Perfect Destination Wedding of Katie & Bobby & their Dubrovnik Wedding story

It took me a while to figure out how to title this blog post,as Katie and Bobby, after their wedding stayed in Dubrovnik, they live and work here now and are truly our dear friends. We go for lunches together and make house visits too, but still if you asked me objectively, this is definitely one of the most beautiful weddings I had the honor of planning, organizing and coordinating. And indeed, it was perfect....

I will let the photos tell their story too...

So, to start from the beginning, I remember when Katie first contacted me in March for a wedding in September, coming from Australia. I though to myself, wow that is a last minute booking, but Katie and Bobby, with him having family in Dubrovnik, have organized a few things on their own, so we didn't start from the very beginning.

They came for a 2 week site inspection visit in May (that happens rarely too, and I LOVED meeting them every couple of days and this made me think how I wish my Brides were closer to me so I can help them in choosing their dress and make flower samples on spot...) and we faced some challenges along the way- the venue they had booked started raising prices and changing terms and conditions and my first serious task as their potential wedding planner was to find a new venue- for 1st Saturday in September, the busiest one of all, to find an available venue that is to be beautiful and that can hold 120 people- trust me, not an easy task. But we managed, and the venue was so much more beautiful than the first one chosen (wont be telling names :) ).

Slowly, but surely, things started to shape up and their wedding vision became clearer by the hour, not by the day. Soon enough, what we laid ahead of us was a perfect destination wedding in Dubrovnik plan. And it truly was...

Katie and Bobby were a dream come true for me as a wedding planner- well organized, reasonable, warm and passionate about their wedding, completely open to ideas and suggestions, with a clear vision though, knowing it is one of the most important day of their lives, they splurged into their perfect wedding in Dubrovnik.... 

Katie arrived to Dubrovnik from Australia about 3 weeks before the wedding, on her own to finalize plans, make flower samples, taste food, wines and all the other fun bits to the final section of the wedding planning. She enjoyed local beaches and local food, and started to get to know the town a bit better, as Bobby had to stay a bit longer in Australia. A week before the wedding she flew to Las Vegas, where hen and stag parties were organized, and no photos here, but from what I heard, they had more than a blast- at moments I was worried if all of them will come back in one piece : )

During their Las Vegas party pre-wedding vacation, I had the honor and a very special task of safe guarding for Katie's wedding dress in my home. Having a 15 month old boy didn't help with the levels of stress this caused but I really felt honored about this! Don't worry, Luka was a good boy, didn't touch it and Katie got her wedding dress safe and sound : )

Day before the wedding, Katie and Booby decided to throw a cocktail party on East West Beach Club just on the entrance to the Old Town of Dubrovnik. Guests mingled and enjoyed spectacular views, excellent music, food and service and fantastic ambiance. It was a perfect get together....

The morning of the wedding finally arrived and everyone was fabulously relaxed and chilled. Girls were getting pampered in the luxurious Villa which Katie and Bobby booked for them and their friends, sipping champagne and nibbling snacks and fruits while guys were getting ready in the "Boys" mansion, the Villa just next door. Bobby's mother being from Slavonija, northern part of Croatia (where I am from originally too!), all of us are a bit obsessed with food and drink, as long as there are stuff to eat and drink everything will be just fine, so they really had a nice feast in that villa. No wonder why everyone wanted to stop by Bobby's villa before they headed to Katie's :)) - no offense girls, I loved the champagne but Bobby's Mum's delicacies were to die for! : )

 

The boys got ready and got transferred with limos to the Old Town, had a quick drink before entering a beautiful church of St Blaise, patron of Dubrovnik, where wedding mass was set to start at 1600hrs.

And the girls were almost ready. I brought a freshly steamed veil in the last minute, the fabulous hair stylist fixed it all and we were ready to take off! And the mood! Well I can't express it in words, but it was everything it should be- relaxed and cheery with a splash of positive adrenaline! Girls were singing "going to the chapel lady, gonna get married" all along the short journey to the Old Town and people clapped and greeted the happy bridal party. Loved it!

We showed guests to their seats and told everyone it is time to find their place as the Bride is to enter. A moment of anticipation, as it is on every wedding, my favorite....

Katie entered the church with the tunes of beautiful Pachebel's Canon in D and over 100 people bursting with emotions gleamed at her and smiled, with a rare dry eye among all of them....
Katie and Bobby lit their unity candles- one each as a sign of their individuality upon entrance and one unity candle as a sign of their unity once the priest pronounced them husband and wife.
Service was amazing- half in English and half in Croatian, just a perfect amount of both...

