I have been busy planning a launch party for SGA Events and I am feeling the pressure and when talking to a friend of mine earlier he reminded me how challenging planning my wedding had been. And I thought I would share some elements of my experience with you. My wedding was by far the most important event I have ever planned. It is a personal event that I dreamed of since I was a child. All details mattered.
My husband wanted a 24 months engagement. However I couldn't wait that long, I promised him that we wouldn't spend over 15k and that we would have my fairy tale wedding. We got engaged in January and married the following October. 10 months for a bride to be who not only did not know a thing about weddings but did not have anyone around who had been married recently.
My priorities.
1 The dresses
I found my dress for the church ceremony in a boutique in London, it was a strapless dress with a full satin skirt by Enzoani. My dream dress retailed at £2024, although the dress was within my budget, I always shop around for a better deal. So I contacted the designer to find out their stockists. I called all the shops to compare the prices and found my dress £250 cheaper in a shop 1 hour away from London.
As per french law and tradition, we had a civil ceremony at a registry office in Paris, followed by a small cocktail reception at the registry hall. My first dress was a short satin wedding dress with a big bow at the back that made a gorgeous train by
Tara Jarmon purchased at
Galeries Lafayette in Paris.
2 The venue
We wanted to gather our families and friends for a week end in a country house near Paris. I made a list of our criterias and selected venues within 1 hour drive from Paris. I prepared a series of questions and called all the venues I had selected then agreed on a day to travel to France and visit the venues. I short listed 2 venues. We chose
Athéna receptions for it modern style and because it was available to hire from Friday to Monday and it came complete with a professional kitchen, accomodation and a honeymoon suite.
The reception room, the bar area.
The honeymoon cottage included a living room downstairs and a bedroom upstairs.
3 The decoration
My wedding theme was gold and diamond.
I fell in love with this decor I had found online, I used it as my inspiration.
I bought my vases at
Sara Richards and purchased the feathers and floralytes from America at
Koyal Wholesale, luckily one of my cousin is a stewardess for an airline company and was able to transport my goods. I spare you the details on my hours spent online looking for the best options. My mother bought the fabric for the sashes and we hired the chairs covers. I didn't know about the ghost chairs back then...
The bridesmaids dresses were gold mermaids dresses to match the ushers ties.
I could not stop smiling on my wedding day. And the only thing I would change is: hire a wedding planner. Although my planning was excellent, on the wedding day I could only have one role: The bride. Although I relied on my mum and sister to run the day it got a bit too overwhelming for them.
I was very disappointed by my photographer, I wish I knew how important a good photographer is for weddings pictures.
Overall I enjoyed my day, and it was as I had imagined, laughter, emotions, love.
