The Jen and Terry Show

The Marmite Wedding!

2011-07-19T07:00:00.001-04:00

Its been a while since we blogged so I thought I'd share a few bits and bobs with you. Jennifer Constant is now the wife of Terry Constant and we 'spread' our love to our closest friends and family in the best wedding ever on July 9th in Llangadog, Wales - Brecon Beacons on 9th July.

And Jen wont want me 100% focussing on the fact that we had a Marmite themed wedding, but its true. It was a fantastic full weekend of happiness and chilling with family and friends but took months and months to plan. To be more specific, it took Jen months and months to plan, lol. She did an amazing job with lots of creative, highly personalised decorations.

We also had a marmite wedding cake, a marmite London taxi, marmite for all our guests a custom made marmite hat and edible marmite undies....ok, the last one isn't true but would've been awesome!!

The weather was perfect, the band brilliant and everyone helped loads and loads. We also had a curry buffet from a local takeaway which was amazing!

After the wedding it was time to go to Indonesia! But knowing us theres no way we'd do it the 'typical way'...it was time for a backpacking 3.5 week trip! Bring it on....

And when we get back, it'd be time to chill (for Jen) and not have to think about wedding at all....just crafty bits and dancing classes she said.

Wedding Week!

2011-04-24T06:43:00.000-04:00

To be brutally honest, I am actually looking forward to the wedding day ending. That sounds awful doesnt it!? I don't actually mean over but when I can sit back and know it all went well. I've been a bit of a worry wart this week about it all; what if it rains? What if people don't have fun? What if the food doesn't work out right?....all these things to think about and worry about. I know I shouldn't, I should concentrate on how amazing it will be...!!

We have had a fantastic April for the weather, its been around 75F most days, 22Cish..we drove to Rhossili Beach in South Wales and took a lovely long walk. We cycled to town yesterday for a picnic, climbed to the top of a hill to a church dating back to 1245 in Glastonbury, had a free hug from a hippie in the centre of town as well as a hemp chocolate that tasted disgusting!

I worked the London International Dive Show for Project AWARE and had a great weekend advocating for marine conservation at the end of March, we raised £3600 and got 690 signatures for our petition to stop shark finning.

My evenings have been taken over by crafts for the wedding...crafts, crafts, crafts.

I made my own guest book...

I made some doilies signs for my sweetie bar...

I made my laterns to decorate the tree we are marrying under...

I finished off 5 flower girl baskets...

Busy bee! Im making pom poms for the aisle now and then next week I am going to make the table runners..should be nearly there then!

Creative Wedding Favours

2011-03-08T09:29:00.001-05:00

My own wedding is taking place this July. I, of course, am having a celebrant deliver my service in style. The Wedding is taking place in Wales and I am going to marry the man of my dreams under a 900 year old oak tree.

In order to decorate the tree as well as the venue, I have started planning my creativity.

First up, wedding favours!

I am combining 2 ideas for favours.

Vintage English Tea Cups with Love Heart Lavender Pillows.

I have been collecting tea cups from charity shops, lovely floral patterns made in England. They look very pretty together.

Last night I created my very first love heart pillow. To make these yourselves, all you need is 2 pieces of your favourite material cut into love heart shapes. Sew back to back together leaving a small hole. Turn inside out and fill with stuffing from a pillow. Sew the ribbon on the side and there you have it, beautiful wedding favours! Don’t forget to sprinkle a little lavender oil on the pillow stuffing to make it smell beautiful! The floral clashes, but who cares it fun!

A 'thinky' day after watching the destruction of the Oil Sands in Canada!

2011-01-31T07:35:00.003-05:00

I was looking for a new bike. I came accross the Bristol bike project and found a website that made me think: http://biketales.wordpress.com/about/

For some reason after watching a programme on the destruction of the oil sands to the canadian forests last night and being in the 'whats life all about mood', I felt the urge to email them and for my future records here is what I wrote.

Hi Jen and Jet

I just read your blog, I got the site from the Bristol Bike Shop. http://biketales.wordpress.com/about/

What a trip you have had, you are my inspiration!

Myself and my partner have travelled a lot in the last few years. After 3 years of being on the road we have arrived back to England with a bang. We now live in Bristol . When you look around and see nothing but concrete and council tax, the world feels so small. Claustrophobic.

The vibrancy of India is electric. Colours, noises, horns, cows and the people. Even the poorest are kind and dress amazingly well.

When you travel I believe you find the reasons for life, why we were on this earth. The beauty of the earth is slowing dying and we must appreciate what it has to offer before it is too late. So little of us, reach out and grab the beauty and discovery.

I am not sure why I am sending you this email, maybe just to convince myself of the path I really want to be on. The path of exploration and non conformity. Maybe this email was just a justification of the urge I feel to get back out there and get my reality back. My brain constantly stuggles with this concept.

I sit at my desk, stare at a computer, email the person next to me, return home to a concrete box (although my flat is lovely, its a metaphor hehe), and repeat the process 5 days a week. I worked for a marine conservation charity so I work hard to change the minds of people who slaughter our apex predators. But still this doesn’t seem to be enough. Why I think, maybe the world has already made its decision and who am I to attempt to change it. Its already on a destructive path.

After an email of self discovering lol, I would like to send you one piece of travel advice. Cycle to Hampi, west of Goa . I do not even need to describe it, when you arrive you will know.

A fellow searcher, Jennifer

Tailor Made Ceremonies

2011-01-26T12:04:00.001-05:00

My fabulous new business is doing well. I trained as a Independent Wedding and Naming Celebrant last year and am now a fully qualified celebrant. I have a beautiful website, thanks to Mike Collins and have had a great start. I have attended the Marriott and Holiday Inn wedding fairs, along with my sidekick Terence and have been invited into Debenhams to exhibit there!

For those of you who do not know what a celebrant is, hopefully my blog post for a mother and baby website will help explain (this is focussed on baby namings, but I am working on weddings and renewal of vows:

In our ever increasing secular and modern society, many people choose to not have a traditional Christening for their child. Many Christenings now are often with other unknown children and are combined with regular visits to the church before hand to gain acceptance for the chosen location and date. Many people who are not religious and do not attend church regularly anyway, find such an activity often an extra, dare I say, inconvenience.

A Naming Ceremony offers families an opportunity to announce the birth of a baby, officially name the child in front of families, friends and communities and declare their support and commitment to the child for their welfare, upbringing and for the child’s freedom to express dreams and aspirations.

