Our Honeymoon Dubai & The Seychelles

30 May 2006 - 17 June 2006

We flew off on our honeymoon on 30 May 2006. After a pleasant Emirates flight we arrived at the airport; the 38c + heat hit us and we took a taxi to our hotel. It was all very swish and there was a cake, bottle of wine & fruit basket waiting for us in our room. We were exhausted having missed a night’s sleep. The next day we got up bright and early – well, it was 11.30 thanks to some great black out blinds! We took a taxi to the beach (our sunglasses steamed up when we got out of the taxi); the sea was really warm and it was quite a challenge to eat our ice lollies before they melted.

On the second day we visited the Mall of the Emirates, one of the largest shopping malls in the world, which also contains one of the largest indoor ski slopes. You can get anything and everything in Dubai; they even had organic Yeo Valley yoghurts, made at Blagdon, in the supermarket! Later we headed off for afternoon tea at the 7 star Burj al Arab hotel. We enjoyed our food and the great views, and chilled out at the pool afterwards. On the way back to our hotel we saw what will be the world’s tallest building going up.

Our last day started with breakfast at the Basta Art Café and we then went to the Wild Wadi Waterpark. Steve had a go at surfing, but Helen was afraid she might lose her bikini! We also visited the Dubai museum, which our hotel looked out over. Every evening, after our dinner, we spent shopping in the shops and gold souks near our hotel.

To get to the Seychelles from Dubai was only 4 hrs 20 mins and the flight was almost empty. Our hotel room in the Seychelles was great, with a lounge area upstairs and a huge balcony. They also gave us sparkling wine, flowers and a fruit basket, which was nice.

On the first night we saw a strange insect on our patio doors. It looked a bit like a cartoon character; we still don’t know what it was.

We did two dives during the holiday. The first one was our first ever boat dive; Helen got a bit scared and didn’t want to go under, but it went well and we lasted 55 minutes. Helen spotted a turtle right at the end. Unfortunately, she then picked up a cold, so it was another week before our second dive. This was at Baie Ternay Marine Park, which was a lovely setting and the water looked a lot more enticing. As well as two turtles we saw our first shark- a baby white tip - and a feather tail stingray.

We went on a mountain walk and saw lots of the endemic plants and palms and some big stick insects. At the top there was a fantastic view over Victoria and the nearby islands.

On two separate days we saw Dolphins in the bay; they would chase shoals of fish and make them leap out of the water. The second time, we took out a kayak and paddled with them for half-an-hour. In total there were five dolphins and at one stage the fish jumped out right past us, which Helen caught on a video clip.

We also went on a day trip to Praslin and La Digue. The journey over by catamaran was… challenging, but we just about managed to hold on to our breakfast. We were taken around the Vallee de Mai, home to the Coco de Mer - a large double coconut which is the world’s largest seed. It’s indigenous to the Seychelles and also has the largest leaves of any plant.

We then took a schooner to La Digue: we had a Creole buffet lunch, visited Grand Anse beach, the coconut factory, saw the giant tortoises and then had some time to spend at Anse Source L’Argent - a famous beach used to advertise Malibu and Bounty. We saw one of the geckos endemic to Praslin & La Digue and they were almost fluorescent green, compared to the ones on Mahe.

The trip home was a very long one, including 2 taxis, 2 flights, a coach and a train. The flight between Dubai and London had great entertainment. You could pick from loads of movies and start and stop them as you liked. Helen watched 3 films on the one flight.

We had a lovely honeymoon, coming home wasn’t so bad though as we didn’t have work to go to!

Helen & Steve

Our Wedding 28 May 2006

After months of preparation it was finally our big day. Anna stayed over to help me get ready in the morning. My hairdresser was ill, but fortunately they had a stand-in. Fortunately on the day it wasn’t raining and we were able to have the wedding outside, as we had hoped, although it was still rather cold.

As I was walking down the aisle with dad, it was really nice to see all my friends and family in the congregation - a lot of them had travelled along way to make it to our day.

The ceremony went well. The witnesses were our brothers and sisters, Roger, Pauline, Anna & 6 month pregnant Debbie. My cousin’s children were bridesmaids (Mickey & Deanna) & pageboy (Richie); they looked fantastic in their outfits.

After the photos we went inside for the wedding breakfast The cake managed to topple over whilst everyone was sitting down but amazingly remained intact.

The meal was nice but nerves were building on the top table as we ate in anticipation of the speeches. They all went well and best man John did a grand job giving out presents, such as “The man’s guide to multi-tasking” to Steve, and for me a book explaining football terms and expressions for the forthcoming world cup. He also gave me “The Eat Well Cookbook”! I don’t know what he’s getting at there!

After the meal more guests arrived for the evening do and Steve and I attempted our first dance to “Three Times A Lady”. It was very difficult in the wedding dress and I made a mistake almost straight away. We managed to keep going but then I heard a gasp in the crowd - my garter had fallen off! Steve’s brother Roger wasted no time in grabbing it!

The evening went well and we enjoyed a last dance to Robbie William’s “Angels”. The best man even got a snog, along with a few others!

Steve and I went to our room at about 1.30am and then I started taking the clips out of my hair; this went on and on, there were 116 clips in all!

The next day we enjoyed breakfast at the Batch, together with the guests who had stayed over.

When we got home Steve carried me over the threshold!

Thank you to all of our guests for making our day so special.

Helen xxx