As guests got out of the church, a traditional local Klapa trio awaited for them in front and played in traditional costumes, on mandolins and a guitar. After photos, guests were ushered to the spectacular galleon boat for a panoramic sunset cruise, where they were served champagne and a buffet of local delicacies.

After photos, guests were ushered to the spectacular galleon boat for a panoramic sunset cruise, where they were served champagne and a buffet of local delicacies.

After the boat brought us to the Grand Villa Argentina, where the wedding reception was to take place, amazing canapes were served along with cocktails and the crowd got it really going there!

Meantime, Katie and Bobby went for a photo session and a small refreshment, so when they entered the lounge bar where the ambiance was already in the party mood (nobody even thought about dinner yet : )) a huge round of applause and cheers was heard. Huge!

It was however time to get guests going to the beautiful venue, reminder- found last minute : ) to start the reception....

The entrance again was huge! Bridal party entered to the Jay Z's Empire State of Mind, and it really got the guests going. As everyone was seated, Katie and Bobby entered and started their first dance song: Wicked Game by Chris Isaac....

Dinner was served, a mouth watering 5 course meal (I know what you're thinking- food again : ). But trust me it was all done so well, it was a perfect amount of perfect food.) before the band started playing and everyone, but literally everyone was on the dance floor. I don't remember the last time I saw 120 people dancing! all ages, all walks of life. As I said in the beginning , it was a perfect wedding.

The wedding cake was made by their friend- Bobby's sister in law and I take my hat off for it. Well done, it is not easy to make a cake for 120 people in your own home kitchen. A special credit Oscar goes to Marija for the cake, definitely!
And it was absolutely delicious, real home made treat!

After the cake, bouquet and garter were tossed and the newlyweds had a grand exit out of their wedding reception- they didn't really feel like going though : )

As I said, it was a perfect wedding. It was inspirational for me, and I hope for you too. Nothing makes me happier than planning a wedding for wonderful people, and Katie and Bobby that truly are. 

Thanks guys for entrusting us such an important role in your lives. 

We look forward to the lifelong friendship and beautiful wedding memories!

For your perfect wedding in Dubrovnik, contact us at info@dubrovnikevent.com and visit our website www.dubrovnikevent.com

***Photography by Sinisa Stambuk, all rights reserved

Her surprise Dubrovnik Wedding & a Unique Honeymoon idea- Sail around the Adriatic

I remember when I was planning my wedding, that took place up in northern Croatia, my hometown, which was in a way a destination wedding for us, being 800km away and planning everything via phone (they are not too friendly with email communication just yet over there : )), being a wedding away from where we lived, I completely forgot about booking our honeymoon. Oh how I wish we had my dear colleague Mary Anne there to help us arrange the most romantic honeymoon of them all, and at a reach of your hand just after your Dubrovnik wedding...

I would face this then such a difficult question asked by our clients so many times- Where do I recommend them to go for their honeymoon, before it dawned on me, with a great help of a dear colleague today- Mary Anne Pulizzi who has shown to be my partner in crime for creating some pretty amazing weddings whose couples then went to the most amazing honeymoon of all times- sailing around the Adriatic....

Just think about it- crystal clear blue seas, sunsets and sunrises, every second of it, just yours to enjoy. Freshly caught fish by yourselves even; or a differently located restaurant every day on one of beautiful Croatia islands.... The choice is all yours, to enjoy and indulge in what you are most certainly entitled to, after your beautiful Dubrovnik wedding.....

So, you know how I always like to share a little wedding story with you in my blog posts, so I will do the same, from a bridal perspective again, this time you are in for a very special treat indeed- an amazingly emotional story of Her Surprise Wedding, by Kisha Coleman..... (when my husband read this story, he said Kamau should get the movie rights on this : )))) Kamau, we hope there are more men like you are out there! Kisha, you lucky woman! : )))
ENJOY!!!

Surprise Italian Vacation!

My boyfriend, Kamau and I were on our way to the airport for a week-long vacation to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico that Kamau had planned.  As we stood in the passenger check-in line, the ticketing attendant asked, “are you flying to London this evening?”   It didn’t register in my mind that she had said “London” for a couple minutes, since as far as I knew we were going to Cabo.  I turned to Kamau and said, “did she say London?  I thought you had booked a direct flight!” Kamau smiled a strange smile and said, “Yes, we’re going to London tonight, because our vacation is in Italy, not Cabo!”  I couldn’t believe what I was hearing; I was completely shocked and surprised because this was going to be my first trip to Italy and to Europe!

Once Kamau and I got in out seats, I had a million questions like, “How were you able to keep this a secret?? How did you plan this? Where are we going in Italy? Are we staying longer than a week?”  Kamau was amused by my excitement and told me that we were going to Rome, Florence and Venice for the 1 week vacation…3 days in Rome, 3 days in Florence, and 2 days in Venice.   I had just enough time to text friends and family that we were going to Italy and off we were off!!!

