It’s not quite Condé Nast’s Brides magazine, but I’ll take Condé Nast coverage where I can get it. Even if I did write it myself…

For the January issue of WIRED UK, I did a group-test of photo books from Blurb, Snapfish, Bonusprint, Photobox and Apple, and what better material to test them on than the most popular reason to use those photo book services? Wedding photos. Anyway, the issue is on sale now (it’s the one with a thumb-looking portrait of Zuckerberg on the cover), but unfortunately the review hasn’t found its way online yet.

I’m feeling like the luckiest ol’ wifey in the world right now, reading the touching words my husband Jim told The Times’ online wedding editor Sian about our wedding and marriage, one year on.

If you have a subscription to The Times you can read it here, otherwise click the image for a larger, legible view.

Apologies if we make anyone throw up kittens, rainbows and Care Bears while reading it! (I’m not really sorry, sorry! Sorry. Ok, I am sorry…)

“This old thing? Oh, I just threw it together in an hour while watching the second-last Harry Potter last night.” No but seriously, I did, and it’s just as well too, because I was stressing over what to give Jim for our first wedding anniversary this Sunday.

Given the traditional present is paper, and I didn’t get my act together quickly enough to commission Julene to do a papercut for us (plus his real present won’t arrive for another week, and isn’t made from paper), I hauled out all my saved-up scraps and cobbled together this scrapbook-like anniversary card.

Take a look below the jump for some close-ups…

Made from thick card that I Gocco printed a pink Effie-cat onto the inside, I covered it with leftover Liberty print fabric from a bridesmaid dress, and decorated it with a vintage tag; glassine bag with old raffle ticket; some vintage lace; cut-out tree branches with cherry blossoms and birds from a leftover wedding invitation from Hello Lucky; an embroidered bird sat on an orange branch plus our embroidered names, and a little cut-out photo of us from our wedding day. I also wrote (using cursive! for the first time since I was a kid!) some lyrics from our first dance — The Lovecats, by The Cure.

While the card’s too tall for this vintage envelope from Longleat Safari Park (we were married in the orangery there, as Jim grew up a stone’s throw from the estate), I’m going to slide it in there so it pokes out from the top. You can’t see, but the stamps on the left of the envelope are embossed — isn’t it fab? I bought it on eBay a while back; hunting down vintage Longleat paraphernalia has turned into quite a hobby as you can see.

Anyway, we’re off to Babington House in Somserset for the weekend, so have a lovely couple of days everyone, and see you back online Monday night!

Firstly, there were the flowers. Emma Vowles in Devon is one of the most superb florists you could hope to meet, and she had the bright idea of putting the table arrangements inside cream-coloured water jugs to go with the whole vintage English tea party vibe we were going for. Using The Wedding Chicks’ free artwork as the basis for the design, I created the table numbers and printed them on brown luggage tags, wrapping them onto the handles with dusky pink ribbon and fastening a vintage earring or brooch in the centre of the bow.

On each table, 3 – 4 smaller vases I collected at car boot sales and charity shops were scattered, each with a mix of pinks, purples and whites. You can see me above working in Jim’s parents’ cellar the night before the wedding, putting the flowers in vases. This photo was taken about 10pm – talk about cutting it close!

Jim’s best man Nick (his elder brother) has unbeknownst prepared several photo albums for each table, containing both cute and hilarious photos of Jim growing up. I was really touched by the thoughtfulness; Jim horrified by the ’80s-era photos.

In the photo above you can see one of the place settings, which was a jar of homemade marmalade for everyone. We spent a whole weekend making that blasted marmalade earlier this year – let’s just say that cutting orange rind as thinly as possible is not my idea of fun. I printed the labels on parchment paper, with the designs taken from The Wedding Chicks’ site, and tinkered with to add in all our details (including the guest’s name, our names and the date). A circle of Liberty floral fabric finished it off, with some jute string wrapped around.

Jim’s Aunty Myra made our wedding cake – an orange sponge, with white chocolate rolls and fresh berries from her garden. We were so pleased with how it looked and tasted – it was extra-meaningful knowing she had made it for our special day.

