Vikky & Tom have booked their wedding in Cyprus for next September 2014.. We got it all booked via emailing quite quickly; they are getting married in a stunning villa in Paphos and celebrating there with around 50 guests. I shall be arranging caterers and staff to cater for the event Cyprus Style. I had the pleasure of meeting this delightful fun couple last month in Paphos, when they came over for a quick visit to discuss their wedding and view the villa that the have booked in real life. Since going back Vikky went to the National wedding show for a fun day and inspiration and has written the below blog…
The National Wedding Show (London) is literally like letting kids wander free in a sweetie shop. Thousands of brides to be, their mothers and maids of honor roaming the sweetie isles of sparkling tiaras, colourful rose buds and rails of princess dresses. These grown women turn into giggly, screeching teenage girls. And I was one of them. I walked into the exhibition with my MOB (mother of the bride) in tow, convinced that I was different from all of these other clueless brides; I knew exactly what I wanted. I have followed fashion my entire life, I know how to dress for my shape, no-one can tell me what I should be wearing for my wedding day. I was wrong.
The first boutique we came across (Bombshell by Katya Wildman) offered beautiful couture style dresses inspired in my mind by SATC at its simplest. I was fortunate enough to meet the designer of the dresses who was friendly and enthusiastic. Katya has worked in costume design for TV and more recently specialised in wedding attire for guests of the wedding before launching her bridal range this year. The secret appears to be in her side panels. MOB glided through the rails of jewel coloured wrap around dresses with a childlike grin; thus allowing me time to look closer at the well-structured wedding dresses I never thought I would try on [I am unable to give too many details away as my husband to be may read this], the only reason being that they are merely the complete opposite to what I thought in my mind would be my ideal dress. I fortunately tried one of them on and I am so pleased that I did as it completely changed my entire concept of my bridal look. Being helped into the dress by the boutique’s pattern cutter in a luxuriously laid out fitting room, I felt I was watching someone else try on the well cut, high fashion bridal piece. This was the first wedding dress I had ever tried on. Floating out of the fitting room to show MOB, I was greeted by oohs and ahhs from passer bys. The dress I tried on was not only the most stylish and best cut out of all of the wedding dresses I tried on that day, but it was also surprisingly the cheapest. The dress I tried on came in at £880; made to order and including 2 fittings www.bombshellbykatyawildman.com .
After trying on my first wedding dress, MOB and I giddily wondered through the exhibitors towards the Bridal Fashion Show. One thing I must mention is the sheer volume of sales people. At the end of the day all of the people on the stands – whether it be a bridal boutique or a wedding singer – are there to sell their product or service to you. Don’t be intimidated and don’t be too shy to politely say no thank you. There is absolutely no point in wasting either yours or their time when you know that you don’t want or need what they are selling. The fashion show consisted of several ‘scenes’ or themes to you and me of beautiful dress after dress, modelled by stunning women gliding down the catwalk. Throw in a couple of cute children and a pair of smouldering hot guys to model the grooms wear and both MOB and I were so high on dream like excitement that we had to retire to the Canteen for lunch. Another warning – food is VERY expensive. There is nothing you can do about it, just suck it up and be prepared to pay £7 for a jacket potato.
Throughout the afternoon I tried on various different wedding dresses including the style I thought I wanted of which although looked nice, was just not me. Nothing compared to ‘the dress’ I tried on at the beginning of the day. Again I was convinced that I knew how I wanted my hair and the accessories to go in it. Wrong. I tried on various boho forehead bands, halos and bridal fascinators. All of which were beautiful, but ‘the dress’ was a game changer and my original hair concept was no longer going to work. By Harriet (www.byharriet.co.uk) and Gillian Million(www.gillianmillion.com) were my two favourite bridal accessories stands, both designers were on hand and assisted me personally. I just need to decide on my concept and style before I can choose my accessories. Whilst passing a large stall of tiaras and veils Ivory & Co (both of which I have always insisted I will not wear on my wedding day) MOB and I thought we had nothing to lose, I therefore participated in a game of grown up princess dress up – www.ivoryandcotiaras.co.uk . As I tried on a small gold tiara a gasp escaped my mouth and I found I was grinning insanely at myself in the mirror. A few tiaras later (including an extremely large one that would rival the Queen’s coronation crown) I moved onto the veils. This time a shriek escaped me. I never in my wildest dreams thought I would like a veil (I am a post-feminist after all) yet here I was trying on veil after veil spinning and twirling in the mirror. Suddenly I am approached by a Producer for Channel 5 asking if I would sign a release form for a bridal documentary as they had filmed me trying on the tiaras and veils. Caught up in the moment I girlishly agreed. This however means that at any time in the future there may be an insane version of myself spinning with tiaras and veils while giggling and squealing appearing on your screens. I apologise now to anyone who actually knows me.