The ceremonies can be held in any location; some families prefer a ceremony in their own home to make it easier for the baby as well as make the ceremony very personal. Other families choose a marquee or some an Urt, for something really original.

Naming Celebrants will write a ceremony script based on the family and tailor make the script to reflect the families’ journey to the birth of their child. It can include other siblings and family members.

A family may still choose to have Godparents but there are alternatives. The parents can choose the names ’Guardians’ or ‘Supporting Adults’, and ask them to uphold commitment and support to the child as he/she grows and offer friendly guidance to them in their future. These members can be announced in the ceremony and will be asked to make such promises should the couple wish.

It is important to celebrate such wonderful occasions and mark those special moments in life. With a naming ceremony, a couple can choose to add any significant poems, readings and/or spirituality. You are free to decide how to name your child.

At Tailor Made Ceremonies in Bristol (www.tailormadeceremonies.co.uk), we will create, inspire and captivate a beautiful ceremony for your family. We will write a personalised script for you and deliver the ceremony wherever you choose.

Grace those special moments in life with a ceremony that has significance to you; as every family is unique and every baby deserves a unique celebration.

http://www.tailormadeceremonies.co.uk/

Christmas and a Change of Heart

2011-01-20T10:01:00.000-05:00

It has been nearly 2 months so I have posted a blog so thought it was about time I wrote again. We are still in Bristol and about to move into a new flat on Saturday. Its all very exciting. It has 2 double bedrooms and is beautifully decorated.

Christmas was great. It was lovely to spend a week in Portsmouth, cat sitting for Hayden, Tel's cousin. It meant that we had plenty of flexibility with seeing family and friends in Southampton and Worthing. Christmas day was nice. Really relaxed day at Kirks house. Seeing Alfie open his presents was priceless. It was worth more than any Christmas present I had. So sweet!

Our wedding plans have changed dramatically. We have decided to cancel the whole thing as it was getting extremely stressful. I was worried about all of the arrangements and I decided that it is not worth ruining the meaning of marriage over it. We have now booked a huge mansion in the Brecon Beacons in Wales and are going to marry under a 900 year old oak tree. Its a lovely venue and a weekend away for all of the family. We are very excited! We are now planning the honeymoon and a big trip at Christmas. Morrocco, Egypt, maybe central america...the choices are endless!

Heres a few christmas snaps!

Winter Wonderland

2010-11-27T16:49:00.025-05:00

Its been 3 years since we have spent a November in England. It's been a hard time for the last few weeks trying to find jobs in this horrific recession. Some of the agencies have told us that up to 300 people are applying for the same jobs. Ouch. I've now trained as a Independent Wedding and Naming Celebrant and set up a new business named, 'Tailor Made Ceremonies'. I will now be slogging my heart out trying to get it up and running. I'm booked for two wedding fairs in January and am going to work hard to get my website together. My business cards arrived today and they look fab! Ill be spending my time writing and performing the ceremonies, I cannot wait. Anyone out there needing a Baby Naming Ceremony or a unique Wedding Ceremony, let me know!

I managed to find a job this week too. I'll be working for Project Aware, affiliated with PADI international. I'll be working hard as their Regional Coordinator to save marine environments. Back into the charity world, in which I love.

We have been having a few fab weekends here too. A few weeks ago we watched some crazy countrydwellers running up and down the street through the middle of crowds with burning barrels of tar on thier backs. And come to think of it, it wasn't just crazy countrymen, it was crazy country women and children too! Madness. Loved it!

Massive bonfire, some lovely friends and some seriously hairy moments (i.e. being squashed by thousands of people down the skinniest country roads in Britain...let alone dodging men on fire), we had a great night.

This weekend it started snowing in Bristol. Wow, the weather just changed so quickly and so dramatically. Only a few weeks ago it was t-shirt weather, i swear. Southampton is only 2 hours away yet I dont remember snowy Novembers there. We decided to get out and explore today and travelled down to Cheddar, the home of Cheddar Cheese..we think...

The snow was amazing throughout the South West England, it was beautiful; a real winter wonderland. We trekked to Blackrock, a massive part of the gorge, strutting out over miles of white farmland. Here are a few snaps of our day:

Zombie-Nation

2010-11-02T15:45:00.001-04:00

We are definitely enjoying Bristol. It has so much to offer. Autumn has to be my favourite season and Bristol has so many beautiful trees that shed a rainbow of leaves all over the streets. We have had lovely weather too since being here, beautiful autumnal days, chilly enough to wear a coat but sunny enough to keep the sunglasses on!

On Saturday, a mob of 4,000 people got dressed and ready to scare the city! No one was safe, buses were smeared with blood, streets were covered in fake liver and kidney and children were crying everywhere you looked. It was all in the name of fun though, although some people took it very seriously!

So we walked from 3.30pm to around 5pm, had drinks on the lawn with all of the other blood thirsty zombies and then started a great night out. Check out the pics!

Three years of blogging and the Nigerian craziness!!

2010-10-28T15:17:00.001-04:00

Howdy cyberdwellers. How are you all today? Its been one heck of a week for me (Terry) but first I want to very briefly celebrate the fact that Jen and I have been blogging for 3 years now. How long you ask?? And why perhaps... well, I can't quite come to terms with it myself, but it was all the way back in October 2007 that we set our sights on African Safari and quite fittingly, here I am, on the anniversary of this occasion also in Africa. This time not on Safari and unfortunately this time minus my gorgeous wife to be. Why have we been blogging? Well I guess the best response is why the heck not. Lol.

So here I am, in my final 24hours of being in most definitely one of the craziest countries I've visited. Having said that, i've been in a bubble. A bubble of affluence basically. Surrounded by gadgets, expensive toys a security perimeter and all the home comforts I could wish for; peppered with a slight feeling of guilt each time I am escorted from the air con compound in the air con range rover, to the air con office...all the while passing people in abject poverty.

Its a strange world isn't it. No matter where we are, we strive for perfection in its various forms. But its interpretive isn't it. Each person holds a different definition of this concept in their mind, and therefore executes a different life plan. Or perhaps they don't. Perhaps there is no plan, or they don't have the ability to formulate one. Worth pondering.

Either way, Nigeria is as crazy as they come. And the poor live side by side with those with money and those in power. Its an odd country and I know this from only being here one week.

