Wendy&Nikola

Kako decembar grabi svojim prednovogodišnjim raspoloženjem, tako se lagano nameću misli o sumiranju sadržaja prethodne godine. Horoskobdžije su rekle da je 2015. svima nama bila prelomna, da nas je nečemu naučila i u neku ruku prekalila. Na sopstvenoj koži sam osetila koliko je promena u moj život donela, koliko me je oblikovala i terala da se upotpunim, kako na privatnom planu, tako i na poslovnom.

Gledajući unatrag, nikako da poverujem da je prošlogodišnja sezona različitih dešavanja bila toliko šarolika! Nakon svih venčanja, dečijih rođendana, proslava firmi, snimanja za različite brendove, između novogodišnjih dekoracija, odmah smo uskočili u planove za sledeću godinu. A tako bih ponekad da na tren zaustavim vreme u uživanju sa svim ljudima sa kojima smo ove godine radili i čijim smo najemotivnijim trenucima prisustvovali! Volim taj momenat kada nakon sve jurnjave sa našim klijentima popijemo kafu, razvezemo priču i smejemo se svim situacijama koje smo na ovogodišnjem putu zajedno prehodali. Staze (a i zvezde) se ukrste baš u trenu kada treba. 😉

Pored svih zameranja zašto ne pišem blog na engleskom, ipak sam odlučila da ostanem dosledna maternjem. Kako sam uvek smatrala da pravi ljudi pronađu put do vas (koliko god horoskopi drugačije predviđali :)) i da jezik ne poznaje granice, tako mi se inostrane cice često javljaju da ovu tezu potvrde (dobro, možda svoje balkanske polovine pomalo gnjave za prevod, ali znate kako kažu – sve za ljubav, pa i učenje srpskog :)).

Jedna od tih neverovatnih žena koja je slučajno nabasala na domaćeg Frajera, koja je njujorški klabing zamenila provodom na beogradskim rekama, suši sarmicama, čaj domaćom radžom i koja je sa toliko ljubavi prihvatila našu bulumentu koja kliče: „najlepša si snajka“ je „naša“ ovogodišnja frajerska mlada Wendy. 🙂 U ovom postu želela sam da podelim mejl koji nam je uputila nakon venčanja. ♥
Šta sada kada smo nečije „supruge“, „udate žene“, „buduće majke“? Šta se zbiva sa našim ambicijama, očekivanjima, strepnjama, željama usled transfrormacije devojčice u ženu?

Ovo je perspektiva jedne frajerske mlade. 😉

— Dearest Frajerke!

A long due email…
It feels a little void the past few weeks without the questions and answers in email threads from you girls! How are you both doing? 🙂 You are often in my thoughts! Just today, an image of Ivana in her nautical theme outfit popped into my head, white pants with double stitch sailor buttons, crisp striped shirt with pure white collar and cuff accents. Andrijana in her bella-brimmed straw hat, director’s clipboard, beaming her usual warm, reassuring smile that everything’s taken care of and will be ok! Now that is what you have etched in my vision of you girls!

Oh, the time has gone so fast since the day, over a month…whooosh, we are in Dubrovnik…whoosh, we are back in Belgrade….whooosh we are back at our work benches in wet, and rainy Ireland!

So far, I’ve only mentally collected all of the beautiful things that I wanted to share with you from working together to plan our wedding, which just a year ago, we really thought it was nearly impossible to have abroad! And then look what resulted of the experience with Jedan frajer i bidermajer – a miracle, an absolute miracle

In the beginning…

I was surfing the web in hopes of finding resources to rescue me for planning a wedding in Belgrade. I think in my head I was still convinced of a destination wedding somewhere with a backdrop of a blue sea, white sand under my feet and seafood as my main entree…Sardinia? Hvar? Santorini? Oh so quickly did that daydream fade away…;)

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Being the pragmatic problem-solver that I am, I decided to find suitable resources that could at least offer me a smidgen of what I had in my daydream but juxtapose Belgrade, trade sea for river, trade sand for splav, trade 50 guests for 150, trade lobster mousse and shrimp cocktail for pecenje and sarmice. 🙂 Those seem like almost easy trade offs when all in the world I would never trade the most important and loved people there for Nikola. Seeing how happy they were and how happy they made him meant the world to me – despite my own swirling concerns for getting my foreign guests & family to come to Belgrade! In the end, the most important were that my parents and brother were there…and I suppose that it’s it really..

