We love when brides include a bit of advice in their wedding story and today’s is such a good reminder: Keep it simple and do not forget why you are there in the first place: for one another. Beyond the beautiful details, that is what you want to shine through when you look back at your wedding photos and/or film. Thankfully, Margherita Orlandi took care in planning the perfect day for this Bride and Groom, while Alessandro Bordoni and Valentina Oprandi captured all their love.
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From the Bride… What we envisioned our wedding being was to have a balanced between simple and unforgettable. We did not want to go crazy with elegance, we wanted our wedding to be where everyone involved as well as attending could relax and enjoy being in the presence of true love. Weddings should not be something that makes you feel pressure nor stressed. It should be something that you can’t wait to be in the moment because it will not and should not happen again in your life. So while preparing for our wedding, all we can kept talking about was how much fun everyone would have and the time we get to spend with family and friends celebrating our unity.
Our color palette was white, gold, green and blush. White of course represented me as the bride and my gown, it’s only right, you know us ladies love our thought of coming down the aisle in that white dress. Gold actually is the color my husband came up with. He always talks about our family being royalty, he feels that every man should feel like a king, his wife feel like a a queen and be treated as such, and their children princes and princesses that are being groomed for the next generation. That is what gold represented. Green is actually my favorite color. People say that green represents hope and without hope, dreams can’t become reality. Our love story started with hope and that’s how we are here now. Blush is just a feminine touch that I added, I thought that it went well over well with the other three colors, especially the gold. Our vision was to keep it simple, laid back, but with a hint of flamboyance. We wanted people to remember what they saw when they came to our wedding. The color scheme, the attire we had on and how we wore, and most importantly, the energy that they felt once they arrived. When you arrive, comfort and warmth is what we wanted people to experience right away.
The logo that we had was a unique element for us. It was a J and a B intertwined into each other which represented us becoming a singular item. We wanted everybody to understand what they were seeing happening before their eyes. Two people from completely different backgrounds and cultures, finding each other somehow in a world so vast, our logo represents that anything is possible. Another unique element was the gift that we gave away to the people who attended. Our gift was a candle, it stood out for me right away the first time that I saw it. It is a candle from Yankee Candles named “Wedding Day”. I have always been fond of candles so I wanted everyone to have a piece of me from my special day and the fragrance being name “Wedding Day” made it that much more satisfying to give as a gift. Everyone can enjoy their candle and remember one of the most special days of my life. The last unique element of our wedding that stood out was a video my aunt made for us. The video consisted of special moments, goofy moments, and the arrival of our son Jordan to our lives. It was so special to see how much Jeff and I have grown these last six years into who we are now. Tears were flowing as much as the wine was for everyone in the room, especially me of course. But they were tears of joy and excitement for what the future had in store for our family.
I have a few favorite moments from our day. The first one was the ride from my home to the church. It felt like an emotional roller coaster. I was happy, excited, nervous, and 10 other emotions as well. I could not wait to get to the church and see the look on Jeff’s face seeing me in my gown. I was thinking about it the whole night before. The second moment was when I was walking down the aisle. I saw the look on his face that I wanted to see. I was still a bit nervous going down aisle because you know that you are center of attention in that moment and everyone is staring not only at you but into who you are because now they see the little girl or teenager that they knew all grown as a woman on her day. But when I saw Jeff holding Jordan, he had the smile on his face that showed me exactly what I was looking for: confirmation. The confirmation that this is exactly how my wedding day and the man of my life would make me feel, I felt I was exactly where I was supposed to be. The third one was our first dance. As soon as we started to dance, everyone and everything disappeared. He took his jacket off and then it was just him and I, in our special place, together. We danced to Justin Timberlake’s “Take It From Here”. The song reminds me exactly of how Jeff makes me feel everyday. We were dancing and we always loved to dance, it was the first thing that attracted me to him. Right away I thought of our actually first dance and it was no different, it was just him and I. I could relive that moment everyday if it were possible.
We had an amazing wedding planner. We were living in two separate countries and somehow, someway everything happened exactly as it were supposed to. I just gave an example of the flowers I wanted and she picked the perfect variety of bouquets to add together, always repeating the color palette I picked. Our cake was three levels high, white and gold with real flowers attached to it. It was a light chantilly cake with red berries. Everyone loved it, it was one of the first time I seen multiple people eat multiple slices cake throughout the reception. My gown was a mermaid dress. It was really simple in the front, but the back was open and transparent. I had long train to it as well which brought just a touch of elegance. As soon as I saw, I knew it was the one. I bought my dress from Pronovias in Malaga, Spain. When it came to the party, I changed dresses, I needed to be more comfortable during the night. It was an easy white dress that still give you a reminiscence of being at my wedding.
My one piece of advice is to remember that this is a day of unity so try to involve your mate as much as possible so that they can feel a part of everything that is going on even if they are not very familiar with certain aspects of the wedding. It is going to be just like your marriage, sharing opinions and finding compromises to make everything go as smoothly as possible. It is a day of celebration and a day of love. Keep it simple and do not forget why you are there in the first place: for one another. Good luck to all you upcoming brides out there and I hope that you enjoy your special day as much as I did!
Photography: Valentina Oprandi | Cinematographer : Alessandro Bordoni | Event Planning: Happy Moments Collector | Floral Design: Margherita Orlandi | Invitations: Letter B | Reception Venue: Villa Subaglio | Catering: Maison du Food