Honeymoon Part 1

Finally I get to do this. Married life or life in general has been busy so far, so I'm really pleased to finally get some time to post about our gorgeous honeymoon.

We stayed at various places along the upper north coast of South Africa, so logically each place will have the title of a different part.

On the Monday after our wedding we left a bit later than we had hoped, probably about 6:30 in the morning, to our first destination in Blythedale Beach. Blythedale Beach is a fairly secluded area and whats nice about it is that they have very strict building regulations, so no high buildings to take away from the deserted look of the forest-like area, which is beautiful.

We arrived in about 7 hours at Palm Dune Beach Lodge where we would be staying for 5 nights. The place was lovely, but not really what we had been expecting (Mauritius had set our expectations too high maybe). After being moved to another room we were still a bit dissapointed but settled in as nicely as we could.

Here's some pictures of the lodge



Rain had been predicted for the entire week while we were there which really put a damper on things. The lodge offered numerous activities which we were interested in (kayaking, forest walks, etc.) but due to the weather weren't able to partake in any of them. So for a week we spent a lot of time driving to various places to do stuff, which worked out perfectly in the end as we did a ton of things we would ordinarily not have gotten to do.

Some of the highlights were:

Visiting Crocodile Creek, a crocodile farm, where I stroked and sat beside an alligator (not a croc).


Horse riding in Umdloti through the sugar cane fields with the beach on our side. My horse was a bit mad though. He'd suddenly eat all the sugar cane that he could then tried to galop away. It was so much fun!


Doing the Karkloof Canopy Tour in the pouring rain. It was amazing! This is what the "tour" is "The canopy tour involves traversing from one platform to another along a steel cable suspended up to 30m above the forest floor. The tour comprises seven platforms and eight slides that zig-zag down a pristine forested valley. The scenery and bird life is spectacular and professional guides provide interesting facts about the forest ecology during the tour." We were so high up and there was so much mist and rain that we didn't get to see too much of the forest but the whole experience of being put in a harness and "sliding" down huge cables through a dense forest was too good to be true. We were soaking wet when we finished, even our socks were muddy and wet. But on return we were greeted with lunch and hot chocolate, which warmed things up.



Management of the lodge where we were staying really did do their best to make our stay memorable. On our first night we got a complementary dinner and wine. Twice during our stay we'd return after a long day out to champagne, chocolates and flowers (and sometimes muffins) in our room. And on our last night we had a private dinner with more champagne on our patio complete with our own waiter standing by the whole night.

Wedding day

The day before the wedding was just as busy as the previous two days. We woke up early, got my dreadful eyelashes removed and off we went to the venue to set up the chapel. After that we rushed home for my manicure and waxing appointment. And finally after everything and just before N left to spend the night at her best man's place, we got to sit down and get her to open her birthday / wedding present from me. She loved it! She sat with an open mouth while she flipped through the little DIY boudoir photo book, I was relieved that she liked it. Then off she went and off I went to a much needed bubble bath followed by bed.

I woke up to a beautifully sunny day. I was expecting to be a ball of nerves but I couldn't have been more relaxed. I think even if it had rained like we had worried it would I would still have been fine. I had a quick shower and got all my stuff together and off I went to the hair dresser, joined by my two girls. My hair was better than expected, better than both trials. We went straight to the venue and arrived early. Our photographer was already there and we were ushered to our room. A bottle of champagne and platter of yummy snacks greeted us and kept us busy while we waited for the make-up artist to arrive. We also quickly went and caught a glimpse of the reception venue where to decor was being set up. I couldn't believe my eyes, it was more gorgeous than I could have imagined. I was so relieved.

After our make-up was done and we were dressed our day-of-coordinator came to call us and escorted us to the chapel. Surprisingly I was still as calm as ever. As the music started my brother walked me down the aisle and I got a bit teary when I saw N standing there waiting for me. She looked amazing, I can't even find the right word for how good she looked.

The ceremony started and unfortunately it was a bit of a blur. The minister called me by a different name but made up for it really well. We signed the register and bam we were married! We were showered with petals then went down to the gorgeously sunny patio and had a cocktail before the photo session began.

Our photographer was trying to get us away all the time but there were so many people congratulating us that our session was cut a bit short. After the photo's everyone was seated in the reception venue and we entered and it all began. The speeches went well. My brothers speech was so hilarious and N's was so heartfelt.

Guests took notice of all the little details and all the things that we worked so hard on so it really went well.

I was really taken back by how accommodating the venue was. We had our own waiter by our side at all times (even during the photo session), we were escorted to the buffet to dish first every time, the coordinator first asked me before they did certain things - just to make sure its what we wanted and the food was spectacular! We were more than impressed with the food and the quality of it. The coordinator also moved all our stuff from our getting ready rooms to our honeymoon suite and even took all our gifts to our honeymoon suite too.

The rest of the night went off without a hitch and it was all so surreal! The only thing was my shoe's they hurt like no other, luckily I had bought flats as well and they were like heaven to put on.

We got to our suite at about 1:30 (remember the venue and bar had to close at 12:00) where roses, champagne, chocolates, cheese, biscuits and fruit were waiting for us. We still showered and opened gifts then flopped into bed. And the following morning we were greeted with a 5 star breakfast on the patio, it was all like a heavenly dream.

What a day!

Bad blogger!

I've been trying to get back into the swing of things but its just been crazy since we got back. Everyday has been so hectic that I don't even get to read blogs let alone update my own. Later today I'm hoping to do a quick post about the wedding day (I'll do a proper update once the pictures have been received as previously mentioned) then onto whatever comes next, possibly the honeymoon.

Back to reality

We're back from our indulgent, fun, exciting and beautifully romantic honeymoon. We had an amazing time, we did so many things and stayed at gorgeous places. I'll start with updates tomorrow.

In the mean time if you'd like to have a peak at our wedding decor, our perfect decor lady posted this on her blog. I'll also give more details of the wedding tomorrow and obviously when the pro pics come I'll share them.