One of the first things Arja + Gijs decided on was that their ceremony had to take place where they both grew up, in the countryside of The Netherlands. They found a vineyard perfectly suited for the relaxed Burgundian outdoor and vintage breezy look they were aiming for then sprinkled creative handmade details throughout. Arja and her mother in law may have also cleaned out an entire shop of their peonies too, but we’d do the same thing too if we were told it’d be impossible to find them!
Gijs and I are musicians and also run a music blog, so we wanted the invitation to be very musical as well. Gijs bought a hundred love songs on 7” 45rpm records, and I designed a package which included the record, the wedding invitation with our love story on it, a hand drawn route to the locations and of course the album cover for the record. We printed, folded, sewed and wrapped the invitations ourselves. We even drove cross-country to deliver the packages (we live in a small country).
My wedding dress was made by my mother, Slavica. She is a painter but she also studied fashion at the art academy when she was my age. I picked out the lace and made the design then she amazed everybody by making the most beautiful dress I could imagine.
The most beautiful bouquet I could imagine, and the one that struck me the most while looking for inspiration, was a bouquet filled with luscious peonies. Nearly everybody had told us it would be impossible to find peony’s in the Netherlands at the end of June, but somehow we got lucky. When my mother in law and I found a place packed with peonies (the day before the wedding, eeks!), we bought the whole stock! Such a relief.
Dying over those flower pom arches!
A friend of Arja’s gave her the best tip:
Everybody has their own mental picture of a perfect wedding. It is always good to stay open to fresh imput, but when people, with all the goodness of their heart, share advice you are not at all stoked about, just say: “Thank you, we’ll think about it.” Don’t waste time arguing about the smallest details and save your energy for all the fun stuff!
Photography: 2Rings (Esther de Boer and Marco Reeuwijk) / Ceremony location: Vineyard ’t Oerlegoed in Gendringen / Reception: Farmhouse De Bongerd in Gaanderen / Bride’s dress: Made by mother of bride, Shoes: Patricia Pepe / Groom’s suit: Suitsupply, Shoes: Bitter, Tie: Zara / Catering and sweet table: Tim Sprangers and Mikko Kuiper / Cake: Sweet Appetite (Marieke de Korte) / Bouquet and boutonnieres: Ad ten Have
