Nicole & Phillip's Wedding!

Our third day in Jamaica, May 28th, we celebrated Auntie Nicole & Uncle Phillip's wedding!  We were so excited to officially welcome Phillip to the family and celebrate their marriage!  The morning of the wedding, the bridal party was treated to manicures, pedicures, makeup and hair appointments.  We had a great time finishing last minute details and pampering ourselves.  I had a minor emergency with my dress (stupid zippers!) but Nicole's friend Rosa came to the rescue and my dress was fixed up in no time!  It was a HOT, humid day- we even had to push the ceremony back an hour due to rain, but after the rain, we were ready to go!  Look how handsome Mr. Tyler is, all dressed up for Auntie Nicole's wedding. 

 Sonya and James, all dressed up & looking good!

 John and James, waiting for the ceremony to begin.  During their wait, the walked over to the local Jerk chicken shack and enjoyed some chicken and Red Stripes. 

Finally, after the rain cleared up, we started the ceremony!  Keira and Briana, Phillip's niece, were the adorable flower girls.  Keira was so shy, she refused to smile all the way up the aisle, but was so excited to hold hands and walk with Briana. 

 The ceremony was absolutely beautiful- most of us were in tears the second Nicole and Vicki walked out of the house. 

 The ceremony was officiated by my brother-in-law, Jeremy, and was really very special.  He included a lot of personal touches, including a poem written by a friend of his describing marriage after kids that I loved.

 Mr. and Mrs. Brown!

 After the ceremony, it was time for family pictures!  We were all hot, sweaty, and a little hungry, and Keira did not handle it well, as you can see for the pictures.  There were only a few where she wasn't screaming, but, I suppose it will be funny one day...

  The three Arce "babies"

 Picture time!

 The whole wedding party!

 After Champagne, Red Stripe, and Pictures, it was party time!  It was SO, so hot, so we tried to get lots of water and stay as cool as possible. 

 For Tyler, I just popped him out of his clothes and hoped that he would cool down a bit.  He was in a much better mood after eating and cooling down.  The Jamaican staff was worried he would catch a chill from his sweaty skin, so we put on a t-shirt and shorts I had brought.  No more fancy wedding clothes for this little man!

 John wished he could strip down like Tyler, but he's not quite as cute as my little man, so he settled for an unbuttoned shirt. 

 After a dinner of jerk chicken, curried goat, rice & peas, festival, wedding cake (chocolate & fruit cake, a Jamaican tradition), and lots and lots of Red Stripe, it was time for toasts!
One of the best parts of the reception was the best man's toast.  At the end of Riccardo's toast, he said that now that Phillip was a married man, anyone with a key to Phillip's house to come up and give it back.  About a dozen friends and family members came up with keys, but then their villa cook came up with a key and handed it to Phillip.  It was hilarious!  Phillip must have really gotten to know her during their time in Jamaica.  ;)

 Then it was time for the party to really begin!  Phillip and Nicole had their first dance, we the party got really started. 

 I love this picture, I think it looks like Ben is challenging Briana to a dance off.
That might have been what's happening.  ;)

 The little girls had a great time!

I wish I would have been there for this part of the dancing, I was in the air conditioning with Tyler, trying to get him to cool down and go to sleep, so I could start my party!  He was pretty cranky, but while I was feeding and rocking him, I heard a big "splash".  I wasn't sure what happened, but I thought that someone either jumped in or fell into the pool...

But, I was wrong. SomeONE didn't jump in the pool, the entire wedding jumped in the pool, bride and groom included!

It was the right decision.  It was so hot that day, the rest of the reception would not have been as enjoyable, and everyone had a great time swimming around, then getting out and dancing, soaking wet. 

While I was in the villa with Tyler, James was watching Keira.  He had walked over to the bar and left Keira with her aunties when the wedding party jumped in the pool.  Her aunties said the minute Keira saw people jumping in the pool, she starting trying to unzip her dress and jump in.  Luckily, they stopped her, and we had thought to bring a swimsuit for the wedding, so she and Daddy changed and jumped in!  I don't think she got out of the pool until we left. 

FINALLY, Tyler fell asleep- it took something like 45 minutes- and I left him with Uncle John, Aunt Catherine, and Uncle Greg, who were more than happy to sit in the air conditioning while I went out to the party, and I jumped in the pool in my broken zipper bridesmaid dress.  Better late than never!  It felt awesome, and it was an awesome memory.  Later in the night, we got out of the pool and starting dancing, and it started pouring rain.  It was one of my favorite memories from the wedding-  dancing in the pouring rain, in Jamaica, at the wedding of two of my favorite people!  It was so cute though, as soon as it started to rain, Keira started to panic and insisted that we go inside, because it was raining.  It didn't matter that we were all soaking wet because we had just gotten out of the pool- she knows rain=go inside!

The wedding was awesome, we are so happy we were able to be there!