Lee & Jac get married!

Currently sitting in Male airport in the Maldives having left Sri Lanka insanely early this morning. The check in closes 2 hours prior to departure and you have to check in 3 hours prior in Colombo. So for a 7am flight, we were up at 3am – just what's needed to ensure everyone is as happy as can be!

The Serendip was a truly wonderful place to get married. Parliter and Stephanie have put an endless amount of love and care into creating an incredible retreat. The beautifully refurbished stone bungalow is set above the terraced gardens looking out across the river Mawellha. We had some wedding clothes made from a textile shop & tailors in Kandy. Roisin and I wore saris, and Lee and Tevo wore traditional Sri Lankan linen shirts and sarongs. Parliter had arranged for some singing girls and our names were scripted in Singhalese on a lush chocolate cake. Stephanie decorated the house with flowers. The registrar was a lovely man and we 'solemnly and sincerely' declared our vows. It was a simple but beautiful ceremony, followed by the immediate cutting of the cake and it is tradition for the bride and groom to cut and pass this out to all the guests. The children were well chuffed to be having chocolate cake for their first course! This was followed by a reception of traditional snacks and tea, which we shared with some of Parliter's family and friends. Later on, we had a massive traditional wedding banquet of numerous curries (aubergine, cashew, dahl, banana flower, soya, garlic, gourd & potato) followed by Tricomalee buffalo curd and honey. I shall be making the garlic curry for my friends when I get home as it was just delicious.

The food on this trip has been incredible. Rafter's Retreat fed us up with an array of traditional curries (although I'm still not digging the banana flower; but the gourd is growing on me). We had big indian veggie lunches in Kandy town at the trusty old Sri Ram's – known as the best veggie food place in town. At Serendip, they fed us until we could eat no more (they are also vegetarian). Lots of lovely food, and even home made pizza for a change.

We were quite sad to leave Stephanie, Parliter and their gorgeous baby Suraj; but I have a feeling we will meet again one day. I bought a fabulous orange sapphire from Parliter's good friend, a gem dealer and mine owner from the North. He showed his collection of gems which was really interesting. Roisin impressed him with her gem knowledge. She has one of those Guardian posters on her wall at home, and seems to have memorised it.