So, After a brief conversation with Ed... I have created this blog to keep everyone up to date with anything wedding related! The actual wedding won't be taking place for some time but that doesn't mean we can't have fun planning and throwing ideas around, right?I have spoken and/or seen some of you since we got engaged but haven't had the chance to catch up with many of you yet.. :( but I am sure we will catch up soon.
The Proposal
Earlier on this year, Luke and I decided we should book a nice holiday as we hadn't been away together for such a long time (years, in fact) and felt in desperate need of a good getaway. Plus, you all know what a nightmare Luke's work is for holiday booking so, as we knew he would have some time off, we started searching for a little piece of paradise...
After much searching we came across Lamu island, off the coast of Kenya in the Indian Ocean. The more we looked into it, the more we realized it would be the perfect place to chill out on a beach and not do much else. Plus, it seemed to be a quiet place with not many tourists and we were told there were no motorized vehicles on the island.... The only form of transport would be by donkey (poor things..) or by Dhow sailing boat (that's more like it!) So, we booked our trip and started getting stupidly excited until our departure date... the 12th of April.
We arrived in Lamu on the 13th of April after a rather long journey and one very small, very smelly, very rattly plane at the end of it all. The air was still and incredibly hot, the hot sun on our arms reminded us of our fair skin, and of the suncream that was at the bottom of our suitcases. The local people welcomed us with beautiful contagious smiles, which made perfect sense as they live in a place where the calm sea is their commute and journey to anywhere they need to go... and, of course, so the sea was our journey to our new home for the next ten days
Lamu airport...
Our boat journey to the guest house
Once we got settled in our room and had cold showers to cool us off (we went in the quiet season when it starts to get very sticky and hot), we went off to check out our local beach. The beach is called Shella, it's 12km of pure deserted heaven (no hotels, hardly any people, and not even any buildings). We swam and lay in the sun taking in the beauty of what seemed to be the most beautiful place we have ever visited, and adjusting to the incredibly slow pace of the island.... constantly reminding each other of how amazingly far away from London we were.
Shella Beach 
After some hours, we strolled back to our guest house and, after yet another cold shower, decided to sit on our balcony and enjoy the view ... and oh my what a view it was! (see below)
We spent ages just enjoying each others company and the peaceful surroundings and watching the beginning of what turned out to be the best sunset of my life, when Luke went down on one knee with this box in his hand!!! I, for once in my life, was totally speechless of course. Did I cry? Yes.... but I also laughed a lot. Nervous laughter I guess but I found it hilarious haha In his hand he had the most beautiful ring I have ever seen.. a perfect ring that he designed and had made specially (the boy did goooooood!)
After that, we had an amazingly, relaxing, romantic, beautiful time on Lamu island. A place that will always have a special place in our hearts and that we highly recommend to ALL of you. Seriously, you have to go before it get's ruined like every other beautiful place.