One thing I can say for definite is that I found my shoes. Pink is an affordable collection from Paradox London that specialise in special occasion shoes that can be dyed to any colour to fit your colour scheme. My shoes came in at £70www.paradoxlondon.com/pink.html .
As a bride to be I would definitely recommend attending a wedding fayre generally andThe National Wedding Show specifically. I would however, advise taking a day off of work and attending on the Friday. I have heard horror stories about weekend days at the show that were confirmed by exhibitors I spoke to. On the Friday although busy, we were still able to access stands and try dresses on. If attending on a weekend day, go early and have a plan of your priorities as you may have to queue for many of the stands. But most importantly – HAVE FUN – after all we only get to do this once
It has always been a dream of mine to get married abroad. Not only is it the only way to be guaranteed good weather, but the thought of a foreign culture is pure romance to me. Fiancé wasn’t so sure at first. He has always imagined a huge party with lots and lots of people in a UK venue with crisp white linen. To me this equals boring. There are only so many weddings that you can go to before they all seem very similar, all cut from the same cookie cutter. This is not meant to be a criticism to any of the weddings that I have been to, as they have all been lovely, every single one. I just want something…different.
My mother of the bride (MOB) and I searched for weddings abroad online, whilst I simultaneously looked into UK weddings for comparison. We came to a resounding conclusion that Fiancé was unable to deny, it is significantly cheaper to get married abroad. Seriously. I am talking a 1/4 of the cost of a wedding in the UK. Once this had been agreed it was onto the next step – where and what kind of destination wedding? Cyprus was decided for multiple reasons;
- Fiancé and I were going on holiday there in September therefore could check out the area etc.
- I had lived there for 2 years when I was younger due to my dad being in the army.
- Cyprus is the birth place of Aphrodite, the goddess of love.
I knew that I didn’t want to get married in a hotel as it could be any where. As MOB and I were looking at luxurious villas for the family to stay in, we had the thought of getting married in a villa. After some research it turns out that this is in fact possible. Result. We found our dream villa in Paphos where we are able to stay for the entire week, have the ceremony and the reception all in one place. What started out as Fiancé and me having to find a cheap way to get married, has turned into a very unique and personal wedding. The wedding of my dreams. The villa is stunning (like something from MTV cribs) and with the help of our wedding planner we will be able to have an individual and bespoke wedding that will reflect our personalities rather than that of a hotel or restaurant. Villa found. Wedding planner found (see separate post for details on Stella Virdi, our wonderful wedding planner). Now onto the dress, flowers and more.
Wedding planner – https://www.exclusiveweddingscyprus.com/
We met Stella recently whilst on holiday in Cyprus. She was friendly, enthusiastic and most importantly – she got us. Her fees are extremely reasonable and she has a vast array of connections which enable her to make the perfect wedding for each couple. All of our dealings with her so far have been efficient and pleasant. We would definitely recommend her to anyone considering getting married in Cyprus
I have been with my BF for 6 years and we have lived together for over 4 of those. As a woman in her early 30′s I was starting to get a bit anxious to get on the bridal train. Finally, whilst visiting BF’s parents in Spain he popped the question at the very beautiful village of Guadalest. The view was breathtaking as you can see from the picture above. I had absolutely no idea that he was going to do the deed, in fact I thought that perhaps he never would. BF was acting a little strange on the day, but then he is a little strange so didn’t look into it too much. At one point I turned around and he was looking at a buttercup… I asked him what he was doing and he just muttered something about the colour.
When researching the area before our trip, we had seen online that there was supposed to be a waterfall and lagoon within the Guadalest valley. However, after searching for it for a few hours – while taking in the other beautiful sights – we came to the conclusion that it didn’t exist. Once at the top of the cliff, near the castle ruins BF turned to me, knelt on one knee and said “Well I was going to do this by the waterfall but…” and uttered those words that all women in love want to hear. And yes I did cry. It turned out that the reason he was acting so strange was due to the fact that he didn’t yet have a ring to give me. He had therefore been trying to fashion a ring out of a flower, the first 3 attempts had failed. Well that explained the buttercup incident.
We then stayed in a hotel in Calpe, followed by a hotel in Valencia – celebrating with lots of drinks and yummy Spanish food. I still feel giddy now with the excitement, I can’t believe that I am a betrothed woman. Eeek, it is all extremely exciting.
The Buttercup ring that my fiance first proposed with
My real ring
