The Couple: Annabelle and Paul Kelly
Length of engagement: 1 year 5 month | Wedding Date: 7th September 2013
Wedding Location: Cavtat, Croatia | Photographer: Tomi Kriste
We met…
on the 17th March 2006, St. Patricks Day in the Irish Village Dubai! Paul came up to me and asked to swap tops! A rather unusual chat up line but it seem to work! The night was spent dancing and laughing a lot!
Our proposal…
was on the 17th March 2012 in Byron Bay Australia. I had previously told Paul one of my favourite places I had ever been was Byron Bay and in particular a coastal walk you can do along the cliffs there leading to the lighthouse. On the morning of the 17th we went for a walk and found a spot on our walk to have a picnic breakfast, as I was getting out the supplies Paul went down on one knee and asked me to marry him!
Our wedding theme/colours…
we did not have a theme as such however the colour scheme was purple and butterflies featured a lot! As the wedding was aboard there was also a bit of a travel theme, with our table plan being a world map and the tags on the favours in map print too.
My dress…
was an Alan Hannah. I originally tried it on in my home town in the UK. After trying several dresses on in the shop and finding ones I liked but had not really had the wow factor, I asked the shop assistant if there were any dresses she would have picked for me that I had not tried, she pulled out this one shoulder Alan Hannah with lots of flower detailing. My Mum had actually pointed it out in the shop but I had dismissed it as it didn’t fit what I thought I wanted!
My hair and make up…
was kept fairly natural for the day to suit the dress and location and my hair was a fish tail braid.
His suit…
was from Zara but custom tailored to make it unique to him.
What our bridal party wore…
the groomsmen also had suits from Zara and my bridesmaids had dark purple dresses in the style of Two Birds Bridesmaid dresses. I actually had the style copied at my tailors here in Dubai Ishwars, Satwa. He did an amazing job as the dresses were just like the real thing!
Our ceremony…
was in a small church in Cavtat right by the waters edge. Our friends and family filled the whole place and as I got ready in a villa close by I got to walk to the church with my Dad and bridesmaids which was a special part of the day for me.
We chose our photographer because…
we liked his style and our wedding planner recommended him. As we planned our wedding in Croatia from Dubai we had to trust in our planner and her recommendations a lot of the time.
We chose our wedding coordinator…
Paula at Dubrovnik Luxuary Weddings, because we had been to a wedding the previous year in Croatia and she did an amazing job. After our initial meeting with her I knew we could depend on her to give us the day we wanted.
We chose our venue because…
we loved that it was outdoors by the water and our guests could walk to it from our church ceremony.
Our menu…
was to start with a Mosaic of chicken and herbs on a salad of grilled vegetable, Cream Asparagus Soup, Spinach Ravioli with ricotta cheese and then a choice of Fillet of sea bass served with lemon mash potatoes, tomato confit with champagne saffron butter sauce or pork medallions with Porto wine sauce and roasted root vegetables. The vegetarian option was a Spring Vegetable Tartlet. Dessert was a trio, cheesecake, crème brulee and a chocolate pot. Guest also enjoyed lots of sweets from our sweetie table!
Our honeymoon…
was in Greece. We went to the islands of Santorini and Naxos and it could not have been more perfect! A mixture of exploring and lounging around doing nothing, enjoying each others company!
In Santorini we stayed in The Grace Hotel which was pure luxury! In Naxos we stayed in Villa Marandi, which was a cute boutique hotel on the beach.
My favourite part of the wedding day…
our reception drinks. None of the guests knew we were going on a boat so it was a real surprise for them all and we had so much fun with everyone celebrating just becoming Mr & Mrs!
My piece of advice for other brides…
remember that this day is about you and your husband to be! When planning it is easy to worry about pleasing other people, although you want everyone to have a good time, ultimately the day is about you two.
I would also advise choosing the things that are most important to you to spend money on and then once you have them sorted you can look at what other extras you can look at adding.
Tsian Koussa
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