First order of business, Happy Valentine’s Day to all my love addicts! Given the current crazy weather of this world, a day of snuggling couldnt possibly be any better!! Now you might expect a styled session for today’s feature, something filled with all kinds of love & Valentine’s Day references & colors…. When today’s stunning real wedding hit my inbox, I knew this was the perfect Valentine’s Day feature and its a real wedding no less!! Ekaterina Astafyeva & Nickolay Astafyev got married in the thick of Russian winter and had one of the most stylish and dreamy affairs I’ve seen yet! Ekaterina wore not one, but 2 two stunning gowns from Pronovias , a more traditional gown & my personal favorite look of 2014 thus far, a gorgeously draped sheer top over a form fitting crystal & feather floor length skirt. I.AM.IN.LOVE. With such beautiful gowns, Ekaterina smartly kept her hair swept back into a simple do, allowing the designs to speak for themselves. The style savvy couple most certainly didnt stop at fashion, teaming up with Marzipan Wedding Décor-Studio, a world was whipped together at the Flying Dutchman {in 7 days! You’ll have to hear what happened in her Novella!} of plaid chairs, swanky crystal touches, wonderfully pale florals, vintage phonographs & so much more. As if all the style werent enough, the couple’s portrait session, along with their bridal party within 2 giant 3D letter ‘K’s is equal parts dreamy & all kinds of whimsical. Who needs a styled shoot when the real thing is this breathtaking!
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Novella of the Bride…
My husband is my University sweetheart. I’d been in love with him long before we started dating. Almost three years actually! It’s fair to say we dated in an old-fashioned way being carefully curated by my father 🙂 This is why being allowed to go to Berlin together with my beloved-one was beyond exciting for me. And this is where Kolya has proposed! Berlin has become one of many more destinations connected with our Big day. We went to Barcelona couple of times to choose and tailor my dresses, got our shoes in Germany and so on 🙂
I am probably one of the few brides on Earth that had her initial reception venue changed in just a week before the wedding! We had a test-dinner at the restaurant we had been planning to celebrate at when it all went wrong and we ended up having NO restaurant 7 days before the wedding because our former restaurant’s manager would not agree to meet our Menu suggestions. I was SO stressed and pissed off! The whole design concept was about to get ruined. Fortunately, we found the Flying Dytchman available for our date and settled with it when realized its interior was not too contradicting to the styling we had been developing for months before. This is exactly the type of the situation you need to stay focused that wedding is about you and your spouse-to-be whatever happens 🙂
I guess my Pronovias dress with the sparkling feather skirt inspired our event styling a lot! Together, with the designers from the Marzipan Wedding Studio, we decided to incorporate some crystal and sparkling elements but at the same time play with sticks and other natural materials to ensure we are not making our wedding too shiny and glamorous. The fun (and stressful) part of defining the style was that the groom had no idea what my dress was going to look like. When he was first shown a presentation on basic colours and textures he really felt scarred by the glittering details and got very determined to make us stick with more rustic and “calm” design. However, the ladies from the Marzipan Wedding studio did their best to make him believe it was not going to look like a crazy Cinderella wedding. So in the end we all could sigh with relief when the groom just said he was not going to fight with all those women 🙂 I have to say I just loved the way everything has turned out, candle-lit restaurant, exquisite centerpieces, our fun photobooth zone, wedding favors, the band and the music they played – everything was just the way I had hoped!
Bride’s Favorite Moment: “There were couple of moments that made my heart burst with emotions and excitement but the fireworks are definitely on top of them. Seeing the night sky go pink and green and blue and white and knowing it is for us solely was very special!”
Vendor Love
Ceremony: First Wedding Palace {Angliiskaya Embankment, St-Petersburg, Russia} | Reception: Flying Dutchman | Wedding Dress: Pronovias ~ Manueal Mota & Pronovias ~ Rosa Clara | Bridesmaid Dresses: Pronovias | Shoes: Dior & Gucci | Hair: Ekaterina Skripnikova | Makeup: Yuliya Gaydush | Groom’s Attire: Tiger of Sweden, Boss, & Lanvin | Invitations: Forma Design | Music: Round Midnight Band | Flowers + Decor: Marzipan Wedding Décor-Studio | Baker: Flying Dutchman | Wedding/Event Planner: Marzipan Wedding Décor-Studio | Photographer: Maria Okuneva, F2PRO Studio + Maria Chizhenkova {details photographer}