The wedding was amazing – an amazing whirlwind! There were so many little things that we wanted to remember about that day so we decided to write them down. So on the honeymoon, we took an afternoon or two to enjoy a margarita, think back over the wedding and the honeymoon, and write things down. There’s kind of two categories of things to remember – those things fit for public consumption and those that aren’t! LOL 
There will be two versions of this post, one that’s password protected and one that’s not. Sorry – we’re not sharing the password for the other one. 
Things we want to remember:
- Beautiful weather the whole weekend of our wedding – not a cloud in the sky, the trees starting to change color
Before the ceremony:
- Dave and his kids getting stuck in traffic on the way to the rehearsal dinner and arriving starving!
- Brandon getting stuck in traffic on the way to the rehearsal dinner and arriving after most of us had left. Closing out the Bethlehem Brew Works bar with Pete, who was sampling the Scotch menu in alphabetical order.
- Seeing Bill’s quirky sense of humor at Tat’s – just like ours!
- Brian calling 30 minutes for the ceremony concerned because his GPS unit said was still 3 hours until he arrived. They were about a mile away.
- Heather – Convincing Pete to get a manicure.
- Dennis hanging out with us at Susan’s salon while Jenny, Pete, and I got our nails done – and showing off his beat up purple toenails.
- Heather – Snuggling and girl time with Jenny at Tat’s house the morning of the wedding.
- Heather – Waking up waaaaay too early and forcing myself to stay in bed until abot 6:00 a.m., at which point I got up to blog.
- Heather – Being in Urban Edge and seeing Pete walk by with his head turned across the street. Waving at Brandon & he never told Pete he saw me.
From the ceremony:
- Heather – Being outside the meetinghouse and peeking around the corner to see when Jenny was in place because that meant that I would be able to see you next and you would see me.
- Our eye contact during the ceremony
- Heather – My hands shaking and Pete asking me if I was going to pass out.
- Being so nervous during the ceremony that we didn’t recognize people in the “audience” that we’ve known for quite a while!
- At the end of the blessing section of the ceremony (“May you… May you…”) Pete’s nearly overwhelming desire to say “May the force be with you.”
- The part of the ceremony that described our relationship. This was written by Jeanette and really captured us perfectly.
- People saying that the ceremony was very “us” and touching.
- Heather – Introducing Pete to 6-year old Madison as my “friend” in the receiving line and then quickly correcting myself to say “my husband.” Oops!
- Taking quiet pictures together in the fading sunlight in the meetinghouse.
- The walk from the meetinghouse to McCoole’s – holding hands, talking together, getting honked at three times by people driving by.
- The playful pictures on the balcony at McCoole’s. Bill asked Pete to whisper something in Heather’s ear, to tell her a secret. He leaned over and said, “I’m going to stick my tongue in your ear,” which promptly brought a photogenic smile and laugh.
- Little Gabriel not making a peep during the ceremony and dancing to the Humpty Dance at the reception. Who knew almost-3-month-olds could get down?!?!
From the reception:
- Walking into the reception and seeing everyone at the tables and McCoole’s looking beautiful
- Pete – Watching Heather getting more beautiful as the night went along
- Mom Carter’s reaction to our toast – clapping and smiling.
- Raf’s amazing toast, especially the part about feeling like Pete’s been a brother to him.
- Seeing Aaron getting into the dancing and having a great time.
- Kevin the DJ doing an amazing job with the music.
- Mom and Dad Carter dancing together for the second time in their 36-year marriage.
- Dave’s kids being willing to help out at the reception.
- Teddy telling us that he loved the ceremony and that it was very personal. As a spiritual guy, that meant a lot to us.
- Heather – After delivering another gin & tonic to Matt, Dennis saying to me, “I think Matt’s drunk… and I think I did it.”
- McCoole’s taking fantastic care of us – having plates of appetizers ready for us when we arrived and putting together dinner plates for us. That’s probably the only reason that we ate that night!
- Uncle Tip complimenting the food.
- Matt, Jill, and the Penn crowd dancing like crazy at the end of the night and requesting old school songs from Kevin.
- The last dance, “This is Us.” Dancing together – spinning, smiling, and being very, very happy. It was the perfect song at the perfect time.
- Nick buying kamakaze shots for everyone after the reception.
- Finding out that people actually were reading this blog – hot damn!
- Kay, Tat, and Sam all gettin’ down!
- Dennis gettin’ down and grinding on everyone
- From Jill while dancing, “We’re so white!”
- Carol telling a story about Peter joking around with a guy about being in the mafia… and it turns out he was in the mafia.
- Matt and Jenny laughing all the time
- Sitting around at McCoole’s bar next door to the reception, telling Pete stories. Nick turning to Pete and saying, “Welcome to your roast, dude.”
- The phrase of the night – “smallest catheter possible”
From the morning after brunch:
- Erik saying that he “went corporate” in Key West when he cut off his long hair there.
