Sunita's Blog | Est. 2015
Tobago Wedding Morning
We finally had our ceremony for our wedding. We had a small but lovely Hindu wedding ceremony at Magdalena Grand Resort in Tobago.
We were able to pull it off without major disaster. Sure enough there were a few minor annoying incidents but overall it was a success and a great memory.
Here are some of the lessons learned for having a destination wedding.
I moved into an apartment in Florida. One of my pet peeves with a new place is lighting. Why hasn’t everyone converted to LED light bulbs yet? I found a combo of incandescent and CFL light bulbs throughout the entire apartment when I moved in. Incandescent is so inefficient and use up so much electricity. The CFLs are more energy-efficient but contain harmful chemicals if they break and don’t turn on at full brightness instantly when the light is turned on. There’s a warm up phase where it’s dull for a while before it gets brighter. It’s light and electricity why should there be delays in turning on a light?
That drives me nuts. So I went to Lowe’s and got a full set of LED replacement bulbs.
If you’ve been there you’ll noticed there are lots of options. Here are my tips for making the best choice for you lighting needs.
Wedding planning wasn’t stressful enough so I decided to get a new job and relocate 2 months before our ceremony *sarcasm*
I got a job offer that was able to match my previous job’s salary but located in Florida so I decided to take it.
I had enough of the cold weather in Iowa. Being from Trinidad, I don’t think I could ever adapt to the subfreezing temperatures. Plus, Florida is so much cheaper to fly back to Trinidad to see my family.
In case you were wondering, I’m still alive! Been ultra busy since January planning and organizing our wedding ceremony.
After visiting Tobago over winter break last year we decided we want to have our wedding ceremony at Magdalena Resort.
We’re planning a 1 day Hindu ceremony followed by a cocktail hour and then a buffet dinner. The next day we plan on taking our guests on a boat tour of Buccoo reef and Nylon Pool.
The main ideas were pretty easy to plan out. Getting in touch with vendors was a little bit more difficult due to long distance phone calls etc.
But after 1 month things are almost done with the wedding 2 months away. I think we’ll be OK.
Here’s an outline of the planning and preparation:
Over Winter break we went over to the sister isle of my homeland Trinidad to the island of Tobago.
Tobago is the more resort, touristy, laid back island unlike the busy, industrial Trinidad.
Tobago is an island paradise and less commercialized and busy than some other Caribbean destinations. Which is how I like it.
We stayed for 4 nights at Beverly’s Oasis. Not an all inclusive resort but it suited our needs perfectly. Laid back, clean, well kept and out of the bustle of the Crown Point Airport Area.
Here are some of my tips for travelling internationally.
Before your trip:
It’s that time of year for office holiday parties.
Here’s some of my tips for acing it with class:
~Do show up
It’s a party c’mon it can’t be that bad. It’s a great way to get to know people outside of work in a more social way including your bosses. Let people see you can be a real person instead of an office robot.
~Do dress appropriately
Thanksgiving is one of my favorite American holidays. Mostly because it involves lots of food and Turkey and reminds me to be grateful. Long weekend, good food, plus Black Friday shopping is awesome! I spent Thanksgiving with my American In-laws again this year. There was lots of food, chaos and fun.
Lucky for us they have Thanksgiving dinner on the Saturday after the official Thanksgiving Day. That makes it so much easier for traveling and we get to do Black Friday shopping the day before.
Electric Diya
Hindus all over the world will be celebrating Diwali including me.
Diwali is the Festival of Lights and celebrates Light over darkness. See the Wiki link for the more info. about Diwali.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diwali
I miss being able to be at home in Trinidad for Diwali. Back home I would celebrate by fasting, cleaning, doing a Lakshmi Puja (prayers). After the puja would come my favorite part, lighting diyas and fireworks.
A diya is a small oil filled clay pot that’s lit with a wick. It’s been 9 years since I’ve had a ‘proper’ Diwali back home.
Des Moines, Iowa
This week I visited the capital of Iowa, Des Moines. Had to go there for an early morning appointment and decided to go sightseeing afterwards. Adventure time! Visited to Zombie Burger + Drink Lab and had an amazing chicken sandwich with a Zombie theme. After lunch I visited the Blank Park Zoo.