Živa & Matej

Živa & Matej are a truly gorgeous couple that literally don't stop smiling. You simply can't help but smile along with them as you feel every emotion radiating from the page. They beam through their first look, look adoringly at each other during their outdoor nuptials and positively look fit to burst as they are pronounced husband and wife. It's so good for the soul and utterly adorable. Their countryside venue Vila Podvin in Slovenia is breathtaking, keeping their decor simple and chic with a few well placed jars of gypsophila on rustic tree slabs to compliment it. Their fashion on the other hand is the total opposite, and absolutely immense, mixing vintage lace, with leather and not forgetting those blue suede shoes. I won't say anymore except I can't wait for you to see the gorgeous golden hour portraits captured by Urška and Domen Photography. You know what I was saying earlier about it being good for the soul.... There's is definitely some more of that, in abundance!

The Dress

Živa the Bride: Picking the dress was such a special moment for me that I was delaying my appointments with the boutiques, only because I was afraid of that day passing. I just wanted to hold on to the excitement and all the open possibilities . Silly I know. Especially because it turned out, all of the dreamy dresses were already booked by the time I finally decided it's time. Nevertheless I have a very special memory of the day we found the dress with my mother, sister, best friend, and bottle of champagne. At first I wasn’t sure about the dress, I had second thoughts, but it grew on me. By the final fitting I was absolutely happy with my choice and I felt so comfortable in it. From the beginning I knew I wanted to bring down the formality of the dress with a leather jacket, and I found the perfect one in Zara. I have a very minimalistic style, so I limited the accessories to only a headband from Eugenia Kim. It was a bit tight and gave me a headache after wearing it for a couple of minutes. Thus I put the headband on two chairs and stretched it for three days. It did the trick, and I did not even know I had it on for the big day. We both found our shoes in the first store we walked into. By pure coincidence he picked the shoes that had laces in same blue shade as I picked my shoes in. At the same time I was able to cross off “something blue” from my list. It was a no brainer, this was it.

Grooms Fashion

Matej the Groom: At first, I was trying on a classic black suits, but then decided to go with more young and casual look. A bow tie and braces were a must (wishes of the bride), and the stylist in Emporium helped me pull a non-hipster look together even so. I also had a pocket square to go with the outfit, but forgot to pack it on the day of the wedding. Too much going on. Blue socks were to emphasise the blue shoe laces.

The Venue

Živa the Bride: The ceremony took place in a beautiful garden of Vila Podvin. We really took a huge chance with the weather, and kept our fingers crossed for a rain free day. Wish came true, and we had a beautiful sunny and warm September day. We booked two separate rooms at Vila Podvin, and had our wedding preparations there, overlooking the arrival of all our guests. After the ceremony we enjoyed delicious cocktail menu and mojito stand then switched the setting and moved the party to Galerija Repanšek. We choose Galerija Repanšek, because we wanted to avoid closed spaces, and they offer a huge estate with dinner taking place in a glass house, giving a feeling of an outdoor wedding. They prepared a breath-taking bonfire at midnight when we cut the cake. Just magical.

ColourScheme/Décor

We did not wanted to limit ourselves with picking out a colour scheme, we just knew we wanted to keep things natural, simple and organic. Pinterest being our main inspiration we had a lot of mason jars, dear friend Simon made us iron hangers for the jars with candles lightning up the path at night, Sara and Domen drilled the wholes for wooden candle holders, Matej and his co-workers went to the woods to get all the materials and Matej and I were painting the jars, decorating them with the rope, lace, and tags. We marked each table with names of the cities around the world we visited together and that hold a special place in our hearts.

Stationery

Wedding invitations were printed in my family’s printer, designed by my brother Gregor. Envelopes were handmade by my sister Petra and the names and addresses were written on by Tanja. To have the invitations come together we organized a small work and party get-together with friends.

Flowers

We had a separate florist for the bouquets and for venue decorations. For bouquet we decided to go with Austin, English rose, Baby’s Breath, Lavender, Echeveria and other greens. We wanted to keep the centrepieces simple when it came to flowers, as we already had a lot of wood, candles and glass present. Baby’s Breaths and ivy were enough and final result looked just amazing.

Ceremony

The ceremony took place in the garden of Vila Podvin. My father walked me down the path, acoustic version of Wild Horses from Rolling Stones played in the background and Matej was waiting for us at the end of the path. Ceremony was short but sweet, and concluded with kind words of congratulations from family and friends that will stay with us forever.

Entertainment

We had a great DJ Gogi entertaining us through the night. Before we could completely relax and start to party, we had our first dance as husband and wife. We choose song Iris from Goo Goo Dolls. We both still get goose bumps when we hear it! DJ Gogi found the right combination of animation and music for both old and young. My friends organized the kidnaping of the bride (a tradition in our country), and between that, dinner, dancing and cake cutting we ran out of time to set up the photo booth that we've planned with our photographers Urška and Domen.

Food

Vila Podvin served most amazing finger food, from cold soup with shrimp, beef rolls with spring vegetable, small fish cocktails, pâté, amazing deserts, home made mint and elderberry juice and mojito stand. We had dinner prepared at Galerija Repanšek, where guests had a variety of choice but we were also very very happy they prepared pizzas. Pizza is Matej's favourite food and we just had to have it. Our cake was done by amazing Petra Sodja. Her cakes not only look fabulous, but also taste superb – slice of heaven. We had two flavours. One was double chocolate and the other raspberry cheesecake.

Photographer

When we started to plan the wedding we decided there is no way we would compromise on following three things: Venue, music and photographer. We met Urška and Domen at the wedding fair, and we clicked immediately. Looking at their web site and the photo books from previous weddings they did we were confident they knew exactly what they are doing. We knew we were in good hands, but when we got to see the photos they blew us away. What we appreciate the most is how they managed to capture the emotions and the feel of our day. Thanks to them we will always be able to remember just how special that day was. We will also not forget how prepared they were – from blister plasters to ear plugs.Thank you both!

Advice

Plan your wedding keeping in mind not everything will go perfectly. When your day comes, know imperfections will make it special and don’t stress over it, its just not worth it, as in the end, it will still be the best day in your life.