Check with your airline for advice on transporting your wedding outfits. Some recommend that they should be boxed or packed into separate suitcases. They will then be placed into hold. Others suggest that you use suit carriers and, space permitting, they will be hung in cabin of aircraft. Outfits can always be carried as hand luggage but this will restrict you to keeping rest of your hand luggage to a minimum.

As soon as you arrive at your hotel, unpack your wedding outfits and hang them up. A warm and humid tropical climate should allow creases to fall out naturally. However, your hotel or your wedding coordinator can normally arrange for your outfits to be steamed if necessary. Alternatively, hang clothes in a steam-filled bathroom which will help creases drop out.

Hair and beauty Hair and beauty treatments can be arranged when you arrive at your hotel, or you might even decide to book things before you arrive. If your hotel does not have these facilities, ask whether there is somewhere you can visit nearby. For total peace of mind, practice styling your own hair and make-up before setting off.

You're likely to want to have a healthy tan on your wedding day, but basking in sun before wedding isn't a good idea. As well as damaging your skin, you run risk of looking more like a lobster than a sun-kissed bride. Pace your sunbathing on run-up to your wedding or help nature along with a good quality fake tan. If you're doing your own fake tan, be sure to practise well in advance.

Linda was shocked. She had no idea all this was going on with Mark. She thought she was only one feeling so unloved in relationship. At first she reacted exactly as Mark feared, with anger, hurt, and blame. But he told her truth about this too – that he had been afraid to be truthful with her because of this reaction, and that if she wanted truth, she need to be open to it rather than closed and angry. Finally Linda heard him and they were able to talk honestly for first time in years. Linda was actually relieved at hearing truth, once she got over initial shock and they were able to talk. She agreed to counseling.

In counseling, Mark discovered that Linda also had been afraid to be honest with Mark, fearing that he would withdraw even more. She was just as afraid of his withdrawal as he was of her anger. They discovered that both of them had been protecting against their fears rather than being open to learning with each other. As they both opened to learning, love gradually came back into their relationship.

People often believe that they are withholding their truth to spare their partner pain, but their real intent is to protect themselves from response they fear. Protecting against pain – with anger, withdrawal, and blame - will always bring about very pain we fear, while opening to learning and speaking our truth opens door to love.