I'm Back!! Puerto Vallarta Trip Recap

I'm baaack!! I've been in Puerto Vallarta the past week, and although I had a couple blog posts started - I was too burnt out to finish them. Burnt out on work, burnt out on blogging, burnt out on wedding planning. 

My fiance, Blaine, and I headed to Puerto Vallarta last Friday to do some wedding planning for our spring nuptials and kick back while celebrating his birthday.  We love to explore local areas we are visiting, so for the first few nights we stayed at the Westin and dined in town. We finished off at the all-inclusive resort, Secrets, for some indulgence and way too much food. 

I happen to be a BRAVO addict, so one night we had to go to Andale, a spot visited on the Real Housewives of Orange County. Andale's, had great food but was filled with drunk Americans.. so after  dinner we headed to the Malecon for a night of dancing with drunk Mexicans;). Sunday we went zip lining for the first time (which now that I've done I never have to do again, lol!) and after our adrenaline rush we beelined to a tequila tasting to calm our nerves.

Now onto destination wedding woes...

I have serious fear of commitment issues when it comes to major life decisions, and handbags.  It took me years of knowing my fiance before even going on a date with him. I guess we all should have known something was amiss when I fell in love with the secluded beach getaway, Las Caletas, and within a week had put down a deposit, set a date and let family and friends know to prepare for our Mexican wedding. As it goes in Mexico, things don't usually run as smoothly as expected 

Growing up I never dreamt of my fairytale wedding, I dreamt of my fairytale walk-in closet. Shortly after my engagement a "friend" even insinuated that I didn't seem excited enough about my wedding to really want to marry my fiance. Now don't get it twisted, I'm ALL IN when it comes to my man, but the pressure of perfection and all the tchochke bullsh*t that comes with weddings is just not appealing to me. After said frenemy's snide remarks (and tedious talk about finding the perfect color coordinated straws for her own wedding), I threw myself into planning an imaginary bohemian beach fete. But, after visiting Las Caletas it all came crashing down. 

Las Caletas venue

I spent hours before our trip on destination wedding forums researching Las Caletas (Jurassic Island as I now call it), and all I found were glowing reviews. Unfortunately, those reviews must not have been made by anti-camping city slickers like me. To be real here, my idea of "rustic" is shopping at a Nordstrom Rack. First of all, this wedding venue is a virtual death trap for anyone that has more than a couple drinks, not to mention my 90 year old grandmother. Second, there aren't just bugs, there are BUGS. I know I know, it's a jungle so this is something I should have expected... Third, it just didn't feel right. 

I could keep lamenting about the little things wrong with the venue, but I'll spare you my pity party since I've already cried in my nachos and kissed the deposit money goodbye. I have no idea what we'll do for a wedding, and feel awkward and guilty that I'm not the typical bride eager to execute plans. Thankfully, Blaine is a v-e-r-y patient man.  For now I'll leave you with some pics of the rest of our vacation while I finish recovering. Until next week...

After zip lining, before tequila tasting. Look like I'm still holding my breath?!

One of several baby lizards that crashed our hotel room. We named him Lucas, then set him free.

Sunset from our room at Secrets