Destination Wedding: Croatia!

More people are doing destination weddings these days for their big day. We got married here in Zagreb, Croatia and I wouldn't want it any other way! I don't think we could have EVER had such an amazing wedding anywhere else in the entire world. It was absolute perfection and it was definitely thanks to so many incredible vendors here in Zagreb.

When we first got engaged, we thought Tomislav would be moving to the States soon enough so we assumed we'd be getting married in the States. But because of the sacrifice Tomislav was making for moving to the States, we decided it would only be fair if we got married in Croatia, especially since if the wedding was in America, most of his family and friends wouldn't be able to come. So, we put wedding planning off for a while and lo and behold, I ended up moving to Croatia and we ended up getting married in Zagreb! And you know what, I wouldn't change a single thing about it!

We looked at venues in Zagreb for a while and were really debating about things. We wanted the place to be presentable since guests would be arriving from all over the world and show Zagreb off like the capital city that she is (is Zagreb a she? I'm not sure about the gender of proper nouns in Croatian, oh well!). When we first visited Gradska Kavana, I fell in love. Again. The space was so amazing, absolutely breathtaking and I could already picture myself on those stairs!

 

Yes, these stairs!



The perfect stairs for my girls to stand on while I tossed the bouquet!

And for the boys when Tomislav threw the garter (and Ana captured this fabulous action shot!)

 But at that time, we were still considering other places, especially because we would only be able to have 80 guests at Gradska Kavana so we were really debating about it. It was difficult for me to go on meetings with all of the owners and managers of these wedding venues because my Croatian was lacking. That was making it really hard for me to even get in the wedding planning spirit. That was all for a reason though. Gradska Kavana was still holding on to my heart and we were totally willing to cut down the guest list to have the wedding there. Besides, we really didn't expect anyone to come from as far as the States!


Dancing "Kolo" (circle dancing)

 

The perfect wedding venue - great atmosphere, delicious food, just perfection!

 So, we made our way back to Gradska Kavana to take another tour and as luck should to have it, there was a brand new General Manager there who would later become known to us as Super Man. Not only did this guy speak perfect, fluent English (German too!), he listened to us and all of our concerns and special requests and what not and he absolutely loved our ideas and his answer was always, "No problem, we can make it happen!" Without him, we couldn't have had our wedding. Zdenko is the greatest wedding coordinator in the universe. He was always there to calm me down during the planning and preparations and he literally made it the greatest day of our lives and I'm so thankful to him. I'm forever greatful to him, honestly, because he was such a ray of sunshine in our lives and it's so cheesy but it's so true. I just love him. He is the best! I just don't know if the guy ever sleeps because he's literlaly out being Superman all day and night long!

Zdenko bringing our cake out and making a funny face - he is the best!

I was absolutely obsessed with our flowers. They were EXACTLY what I wanted, and literally the most gorgeous flowers I'd ever seen in my life. No one could do a more amazing job than Ida from Cvjetni Atelier Kontesa. Martha Stewart doesn't even have flowers as beautiful as these! She listened to everything I had to say and made adjustments as necessary and literally helped make me the happiest bride in the universe! It's so important to trust your vendors to make your day flow perfectly!

All of our vendors were the best we could possibly ask for and I'll definitely tell you more about them in the future, especially about our amazing photographer, Ana Mihalic. In fact, I'm hoping I'll tell you more about her later this week in a special feature. I mean obviously she's amazing, just look at her photos! Makes you want to get married in Croatia now, doesn't it? ;)