The PicuMarZ Diary

After being married for more than three months our wedding reception here in Malta finally took place on Sunday 9th October. The week before was very hectic, since it is tradition that the guests come to visit to give the presents. Luckily not all the guests came at the same evening, since they would not have fitted in our house. It was nice to have time to sit and talk a while with everyone, although it was a bit hectic at the same time, since I was at work during the days and immediately when I came home the first guests arrived.

I was very happy that my dad was coming for the wedding as well, together with three other guests from Finland. He had never visited Malta before, so I was anxious to show him as much as possible during his one week stay.

On the big day we had to wake up early, because Stephen had to accompany his best man Raymond to the venue Villa Oriana to bring the drinks, while the hair dresser came early to start with my make-up and hair. It took her almost two hours, and I was satisfied with the result. It felt a bit strange to see myself in the mirror, though, because normally I hardly use any make-up at all, so it was a big transformation.

At around 11 am my father and his friend Linda-Maj arrived in a taxi from their hotel at Ghadira Bay. We took a few photos in the house, and then we went out again to our wedding car, a white Bramwith. My father, his friend and Stephen's father accompanied us in the car. We were lucky to have sunny weather, after almost a whole week of raining. It was however very windy, so my hair got a bit messed up and I almost lost my vail Luckily Stephen reacted very fast and managed to catch it just in time.

We were a bit early, so the driver took an extra turn before we arrived to Villa Oriana. We got out from the car, posed for some photos and had some champagne. Then we went inside, applauded by the guests. After some more posing inside we started to walk around among the guests. It took quite a while to meet everyone, since we had about 200 guests.

When we were planning the wedding we carefully chose the kind of food we like, to be able to enjoy our wedding to the fullest. But we soon realised that on your own wedding you hardly have time to eat anything, you are so busy

We spent some time outside in the garden taking photos and filming, and then we also took quite many group photos: with the neighbours, with Stephen's relatives (both from his mother's and his father's side), with his work mates and with his study friends.

Time really flied, and shortly after we had opened the Maltese table it was time to cut the cake. We had a bit difficulty knowing from where to cut, but we managed at last. The cake was very beautiful and also tasty. It was mine and Stephen's task to walk around offering pieces of the cake to all guests, I to the males and Stephen to the females.

When we finally left the party in Stephen's care we were very happy but quite exhausted. We still decided to drive to Dingli Cliffs, because we had planned to take some photos ourselves there. But disappointedly we discovered that we did not have any batteries in the camera

In the evening the best man Raymond brought all the left overs of the food and drinks to our house. We were busy all evening putting things in the freezer and organising.

As a conclusion I can say it is extremely exhausting and quite expensive to get married, but in my opinion it is definitely worth it!

Another important event for us in October was that my dad came to visit Malta for the first time. He was very excited to come, both because he would get to participate in our wedding reception, and because he would see where I am living my life now. His first impression of Malta was that there were stones everywhere, and that the nature is completely different from Finland. But the more he saw of Malta the more he like it.


MONDAY 10TH OCTOBER

The day after the wedding Stephen and I drove to Mellieha to pick them up and we first went to the old capital of Malta, Mdina. We walked around in the narrow streets, and enjoyed the marvellous view.

Tove, the wife of dad's cousin, is very interested in history, and she very much wanted to visit the old stone temples at Hagar Qim and Mnajdra, so that was our next destination. Stephen and I had not yet eaten anything, so we decided to have lunch at the nearby restaurant while our guests went to see the temples.

It was a warm and sunny day, so we felt like a swim. Stephen's and mine favourite beach Ghar Lapsi was nearby, so we decided to go there. Our guests were very impressed by the clear water and the beautiful surroundings, and we all enjoyed the swim a lot.

On our way back we visited the church in Siggiewi, before we went back to Mellieha and then Stephen and I drove back home. In the evening we visited Stephen's aunt Guza and said good bye to his two aunts Judith and Lina, who were going to return to England the following day.


TUESDAY 11 OCTOBER

This was my last day off from work, so we decided to take this opportunity to go to Gozo. We started quite early in the morning, picked up my dad & co in Mellieha and continued driving to Cirkewwa. From there we took the ferry over to Gozo, and drove straight to Dwejra Bay. The previous day my dad had been very impressed by the swim in Ghar Lapsi, but the experience at Dwejra Bay was if possible even more memorable.

We climbed down to the water and swam just underneith the Azur window. Stephen and I felt adventurous, so we kept on swimming out to some caves. We then decided to try to swim all the way to the Inland Sea, which is quite far. It was a bit scary to swim in the deep water, and Stephen really gave me a big freight. I was swimming a bit in front of him, and suddenly I heard him scream in panic! I was afraid he had got cramp and were unable to swim, but it turned out that he had been badly burned by a jellyfish. It had grabbed him around his neck, and he also had burns on both his arms and his chest. Really scary.

Anyway, we managed to swim to the Inland Sea, and were tired after the long swim. We rested a while, and then we left Dwejra. We went to visit Ta' Pinu church, and we were lucky to arrive just as they opened the church.

By now we were all quite tired, so we decided to return to Malta.


WEDNESDAY 12TH TO SATURDAY 15TH OCTOBER

The rest of the week I had to work, but I still had some time together with my Finnish guests. On Wednesday we all met in Valletta during my lunch break, and when I finished work they followed me home. We showed them the house and had some small snacks before we left to visit Stephen's aunt Agnes and uncle Louis. She had prepared lots of food and sweets, so we were extremely full when we left.

On Friday Raymond took Stephen, my dad and the rest to Senglea and Fort St Angelo. I joined them once I finished from work, and then we went to Raymond and Nella's house for dinner.

On Saturday my dad's vacation was already over, and we went to the airport to say good bye to them.