|
|
|
|
|
How would you describe your Eleganza Experience?
I don't even know where to start... After first hearing about Eleganza from Jamie Genevieve and her youtube videos I just knew I wanted to experience the store for myself. I told my mum all about Eleganza and that I would love to visit but with it being so far away from my hometown [3.5 hours drive] - I wasn't sure if it was really possible.
As a surprise for Christmas, my mum booked me an appointment at Eleganza and I even cried I was so excited!
When the time came, me, my mum and my sister decided to make a weekend of it and travelled up to Eleganza all the way from Wakefield (near Leeds) and spent the weekend in Glasgow!
When I arrived in the store... I honestly felt like a celebrity - handed a glass of prosecco and shown to my fitting room with the added details of our wedding date being hung on the Eleganza tree and being assigned a stylist all for myself... It was just a dream and I felt so lucky.
The interior of the store is simply stunning - I went to a few bridal stores previous to visiting Eleganza and they just didn't compare, the travel was 100% worth it and I couldn't recommend it enough for the most special bridal shopping experience.
Would you like to share with us your proposal moment, favourite part of planning your wedding or what you have planned for your honeymoon?
My husband Jack absolutely smashed it when it came to the proposal.
We decided to both quit our jobs and go travelling in 2019 starting with Singapore, followed by Australia ,New Zealand, Bali and Thailand.
Whilst we were in Bali in February 2020 [literally just before the pandemic hit] - it was our four year anniversary and Jack had planned a surprise to celebrate and picked out a red dress for me to wear, he thought of everything. I was getting ready with still no idea where he was taking me, and then we got picked up from our hotel in Bali and taken to Kamandalu Resort - a place i'd heard of and seen on Instagram so I was so so excited when we turned up but I still didn't expect what was coming... We got escorted by our waiter to our table and I couldn't believe the set up, it was a tall set of stairs filled with candles and at the bottom was a table surrounded by red and white rose petals with a backdrop of the jungle full of palm trees and the Ubud forestry - it was simply stunning. Jack hired a photographer and we were having some couple shots when Jack told me to turn around and pose with my arms in the air for a photo... Then I turned around and there he was down on one knee, and of course - I said yes!!
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tell us more about your Martina Liana gown!
As the store was so far from my hometown, I actually wasn't expecting to find my dress at Eleganza and I initially wanted to visit for the experience with a small hope of finding a dress.
I told my stylist the shape and styles that I liked - I was really clear I didn't want anything too traditional, I was only open to lace if it was modern and to my surprise I was open to a little sparkle... The dress I ended up choosing was actually the first dress I tried on, but I didn't decide it was the one until I tried a few different styles and then went back to the first one as the others just didn't compare. I was really torn between strapless and low back, as I really liked factors of them both - but in the end low back one.
Like I said, it was the first dress I tried on but there was a couple others that I really fell in love with too, so I knew to help me decide I had to try the first one on again - my stylist put me back in the dress, tightened it with the clips, put a veil on me and handed me some flowers, I took one look at my mum and we both had tears in our eyes - that's when I knew it was the one. I stood up on a pedestal and took a really good look, I face-timed my grandma to get her approval and called my fiance Jack and said 'I'm stood in my wedding dress' ahhh!
I loved the hint of sparkle it had, the modern lace that made it feel unique, and the v-shaped sheer sides to the dress made the dress feel appropriate for a young bride which I just absolutely loved - as a 24 year old bride I was really set on a modern dress that suited my age and the dress did exactly that.
What was your inspiration for your wedding? Did you follow a specific theme or colour palette?
As a couple who love to travel together - it was pretty evident from the start we were going to have an abroad wedding... We decided to return back to the place we got engaged and bring all of our close family and friends to the Island of the Gods - Bali.
The overall theme for our wedding was tropical vibes, modern typography and filled with minor details. I worked closely with a graphic designer @nimblegraphics to create all our wedding stationary which even included a hand drawn illustration of us from our engagement shoot we had in Bali, which we used for our menu place settings.