I was given an incredible opportunity by an extremely kind man who I have grown to very much respect and like over the last week. This gentleman, who shall remain anonymous, provided me with a chance to completely change the lives of Jen and I. He brought me into his house and showed me great kindness for which I am eternally grateful. He is a very successful business man who has made his money from nothing and built up an empire single handedly from scratch. For this, I fully respect him.

Now onto the country itself. Well, what can I say. All those english folk out there, if you can imagine the M25 on steriods with car size potholes, no traffic lights and cars in a condition akin to those still limping along from the 1950's you'd be close to the roads here in Lagos! They're mental! Oh yeah, and throw in someone walking up and down between the moving traffic selling pretty much anything you can think of. And I mean anything. I've seen bike tyres to shoe racks on offer, phone cards to chocolate bars bartered for and electronics to chewing gum. Its basically like a walking tesco, lol. The funny part is when they have a sniff of deal and have to run to keep up with the still moving car to seal the deal!! Lol.

And then theres security. Boy oh boy this country isn't for the faint hearted. I was fortunate (or not) enough to have an armed escort with me wherever I went. And by armed I mean a guy with a machine gun in the front seat. This is by no means typical though as its all dependent on your connections. The 'normal' situation is to basically live in fear as an ex-pat it would seem. Fear of the kidnappings and harsh violence or fear of simply losing the power in your house which frequently occurs of an evening. Things are very unreliable here and so it feels as though you're living on a knife edge. It would appear that theres lots of money to be made if you have the connections. But you would need to do business in majorly uncertain circumstances. And this creates a dilemma. The age old dilemma of "do I do anything for the money"....as I do need it. There are almost no opportunities in the UK as far as im concerned, and so it'd be amazing. But at what price. This is the dilemma.

Either way I've had a great week. I've met some amazing people and witnessed how harsh life can be in Africa. Its most definitely a far cry from the creature comforts you grow to take for granted. And although I've seen abject poverty in places like India and Cambodia for example, somehow its different here. In my brief introduction to Nigeria, I've seen a country that wants to have high aspirations. A country that has great wealth in its natural resources, but also one with a massive amount of corruption that directs the wealth to the few in power in the Government. As always, you want to help but in reality you can't. You stand out too much which makes you a target rather than someone with fresh spirit and energy who wants to chip in and solve some problems. One day when we win the lottery we'll be able to help out whoever we want whenever we want.

Anyway, for now its back to the UK (well, in 24hours time), and back to reality! Peace out.

The adventurous spirit never dies

2010-09-30T09:33:00.002-04:00

We cannot move abroad, nor can we stay put. The only way we can keep our adventurous spirit happy is to move towns. The thrill of risk, not knowing where we will live, who we will meet, what jobs we will get, or even if we will get jobs, is something so necessary in our life’s.

Terry and I certainly are not your average couple. I think sometimes this is quite unfortunate. Sometimes I wish we could be happy with what we have in front of us, grateful for jobs and a roof over our heads, but we are always, constantly wanting more. The need for a fresh start drives our path. However this is not necessarily a good thing.

So the next adventure on the Jen and Terry Show is Bristol. We are moving to a new town, close to

Wales

, Cornwall and Devon, it’s a large town, deemed the new, less hectic London. We are staying put for 3 years so that Terry can re-train as an electrician. Once we are qualified in a trade we can apply for our New Zealand Visas and move our life’s back to paradise.

Wedding plans are moving along slowly now. We have found a great video-grapher who is happy to shoot our wedding and edit the film for £150, a shy amount from the usual £1000 some jokers get away with. I also had a major bridesmaid dress crisis. I spontaneously brought 2 dresses, the same dress but different colours. They were a bargain from a lovely shop called Coast. Reduced from £95 to £45 and with a beautiful flow and elegance about them. However, once my gorgeous bridesmaids tried them on, I didn’t like them. Well, actually that’s wrong, I loved them but maybe for a nightout or a dinner date, not the vintage, elegant, English rose look I was looking for.

I’ve found a new style I love, a very vintage mint green with a bow on the back. Maybe if my sewing skills improve I can attempt to make them myself…watch this space!

I have been searching the internet, whilst ‘working’, and have found some amazing creative ‘vintage’ ideas.

Ive decided to go DIY with the garden of my reception..making all sorts from floral bunting to pompoms, to making a kissing tree sign (for all those romantic lovers out there) and a washing line of photographs! I even found out the best ways to make your own bouquets...

I was thinking we could use a few of our travelling photographs to go along with the photos I have asked all of our guests to bring. A very personalised, visual aspect to the day.

These pompoms just made out of fabric will look fab around the chairs of the reception..

I was even thinking of having a table with numerous jars of penny sweets and having 'mix ups'..I grew up getting excited about penny chews and feel this is a typical English past time. More ideas to come!

The Perfect Quotation

2010-09-06T10:07:00.003-04:00

Nothing more than a quotation, it says it all...

"So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more dangerous to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun."
— Chris McCandless

Post Eleven: Santa's eating the lollipops

2010-09-03T10:15:00.004-04:00

I hadn’t realised the summer had gone so quickly. We turned our calendars to September and bam the Christmas decorations are ready for you to buy in Tescos. Its still 23 degrees outside for goodness sake! I don’t understand why people would want to start planning for a day in December, a day that is 3 months away and that is only full of stress and self indulgence. Scrooge you may say, or bar humbug, but that’s just my opinion. Many people love Christmas, the tree, the music, the festive feeling, late night shopping and an overdraft that size of Santa’s belly.

For Terry and I, Christmas can be a stressful mess, lol. Being torn emotionally between families, driving miles, buying presents and partaking in the typical thirst for consumption. Consumption of modern day symbols of progress or things contributing to material wealth; those factors which result in the throw away society as a consequence. I mean, how many things do you need. Its a question often posed on a daily basis to our conscious selves. Its a combination of comparison and the green eyed monster. Perhaps the upgraded USB, TFT or HDD really is better? Its interpretive.

And then there's the inconvenience of dietary matters. Always a treat to have the supreme 'quorn roast' once a year. Still no idea why its not eaten more as it does rock.

Maybe our opinions will soften or even alter fundamentally once we have a shared surname.

