Today I’m sharing a very lovely wedding, it was planned in only 6 months and mainly put together over the web. Lots of Jo’s inspiration came from wedding blogs and her Maltese family background also played a big role. Jo’s family are originally from Malta so what better place to marry then there!
British couple Joanna and Sean got married on the 19th August 2011 in St. Julians, Malta. The ceremony took place at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church followed by a wedding breakfast at The Barracuda Restaurant. This was a small, classic and intimate wedding and was perfect for all the right reasons. With only family, very close friends, lots of sunshine and good food this makes for a perfect wedding day.
Now it’s over to Jo for all the details we love ♥
British couple Joanna and Sean got married on the 19th August 2011 in St. Julians, Malta. The ceremony took place at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church followed by a wedding breakfast at The Barracuda Restaurant. This was a small, classic and intimate wedding and was perfect for all the right reasons. With only family, very close friends, lots of sunshine and good food this makes for a perfect wedding day.
Now it’s over to Jo for all the details we love ♥
The Proposal… March 2010, Sean had received an offer of promotion at work, which meant that we would need to relocate to the SE of England leaving our home, family and friends behind. He had decided it was time to show me his commitment to us. He was late home from work, of which I now know was due to visiting my parents before coming home to ask my Father for my hand in marriage and to give Mother some flowers. He then sat me down and asked me. Not the most romantic of proposals, but perfect as I had not been expecting it in the slightest. We had just celebrated 4 years together the previous week and I had almost given up hope of receiving a proposal. (What a romantic 🙂 )
The Vision for the day… We had 2 visions. We actually started to book a typical English wedding. Church and Manor house venue in the Somerset Countryside. I had decided on a 1920’s theme, all elegance and classical glamour with a simple Black & White theme. Several months later we took a step back and agreed that we had lost our way a little and had let the wedding take over. We agreed that the most important thing for us was that we cement our love and not compete for wedding of the year! So we decided to go for something simple and abroad. I had always wanted to get married in Malta, but previously Sean was not so keen. Now he agreed it was perfect. My only vision for the day was to create a simple, but romantic setting for us to remember for all the right reasons.
The Planning process… Not only was I planning the wedding in 6 months, but we were planning from abroad…enough to make any Bride stressed!
The Planning process… Not only was I planning the wedding in 6 months, but we were planning from abroad…enough to make any Bride stressed!
I luckily had family in Malta to help with the legalities and my cousin Karen kindly had meetings with Malta’s English speaking Father and arranged the legalities in the Embassy. Karen advised us what was required of us, but the information was also accessible online.
Once I knew the legalities were in motion and we had a date arranged, I set about organizing everything else. I lived on the internet, researching venues, florists, photographers and everything else wedding related. I found reading blogs very helpful where people had discussed their own wedding’s and found many useful contacts & suppliers.I decided on silk flowers for the bouquets and button holes. This way I could pick a UK supplier and ensure I was totally satisfied with the outcome. Although transportation to Malta proved to be a little tricky they were excellent keepsakes for everyone. Plus cost wise it worked out cheaper than real flowers.
I used online suppliers for all the wedding stationery after weeks of searching. I found my photographer online, through a Maltese dedicated Wedding website. I also found my Make up artist, florist (table display) & wedding cars in this way.In Malta is not traditional to have a wedding cake as eccentric as one may have in the UK so this was arranged through the venue.I would not have been able to plan & arrange my wedding without the internet and Wedding blogs. (BIG yay for wedding blogs!)
My Wedding Dress… Although my plans for the overall wedding to be on a smaller much simpler scale than the original plans, I had not altered my decision on my dress. Although I would be battling the heat I still wanted a full dress. I returned to Somerset and picked the first dress I tried on. I had the style I wanted in mind from the start and luckily I found something just as I had imagined. The Veil and Tiara was thrown in from the same store. I chose a long cathedral length veil for ‘impact’
Groom’s threads… I knew what I wanted for Sean. This was a light grey ‘sharp’ suit. Black felt too harsh for the bright Mediterranean setting. So I gave him free rein to find his suit on that criteria. I purchased his tie from an Ebay retailer along with the ties for my father, brother and the best men. They were an absolute steal at GBP 1.99 each!! They looked much more expensive.
Readings & Music… Mum helped pick the readings and my Sister (Chief Bridesmaid) and the Best Man stood up and read them for us. Both traditional catholic readings as was the service. (Jo also mentioned to me in her email that the priest had to translate everything into English… that’s quite impressive if you ask me!)
My Lovely bridesmaids… Aimee (Sister) Amy (Best friend) Dress’s purchased online. (They really are 3 gorgeous girls and I love the bridesmaids dresses.. simple & lovely!) 
My Flowers… Mixture of 2 pale pinks and ivory roses. (By the way Jo arranged her table flowers the day before the wedding! Now that is risky but how stunning are these? Good job Jo 😉 )
My Lovely bridesmaids… Aimee (Sister) Amy (Best friend) Dres
s’s purchased online. (They really are 3 gorgeous girls and I love the bridesmaids dresses.. simple & lovely!) My Flowers… Mixture of 2 pale pinks and ivory roses. (By the way Jo arranged her table flowers the day before the wedding! Now that is risky but how stunning are these? Good job Jo 😉 )
The Cake… Simple 1 tier cake…we couldn’t bring it back with us in our suitcases so it didn’t make sense to have anything too extravagant. We left most of it for the Hotel staff.
(I’d say that was the perfect size for a small wedding and with left overs for the staff, well they just got lucky!)
The Details + Décor… Simple Ivory with heart diamante name places (As per the invites and the order of service), with pink & ivory flower display on the tables. The Restaurant was already decorated to my standard ha ha!
Our Honeymoon… Pending! Australia, Dubai & Singapore next January
Oh and here are a few more lovely photos by the very talented photographer Matt who is based in Malta. He’s English and lives in Malta with his Maltese wife. This tribute Beatles style picture below is just awesome. This should be printed on Canvas at a very large size. LOVE it! If you have some free time check out Matt’s website *here*BIG thanks to Jo & Sean for sharing their wedding with us. There really is nothing I love doing more than this, looking through wedding photos, piecing together their big day and admiring every little detail that went into the planning. I also love the fact that Jo was so relaxed throughout the planning process. I hope it gives all you destination brides a little bit of ease, maybe knowing she put together a gorgeous destination wedding in only 6 months really can be done 🙂
