Good morning real wedding readers, I hope we’re all well this lovely sunny morning? Just a brief intro from me, as I want to hand you over to the very capable hands of Rowena. She’s a freelance writer for us here at Wedding Ideas, and also the bride in today’s sensational Wedding Wednesday post. So without further ado, let me introduce Rowena and her husband Mowgli…
“When our paths first crossed we were out having dinner with friends,” remembers Rowena. “I liked the look of him, but as I was just coming out of a long term relationship, I thought I wasn’t looking for anything. It turns out I was wrong!” she laughs.
“Mowgli popped the question (on bended knee!) on a deserted beach in Muscat, Oman,” says Rowena. “I was very surprised. It was our 10th anniversary – and after all that time, I’d all but given up hope!”
“My wedding dress was by Spose Di Gio in London,” explains Rowena. “It was all gorgeous, flimsy silk – just beautiful. I also loved the fact that I was getting three dresses in one, because you could take off the sleeves, and the top band for it to become a bustier dress. Although it was rather horribly priced, my Mother kindly bought it for me as her wedding gift to me.”
Mowgli bought his suit from Hackett in Paris.
“Bridesmaids – Natasha who I’ve known since we were 4, she lives in Rome now so shopping was tricky! Lucy I met in London when I got my first job, we met through Loot and lived together, and Claire I met a bit later in London – she was at Uni with Natasha. I had also asked two childhood friends from France, Nadia and Laurence but both had a little timing issue with getting pregnant so they couldn’t’ make it – which was really sad for us. The girls wore grey silk dresses were from LK Benett and shoes hot pink wedge shoes from Marks and Spencer – they looked fantastic!”
“We had dual ceremony in Croatian with a translator – it was funny and ‘efficient’ and over in 15 minutes – then we had the ‘emotional’ ceremony, which was done by my aunt Liesbeth, who read a speech and talked about us for a while and then we had the readings (the words to the song The book of Love) as well as the vows we had written ourselves. It was super emotional and everyone was in tears – including our lovely photographer and the waiters!” remembers Rowena
“As there isn’t much in Croatia, I had to buy everything in the UK and some stuff in the US, which my sister in law bought along in her suitcase!” laughs Rowena.
“I had the bunting made by someone I found on eBay and she did a fantastic job with fabric I had found in the right colours. We got lots online – from Notonthehighstreet.com like the paper lanterns, and a personalised heart we used to decorate. We also got Heart candle jars and white paper lace bunting from dotcomgiftshop.com.
From the US I ordered personalised coasters at foryourparty.com, Glo in the dark bracelets and beach balls at glowsource.com, while the fans came from koyalwholesale.com – and the kids’ blowing bubbles and games came from partydelights.co.uk.
We used Ikea lace curtains to hang behind the bridal table – really cheap and cheerful and a pretty way to give the table some extra privacy. We also bought tons of candles with us, both pink ‘bucket’ candles and clear candlejars with string and seashells finish from a shop in France – this matched the nametags on each plate – we just wrapped the napkin with a little sprig from an olive tree with raffia style rough string and brown craft paper tags – it looked rustic but chic! My friend Natasha did the seating plan, which we hung up in several ikea frames so people would know which table they were on.
Finally, Ines, my lovely wedding planner booked Kristina Skvrce of doyouwed.me to do the fresh flowers – they were gorgeous! I also got dried flowes for the beach at flowerhour.co.uk. And giant pink daisies from save-on-crafts.com,” recalls Rowena.
“The only transport we needed was the boat to take me to the beach as I couldn’t’walk the 10 minutes in the sun to the beach and get all hot and bothered – but aside from that, it was all in one place so no need for anything but flipflops!” smiles Rowena.
“To finish the day we had Ivan, the DJ set up on the beach for our late night beach party – it was amazing! He kept us dancing til dawn – starting with a bit of Black Eyed Peas, which kicked off the night to perfection,” adds Rowena.
“My top tip for those brides thinking of getting married abroad would be get a planner – We couldn’t have done it without the fantastic Ines and Marin of Dubrovnik Events (www.dubrovnikevent.com, tel +385 98 599 030),” says Rowena.
Thanks Rowena, what a truly gorgeous day!
Best wishes
Alice x
