Estonia | You May French Kiss The Bride

Mar 2014

Anni + Rauno

Fall Inspired Wedding from Estonia

I confess, I am totally obsessed with their car. But not just that; they also have a super cute cat wearing a bowtie, and all the little touches of yellow and orange are just perfect for this fall inspired wedding! The very nice pictures were taken by Gerry Sulp, out of Estonia.

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The wedding took place on October 5, 2013. The ceremony was held at our home-town’s (Tartu, Estonia) railway station, an old building which was recently renovated.

Our wedding car belonged to my grandfather, then to my mother, and now me and my husband. Rauno started to fix it (it was a bit dented and rusty and… well, an old car) about 6 months before the wedding and it was his major project. It was Rauno’s most important wish that he could be the one driving it on our wedding day.

We were very close with my mom, Rauno thought of her as his own… and we both don’t have very good relationships with our fathers. My mom passed away, sadly, in January. One of her biggest goals in life (she was fighting cancer) was to see our wedding day… which she did.

We wanted a fall wedding and the day before and the day after our wedding, it was raining and cloudy but on the 5th of October the weather was sunny and perfect!

So we started to plan the wedding, we made to-do-list by month and we kept to the list. We had wedding meetings with my mum and my two best friends the weeks before the wedding day, we thought about where the cars were gonna park, who was going to be sitting in whose car, etc. We really thought about every little logistical detail. We were joking that we (me and Rauno) did all the hard work for a year and two months (all the pre-planning and handycraft) and my bridesmaids Kairi and Maarja did everything on that one special day. I had written a 10-page long vision of the wedding with every little detail for my bridesmaids Kairi and Maarja, so that they would know our wishes exactly. It worked out perfectly because EVERYTHING (and I mean EVERYTHING) went according to plan. And that’s what made it special for us. I’m a big planner in life as well, I like my things organised, and the wedding day of an organised person has to be very well organised. :)

I recommend envisioning the day in your mind and really thinking through the details. That is how I found out the “critical” things and was able to think about them in advance. Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. And even if things go a little south, it is still the best day of your life!

Name on thing you regret…

Regrets? I think it is safe to say: NONE! It took many sleepless nights and many discussions and many-many-many hours of working, buying things, making things, talking to people etc – but everything was exactly like we wanted it to be. As I said… we didn’t have even the slightest glitches or mishaps, although we were prepared for almost everything. HAHA! I just remembered one thing. Since I’m not big on make-up and hair-do’s or all that girly stuff, I like it quite natural, I didn’t want to use any hair products on my hair-do (actually it wasn’t that I did not WANT to, the thought just never occurred to me since I do not OWN any hair products). But in retrospective, the wind was pretty strong that day and maybe a little hairspray would have been necessary. But like I said, I like everything natural, so it really didn’t bother me that much.

… And one thing you’re really happy about/ proud of.

I’m HAPPY about all the things about my wedding day. Even the stressful planning. But the thing I’m most proud of – is my world’s greatest husband! When we were planning the whole thing, I read about many weddings and many girls/women planning their wedding. And somehow it always seemed… that the wedding (for the most part, there are always exceptions) is more important for women. And not so much for men. And it is totally normal because men are not really that into this – they just want to hear the “I do” from the person they love most in the world. But not my man! Rauno was always 100% involved, thinking about every little detail, spending many nights with me and the paper cutter… I literally did not have to do anything alone, I always had my maid of honour – my Rauno (that was I joke I often made, that I didn’t need a maid of honor because I already have Rauno).

Feb 2014

Laura + Morgan

Balloon Love Letters and an Outdoor Ceremony in the Middle of the City

It may look like an obvious choice when thinking about it (and well, after seeing someone do it!), but I’ve never seen a couple getting married in the middle of the city, simply in a town square. Finding the right place to hold the ceremony can become quite a headache, but sometimes the solution is just right under your feet! I’m also a huge fan of these balloons love letters, aren’t you? Photography by Sandra Palm.

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The wedding took place in Tallinn, Estonia, on July 09, 2013. Here’s the story of how these two met.

