Do Tell, Anabel: Sheryl's Wedding Day

This post is sort of a little photo essay… it’s a collage of bits and pieces of the day’s experiences that I was able to capture on camera between the excitement, anticipation, running around, anxiety, tears and nervousness leading to my best friend’s wedding. Hope you enjoy!

On the morning of Sheryl & Deon’s wedding, I made arrangements with Paul so that he would be the sole caretaker of Benny for the day (i.e. feed, bathe, change, dress him, pack his diaper bag, etc.) We usually do things as a team when it comes to baby but on this day, there had to be an exception... I was about to spend the last few hours with Sheryl before she said “I do!"

The day was bright and sunny and very hot! The Punta Cana heat seemed to melt the hours into seconds because the morning flew by and before we knew it, the moment had arrived.

We started off at the beauty salon for our hair appointments. Sheryl, her sister Jezzebell and her mom Ruth got updo's from our Dominican hair stylist friends, Kati & Carmen. I opted for a blow-out to wear my hair down and make sure it stayed frizz-free.

Once my hair was done, as I was headed to pick up my dress, I bumped into Deon who was carrying his suit and headed to a separate room to get ready. Deon was calm and collected. He didn’t seem nervous :)

Once I picked up my dress, I headed to Sheryl's suite and finished getting ready (make-up application, shoes and accessories). The other thing I did was constantly hydrate by sipping water out of my personalized bridesmaid drinking cup that she gave me ;)

I was so darn emotional…but I managed to keep it together (my make-up must have thanked me). When I saw Sheryl’s dress, I was taken aback by how beautiful it looked against the bedroom window. It was a fitted keyhole gown that suited her gorgeously!

Sheryl’s maid of honor, her sister Jezzebell (who is like a little sister to me too) helped her put on and button her gown.

I had the distinct pleasure of witnessing the moment when Sheryl’s dad saw his daughter in her wedding dress for the first time.

Then the photographer arrived and took pictures of the bride, her parents and such details as the bouquet, which was made to include vintage photos of Sheryl’s late grandparents.

Before walking out of the room, as the wedding hour approached, Sheryl’s mom Ruth spent a few moments with her oldest daughter, wrapping up years of wisdom in a few sentences and giving her a heartfelt blessing that simply melted my heart. Why are parents so incredibly special!?!?

On our walk to the ceremony location, I bumped into my two boys, who were properly dressed for the occasion (whew!) and getting ready to take a seat.

Watching Sheryl walk down the aisle was so inspiring! She wore a huge smile on her face as she held on to her dad’s arm and approached Deon. Those images were captured by the official wedding photographer as I stood in the Gazebo alongside the rest of the wedding party.

Sheryl was considerate of her guests and prepared ahead for the hot weather by ordering personalized ceremony programs in the form of fans. Benny immediately put his fan to good use!

After Mr. & Mrs. Deon and Sheryl Meshack were introduced as husband and wife, they made their way out of the gazebo and into the main courtyard where we all gathered to congratulate them with hugs and glasses of cold champagne.

There was such a great vibe from everyone! You could feel the love in the air...

From there, the wedding party proceeded to take pictures at the beach before heading to the reception. That’s where I caught Sheryl glancing at her late grandmother whose picture was attached to her bouquet.

Paul dropped off Benny at the resort's daycare center to give us an opportunity to enjoy the reception without interruption (but we ended up missing our little munchkin and picking him up sooner than we had scheduled...go figure!).

The reception was held in an outdoor terrace overlooking the resort. Guests were greeted with lively tunes from local Dominican Trio, “Perico Ripiao”.

Upon finding our place cards and taking a seat at our table, many of us were inclined to visit the cigar roller and start the wedding celebration by smoking an authentic Dominican Cigar.

The tables were decorated with hydrangeas and orchids and each place setting had beautifully engraved napkins to reflect the wedding color palette: cobalt blue, pink & beige.