Fun & Famous

Carolien’s wedding diary

The wedding is really getting uncomfortably close now and there is still a whole laundry list of tasks waiting for me... Just keep breathing, Carolien, one step at a time and then the end will come into view by itself.

So the next task that needs to be tackled is the entire decoration for the weekend. On Pinterest, I always see those beautiful wedding pictures with seas of flowers, hundreds of lanterns, candles, and beautifully set tables. But there is often a considerable price tag attached to this...

I have been a fan of AliExpress for years, where you can order just about anything you can think of. So this seemed like the perfect website for finding affordable ‘wedding decoration’ and successfully! Paper bags with LED lights, lanterns, confetti cannons; I couldn't get enough! Now that I have been able to save a significant amount there, more budget remains for a beautiful florist. Strangely enough, flowers in Italy are really expensive, you are truly shocked when you want to order a bouquet there. Despite the transport costs, it is therefore cheaper to look for a florist closer to home. Whenever I am at an event where the flowers are the highlight of the evening, they come from LM Flowers, like this beautifully decorated table during the Prêt à Pregnant dinner. And during our first meeting, I immediately knew that these gentlemen are perfect for this job! They work with the best flower growers from the Netherlands and are very creative; it is not surprising that they are in high demand abroad. Because despite the fact that the most beautiful flowers come from our cold little country, our neighboring countries spend on average much more on wedding flowers than we do. If all goes well, I will only get married once, so let that sea of flowers come in! In terms of colors, I would like to stick to nude, white, and soft pink shades, which are still a bit the traditional wedding colors. But that is where my input ends: I really have no idea about all the different types of flowers, so I have given the gentlemen ‘carte blanche’ to surprise us...

In addition to a nice visual picture, I think it would be great to stimulate the other senses of our guests. Often, scents are an undervalued element, while our memories are most often linked to them. Our entire house is filled with scented candles from the British brand Jo Malone: how cool would it be if everyone immediately thinks back to our Italian wedding when they smell our favorite Jo Malone scents? Additionally, the candles also look beautiful. So off to the Jo Malone shop-in-shop in the Bijenkorf to determine together with their specialist which scented candles best match our different key moments. During the ceremony, Jon would like something fresh and fruity (Lime Basil & Mandarin), for dinner something that is not too overpowering and complements the food (Green Tomato Leaf), and for the big party, I would like something heavier (my personal favorite: Dark Amber & Ginger Lily). I just get butterflies in my stomach when I think about how it will all come together. It can't be anything but a real fairy tale, right? As long as Jon and I know our text at the altar, everything will be fine! Just one word, two letters... How hard can that be?!