I keep a little picture by my desk of my wedding dress to remind myself that it is actually real and happening within the next year. I am still looking out for Bridesmaid dresses, might pop into the sales soon as the summer is ‘over’ they will probably be selling off their summer clothes. I have been getting a few RSVP’s on my wedding website, but they are coming in much slower then I imagined! 28 replies in total, so nearly a third of the way there for ceremony guests.

I’ve come up with a cute, creative idea of having love heart shaped lollipops for my table place names. They are adorable and add a fun decoration to the table as well as something my guests can eat when they arrive at their tables! They come in clear packaging and I thought I would place a sticky label around the stick of the lolly with the guest name printed on them. I also thought I could place the lolly balancing on the saucer of my favour.

At only 14p a lolly and £12.60 for the lot, it’s a great innovative idea, rather than the usual card place name. Colourful, creative and romantic.

It’s Friday and a beautiful weekend is ahead of us.

Post Ten: A little escape from reality...

2010-08-27T11:04:00.005-04:00

We escaped our own version of the rat race for a week away. We didn’t need any time to think about where to go we knew that we had to go and visit our own country as every time we travel we only have negative things to say about the

to our backpacking buddies. We needed to see what we were missing or not missing be it the case!

How wrong were we!? Well, of course excluding the economic and social problems the

presents, the

has beautiful landscapes and lots of offer the traveller. We headed through Bristol, picked up the lovely Katy and drove up through the mountain passes of

Wales

to Snowdonia National Park. We spent the evening getting ruined by mossies and midges, but had lovely camp-man-ship in the form of some lads from Newcastle setting up a fire for us so that they could eventually see our face from the coverage of midges!

We climbed Snowden the next morning, only 1085 metres and with all of my cycling and my current mindset that anything is easier than the Inca trail, it was a doddle. Lovely views over the mountains and an inspiring place to be walking around.

We then headed north to the Lake District to stay in beautiful campsites overlooking the lakes. Taking in the rays (yes we did manage sunshine), we walked romantically around the lakes and breathed in the fresh air. After 2 nights there, we drove all the way to Loch Long in

Scotland

. We set up our lovely blue tent, overlooking the loch long whilst watching the sun go down. Terry popped to the local chippy and I made our falafels for a good old veggie treat. Perfection. Terry, me, our tent, chips and the most beautiful landscape ahead, turning slightly black as the sun falls asleep behind it.

The next morning we trekked through the mountain passes and then drove to Glencoe. Once at Glencoe we were treated by a very fast harrier jet as it was practising some moves. I literally thought I was going to die as it zoomed past, it was so loud. We camped in ‘Red Squirrel’ and went to the local pub for a Guinness only to be greeted with a band and some lovely highland fling dancing. A fabulous, truly Scottish evening, we couldn’t have asked for a better night out in

Scotland

Edinburgh was next on the agenda, after driving up to Fort William and through the highlands. Vibrant, diverse and a fun place to be when the sun was beaming down. The fringe festival was on and the streets were full of comedy acts, musicians, dancers and anyone and everyone just trying to have a happy day. Fantastic city with so much to offer.

We drove back spending the night on a rugby field, due to the fact the campsites in Northumberland were all sold out, and visiting the angel of the north and felt thoroughly happy and satisfied with our

expedition. Mission accomplished: Our minds have changed. The

has a lot to offer!

Post Nine: My fab wedding invites - on a budget

2010-08-09T09:01:00.001-04:00

So after a week of pulling together ideas for the invitations and a mishap in printing over 70 of them, only to find a mistake on the times of the ceremony, I have finally finished my wedding invitations.

To save money, I have finished my wonderful wedding website. A free and fabulous site with gettingmarried.co.uk. I didn’t want to send huge wedding invitations that would cost a lot of money to post and a lot of money to get made, I opted for a free wedding planning website. Its great; everyone can RSVP, find accommodation and even work out their routes to the venues on there. As the wedding will be personal and DIY style, I wanted my invitations to be too.

So I used a great website called, ‘fromoldbooks.com’, and managed to find a great vintage, gothic inspired border for the 4x6 postcard shaped invite. Within the border, I wrote a short message depicting the details of the day and added my website for RSVP and gift list. This not only saves time, it’s totally eco friendly.

My cycle route home from work everyday takes me pass my favourite shop, ‘hobbycraft’. It’s a treasure trove of craft goodies for me, although a little expensive the shop always makes me want to buy something. I went in to see how I could get creative with my invitations and sat by the ribbons for about an hour. (I know totally sad). I had printed my draft invitations and matched them up with some floral cream ribbon and a lovely plum coloured ribbon too. Plum will be my wedding colour so I managed to tie that in. The black border against the cream and purple looks just prefect. A slight gothic, vintage and original design. I decided to fold bows with the ribbon and add a flash of colour.

My creative mess!

I also managed to use the invites I made a mistake on! Recycling goddess! I used the Laura Ashley paper I brought for the original invites and backed the new ones nicely.

So all in all…how much did I add to the bill? £1 for Laura Ashley Paper, £1.50 for the envelopes, £1.50 for the card and £5 for the ribbon. So £9 for my invitations, less then a penny each and am handing most of them out to save postage! Perfection!

Post Eight: A marriage from hell?

2010-08-05T11:10:00.009-04:00

If I could hand you a thousand pounds, what would you spend it on? How about if I was feeling very generous and gave you a million? Maybe a mansion in the Caribbean, so you can sun yourself whenever you please, or maybe a private jet to fly you away whenever you fancied the ride. What about £3.200,000? Now that must be even more difficult to think about, 2 houses maybe, 2 planes and maybe if your feeling generous and you can’t possibly think of anything else to spend your money on, give some of the money to charity. You could even pay off 10% of Africa’s debt. Hilary Clinton's daughter spent this on her wedding day.

That’s a 99% percentage difference on the cost of my wedding, a £3,196,500 difference, a hell of a lot of money difference. I wonder if she was happier than I am going to be on my big day? I wonder if money makes a difference to how you feel on the day; whether it improves the romance or the words you say and feel as you say your vows. Or is spending that amount of money on your wedding day all for show, a way to tell people how rich you are and what a lavish party you are able to hold as you have money growing on your trees in your back garden? As I sit and ponder that thought, whilst at work (I should totally be working!!), I come across an article from the BBC News titled ‘A marriage made in hell?’.

The article describes the modern wedding. The scary women rushing into a Bridal Sale and pushing others excited brides out of the way to get the bargain dress. Or a over enthusiastic bridesmaid ordering a male stripper for the hen do.