I like the story of how we met. I am from Estonia and he is from Sweden. We met in Estonia in a nightclub. He came up to me in the club and I wasn’t interested at the time. We chatted and I left. And that was it. No numbers exchanged or anything. 7 months later he happened to be in Estonia again and we just happened to be in the same nightclub again. He came up to me, again, but he didn’t remember we had already met… I obviously did. His face was priceless when after his “Hello” and introduction I got to say… “Yeah I know. We have met!” We had a great laugh about it and exchanged emails after that.

Name one thing you regret…

Its impossible to answer this as it was the most awesome day ever. I only regret it couldn’t last longer than a day!

… And one thing you’re really happy about/ proud of.

I am the most happy that our friends travelled from all around the world to be with us.

The word of the photographer.

I think that the couple had an awesome attitude towards their wedding day. They were so relaxed, totally enjoying the day. Photographing people clearly amazingly in love, showing their love for each other and enjoying themselves every minute of the day, is just a total bliss as a photographer! The wedding was modern, stylish and relaxed.

Aug 2013

Aurore + Jérôme

A French Wedding in Estonia with the Best Bride Entrance Ever!

Mait was one of the first photographers to appear on the blog, but I never get tired of checking out his latest releases. There’s a lot of softness in his pictures and the result on a wedding like Aurore and Jérôme’s is just fantastic. This couple is French, but had their wedding in Estonia; a wedding by the sea, with guests enjoying the day on the spot, and a bride and groom who chose to enjoy themselves rather than spend time on decoration and setting. And when the time for the ceremony had come, there was an old wooden viking boat… and the bride’s uncle back! Photography by Mait Jüriado.

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The wedding took place in Tallin and Kasmu, Estonia. It was a 4 days wedding in an old soviet summer camp with 140 relatives and friends from all around the world (4 countries were represented). You may already have seen the little sneak peek of this wedding I posted on Facebook, so here’s the story about the bride arriving at the ceremony place on her uncle’s back and everybody taking off their pants!

As we both come from the seaside in France, we decided to arrive on a boat to the ceremony place. We asked our relative to raw the drakkar, viking boat… The captain told us that he could drop us 3 meters away from the beach. But it appeared that we were too heavy on the boat and we got stuck 20 meters away from the beach… My uncle was the first one to take off his pants and he tried to move the boat… WE WERE STUCK! It took me less that a minute to ask him to carry me on his back to the shore! Which he did! Then all the family followed in underpants! What a JOKE!

Name one thing you regret…

Nothing to regret… it happened as it should happen… naturally smoothly with lots of serenity and happiness! Of course I could have taken more times to set up the decoration… lot of stuff stayed in the boxes! But we preferred to play tennis, golf or to paddle on our SUP on the D-day than to set up the decoration! but thanks to our family and friend we finally had the time to set up the half of it in less than two hours!

… And one thing you’re really happy about/ proud of.

To gather all our dearest family and friends for 4 days in a charming place in a lovely country! It was very nice to spent so much time with our guests!

The word of the photographer.

As a photographer I am used to see so many wedding styles, dresses, decorations, etc. And sometimes, there’s too much of everything put into just one day. The more simple and home-made it is the more I love it. Aurore and Jérôme’s wedding was so far one of the simplest weddings I attended this year, but one of the nicest. Less is more in a way. For instance, Aurore’s hairstyle and makeup in the forest grove took about 15 minutes – amazing! She got ready on the beach, they all entered a boat to reach the shore—her uncle was carrying the bride on his back—and the flowers were picked from the nearby fields. The ceremony was emotionally speeches-rich and the natural light was perfect on the location – blue rainy background with sunlight. In Estonia it’s sometimes very common to have up to a few hours for couple pictures. With Aurore and Jérôme I had only 15 minutes, which can be really tricky as of course of would love to get as much times as possible, but with this kind of scenery and with this couple, 15 minutes was just perfect. Wedding days can be really really busy but their wedding was like a slow journey. Everybody had time. Like on vacation. I wish I could photograph some more two-(or more)-days weddings.