The Proposal

During the first two days in Rome, I had talked to my sister and girlfriends back home and hoped that maybe Kamau would finally propose on this Italian trip, but since this was day 5 and we were headed back home in just two days, all hopes that Kamau might propose had long since been extinguished. 

After finishing a delicious Tuscan dinner in the hills overlooking Florence, we were on our way back to our hotel when we crossed a bridge.  Kamau stopped half way accross and pointed out the next bridge over from us, the famous Ponte Vecchio.  Kamau “popped the question” and asked me to marry him and said he had brought me to Florence so that we could buy our rings from the shops on Ponte Vecchio.  I didn’t believe him first and thought that he was playing a joke, but he finally convinced me that he was serious and I accepted in a daze.  He told me that we weren’t leaving Europe yet, because we were getting married in just 10 days in Croatia.  Later, he explained that the whole wedding had been planned with the help of two ladies; one in Italy (Mary Ann - our travel consultant) and one in Croatia (Ines - our wedding planner), and that it would be just the two of us.  I was in shock for the second time on this trip; completely blown away that Kamau had planned a surprise vacation, and a surprise wedding!!!

How was all this possible?  As I began to ask him about everything, I discovered that Kamau had picked out my wedding dress, had it shipped to Italy and with the help of Mary Ann, had arranged for it to be waiting for me in our hotel room.  Later, I found out that Mary Ann had arranged all of our travel, had advised Kamau on the purchase of the rings from Ponte Vecchio; and had planned our honeymoon!

Mary Ann had also connected Kamau with Ines to plan the wedding and to take care of the logistics of paper work, hair, nails, makeup, flowers and everything else.  And it was all done without my knowledge Amazing!!

Next, we went to Venice and from there we took a high-speed ferry to Croatia and spent the next 10 days traveling from the coast city of Rovinj, to a small spa in Bartonigla, then to Zagreb (to get our marriage permits) and finally to Dubrovnik, where we would be married.

After we were engaged, each hotel knew that we were getting ready to marry and they all had champagne and chocolate waiting for us in our rooms.  So romantic!!   

Radisson Blu Resort and Spa Hotel, Orasac, Dubrovnik, Croatia, accommodation hotel of Kisha and Kamau during their stay in Dubrovnik.

The Wedding

Two days before the wedding we arrived in Dubrovnik, Croatia.  Shortly after we arrived to our apartment, my hair stylist came over to give me a trial hair run, my make-up artist came over to give me my trial make-up run, and the tailor came over to do my final dressing fitting and adjustments.  I felt like a princesses!! I didn’t have to lift a finger.  

Kamau had already picked my flowers… Calla lilies with lavender…. Exactly the flowers I would have picked.  There wasn’t anything for me to do, but relax.

On the warm summer day of June 24^th 2011, we were married on beautiful pier in the old walled part of the city of Dubrovnik.  We had a perfect and intimate wedding, just Kamau and I, the ministers and our two witnesses (and now new friends), Mary Anne and Ines.   

The Honeymoon

For our honeymoon, Kamau and Mary Ann had chartered a 55 foot yacht and we went sailing through the Dalmatian Coast for the next 5 days.  The yacht was gorgeous and the Adriatic Sea was beautiful.  Our honeymoon was incredible and relaxing, and each day we planned our excursions with our skipper Goran.  

We would have breakfast and lunch on the yacht, and we explored the coast and towns as we headed up to Split.  Goran taught me to sail and taught us more about Croatia, the coast and the sea.  Each night, dinner was on a new island where we chose to anchor for the night.  The best part?  I had two men waiting on my every beck and call; and I kept thinking that the whole thing was a dream.

Our wedding and honeymoon truly was a fairy tale come true.  With the help and expertise of Mary Anne and Ines, Kamau and I had the most amazing wedding, honeymoon and vacation.

We thank them sincerely and want them to know that they will always be a part of our life together.

Kamau & Kisha Coleman  - Married 6/24/2011

** **

You must admit this was quite a special story right? And that Kamau is setting new standards for men worldwide - don't read this to your fiance unless you want him to do something similar : )

Next week we are bringing to you a whole new concept, in line with the sail boat ideas and romantic gullets we spoke about today- weddings in Dubrovnik on a boat, a yacht or an old timer gullet.... Stay tuned!

for your special wedding story ideas, please contact us at info@dubrovnikevent.com and for more info on us visit www.dubrovnikevent.com 

HAPPY PLANNING!!!!

****Photography ownership of Dubrovnik Event, all rights reserved and couple's private album.