A clinical psychologist Dr James commented that, "Brides are more prone to wanting to signify their importance to others through grand material displays. Classic keeping up with the Joneses." I guess this is true for most brides nowadays. Some brides are dictated to by their parents and traditional is followed so strictly that the extras cost extra. Lavish presents for the mother of the bride and groom, presents for the bridesmaids, presents for the groomsmen, high profile photographer..etc..etc. Some brides forget the reason they are getting married and concentrate too much on the look, the colours and how they are going to greet and feed their guests. I am not convinced this makes a marriage from hell but it creates a lot of pressure and anxiety for the bride to make things just perfect. I am not sure how I will focus my thoughts on the wedding yet, certainly not a wedding that thinks about it's guests more than Terry and I, but I do hope I remember the true meaning of a wedding. To show Terry my commitment to him and to tell him how much I adore him. Rather than getting stressed out over which expensive car I'd like to arrive in.

Post Seven: Girl with the Tray

2010-07-23T10:44:00.001-04:00

The quirky merry-go-round music that you hear from the classic Ice Cream Van is playing behind my head, out in the street near to our house. I thought, ‘I must have one at the wedding.’ It would be brilliant; a hot day, an Indian curry, nice music and fun things to do in the grounds around the venue surely equals an Ice Cream. Hmmm…so how do I do this in budget? With no shoes and only socks to protect my feet from the concrete road, I run out into the street to ask our local ice cream van how much he charges. I thought why not bite the bullet and ask him straight up. He said with travel expenses and the cost of ice creams we were looking at minimum £200.

With this thought in tow I headed back to the comfort of carpet and sat and thought about other interesting ideas that could work instead of spending £200. Terry and my mum were both trying to convince me to buy a load of ice cream tubs and put them in the freezer at the Hall, letting everyone help themselves, however I found this so unexciting and uninspiring that I just tuned out from listening.

Last night, we drove down to Portsmouth, after cycling 8 miles to work and back and feeling very tired, we arrived at Hayden’s, Terry’s cousin’s house, to see Hayden, Terry’s mum Sue, Terry’s Nan and Hayden’s girlfriend Lyndsay. I was talking through the idea that I was dying to have an ice cream van to add fun and personality to the day and Terry’s mum sparked a great alternative. Meeting both Terry and my own opinion in the middle, she thought up the old classic cinema addition, the ‘girl with the tray’.

It’s a great way to interact with the guests, give the groomsmen a good job and have something yet again creative and fits perfectly with my old English theme. So New Forest Ice Creams and a classic ‘man with the tray’ will add a great little free and refreshing treat to the afternoon. I was going to ask the groomsmen to do it with their tops off (one for the ladies) but was quickly laughed out of the room.

Post Six: Tea anyone!

2010-07-23T09:42:00.002-04:00

8.30 on a Sunday is not often a time I see. But for the wedding, we got up and headed to the car boot sale in Worthing. For my wedding favors all the women will be getting a tea cup and saucer. Any that I can find with a gold rim and a delicate English flower or with a tad of charm I have brought. None over 1 pound each and each one different, original and lovely. I have decided to give these along with a ribbon tied tag with the date of our wedding. Something different I thought and something that will add an additional creative spark.

Whilst at the car boot sale, I came across a cake stand. A 3 tied metal cake stand that a bride had used only once before for her wedding. I brought it for 4 pounds and was so happy with my bargain. On the way home I popped into the local craft shop and picked up some ribbon and flowers and decorated the stand. It looks great!! I have ordered some books from the library on baking cakes and am going to attempt to make my own! It can't be that hard!

Post 5: Setting up the site and sending out the invites

2010-07-23T09:41:00.004-04:00

I have been busy searching for Bridesmaid dresses, flower girl dressesa and have finally found my wedding dress. The dress is perfect; simple, sexy and sophisticated. It's on another level to your usual princess wedding dress and add a touch of elegance to the day. I cannot reveal how much the dress was until after the wedding as you will be shocked at the price, lets just say it fits very well into the budget.

So now I have the dress arranged, I have found this wonderful free site to set up all of the wedding plans and send out all of the information required for the guests. The site is perfect, it has everything you need to arrange the big day.

Just have to get around to making the invites now and am thinking of using an apple mac to set them up. You can do this for around 5p a invite so works out really well on the price front. Or using a website www.fromoldbooks.co.uk to find images from story books when we were young to use as decoration to some amazing text I found.

The text goes something like this:

Together with our families, We,

Terry Jennifer

John & Claire

Constant Edmonds

Request the honour of your company at the celebration of our marriage

Saturday the Twenty-Fifth of June, Two Thousand and Eleven

at Twelve Noon

Please visit our website, xxxxxxxx@xxxxx

to find out the ceremony and reception details, RSVP, where to stay and our gift list.

Please RSVP on our website using ******** as the password

I thought this was a very classic text and scroll and really goes along with my old English theme. I am currently looking into growing my own flowers now too, just have to choose which ones...Im thinking asters or maybe even roses. I began with Lillies but I think they are a little over used now.

Post Four: The Saga of the Perfect Dress

2010-06-28T11:24:00.002-04:00

So yesterday, we went to the ‘wedding dress Sale’ at Berketex Brides in Portsmouth. I wish now I hadn’t gone. I tried on around 6 dresses, each one a different style and mix, but my style in any way. Until, I tried on THE dress, without looking at the price tag and it fit me like a glove. A flow of white material, netting feature at the base and a lovely simple crossed design over the boddess. It was a glamorous white. It looked amazing (if I do say so myself!) and I was so happy with it…until I looked at the price tag. Reduced for £1200 to £699, a bargain in a normal budget, but with our slim line budget it was a huge chuck. I am struggling with the fact that £699 would pay for a huge range of other exciting things, from a holiday for a week for 2, to saving hundreds of lives in Sub-Saharan Africa or even just help us on our way to honeymoon heaven. Oh, but when a girl falls in love, she can’t stop daydreaming about walking down the aisle in such a beautiful dress and feeling like a princess for one day in her whole life…

So the search begins to find a dress within budget. Oh, this won’t be easy as I have one to compare every dress to now! Obviously the cheapest thing to do is buy a second hand dress and get a tailor to adapt it to your requirements, however as much as I wanted to do this in the first place, I’ve changed my mind now. It’s all about the perfect dress for your big day…

I have just booked appointments with wedding dress shops that currently have sales and also, the Oxfam wedding dress shop with dresses ranging from £100 to £500. Let’s see how that goes.

