Pretty in the City

Danielle and Marco celebrated an elegant city wedding at the stylish Hotel du Vin.

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Images courtesy of Clive Blair Photography

Early days…

Danielle still remembers the first time she set eyes on Marco two-and-a-half years ago. "We met on Facebook and, after chatting for a while, we arranged to meet up in a pub," she recalls. "The bar was heaving with people, but I spotted him as soon as I walked in and he looked directly at me. At that moment it was like everyone else in the pub had just disappeared."
"That night we talked about everything from past dating experiences to the cheesy music we had on our iPods," adds Marco. "I felt I could totally be myself with Danielle and I know she loves me for who I am."
It was a romantic mini-break to Barcelona that prompted a proposal from Marco. Despite having a few surprise plans up his sleeve, he couldn't make up his mind when to actually pop the question. "I was going to do it on the plane and ask the captain to make an announcement for me, but then we ended up with terrible seats right next to the toilets so I decided against it," he laughs.
When Marco finally asked Danielle to marry him, it came as a complete surprise to her. "It was the perfect time," says Danielle. "We were having a relaxed breakfast in bed and chatting about what we would do that day. I thought Marco was acting a bit strange but it took me ages to realise he had put a ring box on my breakfast tray while I wasn't looking. When I finally saw it, I started crying before I'd even seen the ring!"

The venues…

"We simply fell in love with Hotel du Vin as soon as we saw it," says Danielle. "The fact that it's located in central Birmingham - my hometown - was a big factor in our decision, but we also loved that it had a retractable roof in the courtyard area. Perfect for the end of March when anything could happen with the weather. Luckily though, the sun shone all day."
The couple had a colour scheme of green with touches of diamanté. "This theme worked really well with the venue because its décor included plenty of greens, browns and soft yellows," says Danielle. "We also liked the idea of a green colour scheme because we were getting married in the spring. We weren't strict with the theme though, and while there were accents of it throughout, we mixed up the shades slightly."

The attendants…

Danielle asked her two younger sisters to be her bridesmaids.
"I didn't even consider anyone else, it was always going to be them," she recalls. The girls wore matching tea-length green dresses from Coast, and complemented them with pretty taupe-coloured wraps.
"My best man was my good friend Fadi, who has been my best friend since I moved to London five years ago," says Marco. "He did an excellent job keeping me calm before the ceremony. Even when Danielle was 15 minutes late he tried to take my mind off things by saying 'so...nice flowers!' I reckon he was running out of small talk by the time she arrived. He also made a great speech."

The dress…

Danielle wore a stunning Christina Sposa gown called Skye. It was the first dress she tried on and, as Danielle recalls, no other dress even came close: "I simply fell in love with it. I decided not to wear the sash that came with it though, and instead I wore a diamanté brooch from Accessorize on the side to finish it off."

The flowers…

Danielle chose her favourite flower, white tulips, for her and the bridesmaids' bouquets and simple white calla lilies for the groomsmen's buttonholes. The table centrepieces were made up of white tulips, white gerberas and pink roses for a pretty and elegant feel.

The decorative touches…

The couple agree that their ceremony was a beautiful service and although she was sure she would cry, Danielle did nothing but smile throughout. "It was just so good to finally see Marco standing there smiling at me," says Danielle. "Seeing him just made me feel brilliant."
Danielle's aunt did a touching reading of On Your Wedding Day and after the ceremony her sister read A Word to Husbands by Ogden Nash. "That certainly made everyone laugh," recalls Danielle. "We also had a string duo which played Pachelbel's Canon in D for my entrance, Bach's Air on a G String for the signing of the register, and Handel's Arrival of the Queen of Sheba for our exit."
"Because Marco is German, I wanted favours that were traditionally from his country," says Danielle. "And, after much searching on the internet, I came across a company that offered personalised German gingerbread cookies, in the shape of hearts. They were decorated with our initials and the date of our wedding, in green icing. The hotel forgot to put them on the tables at the wedding breakfast though so we ended up handing them out over breakfast the next morning, which went down a treat with our guests!
"The tables looked lovely and were decorated with pretty green votive candles and scattered diamantés. The hotel also provided stunning wrought iron candelabra for the centrepieces and the whole setting looked lovely when lit up by the candlelight."

The honeymoon…

After the big day, the couple jetted off to Africa for a week, followed by a week in Mauritius. "We'd always planned to have a week of fun activity followed by seven days of relaxation," says Danielle.
In Africa the couple went on safari, taking elephant rides and a helicopter trip over the Victoria Falls, while in Mauritius Danielle and Marco took time out at a spa hotel called Paradise Cove (www.paradisecovehotel.com) where they made use of the spa facilities, ate in top restaurants and chilled out on private beaches

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