Natasha & Joel

Who said small isn't beautiful, not me, or Bride & Groom Natasha & Joel for that matter. Choosing to have an intimate ceremony at Dublin City Hall and a pub reception at the Anglers Rest, which is not only stunning in itself but is also close to the picturesque War Memorial Gardens and Phoenix Park, making the most beautiful backdrops for portraits by Antonija Nekic Photography. Both venues are off the chart adorable as is the love this beautiful couple share. Plus they don some pretty fierce outfits. The cap sleeves on bride Natasha's Saja wedding dress for a start are just heavenly, and don't even get me started on her bridal up do and laurel headpiece. Just. Beaut.

Our Story

Natasha the Bride: Joel and I have been together for 10 years now. We met as teenagers and have been together ever since. Whilst visiting my family in Croatia in the summer of 2015 Joel popped the question, It was a total surprise, I was completely over-joyed and overcome with emotion. We celebrated with some our nearest and dearest, it was perfect!

Venue

When it came to planning the wedding we were starting from scratch. I was never the type of girl who kept a wedding scrapbook or had a set plan in mind prior to getting engaged. One thing that was really important to the two of us was that our wedding was personal, intimate, fairly casual and laid back. We invited 50 of our closest family and friends. When it came to choosing a venue it was very important that we found something small and quaint where we were allowed to put our own personal touches to. We looked at a lot of different venues but they all seem to cater to larger parties until we came across the Anglers Rest. It was an absolutely beautiful venue in the perfect location as it was located only a few minutes from where we live. We went searching far and wide and ended up falling in love with a location that was right under our noses. It was cozy, warm location perfect for someone looking for a personal experience.

Ceremony

We had a humanist ceremony. We worked very closely with our humanist to personalise the ceremony it was filled with stories and anecdotes that Joel and myself shared throughout the years. We had a harpist playing throughout the ceremony, I walked down the isle to Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen. On the harp it really sounds majestic. We had two readings which were poems Joel and myself chose that I believe really reflected us. The ceremony was held in Dublin City Hall, it is a beautiful building in the perfect location only ten minutes from our reception which was great for our guests. Also loads of great photo opportunities in and around the premises.

Dress

When choosing my dress, it was very important to me to find something that I felt comfortable in and reflected my personal style. I knew I didn’t want anything puffy or covered diamonds and sequence. Something classy and elegant and most importantly something I could dance in for the night. I tried numerous of dresses and fell in love with my dress the minute I put it on. I found it in a small boutique in Dublin city center called Adorn Bridal. The Dress is by a New York based designer Saja. My shoes were gold strappy heels which I found in vintage store Folkster. For my something blue on the day my parents gave me as a wedding gift a vintage gold ring with a blue stone which is very special to me.

Groom

Joel wore a navy-blue Louis Copeland suit, a gorgeous floral print dicky bow which he also got in Louis Copeland. His shoes were from Aldo and little fox shaped cufflinks were from Paul Costello which he is very fond of.

Decor

When it came to the decor Joel and myself did a lot of DIY projects. We made the table numbers, found a tree surgeon and cut each slice of wood for the center pieces. Our guest book was an Instastax table where our guests could take photos and write personal messages. We made our frame for the photos and messages to be pinned to.

Flowers

Our florist was The Flower Box, I worked very closely with our florist who played a big part in the decor. As our wedding favors we made buttonholes for all our guests which were made up of lavender and baby breaths. Our center pieces were all wild flowers made up of daisies, baby breaths, lavender and thistle, my bouquet was made of the same flowers. As I am Croatian I wanted to showcase my Croatian background, we had a cake table which was made up of all different Croatian cakes and pastries I also had a traditional Croatian liquor called rakija. Strong stuff but it went down a treat.

Photographer

Our photographer was Antonija Nekic. I found her on a blog, when looking through her photos I was completely won over, she is a Croatian photographer based in Dublin this was an added bonus for me because I had a few Croatian guest that did not have great English. Antonija Nekic captured the day to utter perfection. Antonija completely understood our vision and put in time and effort to find out exactly what we wanted. On the day she was discreet at times and fitted in as one of our guests depending on what was required. The photos she has since produced for us are absolutely stunning I couldn’t have asked for anything more. We are truly grateful.