Turning imperfections into perfections. 🙂

And then, I found Ivana’s blog – Jedan frajer i bidermajer.

I fell absolutely in love with Ivana’s blog, her writing, her thinking, her style, her keen eye for poetic perfection, her soul that pours out in her script – if naught, I had to meet her in person. At the time, I was not even aware of the wedding design business! That was just the icing on the cake!

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I will try as such to write this in blocks of experiences lest it will turn out to be an utter mess of a stream-of-consciousness blurb from my end. =0

Thank you for the wonderful note & gift, I would have worn the necklace for the wedding day as I was looking for exactly that which was missing from the wedding outfit – you know what I like – simple, sophisticated and statement. Thank you. I will definitely wear it at my next soiree!

And now as I revisit Ivana’s blog, I feel that I have graduated and the ‘veil’ has lifted from my eyes, no longer just a girl, a fiance, a bride – as I have spent the past year’s journey as such but of what the world looks like through the lens a wife. Imagining the feelings, imagining how I will look, imagining the elements that will be presented to the dearest people close to me who will join me on this precious day. This day that has been so intricately planned, each element so intricately procured to perfection so as to facilitate the moments that I will have of the day that I became the WIFE. This I had not really planned for! (I now scramble bookstores for titles like ‘how to be a good wife’ ‘how to have a fulfilling marriage’ ‘how to bring happiness to your partner – for a lifetime’ – do these books exist?! 🙂

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I would have only wished one thing of the day that the minutes would slow down or that every minute of it could be recorded from every angle to be watched now when there is all of the time in the world to relive the moments. Or if there was some sort of technology that could develop where I could experience it all over again in virtual reality. That would be it! My heart skips a beat when I see a picture posted from a friend – even social media doesn’t forgive that time moves fast. I scroll through my Facebook wall and see the peak in posts for a week and then it fades away toanonymity. Ah, such is life isn’t it? To cherish those tender moments when you feel your heart and soul swell with fullness – and you promise yourself that you never want to forget them – and hunger for the next of these fleeting instances that life gifts you!

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And now I am met with the title of Wife – what does that mean? Is there a book of ‘How to be a Successful Wife?’ I had read countless books on how to be successful at work, how to be a girlfriend that all guys want (I think the book was called, ‘Man Love Bitches’!! :), I even mastered how to be a good student…but now, now I do not have an instruction manual! I started reflecting on how my mom treats my dad – nope, I don’t think that’s the answer, haha. I observe his mother’s behaviour towards him – nope, I don’t think I will take that role, haha. I ask others who have been married for 10+ years for the formula – nope there isn’t one. They just say the following: feed him, respect him, and love him. Is it really that simple? Being practical as I am, what does that mean on a day-to-day? I have definitely become more contemplative about the Wife title. 🙂 It requires a lot more research. Is there a YouTube ‘how-to’ video? I am not prepared! 🙂 So now more than ever, Ivana’s blogs will be a constant source of knowledge!

Ok, coming back to focus…

I will work backwards in timeline because we usually save the best for last which the moment where I became a Wife. 🙂

The hot air lanterns! These were simply amazing to me – I had never launched these before – and just the sheer size of them blew me away. I had imagined them released at once, but never mind there was so much sheer and utter joy at the successful launch of each one that it felt a hundreds hearts sent love streams.

The flowers – they were absolutely perfection – just wish that the heat was more loving to them. 😉 I couldn’t have imagined better. My bouquet I carried with me to the sea and finally got our moment. I enjoyed every blossom of it that opened through the week, each one expressing the most delicate of scents. Radmila is a genious!

The cake – it was amazing. More beautiful than I expected – the handcrafted dolls and D, the hand-scripted vows (this was very special to me because we didn’t have a ceremony where vows were spoken) and it was symbolic to be on the bottom layer of the cake – the foundation. I wish that I had seen it in it’s full glory the way that Zavrzlama designed it – with the pedestal and all!

