We had the absolute pleasure of filming Vicki & Alex’s Sardinia Destination Wedding, along with the follow up wedding celebration in London. It was a wonderful wedding, with a harmonious blend of cultural influences, from Sardinian to English to Chinese, yet the main feeling was of a simple celebration of close friends and family and unassuming laughter.
Having shot weddings across the UK & Europe as well as having worked and travelled round the world, we’re always ready to tell your cinematic story, whereever you might be. Get in touch today to discuss your plans.
Tell us about your Sardinia destination wedding and London celebration; what were your expectations, how did you feel, how did it all go?
Before we met, Alex and I separately had always wanted to get married abroad. We wanted a relaxed ‘on holiday’ vibe. Neither of us like to be the centre of attention so we chose for it to be a small, intimate wedding in a place which we have history with followed by a larger celebration back home in London.
It was also important for us to have a fusion of both cultures and make sure that there was something to experience from both cultures at both events and I think we achieved that with having the ceremony aspects such as the Beach Ceremony and Chinese Tea Ceremony in Sardinia and the reception aspects such as the First Dance, Cake Cutting and Lion Dance in London.
How did you meet and become engaged?
We were both invited to a mutual friend’s birthday party in 2008. At the time, we were both in relationships with other people. Fast forward 3 years and we met up again via our mutual friend, Chi, when we went to the Hyper Japan exhibition.
After that we ended up chatting most nights, initially about Wimbledon that year before moving on to more in depth discussions such as water-cooling PC’s, Star Wars and ex’s! I knew that if she could put up with my geekiness and rubbish banter then something had to be done…
It took several months before I was passing by London again, having had a couple of days away from the Royal Navy, to drop in. Rather than plucking up the courage to ask Vix out, I let her think it was just a meet up with friends and she even asked who else was coming (spoiler: no one else was)! A movie, a carvery roast, 3 episodes of True Blood and a long chat later, we finally got together.
Where did you find inspiration for your Sardinia destination wedding?
My sister introduced me to Pinterest aka Bride Porn so I put a few Boards together of the look I wanted. Early on, she showed me a photo of a centrepiece in teal with peacock feathers and said it was so me. I’m very colour-centric, by which I mean, I have OCD – that’s Obsessive Colour Disorder and love blue, particularly turquoise, teal and aqua so everyone always knew what colour my wedding theme would be! This photo became the basis for the centrepieces we made at my Wedding Craft Party as well as the colour scheme at both events.
The birthday before my wedding I received identical bouquets of Blue Dendrobium Orchids which were exactly the flowers I had had in mind and this solidified things for me. I also looked at the Love My Dress blog for fusion weddings and unconventional weddings. I’m a tomboy and so a lot of the hair and make-up was completely outside the box for me and Alex had to practically drag me to the make-up counter of Bobbi Brown for my first trial! Alex and I consulted and researched everything equally and he was very present in the wedding planning, no mean feat whilst doing his intensive 8 month training for his new job.
Why did you choose your venue/s?
Italy was already a special place for us as our first holiday together was in Rome. Vix had never been on holiday with a boyfriend – I kept the destination secret and she had no idea where we were going until we reached the airport!
The Sardinian laid-back, more reserved attitude and approach to life together with their fierce Islander determination, having survived one invasion after another, appealed to us so we knew we wanted to come back to get married there.
The most important aspect of our destination venue is that we wanted it to be unique with lots of character and authentically Sardinian. Whilst many of the 5* hotels we were shown were lovely, we wanted people to be able to tell we were in Sardinia. When we saw Albergo Diffuso Mannois, we instantly saw it’s rustic charm with the cobblestones, traditional yellow stone and bright bougainvillea climbing the walls and knew it was for us.
Why did to choose to have a video of your day?
It tells the story better and will serve as a reminder as I will forget! When we look back at our wedding and want to remember the day I see having a photographer and videographer as giving a more complete story like 2 sides of the same coin.
What was your favourite part in your film?
Vix
So many moments but it’s the subtleties for me.
