Our getaway wedding

I'm not quite sure how we did this, but Randy and I managed to keep our wedding a secret for the most part. Back in November, we decided that we wanted to take the plunge (and honestly, marriage had been a topic of conversation for months prior to that). But the idea of having a big wedding was very complicated, since he is from PA and I'm from IL and we both have friends scattered across the States. Even having a wedding out in NC would be complicated, since literally everyone would have to travel. So after considering all of our options, we decided that we wanted to get married - just the two of us - on a beach.

We settled on the Sandals resort in Nassau, Bahamas. We booked our tickets just before Thanksgiving and it was honestly very difficult to not make the big announcement to our friends and family over the holidays. But we knew that keeping it to ourselves was the best way to do it - not only would it be super fun to tell everyone after we have done it (which it has been, by the way) but we also wanted to eliminate hurt feelings over not being there to spend the day with us.

Well, I do have to make a clarification. Our parents knew. We thought it was important to include them in the plans - and they all gave their blessings and were very excited about our marriage. Not that they were surprised (after being together over three years!), but they were very supportive of us "running away together".

Our wedding took place on Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. We were married on a gorgeous, sunny day under a gazebo overlooking the beach. Island music (actually it was a Bob Marley song) was playing in the background as we went down the aisle. It was a perfect day.

So when I say that we "eloped" that may sound misleading. We weren't running from anything or anyone - we weren't doing something rash or last-minute. We had thought a lot about this decision and it had been in the works for months. But it was absolutely beautiful and romantic and the perfect way for us to say "I do."

Our trip has given me some items to post about and lots of pictures to post, so look for those soon!