Life Update: I Got Married – The Low Down On My Dream Destination Wedding!

You have no idea just how long I have waited to write and share this blog post.
My amazing life update is finally here: I got married! The COVID bride is no more! Life has been moving in a crazy way in the last few years and I wanted to share some wedding and honeymoon highlights with you before I go all things BABY! Yep, I’m not only now a Mrs, I’m also on my way to becoming a first time mum! Please enjoy my destination wedding highlights…

COVID & My Wedding

For the last eighteen months, COVID and lockdowns have been bad words in my house!

My amazing new husband and I have been together for years and engaged for over 3. Our original wedding was due to happen in May of 2020 – after two years of planning our dream elopement.

We’d always planned to go away to the USA to get married in the exact spot where we got engaged, on the same anniversary date at sunset.

By March 2020, it was fully organised. My dress was bought, our accommodation was sorted, it was just a matter of counting down the days and getting on the plane.

Then, COVID hit.

Our dream wedding plans were put on hold it was devastating. Fellow COVID brides will know the heartbreak of postponing your dream day in the hope that you’ll get there eventually… but with no firm date in the diary, it was a real pull on my heart strings.

Now, it’s important to mention here that we’ve been really fortunate even with COVID as a factor. None of our families have been massively affected by it, neither of us have contracted it, we’ve both kept our jobs and not had a single day out of work. We’re massively thankful for that but it doesn’t make the loss of your dream wedding any less of a sad time.

Originally, we postponed our dream wedding by one year. This meant that we were able to keep the special date and the location – as long as we were happy to be flexible with changing prices (increases rather than decreases, sadly) and some of our ideal items being lost or falling by the way side.

That was an ok sacrifice for us and we set the calendar back by one year to start counting again.

2020 was a year of multiple lockdowns, layers of lockdowns, ever changing rules, threats increasing and, honestly, frightening times for all. But, we kept the faith that our day the following May would come.

COVID In 2021

Sadly, we didn’t wake up on January 1st of 2021 and COVID was a distant memory. Lockdowns waged on, promises were made but weddings and travel continued to be compromised.

When we were given “opening up” dates from the government, we felt a flicker of hope. But, when we realised that this did not include travel abroad and with no mention of travel for the USA, our dreams were, again, dashed.

This summer, when life seemed to go back to normal for so many, we were still stuck in our limbo.

Postponing Our Wedding Again

May was fast approaching and no answers were being given to us.

We had to make the painful decision to postpone our wedding AGAIN.

This is when things got serious. I wasn’t willing to put the wedding off for another year and have our lives on hold again.

So, we decided to push it back a little further to September.

All we could do was carry on with normal life but I became the anti-bride.

The Anti-Bride

All of my life, I’ve pictured my dream wedding with my amazing husband. I knew exactly what I wanted to do, where I wanted to be and how I wanted to feel.

But with so much rejection, so many changes and now our special anniversary not being fulfilled, I became the person NOT to talk to about weddings.

Kind hearted relatives or family friends would broach the subject and I would swiftly change it. Those close to me would know to only talk about it if I brought it up. I was emotional but only behind closed doors. I didn’t want to be happy for others who got their day, I didn’t want to look at my Pinterest board for inspiration and I didn’t want to plan another day just for it to be cancelled again.

Looking back, it was a self-preservation thing. My emotional little body couldn’t cope with any more heartache so I cut it out. I ignored it and went on with life but with a bitterness in my heart.

Even going back to visit the seamstress for dress fittings became a chore. I no longer liked my wedding dress, I didn’t want to talk about bouquets and I couldn’t be bothered to be the happy, chirpy bride of previous years.

My third attempt at a hen party went down but it was emotional. I must have been horrible to be around!

The Third Cancellation

We all know where this is going, don’t we? September’s third wedding date didn’t happen and in all honestly, I lost the will to live with it all.

America was still off the cards, I was in the early months of my first pregnancy and I was over it.

I handed all wedding stuff over to my now-husband and asked him to take the burden on his shoulders.

His brief was simple: find a beach in a hot country, make it so we can travel there with our double jabs and early pregnancy and get it sorted.

And my God, did he do well!

The Best Wedding Day & Honeymoon I Could Have Ever Dreamt Of

Ladies, if your man has never organised a holiday solo for you – let him. We’ve always done everything together but wow he smashed it on his own. I’m talking breakfast in bed, breakfast on the beach, pre-wedding massages, romantic lobster dinners – the whole nine yards!

My amazing husband took the ball and ran with it.

He found a dream hotel in Mauritius and flights two days after the country opened up and booked it.

We found me a maternity wedding dress for £37 from Ever Pretty, we packed our bags, took screenshots of our negative COVID tests and we were off. The whirlwind to end all whirlwinds.

Mauritius

I’ve never been before but wow I would love to go again.

Mauritius is the destination wedding location of dreams. It’s all white sandy beaches, clear blue waters, sunshine and good food.

He delivered on the beach and actually, our wedding was better than I could ever have imagined.

No, we didn’t have the anniversary date – we picked a random day in October and that’s it. Nope, I wasn’t wearing my original wedding dress. No, I was not super fit and healthy – a year and a half of COVID lockdowns and a pregnancy meant I waddled down the aisle rather than glided.

Happiness, tears of joy, incredible memories encapsulated in a gorgeous photos – all of that is a yes!

We were married under a private cabana on top of a Koi Care pond at 4pm Mauritius time. We wandered the grounds and the sandy beach and had our photos taken while we laughed and talked. The walk down the aisle felt like the longest walk of my life.

I was able to keep my composure the whole day – right up until I saw him at the top of the aisle. After that, I was a snotty, crying mess. The photographer captured the moment when I finally made it to the top of the aisle and it’s all ugly crying, double chins and pure relief on our faces.

Our dinner was a delicious set menu and we were able to talk, sing and listen to our music while the sun went down over the island.

To say it was idyllic is an under statement.

COVID meant that we’d gone through so many emotions and we felt incredibly lucky to finally get to say our vows and make it official – and all before our beautiful baby joins us next year!

A Thank You From Me

From the bottom of my heart, I wanted to give you all a heartfelt thank you. I know that I have neglected you in my plans and shut down any conversations when it came to weddings. My usual sunny disposition hasn’t been there for a lot of the time and I’ve spent long periods feeling sorry for myself.

Being a blogger doesn’t mean that you HAVE to share everything in your life but I genuinely didn’t know how to share my feelings and give updates when I didn’t have the energy to.

You’ve stuck with me and I am so pleased to share this seriously heartfelt, emotional and personal blog post with you all!

My Advice To Fellow COVID Brides

We’re all in this together – even now that I’m married, I know the heartache you’re feeling.

My piece of advice would be: if you have to continuously change your big day and just make do, it’ll suck. But when you get to the bottom of the aisle and see your other half at the top, you’ll forget it all.

Your day WILL be perfect, it’ll be better than you ever dreamt it could possibly be.

The reason for this is because: your wedding is all about you two! You’ll finally be able to shout from the rooftops that you’re sworn together for life. Your vows will be set in stone. You’ll finally be one!

My Mauritius & Wedding Photo Highlights

From the new married
LoveRosiee
xxx

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