Post Three: Namaste and the glam ceremony room

2010-06-25T07:16:00.004-04:00

The sky is bright blue today and squirrels were coming up to me to say hello on my way to work this morning. It was like a scene from Bambi, as if they were saying good morning and could see the smile on my face, knowing today was going to be a good day. I cycled past 5 horses as they grazed the brightest green grass I’ve ever seen. It’s a year today for our big day and I’m praying the weather will be like this.

We achieved so much after work last night, it really was unbelievable. We travelled to Sopley Mill, a Grade 2 listed building, through windy country roads and stunning views to a small village near Ringwood. The mill had stunning surroundings with a tiny bridge over the fast flowing stream, over to a lovely grassed area with views of the historic, working mill and the surrounding fields. It came complete with chickens, a goat and huge dogs.

As we walked up to the ceremony room, we were struck by the smell of wet dog and unattractive, 80’s style carpets. The ceilings were so low Terry struggled with his 6 foot frame to walk through the rooms. The large space was filled with tables and chairs, set out like a school disco, complete again with your typical wooden 5 metre by 5 metre dancing area. We weren’t allowed a band and everyone had to be out by 11.30pm. Very unattractive oranges and pale pinks were used as décor and nothing inspired us about this space apart from the price, £350. In terms of wedding venues, £350 is a steal compared the thousands upon thousands the hotels charge.

As we drove out on the gravel path, we were all giggling at the horrific smells and décor and knew that that was not the venue for us or my wedding dress.

So we put that behind us and travelled into Fordingbridge, the village where I spent a lot of time growing up with my Nan and Grandad. On the corner, near the village police station stood the Raj of India. Not the actual King of India, as the name suggests, but a potential caterers for the reception. Last week we went to meet two caterers in Southampton with quotes of over £800 plus so we had an idea of what prices we were to expect, meaning any lower was a bonus! After ‘sampling’ (rather demolishing) all of their delights, gobbling them all up and feeling really cheeky about the freebies they gave us, we sat down with the owner, nervously jotting down the meal choices. We are vegetarians and strict ones at that, so we had already decided to do a full vegetarian menu, much to the disgust of my brother who said he would have a KFC before he arrived! So, we opted for a Naga (Banglesdesh dish, that will surely blow your head off with the chillies), a Jalfezi (slightly less hot and absolutely delicious), a Masala Daal (gorgeous mix of spices and lentils), a Dipiaza (for the onion lovers), and the very average, but much loved Korma. A mixture for everyone, along with all your typical delights of Naan bread, popodums, Bhajis and Rice. Finding a local Indian restaurant meant we could have Naan so made our day, any further away and it would have made the Naan a disaster of soggy bread.

So, after giving us tons of freebies, he totally the price to a lovely round figure of £600. That’s £8 a head, a 12th of what it costs at an average English wedding. Delicious, I thought and we booked.

We drove back into Southampton and thought it would be nice to pull up outside the potential venue of the Tudor Merchant’s Hall. The Tudor Merchant’s Hall is adjacent to the old historic walls of Southampton and was once the place where Henry V marched his army under the gate in 1415. The hall is a 15th century timber framed building with lots of character and charm. The pavement outside is cobbled and is circular so the entrance by car would be perfect. The hire of the hall for 2 hours (very short time frame, this includes setting up your decorations) was £355 plus the hire of the registrar. This price was not too bad and the venue was stunning, I could just imagine the ceremony there.

This was until we visited the newly refurbished, 600 year old Mecure Dolphin Hotel. A Grade 2 listed building, complete with another old walled arch and impeccable, modern interior. Browns and limes greens were sprinkled around the rooms, with church candles used for ambience. We were all thinking to ourselves that this was totally out of the budget. Unaware of the actual price, we followed Charlotte the wedding co-ordinator to the Jane Austin Suite on the first floor of the building. The suite was once the dance hall for Jane Austin and Florence Nightingale. A newly refurbished large room, with wallpapered walls and huge bay windows and chandeliers, impressed us all. The colour scheme was very glamorous blues and silvers and the massive fireplaces were browns and silver touches. Even the chairs were a contemporary silver.

Excited, yet prepared for the huge price tag, we sat down in the bar for the results. Charlotte, in her very lovely French accent, explained that the hire of the room was £350 for the whole day…hmmm we thought, had she missed a 0 of the end of that figure. She then went on to say that we could have the bridal suite for the whole morning for £50..yet again where is the other 0 in that equation. Giggling to ourselves, we asked if we could just hire the Jane Austin Suite for the morning and in true Jen and Terry form would this affect the price. Yet again, prepared for a no, she came back with a £200 quote. High of happiness, we shook hands with Charlotte and slowly made our way to the car, happy as Larry with our bargain wedding glamorous ceremony hall.

So last night, we managed to arrange the caterers for £600, the ceremony hall for £200 and the bridal suite for the morning for £50. A total of £850. Wow, I’m kind of impressed with our work.

Post Two: The struggling budget and the search for the perfect venue

2010-06-24T09:05:00.001-04:00

In true typical Terry form, budget was the number one consideration for getting married. I argued, wrestled and struggled to push the budget higher than the £1000 he orignally planned and managed to squeeze £3000 our of him.

So a wedding on £3000, is this do-able? This will definately be a little less than flash, but I will use all of my creative powers to glam the day up as much as I can. I already have so many creative ideas flowing, from charity shop tea cups and saucers for the favours with luggage tags memorable date cards attached, maybe some seeds inside them to grow to buying christmas tree lights in the January sales to light the venue in the evening with a romantic sparkle.

Last Sunday, Terry drove my mum and I to Brockenhurst Village Hall, thats right Village hall it is to save on the budget limitation. Brockenhurst had everything required on the inside; large rooms, kitchen; a D-I-Y standard, however the outside was less than flash and even had dumpsters with chairs, sinks and matresses for friends. So after more planning and thinking and brainstorming, we came accross Damerham Village Hall. Damerham is very close to our hearts in the King side of my family. My nan and Grandad had a house in that area when they were just married, my mum's cousin owns a huge farm there and we spent many-a-day as kids playing on the 'criptum factor' assault course when we were younger. The hall was perfect, a large room full of old beams for the reception, a seperate room for people spillage, leading out onto a lovely grassed area with a wipping willow and a beautiful stream complete with a white bridge. We had access to plain cream plates, lovely silver-wear, a huge kitchen with a large freezer, fridge and cooker. There was a bar, equipped ready for action for an extra £50 for the bar staff. Other added extras were using the round shaped tables (able to fit 10) and the ivory, plain table cloths would set us back £15 each.

