Wedded Bliss Part 1...

DON'T WORRY!!! I will not be breaking down each week of marriage by week, but the first week of marriage was particularly eventful, so I wanted to share a few fun details about our first week of wedded bliss.

Lets start with our awesome wedding night hotel!!! I am a travel agent in an international programs office (no, I can't help you plan you vacation to the Bahamas, or find you hotels in Southern California for cheap... I work in an international programs office, so unless you are studying abroad with one of the universities we work with, I can't do much for you...), and every so often I find some pretty sweet agent discounts. It is rare and most of the time I can find an equally go deal for the general public on Trip Advisor or Kayak. I wanted to take a chance for our wedding night accommodations and low and behold, I found it!! Note: I have checked a couple times since November and have not found this deal at all since!

Aaron and I got to stay at the Royal Palms hotel for the night for 85% off!!!!

The Royal Palm hotel is one of the fanciest hotels in Arizona, nestled at the base of the iconic Camelback Mt. It boasts to be the most romantic hotel in the Valley. So gorgeous! What a treat! It was such a sweet gift for us and something we never expected. With the low cost, Aaron's parents paid for it as a gift.

So as Aaron and I drove away from our wedding, we drove to the Royal Palm hotel, gave our car keys and baggage to the valet and walked into the lobby. It has been a dream of mine to walk into a public place with my wedding dress... to have people stop and stare and know that we just got married. I think it is because I love when a see a bride and groom at a hotel or Disneyland or around town taking their wedding pictures... it just makes me so happy to know this is a magical day for them. So walking through the Royal Palm lobby was everything I wanted. People congratulated us and asked us how the party was. So fun!

We got to our room, which was an upgrade from what we booked. They put us in a private room in the back of the property. Very secluded and romantic. The back patio opened up to have the most gorgeous view of Camelback (however, we couldn't see it till morning).

"Have you met my wife, Miranda Mertz?" - Aaron posted this on facebook just moments after we arrived at the hotel

Just moments after getting to the hotel room, there was a knock at the door and Carl (our booking agent) had sent over a platter of chocolate and fruit with champagne!

Thanks Carl!

There was a fireplace in the room too... and although it was probably 67 degrees outside at the time, we turned the AC up to make the room chilly, so we could use the fireplace - hey, we aren't paying the power bill :)

The next morning we woke up early and ordered room service to eat on the patio. It was such a yummy breakfast and after a week or pre-wedding nerves, my appetite was coming back and I was starving! We walked out onto the patio and this is what we saw...

Seriously Phoenix! With all it's heat and desert and brownness... there are moments when we get a glimpse of majesty and beauty! Good job Camelback Mountain! Way to look awesome for my first day as Mrs. Mertz!

We requested late check out, so after an early breakfast, some relaxing and a nap, we left in the late afternoon to head home. Both of us were so ready to be at OUR HOUSE! To go home for the first time TOGETHER to the SAME PLACE! After living 45 minutes away from each other for our entire dating relationship, this was a definite highlight so far of being married!

When we walked it another joyful sight met us...

GIFTS!!!!

All our lovely wedding gifts filling our guest room to the brim! We immediately opened all of them! Just the two of us... husband and wife... opening the beautiful things people gave us for our new home! It was so much fun to be in our house, with Aaron... my husband ;)


We had monday off of work and so we spent the morning around the house and then Aaron and I went to pick up Carla from Elisabeth's house (my old house) and bring her back to spend the afternoon with us before her flight back to London. We ended up taking her to Chelsea's Kitchen at Sky Harbor Airport for dinner (I love that the airport opened up some awesome restaurants!)

So hard to say goodbye!! She was here for a whole week and kept me sane leading up to the wedding. What a blessing it was to have her with us in all the celebrating :) Love her so much!



The next day Aaron and I went back to work... and then things got interesting! Aaron went home early on Tuesday with a horrible cold... and by Wednesday night I also was righteously ill! Seriously I have never felt that miserable in a long time... chills, aches, weakness, fever, runny nose - the worst cold! I was glad to have a companion to be sick with, but I was sad we were both so miserably awful. We also had our Disneyland weekend honeymoon scheduled for that Friday through Sunday and I was so worried I wouldn't be better in time. I went to bed praying my fever would break during the night and finally at 5:30a my fever broke and I was so thankful! Disneyland plans were not be thwarted!

In the words of my brother Shawn, "Disneyland IS the cure."