I think, maybe I'm a bit biast about this hotel as this is where I got married, back in August 1999.
We wasn't originally meant to be getting married here, it was meant to be Antigua, as that was where my husband proposed to me and we fell in love with the place immediately. We had been there in 1997, and attended a wedding, so knew exactly what we would be getting. We booked it up and persuaded 12 other friends and family to come along. However, 3 or 4 months before we were meant to go we received a letter from the tour company stating that there would be work going on in the hotel grounds. They stated that this would not affect us or the wedding in any way.....ha, ha, no chance, as we had been there previously we could see that it deffinately would affect us. We decided to try somewhere else and could't find anywhere that would cater for a large wedding party and most importantly at the same, or cheaper price. Then, just by accident we stumbled upon Kenya.
At first I wasn;t very keen on the idea, I think the things that you see and hear on the TV, maybe was putting me off, but we were assured by the travel agents that it was lovely, and nothing to worry about. We ran it by all of the people coming along and all agreed that this would be different!!
It was a bit of a culture shock when we arrived and driving to our hotel, the different things that we see but, myself and my husband had not seen much diferent when we went to Antigua, so was prepared. And then we turned the corner and there it was, our hotel. Guards were there to open the large gates as we drove inside the complex. It was beautiful, the pools were amazing, you could swim practicly around the whole complex, including through the restaurant (which was a bit mad when your sitting eating your lunch, and someone swims past!!) The food was great, the accomodation was great and the people could not do enough for us. Our room had an adjoining door which was handy, mind you we was adjoined to my inlaws, so maybe not so goo!!! As we had booked our wedding there I was a bit apprehensive, but they made it so easy. We went and met with the wedding co-ordinator the second day after we arrived and it took all of about 15 minutes to organise the whole day, including, photos, video, flowers, entertainment etc. Well, as for the day it was spectacular........ they came and decorated our room with champagne, fruit, flowers and a wedding gift (a small trinket box made from the local stone). They came and collected myself and my two bridesmaids at 10.55 (the wedding was at 11am) and the service was beautiful. After we had about 10 local dancers, singing, dancing and playing drums, they even managed to get us all up dancing, which is a bit embrarassing looking back, but at the time was brill. At the end we gave some local money, scraped together from all our pockets which probably mounted to the equivalent of about £30, they were soooo grateful, that was probably a years wages for them, it was so nice to see. The whole thing lasted approximately 2 hours and then everyone was back in the pool after .We then all got ready and went on a cruise and meal along the river, which was fantastic.
A few days after the wedding we all went on a two day safari, which I won't go into detail but let's just say, I can't wait to go back and do a whole week!!
I would deffinately reccommend Kenya and especially the Sun n Sand Hotel, and if you were thinking of getting married abroad I couldn't think of a better place. I'm just so glad that we didn't go back to Antigua, although it was lovely, there were probably a dozen weddings happening every day where Kenya, there was ours and only one other in the whole 2 weeks.
I know getting married abroad isn't everyones cup of tea, but when you have two disfunctional families like ours, it's deffinately the best choice. I think that getting married in this country would have been too much money, too much hassle and a big migrain. I think the whole wedding and holiday cost approx £2,500, that's including everything, you wouldn't get a photographer for that over here. But everyone has their own tastes, and I have been to some absolutely beautiful weddings in this country, so everyone to their own I suppose.
We did have a small party when we got home for friends and relatives that couldn't make it which was really lovely.
Please go, you won't be dissappointed.
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May 21st, 2006
(May 22nd, 2006)
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