i’m back and married!

photo by diana m lott

 I’m back in the office from my two week absence for my wedding and honeymoon in Mexico. The wedding itself was everything I imagined and even more – and I was so happy to marry my best friend and the man of my dreams. We spent a wonderful week in Playa del Carmen surrounded by closest friends and family – having welcome drinks on the beach, going on a crazy booze cruise where Mike and I were made to participate in a dance contest on stage (yikes!), eating dinner in an amazing restaurant in a huge cave, tasting mezcal, snorkeling in cenotes, rapeling into caves, ATVing around Playa, trying to save the stray dogs we saw, and most of all marrying my best friend.

It could not have happened without the help of a few very important people. First of all, my good friend and amazing wedding planner Gina with Clink Events assisted us throughout the planning process and attended all of our planning meetings. Her presence was so helpful and she took so much stress off of me the week prior to and the day of the wedding. If you’re thinking of hiring a wedding planner and not sure if you need one or if they are worth the expense, DO IT. Trust me you will be glad you did. I didn’t have to worry about anything at all the day of the wedding – I was so calm! Gina also gave us the honor of marrying us, as she served as our officiant (she is ordained online)!  Tanya, the owner of Clink, was also in attendance at the wedding and was a huge help in setting everything up and organizing the ceremony. When it started raining just minutes before the ceremony was to start, they took care of everything and I never even knew! Thankfully, it was a very brief rainshower and we were still able to get married in the sand facing the ocean.

And of course, I am a very lucky girl to have had such amazing photographers in attendance at my wedding who of course could not leave their camera at home From my official photographer, Gia with Red Fly Photography, to my amazing and talented guests (Diana Lott, Stacy Sodolak, Vanessa Escobedo Barba, Jen Lindberg, and Ashley Garmon) I don’t know how I’ll ever be able to sort through and narrow down the photos for my album. I have the sneaking suspicion that I may require a two volume wedding album! Gia was my second shooter for several years and now has her own photography business. She has grown so much in her skills and is truly amazing! I was honored when she agreed to shoot the wedding, especially knowing in advance that she would have to deal with not just one, but potentially 5 “uncle bob” photographers

We imported from Austin a few other very special vendors for the wedding events. We hired Chris with Mason Jar Productions to do his cinematic magic, and we can’t wait to see the results.  We also flew Mandy Hernandez down to do hair and makeup for myself and for my honorary yellow dress wearing bridesmaids. She did an amazing job and I couldn’t have been happier. She is truly talented.

 After the wedding we spent our honeymoon on the small, quaint island of Isla Mujeres and it was everything we hoped for. Now, I’m happy to be back and married. And, my new name is Mrs. Heather Banks

 For now, here are a few of my own images from the wedding and honeymoon and some of the details from the wedding. I’ll be posting professional wedding pics soon!

 gina below, preparing my bouquet

my good friend michelle practicing her reading for the ceremony

we welcomed guests with a mini bottle of flavored mezcal and some custom shot glasses

this was our save the date

our invitations

my bouquet

some artsy photos from our honeymoon in isla mujeres

our girls only atv excursion!

from left – myself, gina with clink, stacy sodolak, ashley garmon, diana m lott, vanessa escobedo barba, emilie odem, and michelle snuggs

this is me all wrapped up in our cozy balcony hammock!

a little bit dirty after the atv ride. it was so fun!

the “after” photo, dirty from the atvs! the boys took their own atv excursion, and we had a little contest to see who could get dirtier. the girls won!!

this is alux, a restaurant in a cave where we had our welcome dinner

and last, a candid shot of me and mike from the week before the wedding in mexico