Coyotes Couple Up: Relaxation

When we weren't working on zero hours of sleep or exploring the resort we were relaxing. After a few days of acclimating to the resort we fell into a lazy routine. Breakfast began with room service to our room (which was part of the all-inclusive package) and brought out to our balcony.

We chose an oceanfront room and are so glad we did because of this view:

(Sorry for the shady photo smooshing. You guys get the picture, right?!) After breakfast we would do some wandering to walk off all of the delicious food and eventually headed to the beach. The beach at San Souci is very small, but we never once had a problem finding a nice spot to chill.

Look at all those empty chairs!

After a few hours of lounging we would mosey back to our room to shower and get ready for whatever evening activities we had in store. Because we told the resort we were honeymooners one evening we arrived to this delicious spread:

Just a note: There is an au-naturel beach at this resort. We did not take advantage of it since we're a little bashful. Instead we saved the au-naturel portion of our honeymoon for our hotel suite (in particular our sexy jacuzzi tub). ;)

Anyways! After 6:00 PM the au-natural beach was no longer au-naturel and if you wandered in at just the right time you were treated to the most fabulous sunset.

Once the sun went down it was time to feast. There were three different restaurants on the resort (two of which required reservations) and on Tuesday and Friday nights the restaurants would close up shop for resort-wide dinners.

The food was absolutely phenomenal, but my favorite night by far was a little non-inclusive extra we splurged on: a private dinner on the beach. It was a bit pricey, but honestly SO worth it. We were treated to a five course meal and our own personal attendant. It was definitely the most beautiful, romantic part of our honeymoon. We were greeted with candles lining the way to our private table:

A beautifully decorated table for two:

And it was all just steps away from the ocean:

So dreamy.

That pretty much wraps up our honeymoon recaps. Mr. Coyote and I had an absolutely amazing time and would definitely recommend Couples San Souci to anyone planning a trip to Jamaica. The grounds were pristine, the staff was always accommodating and there was always plenty to do (or not do, in our case!).

Our wedding photos are on their way so stay tuned for the official Coyote wedding recaps!

Coyotes Couple Up: Exploration

After we awoke from our coma we began to explore the grounds. Even though we stayed for ten days we never once left the resort. We actually didn't plan it this way -- we arrived at the resort with the same mindset as Mrs. Mink and decided that as soon as we got bored we would start looking at the different excursions the resort offered. The thing is, there were so many great things to do right on the property that we never got bored and never felt the need to do anything "extra"!

Couples San Souci is known for being one of the more secluded Couples resorts. There were so many nooks and crannies to explore that we often would just wander around the resort.

We even made a few friends...

And there were always activities happening throughout the day to keep us entertained.

We actually surprised ourselves by never leaving the resort. We thought that we would get bored at some point, but honestly after all the long nights and stressful days leading up the wedding it was nice to just wander around and unwind.

What kind of honeymoon are you looking forward to? Relaxing? Adventurous? Maybe a little bit of both?!

Coyotes Couple Up: Sleep Deprivation

For our honeymoon Mr. Coyote and I spent ten fabulous days at Couples San Souci, an all-inclusive, couples only resort in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. We spent a lot of time deciding on the best resort for us and I have to say we really hit the jackpot with Couples. Before I get into all of the fantastic parts, I want to share some things we wish we'd done differently (and they all have to do with our travel arrangements).

• I wish we had spent a few days at home before leaving for the honeymoon. 

In fact, I wish we had gone back to work and "real life" for a few days and then left for our honeymoon. I know this is completely unorthodox, but just hear me out. We spent almost the entire week before the wedding away from home. Due to adrenaline and nerves I slept about three hours the night of the wedding and maybe another four hours the night after. On Sunday we had breakfast with our friends and family, packed up our things and drove three hours back to Westchester.

Of course, Mr. Coyote realized that he left his sneakers at my parents' house, so we had to go shopping. And then we had to stop at the pet store to get more food for our cat. And then we had to unpack the car and finish packing for the honeymoon. And then... I'm sure you can see where this is going. I managed to sneak in an hour-long nap before our car service arrived at 3 AM to take us to the airport. I really could have used a few extra days at home to get ready for our trip and catch up on some much needed sleep.

• I wish we had checked in prior to arriving to the airport.

Because I booked a really cheap trip with a really shady travel site (or because I hadn't slept properly in three days and couldn't figure it out) I was unable to check us in online. When we arrived at the airport we were told that there were no two seats next to each other and that we would have to sit in separate rows.

We explained that we were on our honeymoon and begged the agent to move someone else so we could sit together. There may have been a few tears on my part, but the agent eventually was able to move our seats. It was a super stressful situation to be dealing with at 4 AM and it could have been avoided by checking in online.

• Finally, I wish we had planned our arrival at the resort to coincide with check-in time.

