6th May 2009-Pimm's Anyone?

As if the fact that i will wake up 7 weeks today on my wedding day doesn't fill me with excitement enough, we have just booked our dream honeymoon and neither of us knows which we are looking forward to more!

Yes, as you have read on these pages, it took us quite a long time to decide on where we should spend our honeymoon. We have both spent weeks looking at every beach resort and luxury hotel we could find, having discarded early on the place we had always thought we would go-the Maldives-due to the uncertainty of the July weather. Nothing was really 'doing it' for us and we just kept coming back to how we just wished the Maldives didn't have their 'rainey season' during our summer-time. That's what comes of having a wedding abroad you see, you want to be able to do it outside and make the most of the summer sunshine in Europe, but the rest of the world is not keeping up with you and would prefer you to visit them at Christmastime when their sun is shining!
Then we started to read a bit more, ask people who'd been there during these 'wet' months what it was really like and all we could conclude is that the Maldives, no matter what the weather is like, is, as a well-travelled French masseur once told me, 'paradise on earth', and besides, it might not rain at all, and almost certainly won't rain the whole time no matter what.

Now, it's not like me to take a chance on the sunshine. Getting a tan and lazing all day in the sun are two of my very top holiday priorities! But somehow, a romantic private villa on the edge of a picture-perfect Island, in the middle of the Indian Ocean sounds ideal for a honeymoon no matter what the weather is doing outside, and thus we have made a decision! So, the Maldives it is! 8 days of pure luxury and the very best room we could afford! I cannot wait to experience the outdoor bathroom! Especially if the weather doesn't hold! Nor can i wait to see the baby sharks and rays, along with the Islands resident turtle, which will be living a stone's throw from our 'front door'. How will i sleep for the next 8 weeks with dreams of midnight fishing trips and dinner on the beach, not to mention our wedding and week in Italy?! It's such a special time.

But for this week at least i have something else to occupy my thoughts...Saturday is my hen night! And for a hen who has been really quite reluctant all along i am now looking forward to what will esentially be a night out with the girls. I have a house full of cocktails ready to be mixed (glass of pimm's anyone?), the highest and most gorgeous pair of shoes i have dared to wear in a long time (well, i am almost a married woman you know?), and group of girl-friends that i can't wait to have a natter and a giggle with. My only disappointment is that my unofficial bridesmaid (she who MADE me have a hen night in the first place and was to fly over from the UK) has recently had some wonderful news of her own and is unable to make it over for the hen now. She will definately be missed but i know i will see her soon when she arrives in Italy to be at my wedding, and that will be another thing i have to look forward to.

And so, on Saturday night i will have a drink to her, to all the other friends who i will celebrate my last weeks of singledom with, and i might even have a sneaky one to me! And i will try not to fall off my shoes before the end of the night!