Cultural

We’ve got something stunning in red and all luscious shades of white! It’s Hanna and Shi’s wedding, which was photographed by 2 Brides Photography.

Hanna and Shi had a stunning wedding at Fåfängan in Stockholm, Sweden. Try saying that three times fast!

“We tried to ignore all the do’s and don’ts that are associated with weddings. During the planning we always thought ‘what do we want?’ or ‘what do we think?’! It was important to both of us that it was the two of us that planned and organized the wedding, so during that year we did all the planning, we did it together all the time. In that way we made our wedding about us. We wanted the guests to feel that there was a part of us in every detail” says Hanna.

“Since Shille’s parents and family are from China we wanted to have Chinese influences in our wedding. It was important to us that one could see that there were two families from two different cultures, which were united.”

“We had a civil marriage ceremony and hired a civil wedding officiant who came to Fåfängan. The wedding officiant wrote (together with our thoughts) the wedding ceremony. First me and Shille had to write a letter to each other where we declared our love to each other and why we wanted to marry each other and grow old together. We were not allowed to show each other the letters. Then the letters were sent to our wedding officiant and he started to write the ceremony.”

“To be able to relax during our wedding day and only think about ourselves we asked friends to help our toastmaster and toastmadame with all the decorations and preparations at Fåfängan.”

Any advice for other brides?

“Think about what you want. Nothing else is important since that day only is about you. Try to start the planning with time. It’s much easier to plan with no stress. Sometimes it takes a while before you even know what you want.

It is easy to get stuck in details and forget the whole picture. Try not to forget what your wedding day is about – It is only about you and about celebrating your love. Nothing else matters. That helped me when I sometimes got stressed out. Ask for help from friends and family and trust them! It is very important to be able to let go of that need for control that many people have. If you ask your friend/relative to help, you have to trust that person that it will be done. Give clear instructions if you need.”

Congratulations Hanna and Shi and thank you for sharing your amazing wedding pictures with One Stylish Bride.

Hanna + Shi’s Style Guide

Photographer: 2 Brides Photography / Wedding Dress: Brudbutiken / Bride’s Undergarments: Twilfit (Chantelle) / Groom: Suit from Steens herrmode (Masterhand) / Earrings: Guldfynd / Bride’s shoes: Filippa K / Groom’s shoes: Filippa K / Cufflinks: Steens herrmode / Ceremony & Reception: Fåfängan / Flower Arch & Red Carpet: Aladdins Uthyrning / Red tablecloth: My Heart / Chair covers: Handmade from sheets from IKEA / Party lights: Clas Ohlson / Thanks: Two Bright Lights

Get ready to have your breath taken away!

We just had to share this Greek wedding and these gorgeous wedding pictures captured by Santorini Photos because we’re seriously in love with the wedding reception decor and styling at La Maltese.

Event planning was by Weddings in Santorini and boy-oh-boy they sure know what they’re doing! Just superb!

Our congratulations and best wishes to Nicoleta and Chad!

Nicoleta and Chad’s Style Guide

Photographer: Santorini Photos / Event Planner: Weddings in Santorini / Bridal Preparations: Aressana Spa Hotel and Suites / Reception Venue: La Maltese / Thanks: Two Bright Lights

French weddings are always so picturesque, what with all that open landscape, history, Parisian flair and bright blue skies. This beautiful French wedding was captured by Charley Smith Wedding Photography.

Breathtaking Joss and Ed were wed at Mougins, Côte d’Azur, France and managed to create a truly handmade wedding. Jose explained “We did everything ourselves! We designed the invitations, menus, table plans and napkins. We did the awning, decorations and seating for the ceremony, bought all the drinks from local wine shops, we bought all the vases from a local DIY warehouse and all the flowers for the table centres and bouquets from the flower market in Cannes. We found our own reading from the first book that Ed ever bought me and it was absolutely beautiful. The only things we didn’t do ourselves was the DJ-ing and food, although we arranged the menu ourselves. We did all this through lots of trial and error, lots of looking around shops to see what was available and also to try and keep the price down.”

Jose recalls “The flowers came from Cannes market and vases from a local hardware warehouse in Cannes. My mother and I put all the flowers together in the vases the day before the wedding and kept them cool and dark. One florist on Cannes Market made my bouquet and the bridesmaids made up their own.”

“We designed the menus and printed them on Conqueror cream paper and made the table plans by buying different postcards from Cannes market. We made each table a different ‘postcard’ by placing a different postcard on each table and relating it back to the one on the table plan” says Jose.

The pretty napkin labels were a joint effort, “My bridesmaids and I made all of the napkin labels. We wrote guests’ names in gold pen on handmade paper. We then threaded these labels onto raffia string and tied this around the napkins.”

The couple celebrated with an exquisite Macaroon wedding cake. Jose explained, “Our cake was the best surprise. This is the one thing I had not seen and it was amazing. It was a huge tower of Macaroons with sparklers coming out of it. When we cut the cake we were given a glass of champagne and the DJ put on Jay-Z and Alicia Keys Empire State of Mind and I felt like I was an actual celebrity.”

From the bride:

What was your biggest challenge?

“Sourcing everything ourselves and staying within the budget.

”

What’s your advice?

“Don’t get too worked up as it is just one day and it will go so quickly that it is better to enjoy the planning rather than get worked up on small things. You will have a wonderful time whatever happens and your guests are there to enjoy themselves, not to pick you up on tiny details. Weddings are wonderful and happy occasions in themselves and any wedding is going to be special because of this. My mother in law did so much of the planning as she lives in France. The wedding would not have been possible without all of her hard work. I think it is important to be able to let someone take control or help you if you need it.

”

Any additional surprises?

“
We were lucky as our guests mostly stayed in the local village. This meant that on the night before the wedding lots of people were out and about in the village meaning we had totally impromptu drinks with them, all which was lovely. The same happened on the Sunday after. We had lunch in the village with a group of some friends, then had drinks with a different group, then met another group on the beach later. It meant that the wedding became a weekend rather than a day. The spontaneity also meant that our guests were able to enjoy what Mougins and Cannes had to offer rather than the whole weekend being planned solely around us.”

Congratulations Joss and Ed and thank you for sharing your charming wedding pictures and wedding story.

Joss + Ed’s Style Guide

Photographer: Charley Smith Wedding Photography

Necklace: Stephen Einhorn

Diamond Earrings: David’s Jewellers

Hairpiece: V V Rouleaux

Wedding Dress: Pronovias from Silhouettes in Richmond, London

Caterers: Modo Mio, Cannes

DJ: Simon Hales