Monsieur + Madame Beauplan // Wedding + Honeymoon

We have a running joke in the Beauplan family. Wood's brother got married in August, also adding a Madame Beauplan to the family. So my sister-in-law and I joked about how we could differentiate for people. ((I'm now always Madame Wood or Madame Beauplan.)) We decided that in order to avoid confusion that she would be Madame BEAUplan and I would be Madame BELplan. This means that now in the family we have a good plan and a beautiful plan! But enough jokes...The moment that you all have waited for is here.

WEDDING PICTURES HAVE ARRIVED!

We are still waiting for our wedding video, but for now I have the pictures for you. We were blessed to have a local business, WeDo_Photography take our pictures. They did a great job despite all the changes that we threw their way with our wedding that made their job extra challenging. ((If you missed out on the story of our wedding, make sure to catch it here.)) 

After our wedding pictures make sure to catch a little bit about our honeymoon to the Dominican Republic. 

Bilman + Chantal's Wedding

So we did the same pic for ours!

Probably my favorite picture.

Our wedding party.

First look

We had a special moment of prayer with our parents.

One of our photographers

Our godparents for the wedding.

Our godfather giving a speech at the reception.

I painted the signs for the aisle!

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Beaching.
Wood loved the ocean.

Once the wedding festivities were over, we took some time to decompress and try to figure our the plans for our honeymoon. Wood was able to get a visa to the Dominican Republic. We spent about 12 days away. We spent a few days in Cap Haitian with Wood's cousin before leaving and went to the Citadel. Then we took the bus to Santo Domingo and stayed in a little apartment and cooked some of our own meals and explored the city. Then it was off to Puerta Plata for some time at the beach! We've condensed our experience into some Top 5 lists to share about our trip.

Citadel

Wood's cousin and another friend at the Citadel.

Top 5 FUNNY Moments

1) We took the JANKIEST taxi to go to the historical district one day. It was falling apart. The windows were rolled down and it started to rain. The driver gets some pliers out to put the window up on Wood's side and I had to help him pull the window up on my side. He proceeded to stick a screwdriver to hold it in place. The driver was super friendly.

2) The next day we went back to the historical district and we had to use Google Translate on my phone to communicate with her. ((My Spanish is pretty rusty.))

3) The resort we stayed in had a service on Sunday, so we went. There were about 7 people total and the worship leader taught us a dance. He was FILLED with the Holy Spirit. We had a good time.

4) When we first arrived about 7 taxi drivers were standing around trying to figure out where our apartment was. They finally figured it out.

5) We were on the beach one day and one of the local people was walking the beach to share his business with people. This particular person was a taxi driver. He said I'm going to give you my card so if you need a taxi, you can call me. His card was his name and phone number written on a sticky note!

BONUS: When we arrived to the resort, we couldn't figure out how to turn the lights on in our room. The bellhop had to show us where to put our door key in when he delivered our bags so that we could have light!

We toured a chocolate factory.

Our tour guide

We even made our own chocolate bars!

Top 5 MEANINGFUL Moments

1) At the church service we were able to meet another intercultural couple. It was fun to meet someone with some similar experiences to us.

2) We took a taxi home in Santo Domingo and we arranged for that same driver to come and pick us up the following morning to take us to the bus station. The next morning, he brought a cough syrup for me because the day before he could hear me coughing a lot. (I've been fighting a nasty cold for a while now.)

3) At one of the stores in the resort there was a vendor who was Haitian. Wood found a pair of sunglasses that he wanted to buy, but didn't have our money with us. The guy let us take the glasses in faith that we would come back and pay (which of course we did.)

4) When we got in the taxi one day I gave the driver money in the amount I had paid the day before to go to the same place. She returned the majority of it because her taxi was different. ((More of a ride share down a certain main drag.)) She ended up taking us to where we wanted to go, but we had to pay a higher fare because it was out of her area. {This is the driver we Google Translated with.}

5) One of the waiters at the resort told Wood that if he needed anything to let him know because they shared the same color. Every time he would pass our table, he would give Wood's a thumbs up to make sure that we were okay. 

We went to IKEA!

No cinnamon rolls, so we got the frozen yogurt instead.

Wood's Top 5 Takeaways

1) This was the first time that Wood had really gone somewhere that he didn't speak the language. He didn't always like not being able to understand and communicate.

2) He LOVED the grocery store and shopping malls. We went to the grocery store almost everyday in Santo Domingo (It was right around the corner from our place.)

3) He was fascinated by the dryer. We had a washer and dryer and couldn't believe how fast I could do a load of laundry and for it to be dry.

4) He was impressed by the overall friendliness of the Dominican people. Sometimes there is tension between Haitians and Dominicans, but he never felt this.

5) In the historical district we were by the water and there was a big boat. Wood thought it was a building and I explained that it was actually a boat. He was amazed because of it's size.

My Top 5 Takeways

1) Everyone assumed that Wood should speak Spanish because of his color. They were shocked when I would try to talk in Spanish and when they/I couldn't understand they would look at Wood like he should understand them.

2) I loved getting to watch Wood experience more "first world" type things and cook some of my favorite meals for him because we could access things we can't here in Haiti. 

3) Taxis are EXPENSIVE in the DR and the traffic in Santo Domingo was INSANE!

4) There are a lot of Germans that travel to the DR.

5) Getting to have our first travel adventure as husband and wife.