Tell us more about your Big Day!
I'm sure every bride says this, but it was utterly perfect in every way. With it being an abroad wedding, our guest list was very small and intimate, but that turned out absolutely perfect for us and it was so special to be surrounded by really close family and friends. Both me and Jack are very family orientated so it suited us perfectly and we were so so happy.
Our venue was called Villa Vedas, and it was a huge open plan villa with 8 bedrooms featuring a 34-metre long pool located in Tanah Lot, Bali. We hired the venue for us and our guests for 3 nights which even allowed us to have a post-wedding pool party... Being surrounded by palm trees and rice terraces on our wedding day made it the absolute perfect venue for us - all our guests kept saying was "it's like something out of a movie"
We really wanted to fill our day with unique and non-traditional moments and this started right from the beginning of the ceremony! It's controversial... But we actually decided that Jack would choose the bridal entrance song and it would be a complete surprise to me until I walked down the aisle, it was so emotional and one of the best decisions I made to let him do that as it meant so much to me and made the moment even more special - but don't get me wrong I definitely got nervous at what I would be walking down the aisle to... He chose the song "Resolution" by Matt Corby which has a lot of meaning to us both and gave me such an overwhelming feeling of happiness when I walked down the aisle with my dad by my side.
We also decided to have a groom procession before the bridal party and it was SO SO SO special and our guests absolutely LOVED it - it felt amazing to know Jack and his groomsmen had a special moment walking down the aisle just like I did - especially when we had a pool floating acrylic stage, it would of been rude not to!
Other unique things we included in to our day was having tattoo artists at our wedding during cocktail hour - this was one of the best additions we made, most of our guests got involved and had tattoos that will always remind them over our special day, even Jack's nana got her first ever tattoo of mine and Jack's initials with a paw print for our puppy Simba! Unreal! I also had a mother daughter dance as well as father daughter, got everyone to take a selfie right before our ceremony started and send it to us and had our very own private last dance... There's just too many things to mention them all really!
Unfortunately, I lost my grandma only 8 weeks before our wedding in a very short and painful battle with cancer, we were extremely close and it hit me and my family really hard so celebrating something so positive really brought us all together. After our mother daughter dance finished we planned to have "It's all coming back to me" by Celine Dion as we love that song and we wanted to all of our guests up singing and dancing - this unexpectedly happened to be one of the most memorable moments of the day, my maid of honour and sister Charlotte brought up a framed picture we had of my grandma, and we sung, danced and cried - we looked up to the sky and saw one single start that was shining so so brightly, we couldn't believe it, it's a moment I will treasure forever.
I could pretty much go on forever and tell you all the amazing moments from the day, i'm still not over it! It was full of love, happiness and memories we will never ever forget.
|
|
|
|
|
|
What was the most memorable moment?
It's so hard to choose - aside from walking down the aisle and feeling like it was just the two of us there... One of our most memorable moments was after our reception ended we had no curfew and we could play our own music through the villa sound system, so us and all our guests stayed out until 3am and then most of them left and went to bed - me and my husband Jack where the last ones standing - we pulled up two chairs facing the villa and sat side by side and recapped the whole day together and talked about our favourite moments and just took the time to really take it all in, we then had a "last dance" together infront of the venue just us two, and had a private moment to finish the day on a high - we ended up staying up together until sunrise! It was so so special.
Do you have a favourite picture from your wedding day? Why is this image so special to you?
Yes! There's a picture of me and Jack as we're walking back down the aisle and we just look like we're floating in the middle of the pool and holding up our hands with our brand new rings and we were just SO happy and in love in that moment and the photo captures it perfectly and just brings me so much joy to look at.
Photographer: Flipmax Photography | Venue: Villa Vedas | Makeup: Ranny The Bronzer | Shoes: Be Mine Bridal | Cake: Butter Bali | Caterer: Villa Vedas | Music: Music For Life DJ