Rehearsal Dinner Rowdiness

03.31.17
Key Biscayne, Florida

We left our little airbnb in Delray today and headed out for breakfast at "Christine's" while mom got her first spray tan. It actually looks really good but I can't help making fun of her by referencing the friends episode where Ross gets a spray tan. 😂

Following breakfast we checked out two fat cookies (the bakery next door) because how could you not?! 🍪🍪 It was delicious.. they had tastes of a bar called "OMG" out and after I tasted it I said.. "oh my god!" It was soooo good.

We began our journey to Key Biscayne which took us through Miami and some crazy drivers. Then we hit the traffic for the Miami Open which was crazy, as described. It is INSANE and takes like 20mins to go three miles. Anyway, we got to our place, Silver Sands Resort, and after Ashley bitched them out when she booked it (because she believed me when I told her there was no fucking tennis tournament) we only paid 169$ a night!

The room is not at all as bad as I was expecting based on the reviews.. the pool is less than a minute away from our room and the beach is just beyond that. We walked right from our beach to the beach at the Ritz Carleton (where the wedding is and where everyone is staying) and found Aunt Cathy and everyone so we chatted for a bit then went to see our parents' room. They got really sweet swag bags with a koozie that says Sam & Can and a bunch of other munchies and stuff.

We walked back to Silver Sands to get some pool time in and it was the perfect weather... just a little windy, nice and warm, water was comfortable. Very relaxing!

Then we got ready for the rehearsal dinner which was a bit difficult with limited space and mirrors and a hot as hell bathroom 🤣 But we pulled it off and ubered to the Ritz where a shuttle would take us to the Rusty Pelican. The shuttle situation was a bit of a mess but in the end we all got on this 55 person beast of a bus and we all made it to dinner! Plus we got to share the bus with the bride & groom to be.. Candi looked gorgeous! I also had the privilege of sitting next to her great aunt Elaine for the ride, she was wonderful to chat with and I love that she is so ambitious and ready for adventure! It also turned out her husband was an internal medicine physician who was close friends with my gram's doc 😂 Small world!

This place had DELICIOUS mojitos.. I was served the very last two.. and gave one to Aunt Mary but told her never to forget it 😉 And the food was really excellent. I had a delicious Greek salad with cucumber, tomato, feta, green pepper, kalamata olives, etc. as well as roasted vegetables (of which the eggplant was exceptional 🍆), saffron rice, lentil soup, and bread. Dessert was good as well, there was an apple tart, a little cup with a flan type pudding with papaya on top, and a chocolatey espresso (maybe?) mousse thing that was to die for.

The view at the bar was beautiful, the entire Miami skyline, and there was also a Can & Sam banner AND a snapchat filter. We got to listen to A LOT of speeches (7?) but every one of them was worth listening to. We laughed A LOT and some people cried a little. It was a fantastic preview for the party tonight! We also took several photos... especially Bobby who was in charge of taking one photo and took like 126 😒 Can't trust that cat with your phone!

In true Merchant style, after bussing back to the Ritz through that darn Miami Open traffic, we hit up the Rum Bar where I got an authentic rum punch from the Jamaican bartender!!! It was very tasty.

We took an easy and short walk back to Silver Sands via the beach and it was a nice, heel-free, calming trip.