Decorations,  Wedding

wedding ceremony

Picture: Vill Sander

Collaboration with Expomatto and Helsingin Venetaksi

The story of our wedding, continuing from where we left off with the morning of our wedding post..

We arrived on the island and I went upstairs to wait for the ceremony to start. I had to be there early enough so that the arriving guests wouldn't see me and the bridesmaids needed to get to the pier early to get everything ready for guests. We had gotten water bottle labels made for soda water bottles and bought small Prosecco bottles so that we'd have something to serve the guests as they arrived and waited for the boat to take them to the island. The mint green bottle labels had our picture on them and on the other side text "Welcome to our wedding <3" and "Sissi & Eerikki HSS Paviljong" on the other side. The straws were made of biodegradable plastic replacement as paper straws aren't very suitable for sparkling wine. We had also gotten a long white carpet for the pier, we used the same kind of white carpet from Expomatto at the ceremony. We wanted our guests to feel that they were all our honorary guests. We had a boat reserved just for us for the whole day and we had decorated it with green vines with peach flowers.

Guests at the pier waiting for the wedding boat
Our water bottle label
Terrace ready for ceremony

I was sitting upstairs at HSS drinking as much water as I could without having to run to the bathroom constantly and the only person who had time to keep me company was my 10 year old nephew Josua. I'll never forget the hour we spent there upstairs most of the time just the two of us. I was so nervous and Josua was nervous and we were just trying to process that this big day was happening now and every once in a while Josua got me another glass of water. It's hard to explain but somehow that was a really special moment for us when everyone else was getting things done running around the island. I was really hot as I had about 20 yards of fabric on my skirt so I didn't really have the energy to do much else but sit :D Every now and then we looked down from the window watching guests arrive. Everyone looked so beautiful, handsome and classy, they really were wonderful to watch. We had suggested on the invitation that women would wear a hat or a hairpiece and it's was great to see that so many had chosen to do so.

The ceremony was held at the terrace of HSS Paviljong. We got incredibly lucky with the weather, it was such a beautiful day, the sun was shining and it was really warm, even on the island where it can be very windy at times.

Picture: Vill Sander. Wedding guests waiting for the ceremony to begin.
Picture: Vill Sander. Bestman Mikko handing out handkerchiefs

We had been collecting white vintage handkerchiefs from second hand stores all year to be given out to the guests at the ceremony.

Picture: Vill Sander

We had a string quartet Ylioppilaskunnan Soittajat playing at the ceremony and the first song was Canon in D. This is a very traditional wedding song but I absolutely love it and wanted to have it on the ceremony. It was playing when our ring bearer Josua and the bridal party walked to their places. I had chosen the color and length for their dresses, the style they each chose themselves.

Picture: Vill Sander
Picture: Vill Sander
Picture: Vill Sander
Picture: Vill Sander
Picture: Vill Sander

An addition to the "list of funny things you can't prepare for" is that I couldn't hear the music from where I was hiding when the ceremony began. So I tried to peek behind the bushes to see if the bridesmaids were in place and tried to hear if my song was playing already. I didn't want Eerikki to see me yet so it wasn't easy :D My mom kept saying it's our time to go but I wouldn't believe her but luckily eventually I did and once we got on the carpet, the song was already half way through. Luckily that's completely fine, isn't it customary to have to wait for the bride a little :D I do recommend though that if you have a wedding ceremony outside in a similar manner, ask the officiator to request the guests to stand up once the bride's (or the person's walking down the isle) song begins so that they can see from afar that it's time to go. My song was John Williams' Jurassic Park, or as I named it in my head "here comes the dinosaur" :D I love scifi and dinosaurs are awesome so I felt that it was the perfect fit.

Picture: Vill Sander
PIcture: Vill Sander. I can't remember what was so funny already at this point. I think I was laughing at my niece Melissa who cried so overwhelmingly that one might've thought this was a different kind of an event :D

My mom walked me down the isle. My mom is very particular about her style and once she heard about the wedding she immediately asked if she could wear a big hat, she said that the mother of the bride should wear a large hat. I, then again, knew that I wanted a big skirt so we often joked about how wide a carpet will we need so we can both fit on it? :D Like mother like daughter...

Picture: Vill Sander
Picture: Vill Sander

Our officiator gave a beautiful speech. We had met with her earlier on and also sent her some notes about us and she had made a beautiful speech talking about us, love and marriage. We had written each other vows that we read to each other at the ceremony. I was worried I'd get too emotional to get through mine but luckily I was too nervous to get too emotional at the ceremony.

Picture: Vill Sander
Picture: Vill Sander. Exchanging rings
Picture: Vill Sander

Once we had said "I do", exchanged the rings and a kiss the string quartet played John Legend's "All of me". After that it was time for our exit song, John Williams' Throne Room from Star Wars which I thought was the perfect song for exit. Even if I'm saying so myself, I really loved our music for the ceremony! You just got to have some dinosaurs and Star Wars at a wedding.

Then we were sent off with soap bubbles to our boat. We had booked a half an hour boat ride after the ceremony so that we'd have a little time together to take in the day. I got the boat from Helsingin Venetaksi and I highly recommend them. The ride was great and their staff was super friendly.

Picture: Vill Sander. Lovely pennant from Calligraphen.

On the boat we had some champagne and looked at the beautiful view. The weather really was great and it was lovely to have a moment just between ourselves.

The boat dropped us off at Uunisaari where we headed off to our photo shoot...

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