Ken and Darla’s Hedo III Wedding Adventure
For those of you who don’t know the story, I’ll give you a little background to catch y’all up. Darla and I have both been married before, so when we got engaged back in June, she told me she didn’t need a big wedding, and she didn’t want to stress about anything…”I just want it to be special, I want it to be ‘us’…” So I offered to surprise her…I love planning surprises…but I told her straight out, if you agree, I’m taking care of everything – from the location, to the packing, to the wedding dress, right down to your shoes and jewelry…She loved the idea – those of you who were lucky enough to meet her can understand what kind of woman it takes to turn over control like that! We set the date, and the rest was up to me. So now the big challenge – to plan the perfect wedding, while keeping it a surprise, and make it ‘us’…
Fast forward to Atlanta airport on the morning of January 4th. Darla gets off our flight from Dallas, trying to act excited ‘cause she thinks this is where we’re going to start our life together. I had, amazingly enough, managed to keep our adventure a total surprise up to this point, even going as far as sneaking the passports to the ticket agent in Dallas without Darla’s knowledge. Atlanta made sense to her– our first romantic weekend together nearly two years before had been spent there, and her best friend (who had just celebrated New Year’s with us in Dallas) lived there as well. As she started towards the escalator to baggage claim, I stopped her. “Atlanta’s nice”, I agreed “but let’s check out the international terminal…” I walked her the opposite way, down past gate after gate of exotic destinations – Antigua, Bermuda, Hawaii, Berlin, Tokyo…I’ll admit it, I tormented her for another ten minutes or so, walking past the Montego Bay gate three times before I whispered in her ear “Let’s try Jamaica…” The look on her face was priceless, folks – like a child seeing that new bike under the Christmas tree and dreaming of the adventures that lay ahead…she knew right away where we were headed, and the bear hug I received in the middle of the Atlanta airport was enough to know I had chosen well…
Okay, so on to the airplane, my excitement finally spilling over after months of planning and chatting and researching and secretly augmenting her wardrobe with hot clothes, sexy shoes and one incredibly revealing toga. We had never done anything like this before - except maybe a late night skinny dip in the back yard – but we had, on one single occasion, talked about how a place like Hedonism would fit right into our outlook on life, or how our outlook on life would fit right into a place like Hedonism – so this was a roll of the dice on my part. I was as “educated” as one can be, I guess, having poured over web sites like Denny’s, posted questions on message boards, emailed a few folks that were going to be there at the same time, etc…I kind of knew what to expect, although that only managed to ease my apprehension a tad. I couldn’t imagine how she was feeling, knowing in just a few hours she “wouldn’t be in Kansas anymore, Toto!” I tried to help by putting together a folder for her with some information – a copy of some of the emails with folks I had chatted with, a copy of some of the message board postings describing people’s experiences and reactions, a copy of a couple past trip reports…I think Darla would be the first to tell y’all that nothing you read can totally prepare you for the absolute paradise that we found in Runaway Bay…
I’m getting long winded, so I’ll breeze through the highlights…Customs was no big deal, about 15 minutes of winding through a maze, a quick stamp and we were in. Just enough time to order some frozen tropical concoctions, and we were politely herded on to a mini-van with two other couples, one headed to Breezes and the other going all the way to Hedo with us…the ride was as everyone else described, bumpy and scary, but we were too excited to notice – about an hour and forty five minutes all told. We were greeted at the Gates of Heaven (the front desk) by Keneisha and quickly given The Keys to Paradise (our pool side room by the Quad)…I’m pretty sure the bell hop was friendly and polite as he moved our luggage in – we didn’t notice…we were both clandestinely peeking out the curtains by our French doors at, holy crap, NAKED PEOPLE!!! Turns out we checked in just as the Quad Takeover was happening, so our introduction to Hedo was a most excellent one…a quick shower, off to catch a bite to eat before our “newcomers orientation”…and our adventure had begun.
Okay, more breezing…food was just fine – the Japanese was a great alternative (we ate there twice with big groups of people), the buffet was always there when we needed it (especially at 2AM after coming off the waterslide) and always had something we both liked (the soups were excellent), and the Scotch Bonnet ended up being our “quiet time” for lunch every day…the staff was outstanding – we felt like we were personal guests of each and every one of these folk, from Teneika and Shurline to Kevan and Erron, and everyone else that took the time to make sure we were sated at all times…The rooms were clean and comfortable, with hot water, a beautiful bath tub that got tons of use J, and a wonderful three steps to the pool every morning to wake up and snap out of the rum induced haze we lived in all week…The grounds were absolutely pristine, with tropical flowers and birds and clean, inviting pools…Fun was had from wakeup to passout, between body shots by the pool and late night naked water slides and pole dancing in the disco…The wedding was, in one word, perfect…Karin and Christine took care of every detail for us, from flowers to cake to champagne to pictures…It was nothing short of storybook, standing there on that beautifully decorated gazebo, rose petals at our feet and the sun setting at our backs…I thought Darla’s face would turn inside out from smiling…
But none of this, nothing at all, would have been anywhere close to as magical without the people we met…that is truly the essence of Hedonism, folks – the people. For two people to show up, alone, expecting to exchange their vows by themselves in the sunshine – to look out and see twenty or more smiling faces that took time out of their vacations to join us for our moment, was an indescribable feeling. Over two short days we had met, and befriended, more people than we have in two years at home… To Linda and Vinnie, Pete and Amanda, Ryan and Kathy, Dennis and Debbie, Audrey and Jason, Melanie and Steve, Troy and Hui, Randy and Kimmy, Scott and Sabina, Andy and Shanna – thank you for making our adventure magical…
I read for months all the bitching and moaning about bad food, slow service, poor security, hot water, cold Jacuzzis etc…If you are going on vacation to eat fine cuisine, be waited on hand and foot, and take hot showers in your room all day, please, by all means, go somewhere that caters to your needs. If you, like us, simply want to live life by the moment, laugh and drink and dance and laugh some more and smile for days and weeks afterwards thinking of all the moments you shared with like minded people, then count your blessings that a little bit of heaven exists here on earth…
If we can hold off DIF, we’re headed back for New Year’s and to celebrate our anniversary next year…unless we hit the lottery, then we’re moving there J