Try and ignore the life-sized cutboard cut-out of Robert Patterson as Edward from Twilight (it’s a long story), and instead focus on the bunting. A wife of an old school friend’s of Jims made it, using Cath Kidston fabric. It dressed up the village hall a treat, and with the strings of fairy lights criss-crossing the ceiling (and the hay bales dotted about artfully) it was the perfect setting for the party.

Lastly, I leave you with a picture of yours truly, and her three beautiful bridesmaids. On the left is my cousin Louise, then my sister Lisa, and closest to me is my maid of honour Gemma. All their dresses are made from Liberty florals (and matched the marmalade jars), with Gemma creating hers and Mum sewing up Lisa and Louise’s. They were the best bridesmaids a girl could hope for.

Unfortunately, I can’t for the life of me find photos of the table placement board which stood at the entrance of Longleat Orangery where we got married; nor can I find close-ups of the marmalade jars. My hard drive is just gagging for a proper clean-up and sort-through, so once I find photos of those I’ll add them in. I’m particularly proud of the table placement board, which had individual name tags that matched the tags on the flower arrangement jugs, hanging from jute twine with a backdrop of Liberty floral fabric. Fingers crossed I find it soon!

100 Layer Cake

This American blog focusses mostly on readers’ wedding photos, but handily catalogues each supplier for researching/purchasing/hiring. Expect bridal catwalk show reports, product pick posts and helpful round-ups of creative wedding guests’ fashion, seen recently.

One Wed

Not only do I adore the design of this site (no pink!), but the content is equally fresh and offbeat. Another American blog, it features weddings from all over the globe — recent posts include a simple Swedish wedding, couple-of-the-earth Spanish celebration (love her hair!) and classic, romantic French union.

Rock ‘N Roll Bride

English blogger Kat Williams is so obviously enthusiastic about her chosen subject, and I love her unique spin on the whole wedding malarkey. A lot of the real weddings she features include tatt-clad couples, and all of them have something different in their aesthetic — a strong vintage theme, or maybe American rockabilly, or just really offbeat photography. Just like her American counterparts, she posts lots of engagement photo sessions, which I love — I wish Jim and I could’ve had the courage to do the same! One of my favourite recent posts was of the Vegas wedding of two photographers, who got married after spending just 12 days together. I adored their whole look — isn’t the bride stunning?

Style Me Pretty

Chockablock full with amazing ideas for planning your own wedding, Style Me Pretty’s featured real weddings could be magazine photo shoots in their own right. A lot of the weddings are brimming with crafty ideas, but if you don’t fancy making jam jar place settings or your own wedding invites, just binge on the gorgeous photography — oh, to have those American venues here!

The Wedding Chicks

Saving the best ’til last, I found The Wedding Chicks the most helpful when planning our wedding. Sure, Amy and Jocey get sent the most beautiful real weddings with stunning ideas and imagery, but it’s the mix of content — recipes, product round-ups, news from wedding shows, hen do ideas…it’s never-ending. The site design is gorgeous, and — perhaps more importantly — they generously have a “freebies” section, with the most beautiful template-generators for customising invites, menus, place-settings and so on with logos and designs.

I used their designs for the place-settings board, the jam jar place-setting labels, and the table numbers at our wedding. Oh, and the big “K” you see as my blog logo? That’s a temporary header from their site, until I get the time to design this site properly. I just can’t rave enough about how useful and beautiful this blog is.

Hopefully through the powers of SEO this post will help some beguilered couple plan their honeymoon in Mauritius, and answer some of the Burning Questions Jim and I just couldn’t find on Google.

We’ve been back from our honeymoon about a month now, and were married over six weeks ago – and while I’ve got a lot of blog posts in my head, sadly other things are taking precedence right now. Like unpacking. And writing thank-you cards. And researching a drycleaner who I can trust with my grass-stained wedding dress (srsly, got a recommendation? Please tell!)

Below, some tips/personal accounts from our time in Mauritius…

Length of time/How to get there

We booked 11 nights there, which was long enough. I wanted to go away for a full two weeks, but Mauritius is such a small island (you can drive from North to South in two hours, cleverly following the motorway signs labelled THE SOUTH) that you really don’t need much longer.

