Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Cayman Destination Wedding in Outer Space!

Talk about out of this world! Being in wedding and events is the most awesome industry you can be in! You have to love it, must have that burning passion and feel so humbly gracious when results such as our story today reveals, that it reaffirms your passion and so makes it all worthwhile!

Two days ago Ahmed (one of our Senior Event Planners) and I had the great privilige to be invited to attend a brief ceremony at the Westin Casuarina, where the ‘out of this world’ Cayman flag was presented to our Cayman Islands Government!

Well the story is, Capt. Greg Johnson and his lovely wife Nannette, had their destination wedding right here in Grand Cayman on January 19, 2008 at a private villa in Rum Point. Both Greg and Nanette are astronauts working at NASA in Cape Canaveral! Greg is a Pilot for NASA while Nanette is a Grounds Engineer.

What clinched their decision in choosing the Cayman Islands as the perfect place for their wedding was
the fact that they always have such a marvelous experience every time they visit. In fact, their first vacation as a couple was right here in Cayman.

To quote Nanette:
"Greg and I had our first vacation together on Grand Cayman in July 2007. Greg always said that one of the keys to a happy marriage is to be compatible on a vacation so this was sort of a test for us, a fun one at that! Needless to say we had a perfect vacation. We spent a luxurious romantic week, just the two of us and had a wonderful time - scuba diving, snorkeling, hanging out at Rum Point, shopping in Georgetown, touring Pedro's Castle, eating out at all the excellent restaurants, and floating in our pool. Two months later Greg proposed so I guess we were pretty compatible.After he proposed I found out there was an ulterior motive to our trip. We both knew we wanted to have a destination wedding so while we were on vacation he was also scouting out possible wedding locations,"

Ahmed was the Wedding Planner for this couple, and together himself and the entire team at Celebrations, coupled with the wonderful service providers for their wedding made for a very special event, one that made so much of an impression, this wonderful gentleman, Greg, very kindly offered to take the Cayman Islands flag to space and to fly it during the mission and then to return it to the Government of the Cayman Islands on his return. What an incredible gesture of good feeling, what an honor! Ahmed was personally invited for the Atlantis Space Shuttle ( STS-125) launch last May 11. STS-125 is a 5.3 million-odyssey that was the final servicing mission for NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. Greg is the pilot for this historical mission.

Capt. Greg in the Atlantis cockpit.
The STS-125 crew posing with the Cayman flag behind them all floating in space.
Grand Cayman from outer space. Photo taken by Capt. Greg Johnson.
This is such an amazing story, and for me, I am so proud of our Islands and that our team was able to be part of their wonderful experience in Cayman in making their wedding so memorable that they wanted to include this little island in this special way. That’s why I love what we do…. making people happy, and being part of their lives in such an incredible way, nothing could be better! The Johnsons brought their wonderful family with them on this last trip and plan to make many more trips to our Islands in the years to come. Thanks again Greg and Nanette - we are so honored!

Ahmed, Nanette, Capt. Greg Johnson & Jo-Anne after
the formal presentation of the Cayman flag to the Cayman government.

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