Happy Friday, y’all! After nearly three months, I’m finallyyy sitting down to share photos and a few highlights from our destination wedding.
We hosted our wedding weekend at DREAMS Vallarta Bay, a family-friendly all-inclusive resort in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Thinking back, it truly felt like the most magical point in time for me. I was overcome with gratitude for all of our family and friends who showed up to celebrate with us. We had an intimate group of 26 guests, which felt like the perfect size. We were able to enjoy each other’s company and hang out with everyone, which was important to us.
And what a fun group it was! From a surprise bachelorette party, karaoking in the lobby bar, to competing in water sports at the pool – we were all in a celebratory, vacation mode. I’d never been to an all-inclusive before, and this experience completely sold me on them.
The wedding and reception came and went in the blink of an eye, it seemed, and oh my goodness, was it an amazing time! Although not physically present, our pup, Bella was there in the form of our signature cocktail, The Bella, a spicy mango margarita. As nighttime took over, we took delight (and had a photo opp) with some unplanned fireworks, there was breakdancing, our very own guest photobomber, and the most delicious tres leches wedding cake I couldn’t have even dreamed of being so good.
It was an incredible weekend that we will never forget. And even three months later, it still feels wild saying “my husband” and writing my new name for signatures. 😊
Ending with a poem below that speaks to me that I hope you enjoy:
A soulmate isn’t someone who completes you.
No, a soulmate is someone who inspires you to complete yourself.
A soulmate is someone who does not judge you for your flaws.
A soulmate is someone who sees your jagged edges, who sees the parts of you that have been weathered by love and by life, who sees the battles that you fight, and who chooses to stand beside you.
A soulmate is someone who watches as you confront your scars from the inside; always encouraging you to heal on your own time, in your own way; always encouraging you to keep going.
A soulmate is someone who challenges you to challenge yourself. Someone who sees the potential that courses through your bones, and who lets you know exactly what you are capable of. They help you to open your eyes, to come to terms with the fact that you are powerful beyond measure. They see you in ways that you have never been able to see yourself, and they are not afraid to inspire you until you finally see it, too.
See, a soulmate is someone who is not afraid of your growth. They do not feel the need to close you off, to protect you from becoming as big as you were always meant to be. They do not feel inadequate when they see you soar, when they see something new within you spark.
A soulmate is someone who will never vilify you for changing, for doing the things you have always held yourself back from doing, because a soulmate knows that you are building yourself into someone you are proud of, and that is so beautiful to them — that is what they have always hoped for you.
So no, a soulmate does not complete you — they inspire you to complete yourself. A soulmate is the person who supports your direction, who motivates and encourages you to stretch, to change, to reinvent yourself until you are happy. A soulmate is someone who loves you with so much conviction, and so much heart, that it is nearly impossible to doubt just how capable you are of becoming exactly who you have always wanted to be.
– @rainbowsalt