We took a walk accross the street to check out the local pub, the Compass Inn. The Compass Inn has 8 rooms and 2 cottages and a lovely area for the wedding breakfast (the actual breakfast, not the first meal as I quickly discovered). The conservatory with huge glass windows and tudor style wooden beams, leading out onto a beautiful garden with views of the surrounding fields.

So for £440 the reception venue was complete.

As we struggled on to work out where we would marry, it became apparent to me how important the actual ceremony was. On first thoughts, I thought we could just get married in a registry office and do a 'fake' ceremony at the reception venue, asking Terry's cousin Hayden to give us a family blessing. However, after watching numerous wedding shows on TV and watching how beautiful the aisle was, with all eyes on you and the words being said meant something so real and passionate, I wanted that too. I wanted the time I got married and the words, 'You are now husband and wife', to be that one special moment that I would never forget, and have the beautiful surroundings to match of course.

We found that the Tudor Merchants Hall in Southampton was a reasonably priced venue, with absolutely beautiful interior. However, when you get married outside of a registry office, it costs over £300 to have the registrar come out and marry you, so any price that the ceremony venue costs, add £300! I requested the price of the hall and found out it was £355 for 2 hours. I was blown away by the interior, the dark beams and the natural, old style, adding candles, a red carpet and some flowers should make it perfect. Okay, so adding the £655 to the cost of the venue, we are already at £1095...hmmm how will we do this..what about my dress!!? We are going to look at Sopley Mill tonight to see a different style of venue for the ceremony and maybe we will venture over to the registry office, as mum keeps telling me, 'they have done it up really nice!'..hmm I am yet to be convinced!

The wedding bells are ringing..ding ding ding

2010-06-23T11:55:00.002-04:00

So it begins...after 3 years of being engaged and nearly 7 years of being together, we are finally planning the big day. Of course, as expected with Terry and I, the day won't be your usual fancy car and lavish dining, it will be personal to us, an adventure of its own kind and a fun affair.

We are been busy searching for a venue for the reception and only after seeing 1 other venue, we have choosen Damerham Village Hall. Damerham is 5 minutes from Fordingbridge, where I spent a lot of my childhood with my Nan and Grandad. Trips to Damerham were on the agenda alot and we would play on the farm or play area opposite the hall. My sister Sarah once got her leg trapped in the climbing frame, something of a funny memory..i must find out that video tape...

Terry and I have had a wonderful 7 years together, experiencing the ups and downs of University, studying hard and playing hard. We then saved our butts off to travel the world and was lucky enough to spend 35 days touring Southern Africa; Botswana, Zambia, Namibia and South Africa. We then flew and experienced Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand and months on end island and country hopping, sunning ourselves with friends and monkeys!

Our favourite stop was our time in India, climbing mountains, getting attacked by leeches and being invited into very poor homes and being treated like royalty. Our next stop was China where we got very skinning and ended up missing the Chengdu earthquake by days.

After an amazing, lifechanging year in New Zealand, we spent time in backpacking through Eduador, Peru, Bolivia and Argentina. Only to be parted by a stupid high altitude, yet to be explained seizure. Terry carried on, his backpack and minimal spanish in tow and travel patagonia and Brazil. I inpatiently waited at home to be reunited with my baby.

We recently just got back from a trip accross Canada and a trip of a lifetime to Iceland, having a fake wedding ceremony under the spewing volcano.

We live, breathe and experience everyday together. We can't sleep at night without cuddling throughout the whole night, there's not a conversation that goes by without saying i love you and not a thought that goes by without thinking of the other. After 7 years Terry still loves to tell me what his favourite thing about me is (and I have to guess, even though each time is changes) and kiss the most uninteresting crevasses of my body, i.e my eyelids. I can also quit easily trade him with making dinner for 10 kisses.

We love to be together and still miss each other when we are apart. We have travelled together for so long and came out laughing and giggling at the fun we had. Every memory sacred and long lasting.

The next phase is our marriage, after being proposed to on a thai beach with a wooden ring that a thai guy carved for Terry, it's about time we did the ceremony and became Terry and Jennifer Constant.

I'm going to blog it!!

Rekyavik, Akureyi, Glasgow, London, Southampton, Unemployment

2010-05-20T11:22:00.001-04:00

Forty hours went by, we all rushed for a space on the bus to ensure our route to the north of Iceland. Many didn’t get a seat and were forced to be further delayed. We had already spent 8 hours in the bus station so Terry and I were at the front of the queue braving the cold weather to ensure we got a seat. The bus left Rekyavik at 12 midnight, the sun was still bright in the sky and didn’t decide to sleep that night, staying out to play until we reached London. It's a strange concept to have 48 hours worth of sunlight. The mountain views were incredible at 3 in the morning, snow sparkling and the mountains creating gigantic sized shadows over our ant sized bus. We touched down, after even more delays in the airport and a few games of Yahtzee, in Glasgow. With of 5 pound food vouchers in hand, we found some food and relaxed, anticipating even more delays. Nine hours later, after filling up on chocolate, jacket potatoes, cold and flu pills and some internet time, we were on the plane ready to leave Glasgow and head to London. Mum and Kirk came to collect us, exhausted yet high on adrenaline we drove in the dark to mum’s house. Iceland was a fantastic travel experience and one to definitely re-visit.

And so England begins, life back where we started. I am writing this blog at my mums house, watching crap TV and applying for around 5000 jobs. England doesn’t change, there isn’t much excitement here, no spontaneous weekends to the beach or climbing a few mountains, no backpack to pack each morning or floors to sleep on, no searching for foreign food or orientating around strange cities, just a new fresh start where we began.

Beside Ejfjallajokull, falling glacier melt and a speeding ticket

2010-05-09T08:26:00.001-04:00

Today I am writing on an Icelandic keyboard, sat in FIT hostel in Keflavik, Iceland. We are stuck. Mother Nature has grounded all flights to London and all we can do is wait until she calms down. The airport was like an eerie scene from one of those end of the world horror movies this morning as I made my way inside to find some help. I was greeted by a lovely Iceland Air member of staff and told that the earliest flight we could get on is tomorrow, if not a 5 hour journey north and a stop over in Glasgow. In all of our travelling, we have never been grounded by a volcano, pretty epic adventure.

