Memoirs of a Bride, Chapter 3: the newly minted Mrs. Taylor

After our amazingly awesome wedding, we were on our way to our honeymoon! We left the wedding party by around 9, and Rob had arranged to have a limo pick us up and take us to Waikiki, where we'd spend two nights before hopping a plane to get to our honeymoon destination: Beautiful Kauai (cue music)!

The limo ride was definitely interesting to say the least (and to keep it diplomatic). The limo driver kept pulling over to the side of the road (no exaggeration, at least 5 times before even getting in to Waikiki). He said it was because he didn't want the limo to overheat. Mind you, this wasn't a ghetto limo service either (I don't remember the name), so we were surprised that we were having any issues at all! The first time, ok - weird, but we'll let it slide. By the 5th time, AND he pulled into a service station (?!?!?!) to add oil, my husband was OVER IT. Rob nicely told him that we were celebrating our wedding, and having the limo break down when we were so tired after a long day is exactly the opposite of how our wedding day should be going. The man apologized, but when we got in to Waikiki, he started to pull over YET AGAIN, and Rob told him "Nah, man, you need to keep driving. No more pulling over. We're already in Waikiki, you can drop us off first." What should've been a half hour ride probably took us near an hour and a half. Suffice it to say, Rob demanded a generous discount :) Luckily, we were so excited to be married the bootleg limo ride couldn't kill our happiness. 

We ate at Mac 24/7 in our wedding attire, which was fun, and we got some food comped by the bartender (we sat at the bar since tables had wait times and we were too starving to wait!) as a "congratulations." Jodie also graciously thought to pack us a few slices of wedding cake, which was nice because we were actually able to try all of the flavors of our cake! (lilikoi, red velvet, and vanilla wedding cake tiers).

This was my new husband holding my dress for me so I could pee. LOL
Ah, so quickly the reality kicks in and the glamour strips away!

We woke up the next morning and had an amazing brunch at Hula Grill in Waikiki the following day. On Monday, we boarded our flight and got to Kauai! Rob a really good sport about wearing the personalized spousal gear I had purchased from Etsy. 

His shirt says "Groom 2014" and mine said "Bride 2014" in pink. What is he eating? Chicken? IDK. But we stopped at poke stop outside of the airport and it was AMAZING. Also, I still catch myself smiling at Rob wearing a wedding ring :) That stands out the most in this picture for me.

Our rental was a convertible (TOTAL TOURIST style) that Rob practically begged me to allow, being the insurance-minded, cautious person that I am. It was SO much fun, though! I'm glad he talked me into it. 

We were staying at the St.Regis resort (NOT hotel lol) in Princeville. I honestly don't even know how I stumbled upon the St. Regis - it must've been destiny one day surfing the web. Anywho, the St. Regis is a very ritzy resort (for example, a few months after our honeymoon, popular actress Sofia Vergara and her fiancé stayed at the St. Regis during their Kauai vacation) and definitely the swankiest place we have ever stayed at. Generally, we don't do it up that big, but we wanted to do something extra special to commemorate our once in a lifetime event. We also had set up a honeymoon registry via the St. Regis that would allow for people to contribute (via the website) to our honeymoon stay! We figured that since we were both grown adults who had been independent for a number of years and thus had most of our household items, a contribution to our honeymoon would be a great way for us to enjoy a splurge that we likely wouldn't have been able to without the assistance of our wedding guests! We stayed at the resort for 5 wonderful days.

When we first got to the hotel, we checked in but they had somehow mixed up our reservation. We had booked for a "junior suite," and when we got there, the attendant told us that they had upgraded us to an ocean view room to congratulate us on our wedding. I didn't realize the mistake, but Rob caught on immediately. The attendant told us that it looked like they were booked out of their suite rooms,  but after Rob showed her the email from them confirming our junior suite, magically, a suite room opened up (they probably reserve those for emergency mistakes, such as this one). The suite was AMAZING!!! It had large picture windows that opened up to screens, and then just open windows overlooking Hanalei Bay. There was a living room area, with couch, coffee table, and the King sized bed was facing the large windows overlooking the ocean. There was a hidden TV that popped up from the dresser when prompted, as well as a TV in front of the couch. The BATHROOM was also AMAZING!! It had dual sinks, and my favorite part - a huge jacuzzi tub, again, with large windows overlooking Hanalei Bay. For those that didn't want to provide a show to the surfers below, the shower windows "fogged" when a switch was hit, so you could either have clear windows or fogged windows for privacy. EVERY SINGLE NIGHT, I took a bath in the jacuzzi tub during sunset :) Other patrons went to the lobby to see the sunset, but we were blessed to have the view from our very own jacuzzi tub!

Just kicking up my heels, enjoying this view!

View from our living room/bed

Pop-up hidden TV

Now you see me...

..Now you don't!

look at all the  bubbles! Fuuuuuuuuun!

Even though the room was amazing, I was a little disappointed that they didn't do anything "special" for our honeymoon. To me, our honeymoon is a once in a lifetime event, and you always hear stories of how hotels will treat their guests who are celebrating anniversaries or special occasions with upgrades or perks. I had mentioned this to Rob, and he talked to someone downstairs. They mentioned they had decorated the other room for us, but since there was a mix-up, they didn't have time to decorate the new room. They ended up sending us a handwritten note of apology and congratulations, several fancy chocolate covered strawberries, a $100 value for a portrait photographer on site, and a voucher for complimentary breakfast buffet for us both every day of our stay (that alone was $38 a person per day!) They more than made up for it! After that initial hiccup, the rest of our honeymoon was a dream!

The customer service at the hotel was impeccable. Everyone from the valet guys to the breakfast hostess remembered our names and personally asked us every day what we were up to, where we were going today, etc. The valet also offered us bottled water and towels (I guess for those heading to the beach) every time we were heading out! One over the board perk that was included in our stay was our very own butler. The butler came to our room to introduce himself as well as provide a list of things that they could assist with (anything from grabbing ice, fresh french pressed coffees, ironing services, and packing and unpacking!!)  At first we thought there was no way that we would use the butler, but we ended up using the butler a few times! First time being when we forgot some items in the trunk of our car. We called the butler line and told them we had forgotten some items, and before we could even ask, they volunteered, "and you would like us to fetch the items for you?" Um, YES. Lazy people definitely say YES!!!! So we were spared the hassle of having to go down to valet to retrieve our items and had them literally delivered to our front door. We also used them when we were looking for somewhere to get decent fish tacos. The butler came prepared with a map and detailed instructions and suggestions! it was GREAT!! 

Activity wise, we took things day by day. We did some driving, checked out a waterfall, ate a lot of yummy food, and VEGGED! Rob also convinced me to do a helicopter ride (again me the rule-abiding, cautious scaredy cat!) which was SO AMAZING. The helicopter ride was over na pali coast, and had we not done the helicopter ride, there is no way we would've been able to enjoy the beauty and majesty of the na pali coast first hand. 

Waterfall that took forever to find and was small. lol.

close up of waterfall

Helicopterin'!

 

No filter!!

WOW!!!

 I did NOT want to leave when we reached our last day. We have discussed coming back for milestone anniversaries (5, or 10 year intervals maybe), so hopefully we can make that happen. This was definitely the once in a lifetime experience we were hoping for.