How to start planning your wedding –

To be honest, I always thought it would be super easy if we would ever get married…And to be even more honest: It wasn’t quite as easy as I thought it would be to plan our wedding =) 

But let’s go back to the start…last week I told you what happened after Ingo and I got engaged and I still loooove thinking back to this time, it was lovely. After a few months, I believe it was in May or June 2016, we started planning our wedding.
Well – the first step for us was to finally decide what we wanted to do. So we went thought our priorities and thoughts:

… we wanted to give personal vows to each other
… we strongly believe that a marriage is something really intimate between two people, so we wanted to say out these vows in privacy
… our civil ceremony should be short and sweet, we saw it more like the “official permission” than an actual wedding
… despite the idea of giving our vows to each other in privacy we wanted to celebrate with our friends, too
… we did not want to do any “polite invites” to a party
… we always pictured the party as an intimate and special gathering with friends
… we wanted to concentrate on a sustainable approach with the wedding party

And after gathering all these thoughts we decided on the following: We definitely wanted to elope, to make the moments, when we tell each other our wedding vows as bride and groom, very special. Ingo and I love to travel so the elopement came kind of natural to us, it was just what suited us. But also we decided to sign the registry in Germany, so we didn’t have to deal with any of the hassles of the accreditation. And as we wanted to throw a party we agreed on throwing a wedding party later down the path.

And I guess this was the first step into our real wedding planning…we talked long and clear about what each of us wanted and in my eyes this is an important step to start the process. Over the years as a wedding photographer I have experienced, that in most relationships there is one partner who is more excited about the whole planning bit and one is a bit like “whatever makes you happy”…and I think it is crucial that both partners talk about what they want, and even more important what they don’t want. 

So we decided to not do any wedding traditions, that we did not feel strongly about. This is something Ingo and I learned from all the weddings we have been to as wedding photographers…many people oblige to traditions, because “this is what you are meant to do”. And I can only say: “Don’t do it! Listen to your heart, only do, what you as a couple want”. And this kind of developed into a theme of our wedding. We tried very hard to never forget what we wanted and how we wanted it and even if this caused the one or the other discussion with family members, in the end it was worth it because Ingo and I feel 100% happy about how our wedding was. 

We ended up taking different steps on the way to marriage and our friends are still laughing about our “three weddings”: We signed the registry in Berlin, eloped in Tasmania and threw a party in Italy. And hell yes, it was amazing!

I’ll tell you all about it but step by step…here is what I will write about in the next few weeks: 

How to decide where you want to elope to
How to plan an elopement in Tasmania
The best location for your elopement in Tasmania
How to find the right photographer for your wedding in Tasmania
Tasmania’s best wedding celebrant
A perfect elopement weekend
Where to get your wedding rings
How we decided to have a wedding party in Italy
Setting the wedding date
Wedding Stationary
Wedding invitations – who do you have to invite?
Sustainability at weddings – our thoughts on this
Do you need a wedding planner for your destination wedding?
Wedding entertainment – Music at our Tuscan wedding party
Our wedding decoration concept
Last minute cancellations from wedding guests
Our wedding weekend in Tuscany – how it all came together

I will probably think of another couple of things and steps we took while I am writing this all up, so this list might be extended…but from now on I am trying to use every Wednesday as #weddingwednesday and post some bits and pieces about our own wedding =) 

Below are some more photos of our engagement session in Iceland, shot by Styrmir Kári & Heiðdís Photography.