- Exchange between Pete and Sam: “Sam, how’s that pan doing? I have one just like it and I can’t wait to use it.” “This is your pan.”
- Passing out Advil to people needing it on the way in the door.
From the honeymoon:
- Not reading the clothing instructions close enough – Oops! We forgot to pack slacks for Pete!
- The pirate museum in Key West that ROCKED! Disney on the outside, serious museum on the inside.
- Heather – My obsession with Pete’s ring – noticing it all the time, asking to see it, holding his hand just to feel the ring on there.
- The rooster running around the streets of Key West
- Being seated at a table for dinner with another couple from – get this! – Maine and New Jersey!
- “The cruise is better with alcohol”
- The ship making a u-turn out of the harbor at Key West. For a behemoth of a ship that was an agile freakin’ boat!
- The Swedish woman at the table claiming that once there’s a ring that’s all it takes to get pregnant, to which her friend replied, “It took a year and a half for me.” To which the Swedish woman replied, “You were wearing the wrong ring!”
- Nation of two
- Pete talking physics with the physics PhD student at our dinner table – and keeping up!
- Laura from VA at our dinner table introducing us to a new and very tasty wine – Malbec
- Cozumel – Pete talking Heather into renting a scooter and having to work hard at it. Heather loving it after just a few minutes - but having a hard time holding back from the backseat driving. Running into two couples from the same extended family on two parts of the island.
- The differences between the two sides of Cozumel island – Sunny, forested, and kind of boring driving on one side vs. windy, right on the beach, lots of sea spray, much bigger waves, and more exciting driving on the other
- Riding the scooter the whole way around Cozumel. Taxis were riding our tailpipe but ALL the other drivers were friendly and courteous. Pete navigating the city traffic really well while Heather clutched nervously to the back of the bike. Finding a parking spot for the scooter up one of the side streets where there was not a gringo to be seen. The helmet blowing backwards off Pete’s head and Heather pushing it back in place while he was driving… several times.
- El Cedral, Cozumel – Visiting a tiny Mayan ruin. Passing a dog who looked like she really needed to have her puppies nurse. She was lying in the middle of the road.
- Shopping in Cozumel – Getting an amazing Mexican creche for 1/2 off because 2 or 3 of the figures were chipped. Yay, us! Heather asking one of the women working in the shop, “Donde es mi esposo?” and realizing she’d just called him her husband (dang!) in Spanish (dang!)!
- The boat rockin’ like crazy on the way from Cozumel to Belize thanks to 8-12 foot seas, the result of a hurricane off Honduras. The cruise staff discreetly put out little bags of barf bags on every level of stairs.
- In Belize, Pedro the Wonder Guide and artist, a man of many talents. He’d been part of the archeological team excavating Cahal Pech, the Mayan ruin site that we were visiting. We were supposed to visit a different site but couldn’t because the road to get there had flooded.
- The slippery moss steps getting to Cahal Pech. No lawyer would allow them in the States – they’re a lawsuit waiting to happen!
- The amazing bus driver that got us up and down steep, narrow, wet roads.
- The Belizian way of not excavating sites until they have the funding to really do it right.
- A stone bed in the Mayan ruins that is the exact measurement of a modern king-size bed.
- Mayans believed that there were 9 steps to the underworld and 13 steps to heaven and built that into all their buildings. There were always 9 or 13 steps, 9 or 13 doors or windows, etc.
- The Mayan ruins that made the mountain. Each king built on the last guy’s temple so that, in the end, the whole temple was enormous. Then, once it was abandoned, the rain forest took over and filled it with dirt, trees, and other plants.
- Learning that there’s a Mennonite community in Belize and, as it turns out, they’re good used car salesmen, as well as farmers.
- Learning that there’s an Amish community in Belize. Seeing a horse and buggy on the road, just like in Lancaster County.
- The cute couple in their 80s on the tender back to the ship from Belieze. We want that to be us.
- Coming home and feeling like the earth was still moving even when we were on dry land.
- The wait staff singing “Oh Solo Mio” to everyone in the dining room one night.
- Our waiter and assistant waiter, Joel from Jamaica and Jose from Peru
- Getting used to saying “husband” and “wife”
- Hanging out in the solarium on the ship – the adult-only, quiet pool.
- The very multicultural staff and passengers on the ship
- Our relationship feeling more permanent
- Internet detox!
- Sloshin’ in the pool (aka swimming in the pool while the boat was rockin’ and rollin’ because of the waves)
- Swimming together for the first time
- Wrapping baby Jesus in porn and carrying him home in a Victoria’s Secret box – Okay, this one needs explaining… Turns out that the requirements for advertisements in Mexico are very different than the are in the States. Let’s just say that some of their ads would be deemed porn in the U.S. However, that was the only wrapping material we had to get the Mexican creche home in one piece. Then, the only box we had to put it in was a Victoria’s Secret box because the store didn’t give us one. Oh well, ya gotta do what ya gotta do!
