back looking fabulous. We sent the boys to Esperanza where we had arranged for two hours of fun on jet skis, kayaks, and sea scooters, with an abundant supply of snorkeling gear for everybody. That kept them entertained and out of trouble until they had to get ready for the ceremony in the later afternoon.
The ladies spent most of the afternoon with Brianna in the master bedroom of their villa while our crew handled the setup downstairs and in the yard. Brianna and Matt were to be married on beach directly in front of their villa so we cleaned that up too and put down an aisle of starfish and coral rose petals just before the ceremony.
Brianna looked absolutely amazing in an ivory strapless column dress, belted with a wide floral sash in her wedding colors. She carried a bouquet of coral roses accented with yellow and orange Gerbera daisies. Her bridesmaids wore coral strapless bridesmaid dresses (I think they were J. Crew — super cute!!!) and carried bouquets of orange, yellow and white Gerbera daisies. The gentlemen all wore coral rose boutonnieres and the mothers were given small keepsake bouquets of orange and yellow Gerbera daisies.
The bride was escorted down the aisle by both of her parents, and it was very special to watch. The aisle at that particular villa — in other words, the trek from the villa down to the beach — is a serious hike! The groom had tears in his eyes as Brianna descended the stairs to the beach and after that, there wasn’t a dry eye in the crowd for the balance of the ceremony.
At the end of ceremonies, we always have the wedding party and immediate family head off down the beach a bit while we gather the guests and send them back to the villa for cocktails. It’s much easier (and faster) for the photographer to have less of an audience during formal photos. Matt and Brianna’s exit was hilarious! We hadn’t actually practiced it on the beach because of the rain, and Matt forgot that he was supposed to turn left at the end of the aisle and head down the beach. So he headed up the stairs back to the villa! I was like “what the heck are they doing?” as the wedding party began to appear, but Matt had a plan. He led the whole crew across the lawn, up the stairs, through the villa, out the front door and then took a left and jumped on the path back down to the beach between the villas, with 14 bridesmaids and groomsmen, and countless immediate family trailing along behind him! I mean, we’re talking a hike of several hundred yards here, not a quick detour. Thank goodness the girls weren’t in heels because of the ceremony on the sand. You had to be there and know that Matt had forgotten to make the turn in order to truly appreciate the hilarity of it, but even as I write this, I have a big smile on my face and I cannot resist chuckling out loud. My husband is sitting here laughing too. He was down on the beach with them and when the groom led the crew up the stairs instead of down the beach for pictures, he was totally confused. I was up on the other end just as baffled. But Matt kept a smile on his face and even did a quick drive-by on the bar to snag a Medalla as he led the entire crew on a game of follow-the-leader prior to returning to the beach for pictures.
The wedding reception was a blast — it was quite a group of dancers and the playlist Brianna had created for the DJ had all their favorite tunes. The appetizers were very popular, and many of the wedding guests hit the dinner buffet twice. The toasts after dinner were heartfelt and laced with inside jokes that can only be made by a group of people who have all known each other so intimately for more than 20 years.
The decor at the reception was all about Gerbera daisies and starfish. The bride and groom cut a giant cupcake cake and served vanilla almond rum and chocolate rum cupcakes to their guests (I can’t remember their fillings but I think they had something in them). We put the rest of the giant cupcake in the fridge for their late night munchies, but there weren’t that many leftover cupcakes. They cut the cake to the Disney song When You Wish Upon a Star, which was very appropriate as the bride and groom were headed to Disneyworld for their honeymoon.
Brianna and Matt used a Vieques coffee table book as their guestbook — always a popular way to commemorate the very special weekend. Guests were treated to special favors on their way out the door — little boxes filled with gummy bears. Apparently the bride and groom and their friends sold gummy bears in high school to finance their trip to Germany with the teacher who had come to Vieques for their wedding. I was all excited to see the gummy bears — we don’t get those down here very often!
There was the usual hullabaloo and ridiculousness surrounding the tossing of the bouquet and the garter — and then the end of the night arrived. The group had just begun to party, so they headed into town to Al’s for karaoke and more dancing as our crew stayed behind to clean things up and put the villa back to the way it looked before the wedding.
It was a little bittersweet seeing Bri and Matt get married — she’s the last of my ”original” clients and I feel like I’ve known her a very long time now. Fortunately, I know Vieques Island is their vacation spot of choice and I will see them again year after year. They’re so young – only 25 — it’s going to be like watching them grow up. In her toast, the maid of honor (Bri’s little sister Andrea) revealed that it has always been their plan to get married at 25 and have a family at 27. I wish them the best of luck in continuing to achieve their goals! :) And I also wish them happiness, good health, success and much joy in their marriage.
Until next time, happy wedding planning from Wedding in Vieques and Weddings in Culebra!
Sandy