I love the use of sunlight to change scene but my favourite part is the switch from Sardinia to London, using both the music and wording from the reading. The change in music is so subtle and I love the use of Chinese strings in the music. I never noticed the wording ‘to the city’ in the reading could be used to do this and thought this was genius.
I also loved that my gaming reference in my vows was used.
Alex
The transition from Sardinia to London is amazing, I especially like the Lion super imposed at Trafalgar Square. I also really like how he’s themed the video around one of the readings. It’s really cleverly done to draw the video together.
I like the effort taken in choosing the music and the time taken to take environmental shots for the time lapses around the event.
Any tips for future Brides and Grooms?
Don’t plan a wedding whilst doing intensive training or studying for a Masters etc!
No seriously, I know some people end up planning a wedding at the same time as studying for a degree. Alex started his intensive 8 months training at the end of January putting the wedding smack bang in the middle of the start of 7 rounds of exams. At one point juggling the wedding planning and his training revision just wasn’t possible and we had to put the wedmin on hold for 2 weeks,12 days before we flew. It wasn’t ideal but if he failed his exams he was out so realistically the wedding had to come second. Probably not a popular statement and a bit controversial in this space but although the wedding is important it is just one day whereas the exam effects his career and our future, especially since I’m unable to work at the moment. I’m sure others in the same position will tell you the same thing – it sucks having to do both at the same time but ultimately the degree or training is more important.
I am a seriously organised person but, even planning 2 years ahead, you can never plan for everything and things will go wrong.
During our time planning we had; an airline go bust, the jeweller who made my bridal set is no longer trading and the lady who made our brownie favours has also closed her business so we feel like a bit of a wedding jinx! We got told a month before that the owner of the London venue was suffering from burnout and would not be taking the lead on arrangements for our Wedding Celebration anymore and only met the new lady 3 times before the event. On the day though it all came together and I know, although people say this to you, you never think it will happen but It. Really. Will. The place looked exactly how we had imagined and in the evening when it got dark all the floating candles in the coloured water jars looked so classy and pretty that the venue has decided to steal the idea for themselves! I’ve been told by Alex that although usually I like things organised and really dislike it when things go wrong, on the day of both events when minor things weren’t quite right they didn’t bother me at all or very little which really surprised him!
Trust your gut and pick suppliers that suit you as a couple.
It dawned on us after a while that all of our suppliers have the same kind of vibe and were all alternative, unconventional, down to earth and not scared to use phrases like “sewed my tits off” on their website! Throw the money at the things that you prioritise and don’t bother with the things you don’t care about, we are geeks so most of our budget was concentrated on the videography and photography.
Destination Wedding. If your thinking about it, DO IT!
Far cheaper than it would have been in the UK. People think it will be harder to plan but our Sardinia destination wedding was sorted 2 months before and was much easier than the London event which was much more stressful both in terms of timing and supplier reliability.
I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia which affects my arms and means I can’t lift, carry or apply pressure. So this is to all the Brides out there who are planning a wedding with a chronic illness.
It is difficult to have to make allowances for things that you can’t have the way you would like but I learnt all my positivity from Alex and it got me to see things with a silver lining and make a joke out of our date days at the various A&E departments of hospitals. I’m a pessimist so this was no small thing. In the end it’s all about you two and what you two represent so if you have to change your dress or not have a bouquet, see it as an opportunity to make things bespoke and truly your own. I had wrist corsages instead and saw it as saving money on the bouquet.
Any unexpected moments?
Decapitated Porcelain Alex!
When the amazing Sammi from Blushing Cook arrived with our cake we had a porcelain cake topper to go on top. She diligently placed plastic tubing as struts and wobbled the table to ensure it would stay on. All was well and Alex and I went off to do couple shots. Then the bass dropped as the music started and the first thump immediately made it fall off and porcelain Alex was decapitated! When my Best Man told me he was a bit worried but as soon as I saw what part has smashed off I found it hilarious! It’s a real funny moment memory which added to the day.
