honeymoon: day one

We got to our hotel at The Westin after the wedding at Bridge Street Town Center in Huntsville. The room was perfect and we couldn't be more thankful to Steve and Danielle, Giselle, Lauren Ploetze, Lauren McCaul, Danica and Jackson, Jenn and Nick who pitched in to give us that stay at The Westin!! We loved it! The view was perfect and the stay was definitely NOT long enough, because we had to get up at 4:15 am to make our 6:10 am flight! Booo

We made it through security and everything ok. The guard made Rod throw away the can of bug spray he had in the carry-on. We think he didn't realize it was less than 2 oz..but oh well. We then had breakfast and waited on our plane! We landed safely in Charlotte, NC and then walked through the huge airport to our connecting flight. Rod began to feel a little sick, but we got some Dramamine. While Rod slept, I just read a magazine, listened to music and reminisced of the wedding day. Our friend Cherish took an awesome photo that Rod and I saw just before taking off of my dad walking me down the aisle and then Rod and I walking back down the aisle. I swear I stared at it the entire flight pretty much. Haha

We arrived at the Punta Cana airport around 1pm. It was made out of a thatch roof with huge ceiling fans. There were locals right outside of customs playing some music, caribbean of course! 
Customs was easy, we paid $40 to enter, got our bags, and then got bombarded by guys wanting to help us with our bags. We continued walking, however, checked in with our tour company "Prieto Tours". They were so nice and we boarded a bus and waiting about 10-15 minutes and then we were on our way! The bus driver would honk his horn at everything!! (it was mostly to let people know he was there) The roads were all paved which surprised me after visiting Belize a couple of years ago. He drove so close to several guys on dirt bikes. Some of these dirt bikes had 3-4 people on them!! No one really followed traffic laws at all.

We soon (about 30 minute drive) arrived at Majestic Elegance Resort, our resort! The entrance had beautiful flowers and manicured bushes everywhere. It was so pretty! The resort was huge. The lobby has these huge eccentric metal chandeliers with ornate woodwork and decorations all around. 

We had to check our bags and then were introduced to Dario, our butler! He walked us around and showed us everything. We went into a private check in where he put these nice brown braceletes on us that said Majestic on them. These were so we could enter private pool areas, certain rooftop bars, and the elegance club lobby. He had us wait in the Elegance Club lobby because they were fixing something "with the computer" with our room. We really think it was because they were decorating our room for us! We also got an upgrade with our room. It came with a rooftop area with a jacuzzi tub outside! Dario walked us up to our room and on the door was a honyemooner's banner. The room had a huge king sized bed, a seating area with champagne. There was a fully stocked fridge with beers, waters, Dominican chocolate and sodas along with different kinds of liquor on the server. 

Rod and I let everything soak in and then we walked to the Sea & See restaurant which sets on the beach and had gorgeous views. We ate a snack and came back to the room to find fruit and a letter addressed to Mr. & Mrs. Black!! It said we were going to be provided with a bridal breakfast and romantic dinner on the day we choose. 

That night we ordered room service spaghetti and went to sleep early. That getting up at 4am was no fun!!