Pre Trip ~ Our USA Honeymoon ~ LV, NYC & Miami Beach

[mrsdtob]

Pre Trip ~ Our USA Honeymoon

Hi everyone, haven’t long rejoined this site and with our big day now only 8 days away I thought I would get cracking with this pre-trippie to fill you all in (whoever is interested) on our plans. I hadn’t originally planned to do one but I want to remember everything we see and do and think this will be an excellent way to remember it all

So as it’s our honeymoon , its just me Rhian (25) and fiance, soon to be husband (lol) Alun (25)

Here we are last year in Florida







We got engaged in April 2008 after 5 years together and knew we wanted to start planning the wedding straight away so here is a rough itinerary from Saturday 8th ~ the wedding day, through to Friday 28th when we arrive home from honeymoon…

Saturday August 8th ~ The Wedding
The wedding is at 12pm at our local Church, neither of us is all that religious really but the Church is where my Junior school concerts for Easter/Christmas/Harvest used to be and the only Church I’ve ever really gone to. It’s a fairly small Church (only 5 pews either side of the isle) but I love it. We’re having 105ish day guests and about 170 in the evening. For the ceremony, we’re having a brass band to play the entrance, hymns and exit music as one of my friends plays and has kindly organised it for us. We’re walking out to the Spectromagic fanfare and tune! After the ceremony, the reception venue is about a 45 minute ride away near the Brecon Beacons in Peterstone Court Hotel – here are some pics from their website.

Peterstone Court Hotel




It’s a fab venue and we loved it as soon as we first saw it last May. I just hope the weather will be nice enough to enjoy the outside space! The day guests will be having the wedding breakfast at around 4pm and then in the evening we have booked a local band who play a bit of everything and a DJ to entertain us all lol. We are having a barbecue for everyone later on when the evening guests arrive. We’re all (close friends and family) staying the night then so only have a short crawl up to bed!

Sunday August 9th ~
Party for friends and family
The next day/afternoon we’re planning a party for everybody at a smaller, more local venue and maybe another barbecue – weather permitting! It will be an informal gathering and a chance for wider friends and family to get together and chat about the previous days events!

Monday August 10th ~
Today we travel to Heathrow and have booked to stay overnight at the Crowne Plaza.

The hotel…


The room…


The plan is to travel up luncthtime-ish as check in is from 3pm. The plan is to chill out here and have a nice meal and a fairly early night after the last few busy days as tomorrow we jet off!

[mrsdtob]

Tuesday August 11th ~
Today we will be up early, we plan to get the Hoppa Bus to the Airport for breakfast. We’re flying to Las Vegas at 12:05pm via Newark, NYC for a connecting flight.

We’re due to arrive at Las Vegas at 7:55pm and will get a taxi to the Bellagio.

The Bellagio…


(Couldn’t get a picture of the room but this is the layout)



If we’re not too tired at this point after a day of travelling, we may have little explore and a drink in the Fontana bar overlooking the fountains 



Wednesday August 12th ~
This will be our first full day in Vegas and to start it off, we’re planning to have breakfast at the Bellagio buffet and then lounge around by the pool for an hour or so.

The pool…



Once we’ve had enough of that we’ll be off to explore the many hotels on the Strip.

Some hotels…




Maybe today we’ll have a late lunch at the Grand Lux Café (in the Venetian) I’m dying to try this place because its the sister restaurant to The Cheesecake Factory and I loved the one in Mall at Millennia last year. We have no plans for the evening yet and will just go with the flow

Thursday August 13th ~
This will be a busy day, we’ll be up early as we’ve booked a Helicopter ride to Grand Canyon in the morning.



We’ve booked this wilth Papillon and it was expensive but we’ve treated ourselves as it is our Honeymoon afterall! A limousine will be picking us up at the hotel at 9:00am, and we’re having a flight to the Canyon and lunch. We will be dropped off at our hotel at around 2pm, probably we’ll go for a wander then or relax by pool before getting ready for going out for a nice meal (we’ll choose where when we get there) and then we have booked tickets to see the Cirque du Soleil show (the Beatles - Love) at the Mirage at 9:00pm – really looking forward to this as have never seen a CDS show before but have heard great things about it!

[mrsdtob]

Friday August 14th ~
No plans for today, but if I get my way we’ll probably spend an hour or two in the Fashion Show Mall, later we would like to eat in one of the Bellagio restaurants but not sure which - can’t choose between them they all seem lovely!

