Mexico, a go-go

Oh, Mexico
It sounds so sweet with the sun sinking low
Moon's so bright like to light up the night
Make everything all right


source

The backstory: Mr. P's close friend (and the last roommate before I moved in), got engaged about a month before us in 2009. Due to the timing of our engagements, both couples were fated to the same planning timeline. However, I'm a planner so I pressed fast forward on my to do list. First time on the to do list: venue, and consequently wedding date.

At the same time, the friend and his fiance (N&D) decided on a destination wedding, location and time TBD. We were one of three 2011 weddings and need to pick a date ASAP. A few weeks later, our venue was secured and a date of 6/4/11 was set. Soon after, I heard N&D were considering St. Lucia. I knew we couldn't afford a St. Lucia trip the same year as our wedding (and honeymoon). We'd priced it out in 2007; for the same money, we could do 7 days in a high-end Mexican all-inclusive. (We went. We had a fantastic time.) So this is what I relayed to N&D.

Months passed without any updates. The next time we spoke, they'd scrapped St. Lucia because of the expensive flights and long travel time. The new location was Mexico. More specifically, our resort in Mexico. She'd fallen in love with it after viewing my Facebook albums.

Excellence Playa Mujeres: spa view rooms


The beach, the bars



Sunset on the beach and over the infinity pool

(all personal photos)

And now they had a better idea of when: early May. Eeeeee! Inside, I was freaking out!! My thoughts, in order:

1. The logistical nightmare of attending a destination wedding one month prior to our wedding
2. Scraping together enough money for our wedding on top of travel and lodging to their wedding
3. Requesting and receiving time off work for three weddings and our honeymoon (my current vacation allotment is 10 days)
4. The last minute "stuff" that will inevitably come up a month before our own wedding

Mr. P very much wanted to attend his friend's wedding, so he did his due diligence and contacted our travel agent who'd booked our 2008 trip. The price had gone up, naturally. We were crestfallen and mulled it over for weeks. The resort is gorgeous and we'd have a blast with the other guests -- friends who are married with children, excited for a trip without the kids, and do not have a wedding the following month to pay for. Ultimately, we decided we could not go. Mr. P broke the news to N, who was beyond bummed.

N&D asked us to dinner before Thanksgiving where they revealed how much they wanted us to be there. Cue puppy dog eyes. Begging. Pleading. Oh crap, this is AHHHHK-ward. I squirmed. Mr. P stammered. We asked to think it over. Let's just say, they made us an offer we couldn't refuse.

Only with puppy dog eyes!
We had reservations. I still needed permission from work for the extra time. Two weeks ago, I got the go ahead. We cancelled our own reservations in favor of reservations for the flight and resort. Mexico is a go-go!

Would you travel out of the country a month before your wedding?