We booked our direct flights with BA, and while they were pricier than Air Mauritius, we didn’t fancy having a stopover in Paris each way. We sprung for premium economy for the first time on the way back, and it was definitely worth the extra £150 or so. Much larger seats, more legroom, and better quality wine. Of which we took full advantage of. Until the kid in front of us vommed and we had to slink off to the back of the plane for an hour’s fresh air.

Our Luxury Pavilion room at The Oberoi, Mauritius

Where to stay

Accommodation was arranged through the excellent online-based Turquoise Holidays luxury travel company. I don’t know how they do it, but they got such a great deal for us. We paid half-price for 11 nights at The Oberoi (a honeymoon offer, where the bride goes free), and even got some free nights thrown in – as well as the free breakfasts. It was still the priciest accommodation we’ve ever paid for, but my god the resort was worth it. Quiet, intimate, exclusive–it was exactly what we were after.

Mauritius has many hotels and resorts, but if you’re wanting an all-out honeymoon experience, there are a few resorts I’d recommend (based on many hours of online  research, or visiting them for dinner/drinks). The important thing however is to choose the area you want to stay in.

We stayed in Turtle Bay, which is near Balaclava, in the North-East side. It’s the quieter side, with fewer resorts and unspoilt compared to other areas. The close proximity of nearby villages, and the country’s capital of Port Louis, is what attracted us, but it’s also the most sheltered bay on the island – which is welcome when you visit during their winter.

Other areas of the island may have more beautiful beaches (though the ones we saw near us, including The Oberoi’s beach, were stunning), but during winter the wind can be unwelcome.

Ile aux Cerfs

On the West side, there’s the small island of Ile aux Cerfs. It’s the most breathtaking of all the beaches, however is quite remote and would require a 15-min boat ride to the mainland if you fancied any shopping or cultural activities. The island hasn’t got much on it, apart from two restaurants and a couple of souvenir shops, but it’s well worth a visit. To stay there, look at Le Touessrok, which is on a small island nearby. It’s only a short boat ride, and is apparently the favourite resort for famous people and young royals.

If we were visiting again, I think we’d stay at The Oberoi for the majority of our trip, but spend two nights at 20 Degrees Sud, which is on the Point aux Cannoniers, further north from where we were staying. We drove there one night for dinner (it took 30mins), and loved it. It’s the only boutique hotel on Mauritius apparently, and was one of the first-settled spots, by the grandfather of the current French owners. It was trés fancy, and I desperately wished we were staying there the night. It’s very much where the Soho House brigade would holiday – and if you think you can get away wearing frayed denim cut-offs and Havaianas around there, think again.

View of the outer restaurant tables from the bar, at 20 Degrees Sud

We arrived about 8pm for dinner (we didn’t booked ahead), and the owner Michel met us at the heavy-oak doors, and introduced himself. We had a cocktail and beer at the bar first, and enjoyed the French singer playing to the diners across the little pool-dressed-up-as-a-stream from us (the whole hotel is like The Venetian hotel in Vegas, with the foot-wide pool separating the bar from the restaurant, which is all open-roofed and under the stars. You feel like you’re indoors though, it’s a really magical place and hard to explain). The drinks were great, and came with heaps of little snacks – something that’s very common there. If you get a drink before dinner, you almost don’t need a full meal afterwards, as the free snacks are incredible and so generous.

Dinner in the restaurant was superb though. Pricey, but superb. I think it cost us about £100 for two mains, a shared dessert, a glass of wine and the cocktail and beer. TIPPING IS NOT EXPECTED IN MAURITIUS, HOWEVER. In fact, they’re quite embarrassed by it. Which is nice.

I’d recommend a night or two at 20 Degrees Sud, but no more. The whole place was very fancy, but not really ideal for honeymooners who want to relax. Plus, the privacy isn’t as good as at The Oberoi, where you get a thatched-roof chalet to yourself.