Saturday August 15th ~
Today we leave Las Vegas for NYC – time to pack up and check out. If we don’t end up going to the Fashion Show Mall on the 14th, we could go today before heading to the Airport. We fly to NYC at 9:15pm, this is an overnight flight (the flight itself is just under 5 hours but then NYC will be another 3 hours ahead)– we’re hoping to sleep on the plane as we will not be checking into our hotel until much later on 16th!

Sunday August 16th ~
Arrive in NYC Newark and get a taxi to the Grand Hyatt hotel really early in the morning probably shattered but in NYC so who cares lol! We’ll probably leave our bags at the hotel and explore NYC.

The Grand Hyatt


We’ve planned to go for a walk and see Grand Central Station, the United Nations Building and Chrysler Building as all of these are really close to our hotel.





We’ll go for a walk up to Times Square and Bryant Park, maybe see this guy and stop for a pic lol





If we’re up to it after a night travelling, we may do the Empire State Building today, we’ve bought tickets online and have included the audio tour which is fab.

The Empire State Building


If we fancy it, we may window shop along Fifth Avenue and to go to Central Park.



We can then check into our hotel any time from 3pm. I imagine we’ll be ready for an early night so will grab some food and then relax in the hotel.

[mrsdtob]

Monday August 17th ~
Today we are on the 9:00am ferry to Liberty Isand to see the Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island. We’ve booked to do the audio tours and are really looking forward to this day.





After this bit of history /culture, we’ve planned to head back to Manhattan and take a walk around the South Street Seaport area,



We’re hoping to see a show on Broadway either tonight or on 19th, not bought tickets yet but hoping to buy them when we’re there!

Tuesday August 18th ~
Another busy day today, up and out by 8:55am to go up the Rockerfeller Centre ~ have never done this before but heard many people prefer the view to the ESB but will have to wait and see!



We will then head to over to Brooklyn and walk back over Brooklyn Bridge towards Manhattan to take in the views.





We then plan to wander around Chinatown/Litte Italy/Soho for the rest of the afternoon. In the evening we’ve bought tickets for the Baseball – New York Mets v Atlanta Braves 7:10pm (Yankees are playing away) so that should be fun. We have to take a metro to get there but Alun tells me he’s got all of that figured out!



Wednesday August 19th ~

Our last full day in NYC to do what we want – no definate plans as we wanted to keep some free time

Thursday August 20th ~
Today we fly from Newark at 2:15pm to Miami. We arrive in Miami at 5:10pm and are then planning to get a taxi to Miami Beach to check into The Beacon hotel on Ocean Drive



Ocean Drive…

[Guest]

oh Rhian these plans sound so amazing!

the hotel looks really special.
your special day is coming around really fast now and i cant wait to see pics of you all dressed up !

have to say i am really pleased to see you are doing a report for all of this as it will be lovely to hear all about it xxxxx

[mrsdtob]

I’m really looking forward to chilling out for this week after Las Vegas and New York. My parents celebrated their 25th Wedding Anniversary in Miami Beach in 2007 and since seeing their pictures, we have always fancied going.

Here we haven’t got many plans, apart from doing a Duck Tour to see the sights from the water including a few of these posh houses 

Duck Tours…



Star Island…









There is also a Mall here which we (I) want to go to ~ Aventura Mall…





Especially here …..



Thursday August 27th ~
Fly back to Heathrow at 7:10pm, arrive in Heathrow 8:50am on Friday 28th

So thats it! Now just have to wait another week and it'll be here!

[Guest]

as i said, all sounds absolutely fantastic!

every hotel looks amazing, i bet you and alun are really looking forward to all of it!

i presume cases are all packed and you are both bouncing!

what time shall i pop over at the weekend?

xx

[Wills]

It all looks fantastic I'm sure you will have a fab time. Enjoy your wedding day it will go so fast. Two of my cousins had their wedding receptions at Peterstone Court it was lovely.

[Guest]

Try & get a fountain view room at the Bellagio if you havent already booked 1. They have floor to ceiling glass walls and you can listen to the music for the fountains through a special channel on the TV

[margyloveswdw]

Wow, it all looks fab and you seem like you will be packing lots in.

Enjoy your wedding day - it really does fly by.

Looking forward to some piccies and a trip report.