You can run – even as far as Hawaii – but you can’t hide….

We’ve got another guest post here at Beers and Beans and I have to say I was pretty psyched when I read this one. It’s hysterical! I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did. 🙂

Jack Jones is a freelance travel writer who has traveled extensively throughout Australia, Asia and Europe. His biggest adventure to date has been to traverse the vast and lonely emptiness of Australia’s outback (surviving Wolf Creek in the process) in an epic 10,000 mile road trip.

Here it comes again folks – rearing its big, red, heart-shaped head, peering eagerly over the commercial horizon and like a rising sun splashing shop windows with a rosy hue. It’s grinning gleefully at couples and winking suggestively at singles. It’s creating warm, fuzzy feelings of anticipation in women and flutters of severe anxiety in men.

Romantics prize it, cynics despise it, neutrals internalize it. But whatever your opinion on the soppy extravaganza we call Valentine’s Day, one thing is certain: there is no avoiding it.

Not for me at any rate, because all this (unnaturally forced) love in the air has got me thinking. About weddings to be specific. As an avid traveler and a bit of a reluctant romantic myself, it occurred to me how great it would be to combine the ultimate love of my life with…um…my future wife, by traveling to some exotic location and blurting “I do!”.

So after digging into my traveling memory bank, I’ve come up with three amazing places in the world to tie the knot. Now all that’s left to do is find a nice partner who can put up with terrible jokes till death do us part, to find an exceptionally well paid job and to convince my family and friends to buy a plane ticket. And a hotel room. And lots of presents. If you’ve already achieved all those things, this might be just what you’re looking for…

The London Eye, England

Arguably the greatest city in the world, London would be a wonderful place to get married regardless of location, but to do it on the London Eye – the gigantic ferris wheel on the banks of the River Thames in the heart of Westminster – would be nothing short of incredible. A typical package would see you go round twice – the first rotation for the ceremony, the second for photos and champagne and the like– over the space of an hour in a private capsule festooned with flowers.

Vows are exchanged at the top of the wheel, where the soaring views are at their most magnificent: the lethargic river meandering through a jumbled mix of ancient cathedrals and futuristic skyscrapers; red buses and black cabs zooming about like self-sufficient toys; the Gothic spires of the Houses of Parliament moodily etched into the wintery sky. Good place to get a sense of direction, too.

Knysna Elephant Park, South Africa

Everyone realizes with slight dismay at some point in their lives that to say they adore elephants does nothing to assert their individualism. For the amount of debate it provokes we might as well announce that we like music, or enjoy eating nice food. Still, we carry on adoring them regardless – especially those baby ones who stumble along at the back of the herd *awww!* – so this next suggestion is likely to be well received.

A world away from London but equally unforgettable, the Knysna Elephant Park on South Africa’s Garden Route – the ruggedly beautiful stretch of coast sandwiched between the Tsitsikamma Mountains and the Indian Ocean – specialises in safari-style weddings. Of course, the park’s main focus is providing a sanctuary for the elephants and promoting conservationism, but with their added bonus of catering for your Big Day, you can milk the elephant-themed photographs to your heart’s content. And if she so wishes, the bride can arrive perched atop one of the colossal beasts, and if that doesn’t make her stand out from the crowd…well, anyway.

Any beach in Hawaii

The gentle strums of a ukulele floating on a warm Pacific breeze; a cobalt ocean washing warm waves against white shores flecked with drowsy palms; a lush, green mountainous backdrop of such unutterable grandeur it almost seems otherworldly… This is Hawaii, more of a dreamscape than a landscape.

What I’m getting to, in a roundabout sort of way, is that a Hawaii wedding would be very, very difficult to top. True, it may be the ultimate cliché of alternative weddings, but let’s not forget clichés are there for a reason, and ones such as this are highly excusable. Not cheap, of course, but this would lend the “for richer, for poorer” vow extra relevance, so that can only be a good thing.

And to end on a positive note, if you get jilted there’s always the legendary Hawaii surfing to take your mind off your devastated heart (and bank balance). And if you can’t surf or have an entirely rational fear of sharks, the sunsets are worth a look.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

*1st photo provided by EDF Energy London Eye, 2nd photo provided by Jack, 3rd photo provided by Nariko’s Nest.

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*Please remember all photos on this website are copyrighted and property of BeersandBeans.com, NarikosNest.com & Bethany Salvon. Please do not use them without my permission. If you want to use one of them please contact me to ask first because I do love to share and I would be flattered. Thanks!