Weather

We visited mid to late July, which is smack-bang in the middle of their winter. It was 28 degrees on average each day, with low humidity (virtually none), and only the occasional smattering of rain in mornings (usually before we got out of bed). In fact, the only time it rained during the day was when we chose to cycle the 40km round-trip (going the island, motorway way up there, foolishly, rather than the glorious coastal route which we found on the way back), which saw us drenched. But at least we had an excuse to stop off in a bakery to take shelter (and eat banana cake).

Beaches worth visiting

We visited Ile aux Cerfs on a day-trip, paying about £140 for the two of us. This included a private car (a Mercedes) picking us up at 8am and taking us to the other side of the island, to a harbour town. From there, we boarded a catamaran, the Green Dolphin, with 20 other people (mostly European honeymooners), and sailed out near Ile aux Cerfs. We visited some gorgeous waterfalls on the way, and stopped off at coral to go snorkeling for an hour, while we had lunch. The included lunch was fantastic – freshly caught tuna steaks on skewers, and chicken skewers, all done on the BBQ right there and then. Heaps of salad, garlic bread (the Mauritians are nuts for garlic bread, due to their prior French occupancy), and beer and cocktails. We then sailed to Ile Aux Cerfs, and had two hours to explore the 2km-long island. Jim and I were worried we wouldn’t have enough time on the island, and weren’t sure we were bothered about snorkeling, but actually the whole day was brilliant. Really meandering and lazy, exactly what we thought we didn’t want, but actually did. We got back to the harbour town at 4pm, and were home by 5pm.

Trou aux Biches was about a 20min bike ride from where we stayed at The Oberoi, with the town called Mont Choisy. The beach was stunning – very long, with crystal clear waters, and very quiet and private.

On the west coast, Flic en Flac is meant to offer very beautiful beaches.

Food

Due to the French/Indian/African (“Creole”) community, Mauritian food is extremely varied. And nice! There’s a reason why I put on 6lbs in two weeks! We ate plenty of fresh seafood (lobster, crabs, prawns, and fish – seabass, snapper, and so on), curries (Mauritian seafood curry is definitely worth a shot, as is more traditional thali) and beef fricassee (similar to a stew). I attempted to document most of our restaurant meals, of which you can see on Flickr, but unfortunately not everything got snapped.

One of our favourite forms of food was from stalls and vans on streetsides, as we whizzed through neighboring villages on our bikes. Indian goodies such as samosas, sure–but also dholl puri, roti, gateaux piments, and for dessert, ladoo.

Most streetfoods cost under 10 rupees each (a pittance, about 20p), and we usually bought a selection. Dholl puri and roti are vegetarian curries in pancake-like flatbreads and are delicious, gateaux piments are deep-fried vegetable balls, and ladoo is a sweet dumpling-like ball made from yam. Worth trying all of them, but I’d stay away from the curried roll–a baguette with warm curry inside, it just tasted odd.

I was stoked that there were so many Australian imports in Mauritius, such as Twisties, Milo and Shapes biscuits (chicken Shapes! I actually ate chicken Shapes! That’s how pleased I was to see something Aussie!)

One of the best restaurants we ate at was also the cheapest. Bois Cheri, a tea plantation factory in Bois Cheri, near Chameral, had the most amazing restaurant overlooking the valley–and the most beautiful menu, which was incredibly cheap. I think we spent about £20 on a shared starter, main each, and shared dessert–plus drinks. It was traditional Mauritian fare, and it was so good I almost cried.

Worth picking up a few boxes of their fancy tea as well, which is one of Mauritius’ famous exports and makes for a lovely gift.

Money

Mauritius uses Mauritian rupees–which you can’t actually buy or sell outside of the country, so make sure you don’t take any home with you. I won’t lie, Mauritius is a very pricey place to stay if you want the full honeymoon experience (I’m talking a five star resort for over a week, cocktails by the pool, nice meals and excursions). It’s well worth racking up the credit card bills for.

