This was what I did, in my first post I will outline the plan, in the second one I will give the results. I hope this helps someone do something really special in your area. The only down side was the cost at about $2,000.

First, we take friday off from work drive out to the coast for what she will think will be a simple one night anniversary get away. This is where we are staying.

http://www.innsbythesea.com/cypress/

Then I asume we'll go to dinner.

Breakfast at the hotel on our private balcony overlooking the pacific ocean. I have been promised a specific room with an unobstucted view. At this point she WILL assume (and I will let her believe) our anniversary celebration is coming to an end.

Then I will offer a romantic walk in the nearby flower garden. What she won't know is that there will be a woman there waiting for us to renew our wedding vows. This is the garden.

http://www.hastingshouseweddings.com/garden-weddings.html


Here is a small portion of the vows I have chosen (wedding planner knows we are renewing because of infidelity so recommended these) My eyes well up every time I read them:


Sweep away all your past hurts. Let all the bad
experiences which, may have, in the past, troubled you
in love or made it difficult to trust, be swept away.
Release the past and go forward into a bright future
together.


My Mom is keeping the kids at our home while we are gone and will let friends in to decorate in a hawaiian theme for the surprise reception. When we arrive home it will be full of friends and family and catered by a hawaiian restaurant.

I will schedule our house keepers to come in after the party and clean up.

And last (but not least) I am having our original wedding tape converted from VHS to DVD and will present it to her and play it at the party.

I know atleast some of you followed what I was planning for our
anniversary. Well, it went perfectly.

Friday morning - We left home at about noon, she has no idea where we
are going. We arrive in half moon bay at about 1 in the afternoon. Go
to the hotel to check in and our room won't be ready until 3. They
suggest we get lunch, go shopping and return. So we go to lunch at a
ocean front restaurant. After lunch we head into town to walk the
shops but on our way we see a sign advertising horse back riding. We
decided to make a U turn and see what the deal is. Since neither of
us really enjoy shopping we ended up signing up for a 1.5 hour ride
that includes some time riding on the beach and set off imediately.
For $20 extra they provide a guide. Since neither of us has ridden a
horse in years we decided it was a good investment...LOL. It was so
much fun. We rode a horse trail for about 45 minutes until turning
down onto the beach. When on the beach you can run the horses
(against the rules on the hard trail for the horses sake). We rode
them right down into the water without going too deep because the
waves were exceptionally big that day. I was kicking myself for
forgetting the camera in the car. The ride ended up going 2 hours.
The only down side was not being able to sit down without pain until
this morning. I literally have blisters in places no person should
EVER have blisters. A little known fact: Half moon bay chairs are all
solid wood. Apparently they don't believe in cushions. Must be the
salt air.

We check into our hotel at about 5. Our room was unbelievable. The
room is named "el viento" (the wind) Walk onto our private deck and
you see nothing but ocean starting from about 15 feet away. We take a
walk down the ocean front and watch the surfers and cuddle up on a
park bench (of course it's wood, very hard wood). Then back to our
room for a little rest before heading to dinner.

For dinner we went to the same restaurant. The lunch was fantastic,
it was a short walk from our hotel (anything that keeps us from
sitting, even in the normally very comfy seats of our car) and the
menu changes for dinner so we decided it was a good option. We
mentioned we were staying at the Cypress Inn bed and breakfast and
they made sure we had a window table for dinner. Dinner was good -
Filet mignon, lobster and alaskan snow crab.

Back to our room, open the doors to the deck and light the fireplace.
Wife goes to the bathroom and returns wearing something very red and
very shear <I'll spare you the good part > We fall asleep in each others arms surrounded
in pillows and down comforters with the room glowing from the fireplace.

Saturday morning I sneak out while she's sleeping to watch the ocean
and the sun come up. At this point I begin to struggle with an
immense amount of guilt and stay on the bench until I work it out
with myself. No need to bring her down with me. I manage to snap out
of it and return to the room to wake her with gentle kisses and a hot
cup of coffee. She has coffee and dresses for a walk to the beach.

At this point she tells me she had a wonderful time and thanks me for
her anniversary weekend. She thinks it's over...hehehehehe! At about
9 am she showers washes her face and gets her makeup out. Time for my
plan to go into action (since I think she may put her makeup on
differently if she has a clue) I say - before you do that, theres
something you need to know, I'm not done with my plans for you. I
tell her that we have an appt to have our portrait taken at noon.
This gives me an excuse to dress accordingly also. She loves the
idea, everything is going just as I planned and she takes her time
putting on her makeup and puts on my favorite dress that she bought
in Hawaii when we got married.

It's ten to twelve and time to check out, we arrive at the place we
are getting our "portrait" taken. In the car I turn to her and
confess we are not here only to get our picture taken, she looks back
at me with a confused look on her face. I ask if she will marry me
again. She says - Are you kidding? and the tears begin to come for
both of us. She says of course she will marry me again. We walk into
the flower garden and the minister is there waiting for us. The place
is beautiful. Every flower you can imagine intertwined in cypress
trees and stone walkways. We exchange our vows followed by a tearful
kiss and hug. Then pictures are taken (hey, I didn't lie )

We go to lunch and she's looking at me with those "I love you" eyes.
Between the look and the suggestion that after
lunch we find a place to "park"
I'm starting to think I did well...LOL. We head home at about 2 pm,
again she belives our celebration is over. We hit traffic coming home
and turn onto our street at about 3:40. The street is lined with cars
of friends and family. I say - Now what wedding is complete without a
reception. Again she says - Are you kidding?. The "Happy anniversary
sign in the front yard squashes any doubt. Our home is filled people,
all but two people I invited showed. The house was decorated with
hawaiian decorations I bought weeks ago. Grass skirts on the tables
and around the hot tub, inflatable palm tree's, Tiki torches and
candles, Hawaiian tiki lights strung outside, and ofcourse everyone
got Lei'd. A cake on the table that read Racer and RacersGirl 6-16-05 (using our real names of course)
complete with palm trees and real orchids. The party was catered by a
local hawaiian restaurant (one of our favorite places to eat) and the
food was good as usual.

All the reservations with the hotel, the minister and the gardens.
The scheduling times to coinincide with each other, The emails back
and forth, the vow writing, food and cake orders somehow all came
together flawlessly.

Thanks to you that gave suggestions and/or just confidence that I was
doing the right things. It was a success. Now if I could just shake
this hangover.