In fact, the whole of Iceland yesterday was like a eerie movie. We drove towards the south east of the country hoping the road would be open for us to pass as we were on our way to the majestic Skatefell National Park. As we drove closer to the Ejfjallajokull glacier volcano, we were unsure of what we would find. Some say that the whole of the nearest town to it, Vik, was covered in Ash and inpassable, with similar scenes to hiroshima after the nuclear bomb. With the blue sky and sunshine above our heads we drove closer and closer until we noticed an ash cloud ahead. We parked along the route to take photographs and drove around the side of a mountain to witness the volcano is full bloom. We were literally so close to the volcano we could see it erupting, plumes of black ash coming from its crater. Black cloud, after back cloud, we all could not beleive our eyes. By this time, our hearts were racing, wondering what the best thing to do was. Many people were turning around and heading back to the capital, but with our adventurous spirit heightened we decided, of course, to drive on and witness more of mother natures power.

With views of Katla and Hekla Volcanoes behind us, we could feel the rumbles beneath our feet and the sound of the power as the volcano was erupting, we stopped the car a few kilometres into the ash cloud just to get out of the car and witness what it is like to be in such an environment. The sky was dark, with patches of blue where the cloud hadn´t covered, the earth was covered in grey ash as was the car and us. We watched cars drive by us with masks on their faces, like a disease was present and we were coming to the end of the world. It was that dramatic, believe me. We collected some ash and jumped back into the car to drive another 80kms out of the ash cloud. It was literally that long. It was truly amazing to witness, to smell and to feel.

However, the day did not end there. We drove on to the national park, along the route huge glacier fields and snow capped mountains were next to the road, every second was intensely beauitful. Our aim was to drive to Jökulsárlón. Jökulsárlón is where the mountains and the glacier reach the ocean so huge icebergs fall from the glacier out to sea. I cannot even describe the view, only believable by the naked eye. The water was turquiose from the sun, the sky true blue, the glaciers slowly melting , moving towards the ocean, with seals popping their heads up and down to see who is around. The mountains majestically sitting around the glacier, whilst in the background the volcano still erupts.

Our drive heading back to the capital took us to Skatafell National Park where we spent a few hours trekking to the famous waterfall there, Svartifoss, named the black falls for all of the black rock surrounding it. The views from the falls was spectacular, glaciers, snow capped mountains and the ocean.

We decided not to camp over night and carry on driving the 5 hour journey back to town, just in case the volcanic cloud closed the road. As the police car approached us, we thought we would be forced to camp. However, it wasn´t about the ash at all, rather Terry getting a speeding ticket for 37,000isk! He was driving along the road, no other cars for miles, one every 30 minutes, driving 119kms in a 90km zone and bam, 200 pounds lighter or he was given the option of 4 days in Jail! We were very annoyed, our friend had just recently been beaten badly in an attack in Reykavik and the guys who did it got let out the very next day with no charges but Terry was to go to jail for 4 days for a speeding ticket on the most open road you could get!

The cloud covered the road so badly that visability was poor on the way back. The car was covered in ash when we finally could breathe again and the sunset gave us an impressive evening view at 11pm. We slept in the car overnight and drove the car back to the rental company this morning to find out about our flight.

Here´s hoping we get to come home tomorrow!

Days and Nights

2010-05-07T14:49:00.001-04:00

Days don't turn into night early in Iceland. Darkness falls around 11.30pm and the sun comes out to play around 4am. Its May. In the summer they have even less darkness here. It takes a lot more to fill your days here, days go on for so long you are eating dinner at 10pm and still walking the town at 11pm. The long days and short nights have exhausted my body, I feel so tired and incomplete. So today, after saying bye to our nights sleeping on a stone floor with our host Kevin we decided to check into a hotel and relax. The Capital Inn for 23 pounds a night. Terry has treated himself to another session at the Blue Lagoon and I have stayed in the room recuperating from the past few days.

The last few days have been filled with even more amazement. The volcanic country is unexplored and sometimes forgotten by travellers on their holiday picks. We stumbled accross a large volcanic crater when we were heading towards a lush waterfall. Its depth and length shocked us from our cores as we stood saluting mother nature. The reds and greens of the crater edges and the turquoise blue of the water that had dropped into its centre were as ever impressive with nothing by gray clouds surrounding it. We trekked down the crater to the bottom and sat wondering when and why the earth exploded here. Terry collected hundreds of beautiful rocks and lava and we drove on to our next destination. The town of Hverageroisbear, just 45 kms from the capital city of Reykavik is steaming with geothermal activity. We drove as far as we could down a gravel path to the hillside that overshadows the small town. As you looked up, the greens of the mountains, the blue of the sky and the white of the steam rising from the earth was a sight you could only ever imagine. We trekked up for 4 hours following only a yellow stick every 1000 metres or so. Following waterfalls and hot (unprotected) geothermal mud pools, we were on our way to an 'not even the locals know about it' hot pool. After hours of excitement with our surroundings we arrived to the beautiful river stream. The massive crater of boiling water was just above us as we bathed in the stream of hot water. The wind was rushing through the land as we stripped off our clothes and put on our bathing suits before resting in earth's water. A well deserved break.

After hiking back, we drove through the town and to the road leading through the mountains to Reykavik. However, the cloud had come over the land so low that the mountain could not be seen at all. The road had disappeared in front of us and a police car blocked the entrance due to an earlier accident between a car and an ambulance trying to save the car. The fog was so bad. We waiting for a few hours until it was safe to pass. In England we would still not have been allowed to drive, but Terry attempted the drive slowly, up and through the mountain pass with only minimal visibility.

Yesterday, we drove over 400kms around the west coast of Iceland to the national park of Snaefellsjokull which covers the coast line and the mountains. Truly unbelievable scenery, from moulten lava landscapes, to snow capped mountains, to glaciers, to waterfalls and to the ocean. We followed a dog to the top of an amazing waterfall and ate our lunch to the sounds of silence overlooking the epic mountains above.

With extreme weather conditions, mars like scenery and hot spa pools whether you look, Iceland has it all for anyone interested in geology.

Photos to come - blogspot has changed and put a quota on the photos we can upload!