Tourist things to do

It’s not just lying on the beach or poolside. For such a small island, Mauritius has a lot to offer. Try and get into capital Port Louis for a day-trip (or even half a day is enough), and make sure you check out the Central Markets–a few roads in a block crowded with stalls selling all manner of tat. Move inside, and it’s every vegetable, fruit and food delicacy you can imagine. On the outside streets, it’s fresh food you can eat there and then (the aforementioned street food–go for a dholl puri or two, and eat them in the park by the museum).

I attempted visiting the museum on a day out, while Jim lounged poolside at the resort (what? Honeymooners can have time apart!), but unfortunately I didn’t realise it closes at 12 on Saturdays. I got there at 12.30. The museum houses one of the world’s few dodos, found where the airport is situated by an Englishman.

Don’t bother with the capital’s fancy shopping Caudan Waterfront area, it’s aimed at tourists (and not tourists with taste, let me assure you.) Shops like Guess and Armani Exchange litter the malls, and over-priced souvenir shops hawk the same dodo bird magnets you would’ve seen a dozen times by then.

Try and hire a car for a day, and visit the aforementioned Bois Cheri, Chameral (we didn’t visit it, but heard the seven colours of the earth is worth seeing), Black Gorges River (amazing views), Grand Bassin (a lake in a volcano crater, where thousands of Hindus flock each year), and even Curepipe for the Trou aux Cerfs dormant volcano crater and a look at impoverished Mauritian life. It’s quite a difference from the five star luxury you’ll see at the resorts.

Pamplemousse is Mauritius’ botanical gardens, and the oldest in the southern hemisphere. It’s got an astonishing array of plants and lily ponds, but the 30 or so giant tortoises are worth the trip alone.

Try and go on a catamaran trip, either to Ile aux Cerfs like we did (above), or the Northern islands Gabriel and Flat Island which are accessible from Grand Baie. We wanted to visit but were told the day we planned to go would have high tides and would make casting ashore difficult, so chose Ile aux Cerfs instead.

Near where we stayed, the Balaclava Ruins allowed Jim to live out his Lara Croft fantasies (well, running around and jumping in old battle ruins, anyway), and as they’re located inside Maritim hotel’s grounds, you should check out their French colonial restaurant/bar too.

Grand Baie, located in the North, is worth a visit even if it’s regarded as being quite touristy. It’s almost been my belief that places are touristy for a reason (because they’re worth checking out), so do jump in your hire car/on your bike/on the local bus (so cheap! So much fun!) and scope the markets and the gorgeous beach. Seriously, that harbour had the most turquoise water we saw in Mauritius.

That about winds up my Mauritian honeymoon tips, but if you have any great burning questions, do comment or email and put them to me.

Needless to say, we had an absolutely amazing honeymoon, and I would not have changed a bit. Well, I wouldn’t have eaten quite so much perhaps, and would’ve bought a few more dodo bird magnets for friends (who knew they loved tack so much!?) but other than that, it was the best way to celebrate the beginnings of a marriage.

The last several months it’s like I’ve had the weight of Atlas on my shoulders, tossing and turning every night in bed fretting about getting a Certificate of Approval to get married in the UK.

As an Aussie, I can’t get married here legally unless I obtain one. This involves sending off both yours and your fiance’s passports, along with answers to a series of convoluted questions about yourselves and your citizen statuses, no earlier than five months before you’re due to get married.

The catch is, it can take up to three months to get approval. Meaning if they deny you the first time – for not supplying enough information, for example – you could potentially not get approval before your big day.

Not to mention the problems with the Home Office having your passports for such a great length of time – as we both travel a lot for work, this really wasn’t ideal. Jim had to actually stand outside their Croydon offices last week, the day before he was due to fly to Milan, and wait there until they became so exasperated with him they gave it back.

This followed three weeks of daily phonecalls, demanding it back. To an 0845 number. With a 20 – 30 minute wait per call just to speak to someone. Someone who is more used to speaking to non-English speakers, and is so fed up with their job, and life, that they make you want to just move back to Australia instead of spending another minute on the phone with them.

Regardless, we finally got approval! No thanks to Royal Mail, who mishandled the envelope so badly that our certificate – with official hologram! – is all creased.

I’m off for a celebratory lie-down and a little cry now. Just 62 days until the wedding *hyperventilates*