This one is kinda weird and maybe only specific to our situation, but we arrived at our resort around 11 AM - which is apparently the absolute worst time to show up. We had been awake for almost 30 hours straight and had nowhere to sleep and nowhere to eat (at this particular resort, breakfast ended at 11 and lunch started at noon) but I think the staff took pity on our sad, pathetic state (or we were just bringing the resort morale down so low that they needed to get rid of us ASAP). Either way, they scrounged up a turkey sandwich for us and had a room ready in about an hour - and for that we will be eternally grateful! Once we finally arrived in our room we both collapsed on the bed and slept for the next two days.

Wow that was a lot of complaining, eh? Don't worry... There's lots of happiness coming up in my next post! And honestly all the headaches were worth being able to arrive to all of this:

Did you have any disasters that could have been avoided on your honeymoon?

Box It Up

Sooo a long, long time ago when I first started blogging with the 'bee I talked a bit about our wine box ceremony and then promptly forgot about it for the next six months. Whoops! I'm happy to report that we did in fact have a wine box ceremony. It was a beautiful addition and I'm so glad we did it, but it wouldn't be a true Coyote experience if there weren't a few mishaps!

A while back I purchased a beautiful wine box from True Fabrications on Amazon and made a mental note to purchase a nice bottle of wine before the wedding. I had left the box at my parents' house and when Mr. Coyote and I went upstate the week before the wedding for some craft wars and to drop everything off with our venue I made sure to bring a nice bottle of Malbec with us. Our lovely wine box was still sittin' pretty waiting for some wine:

But this genius right here forgot to measure the box before purchasing the wine (I'm sure you can guess where this is heading) and the bottle we chose did not fit in the box.

Son of a beeeeeeetch. I didn't have the time nor the energy to go shopping for yet another bottle of wine so I just grabbed whatever I could find that would fit in the box. Since Mr. Coyote and I are winos...

(Scratch that... I guess it's just me.)

I didn't have a problem finding a bottle that fit, but I'm kinda disappointed that we couldn't use the Malbec we purchased.

To be honest, I don't even remember what's in the box right now and that makes me sad. Now that the wedding is over and we avoided that little crisis I am thinking about swapping it out for a nicer bottle that actually FITS this time. Ok, technically we're not suppose to open the box until our anniversary but there was also a bit of a, uhm, situation with our letters too so we might have to open the box again sooner rather than later anyways. But that's another story for another post.

Did you have any last minute wedding mishaps?

A Thank You to Those Who Raised Us

Both sets of parents have been incredibly supportive of Mr. Coyote and me -- not only during our engagement but throughout our seven years together. Although no material gift will ever be able to express how much their love means to us we did want to thank them for being there for us through the years.

We bought a few things for our parents, but because our wedding was just a few weeks after Father's Day we decided to split up the father gifts a bit. Just like the gifts we purchased for our groomsmen we bought cufflinks for each father and decided to gift them on Father's Day. Choosing a pair for my father was easy. Once we realized there were cufflinks on Etsy for literally anything you could imagine I thought of what really bonds my dad and I together. Sports. And not just sports, but baseball. And not just baseball, but the New York Yankees (aka the greatest sports team in history).

Poppa Coyote and I have been going to Yankee games together for as long as I can remember so when I searched "cufflinks, sports" and found these I instantly snatched them up.

Cufflinks purchased from White Truffle Studio on Etsy

Finding a pair for Mr. Coyote's dad was a bit more difficult. Sure we know what he likes (golf, soccer, wine), but we wanted to find something that really encompassed FIL Coyote. While we were brainstorming, Mr. Coyote casually searched "cufflinks, food" and we hit the jackpot.

Cufflinks purchased from SchickieMickie on Etsy

Oh, how the man loves a good barbecue. 

We saved the rest of the gifts for the rehearsal dinner. My father's gift was definitely the highlight of the evening.

I had been toying with the idea of giving him a nice bottle of Johnnie Walker, but the occasion was never right. When a shop in Grand Central Terminal (which I commute out of everyday) was offering free engravings a few weeks ago I immediately jumped on the opportunity. Thanks to our father-daughter song ("I Loved Her First" by Heartland) I knew exactly what to engrave.

I'll get into his reaction when I start my recaps, but let's just say this gift was a hit. ;-)

For my momma I purchased a gift certificate to a local theatre. A few months ago she mentioned that Wicked would be coming in the Fall so the plan was to purchase tickets for her and I to go together. Unfortunately the tickets still aren't on sale yet so I made sure to get a certificate that would cover the cost of two tickets. When I gave her the gift I let her know that I had intended to purchase tickets for Wicked, but she now had the certificate to use for anything she wanted.

Finally, our gift for Mr. Coyote's parents. In true procrastinator fashion Mr. Coyote put off purchasing gifts for his parents until less than a week before the wedding. My blood pressure definitely rose during those final days, but like always he pulled through at the last minute with a gift certificate to Half Moon... A freakin' gorgeous restaurant located on the Hudson River that his parents' have always raved about.

Image via Half Moon Restaurant

We absolutely loved picking out gifts for our parents and even though it's peanuts compared to what they have done for us, we hope they enjoy them! Did you give wedding gifts to your parents?