Kasia's Wedding Story
Hi, my name is Kasia and I have decided to share my wedding fever with you guys and hopefully inspire a few of you especially those ones who are thinking about having an alternative style wedding. This may sound a little mysterious but let me keep you in suspense for a bit longer while I tell you more about me.
Firstly, both my fiancé and I have mixed backgrounds. We live in the UK but I have Polish origins while my fiancé is Polish – Canadian. We are opposites in many ways so this love affair may have seemed unlikely to many. But we became good buddies and then fell in love. From the beginning we had quite different ideas about marriage and the wedding itself. I wasn’t sure if I wanted a huge traditional wedding but I knew I wanted something unforgettable and significant. He wanted…well… nothing. He was not a huge believer in marriage in its official meaning but he soon found reason! After explaining how romantic and special I think a wedding can be my fiancé ‘saw the light’ and decided we SHOULD do something special. He actually came up with the amazing and spontaneous idea of going Vegas style! I have to admit the proposal and even the ring itself were quite unorthodox. We opted for a colored stone since I love a lot of color and I have quite a unique style. Stay tuned for the full story, and admire my gorgeous sapphire in the meantime!
As promised, I need to share this amazing story of the proposal. So we had been planning a holiday in Portugal, a romantic hotel on the beach, all that romantic jazz.... Of, course I assumed that it was going to be the perfect opportunity for him to do it (cliche, I know!). Two months before the holiday of our lifetime we spent a long weekend in Cologne, Germany for FIBO - a fitness and bodybuilding expo where we met all out idols and favourite athletes. The gym and following bodybuilding events had been a common passion of ours for a while. One of the days we were going to cross the river in a cable cart which looked super fun but the weather got bad and the cable carts were off. He seemed quite upset about it and I was yet to find out it was because he had a certain little ring in his pocket! At the expo, having met all our idols, having queued for hours we finally sat in a cafe over some coffee when he simply came over and dropped to one knee saying faintly: 'will you marry me?' I hadn't noticed the ring in his hand so I replied: 'Ha, ha, very funny!' After seeing his serious and quite emotional expression, it hit me: this is it! I yelled: YES and hugged him tight. I even shed a few tears of joy. The combination of the long weekend in the most amazing city, the cool event and the engagement was just what my dreams were made of!
Telling your family about your engagement via facebook may be fun but be careful not to get a slightly different reaction to what you bargained for. After hearing all the 'what the hell' and 'you're kidding' comments the families and friends finally became as ecstatic as we were. It was time for me to put my bride to be shoes on and start looking for a dress. The only problem is that... well.... I'm a woman. And the choices are endless. After going through a short, Marilyn like dress phase I thought I may wear something more... bridal. For the last 6 months I have been googling endless dress ideas and I'm still really not sure what I want. I'm a funky chick so a traditional huge tulle princess number doesn't seem very me. Here are a few ideas I have...
Today I wanted to talk a bit about wedding fairs. My experience with those has proven to be the most unfortunate one. It turns out that where I live it was quite a poor fair with little to try. The food samples were tiny so you couldn't even try a cupcake but rather some crumbs. The cocktail bar I visited as a sample of a possible reception attraction took forever to make one simple cocktail. As much as some of the dresses on display were really beautiful all of them were size 0 for the models to wear during catwalk show which meant I had no chance of trying anything on. The trend of old style lace and vintage looking colors from ivory to powdery shades of pink was truly stunning too look at but the frustration of not being able to try anything on was overwhelming. Overall it may be useful to visit wedding fairs if you are a bride to be but don't get your hopes up too much.
So after watching 'Pulp fiction' last night my fiance and I decided it would be really cool if we had an American themed reception as a continuation of the fun Vegas wedding. We will have Elvis walk me down the isle and perform at the reception too. The invitations will look like plane tickets or American border stamps. I also think dressing up as Marilyn Monroe in 'The seven year itch' will be really fun and will go with the Vegas wedding. Of course, for the reception back home I will wear a traditional dress for 2 reasons. Firstly, it is the one time in my life I can wear a wedding dress and secondly I think my family would like to see me as a proper bride. As much as they may not be convinced that a Vegas wedding is very romantic, I think the memories will be unique and truly a blast!
I have spent the last few days looking at wedding bands. It wasn't easy to please both me - the giggest bling lover and my fiance who loves minimalism. Then I remembered a pair we saw during our nice little walk in Edinburgh in October that looked like an 'elvish' ring. It was a combination of victorian with something straight from 'Lord of the Rings'. I found a few similar photos online and it looks like we will have our bands made to order according to out own design. There are even some jewellers that let you make the rings yourselves, under their supervision! I can't wait!
It has finally come to choosing hotels we want to stay in in Vegas. I love sunbathing so with September temperatures averaging around 35 degrees I need a pool and a lounger. My favourite so far is the Flamingo with the beautiful greenery and nice big pool as well as what sounds like my place in the world - Margaritaville!
Also, we are planning to see Cirque du Soleil and other cabaret related shows. Now I wonder if I should go for the Sharon Stone look in "Casino" aka sequins and diamonds or the tourist chique aka sneakers and cap. Decisions decisions......
It has been decided that we are going to stay in Las Vegas for a week, mostly lounging by the pool, eating our bodyweight in all-you-can-eat buffet foods, drinking and gambling. Oh and getting married! Of course, we are planning to see the Grand Canyon - from above on a helicopter ride, I hope. The second week of our trip will be an epic road trip - sightseeing around national parks and the flashy lights of Hollywood! I keep wondering if Vegas really all glamour or glitz or will it be filled with tourists wearing khakis and baseball caps? I really hope apart from my fancy wedding outfit I will be able to get into some sequins!