Kim and Benni got married in Cologne, Germany (if you haven't been you should go. It is a wonderful place). The wedding is flawless. It is so classic but has a soft vintage edge. Kim looks stunning in her lace Pronovias dress and her bouquet is so special; such a wonderful mix of flowers. Also, I think it should be paramount that every bride and groom stop off at the local services to grab a bottle of champers for their car journey to their reception. I'm so pleased Kim talks about how she found inspiration. It is important that we realise our days should be our just that; our days. Yes we can take inspiration from everywhere but we must always be conscious that our day is about us not someone else's vision of a big day. There is epic fashion, a lush choice of nude nail polish and a cake table to set your taste buds a light. And yes, Kim and Benni had the Paul Potts sing at their ceremony. Big love party ahoy!

Kim The Bride: The ceremony took place in the Kulturkirche Köln-Nippes (cultural church in Cologne). This protestant church is well known for regularly hosting concerts. Plus, one of my maids of honour got married in this church before, too. It even has a bar integrated! And it is one of only a few churches, where you are allowed to bring your own Theologist. As we decided to get married undenominational, that was important to us. Music was an important role during the ceremony as well. Some of our best friends were playing live in the church with guest performances by Edita Abdieseki and Paul Potts, who sang "Nessun Dorma" for us. We know both singers since years and it has been an exceptional honour that both of them where not hesitating a bit when we asked them to participate in the ceremony!

The reception took place at the Wasserburg Geretzhoven in Bergheim. There couldn't have been a nicer location. We saw it, fell in love with it and booked it for the complete weekend. It was exactly what we were looking for: charming, enchanted, "sort of vintage", not too clean, rather a bit Rock´n Roll. We both knew immediately, that the main room ("alte Miste") and the inner courtyard, where wild peacocks live, had a lot of potential. The fact that we could celebrate as loud and as long as we wanted was also really important to us.

The Dress

Lace. Lot´s of lace. And even more lace! That´s what I was looking for and that´s what it was in the end. I was actually very open minded regarding the cut, I didn't have any expectations upfront. I just imagined myself in a wonderful vintage wedding dress with a lot of lace. The first time I tried it on, I knew this was it. Not only because my Mom and my friends all had tears in their eyes, but also because it really felt extremely comfortable! I wanted a dress in which I wouldn't feel limited in my movements and in which I would not feel like I was "dressed". It was perfect! And I didn't even need to wear a bra or cups underneath. Awesome.

Accessories

I fell in love with the beautiful headpieces made by Jannie Baltzer from Copenhagen. Not only is her work beautiful, Jannie is such a heartwarming person! She only knew me from pictures but helped me find the most beautiful headpiece ("Marlene") that fit perfectly to my dress. I couldn't have found a better match!

I gave both my maids of honour a chain/bracelet and a friendship ring with our initials as a sign of our connection. We were all wearing it on our wedding day. Also, my mom inherited me a ring she got as a present on the day I was born, and of course I was wearing this ring, too, on our big day.

Groom

We bought Benni´s second hand Armani suit in Berlin. We wanted to find a nice & vintage looking suit for him for our summer wedding. Definitely not black.

Decor

After Benni proposed to me, I started looking for inspiration on blogs and websites. I was overwhelmed by all the beautiful inspiration & ideas I found online. All we knew was that we both wanted to throw a big party! When I saw pictures of other peoples beautiful vintage weddings the idea sort of started growing. Benni felt inspired just like me. We wanted something that felt real to us, a style we could relate to. In our case, this was the vintage style! We did not want to reinvent the wheel; we just gathered inspiration and then tried to add our own mark.

One of my maids of honour is the most passionate crafter and scrap booking expert imaginable. Thanks to her guidance and organisation, and thanks to our great friends who spent countless hours helping us, we crafted every single invitation ourselves. Literally speaking, all of it. And we had 160 guests! Also handmade were the table numbers, the menus, the seating order, the guestbook. We are in great "crafting debt" for the rest of our lives!
All the crocheted doilies were originally handmade by the grandma of one of my maids. All the vintage furniture (sofa´s, tables, chairs, globe, typewriter etc) is from our friend Marcel at exquisit möbel.

The complete decoration was handled and organized by the two enchanting girls from Ivy & Olive. We only told them what style we imagined and then let them do their job. From then on we didn't set a foot on the location until we arrived at our party. When we did, we were simply blown away! Everything down to the most minute detail was perfect! It was breathtakingly beautiful and coherently decorated. We are so grateful for what they conjured, it was really breathtaking.

Surprise Surprise

We have a very musical and generally creative circle of friends, who surprised us with a great live performance and a stand-up performance by two of our closest friends that made everyone laugh until we got bellyache. Our friends all worked together to create an AMAZING film, made of video footage they prepared and collected during the last year and in which all our friends and families sent us love from all over the world. The room was so full of love, we were absolutely speechless.

As an extra surprise, our friends set up a VW T1 tent (looks like an old Volkswagen bus) for us including a proper four post bed, washbasin, wardrobe, toothbrushes etc. We couldn't have gone to bed more romantically!

Photography

I couldn't use enough superlatives to describe how much I am in love with Nancy ´s work! It was as safe as our YES in the church that Nancy would HAVE to be our wedding photographer!

She catches a moment and conserves the feelings, the mood & the whole atmosphere within. I am sure there are many talented wedding photographers out there, but Nancy is truly someone special. We are so grateful for her beautiful pictures of our wedding. Thanks to them, we can relive that amazing day again and again.

Advice

Enjoy every bit of the pleasant anticipation and relax! When organising your perfect wedding, fun should always come first. Don´t forget why you´re doing all this: because you found the one and want to celebrate this by throwing a big love party.

Once you start planning, choose the right people for your "team" (caterer, decoration etc). Surround yourself with people you really like and can rely on. Once you have your team: let them do their job! That´s why you chose them in the first place, didn't you? Don´t tell them what you think they should do.

Finally, on the wedding day, get rid of the idea that everything has to be "perfect". Just let it happen and enjoy! Once you let go, you will have a lot more fun. Only then can it become truly PERFECT.