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The sweets table – I should have moved my chair there for 5 min to try everything – next time in Belgrade, I’d like to go the shops where you get these! I hope the photographer took a photo of it for me. It was just all things pretty and pink. It made the little princess in my heart run around in a puff pink tutu…

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The music – Broban and his crew are simply a classy bunch. Their timing is impeccable and song choice was spot on. With that said, the quartet on the boat, I was surprised when I walked up the stairs – at that moment, I thought I was in a dream. The guests, the music, the sun sparkling on the river, the view – everyone was relaxed, even my parents who were melting. I wish I had a chance to try the canapes at the boat – they looked delicious! 😉

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The boat, the vessel that carried us – more than I imagined was the arrival to splav. The sun glistening on the still water, the flags of Beglrade proudly flying, for a few moments, I got lost in it all – was it really our wedding or someone else?

The dress – well, it’s not the original choice but also suitable. With only 2 weeks before the wedding, I found something nice. I didn’t even really have the time to build a relationship with it! To walk around the house in it, with my shoes and pretend it was the day. I didn’t even have a chance to see myself in the mirror before leaving the hotel room – it was such a rush! 🙂

The speeches – in Chinese? That was really an amazing gift.

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The kolo – the lesson really kicked off the weekend for the out of town guests. At first, I was skeptical about it all, but the instructor was so engaging and shared so much of his passion for the dance and culture. He inspired all of my friends to get up and kolo when there was an appropriate song! Wow.

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The ceremony – I think this a cultural anomaly for the guests there :). 3/4 of the guests seem to be quite confused as to what to expect, where they should stand and what events were going to take place. Even ourselves. We probably should have forced the rehearsal as I expected that it was going to be mass confusion. I expected nothing less. 🙂

The most important day of your life, where unlikely friends/family come together in support and in acknowledgement of your choice to spend the rest of your life in good and in bad with the chosen one before you. These guests, many who have trod the journey themselves come ready to celebrate our journey’s beginning. It’s big. Many travelling long distances. For that moment, they are there to share and enjoy.

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The hours and days following the big day, I had refrained from viewing pictures…simply because I am firm believer in somatic memory of feelings. Somatic memories last forever – they lay deeply embedded in the living cells – as cells multiply the memory propagates. This is the 3 dimensional element that augments a cerebral memory that lies in a synapse. While a picture can hold a thousand words, a somatic memory can hold a thousand feelings.

I didn’t want the 2 paths to cross yet as I was savouring the emotions from the day – the sights, the smells, the sounds, the warmth of the sun on my skin, the heat of the day, the brightness of the sun and then it’s waning fad into the night.

And to take the moment and savour our love for each other. When we sat at the head table, it felt that the seats were so big, like we were not adult enough to fill them, that we were just mere children where our parents sat before us. We were at the children table. That’s how I felt. The responsibility of being an adult and a wife were upon me at that moment. This is the new vantage point. Grown-up!

Am I really ready to carry the responsibility of this grown-up life? 🙂

Well not quite yet. I’ve made my new husband promise that we will plan another party like this one again – to celebrate an anniversary! I can’t wait. To find a theme, a special setting, and design it just the way we like it! Let’s see if promises hold true…

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Okey, now that I have rambled on for more than a few paragraphs, I just want to say how amazing it was to work with you, to get to know you, to now follow your great work, and I just look forward to seeing you again! Thank you thank you for organizing the many, many people involved to make this magic happen.

You are forever special to me!

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With love,

Wendy —

Our dearest Wendy, hvala ti na ovoj introspekciji, otvaranju i iskrenosti. Svaka tvoja reč gađa pravo u suštinu, bogatstvo je imati jedno takvo poznanstvo sa osobom koja je topla i toliko blagonaklona prema životu i ljudima. ♥ Organizacija vašeg venčanja, počev od ceremonije i građanskog venčanja pod vedrim nebom na Kalemegdanu, sa limunada barom, japankama za goste, prevozom do brodića, plovidbom beogradskim rekama, kvartetom, vašim dolaskom na marinu, preko svih plesnih i običajnih tačaka koje ste poželeli do izrade dekorativnih elemenata, stlizovanja i unošenja tog final touch-a u čitavo venčanje, bila nam je ne samo zadovoljstvo, već i velika radost koju smo ostvarivali kroz kreativni rad sa tobom i srpskim đuvegijom. 🙂

And as you said, nadam se da ćemo prvom prilikom nešto magično ponovo stvoriti, čekamo te na ušću dveju reka da zajedno maštamo. 😉

See you soon! 😉

Yours truly,
#Frajerke 😉

Fotografija: Ivan i Diana Photography // Snimak: Creative light

Organizacija i stilizacija: Jedan frajer i bidermajer