Spend bonus time with family
The day after the civil ceremony, the couple rented out a beach club for a relaxed good-bye brunch. Many of their guests extended their trips to explore more of Asia, whether by bouncing over to Vietnam and Malaysia or traveling around Sri Lanka. Linnea’s family wound up staying on the island for a total of three weeks.
The newlyweds themselves stayed on Sri Lanka for their honeymoon, renting a villa on the south coast in Matara, then staying at a wellness resort near Sigiriya, or the Lion Rock, a rock fortress built in the 5th century. They traveled up to Jaffna, one of the northernmost points in the country, to see where Pira’s family is from, before returning for some time in Colombo. Though their original plan was to stay entirely south, “Three days into our honeymoon we were like, ‘When’s the next time we’re going to have all our loved ones here on Sri Lanka at the same time?’” Pira says.
As for loved ones, the couple welcomed a new one—a baby girl—a year after their wedding, and are already thinking about showing her their wedding photos. “When our daughter looks at the pictures, I can talk to her about the wedding and show the family roots, the origins, mixing with the Norwegian,”Linnea says. “Yeah, this is us. This will show both sides, everything we want in our marriage.”
