A European road trip, 25 flights from the UK, uncertain weather and the most magical day of our lives
Wedding Road trip
Before we knew it it was finally to start our wedding road trip which we had planned alongside a wedding for 2 years. We took the ferry with DFDS from Newcastle to Amsterdam and then travelled through Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany and Austria before reaching Slovenia after 5 days. You can read more about our European road trip here.
Pre-Wedding Planning
We arrived in Lake Bled on Wednesday and were getting married on Sunday. The next few days definitely felt as though we did not have enough hours in the day and the majority of the time was spent completing the finishing touches before the big day. The lead up involved:
Wednesday - meet with our wedding planner from Primavera Bled where we ran through the timetable of the wedding day, handed over place cards, our table plan and confetti which we brought out with us from the UK. We also needed to handover our table decorations in advance but these had to be made up as were dismantled for travelling;
Thursday - make up trial and table decorations and garlands assembled
Friday - shopping for guests and to buy prosecco and plastic cups for boats and paying the final suppliers (a significant amount was required in cash)
Saturday - welcoming the remainder of our guests, writing our thank you cards to the wedding party, finalising speeches and checking reception decoration
Sunday - the Wedding Day
The majority of our guests travelled from the UK and it is important to note that you can only fly direct to Slovenia (the nearest airport to Bled is the capital, Ljubljana) from London. Any other destination will have to be an indirect flight and most of our guests had to get indirect flights from Newcastle, Manchester, Birmingham and London and many with 2-5 hour layovers in between! It is not the easiest destination to get to from the UK so we were very lucky our guests were will to travel out to spend our wedding day with us.
On the Saturday before the wedding it rained heavily and there was thunder and lightning meaning no-one was able to swim in the lake or take out a paddle board. We had succumbed to the fact that it was going to rain on our wedding day and prepared our guests by asking them to bring umbrellas and ponchos.
Wedding Day
The morning of the wedding came and we woke up to more heavy rain. We felt it was inevitable that it was going to continue raining all day and quickly had to get used to the idea. Although it was disappointing, it wasn't going to ruin our day.
However, as the morning continued the weather became brighter and clearer and by the time we got married at 1pm it was 30 degrees and sunny! We could not believe our luck. The day would have been perfect regardless but the nice weather was the cherry on top of the cake.
Our wedding itinerary was as follows:
9am - make up artist arrived
10am - hairdresser arrived
11am - photographer arrived
12pm - guests met at the Grand Hotel Toplice and took transport to the lake front to catch the Pletnas. Prosecco was served as they boarded the boats
12:45pm - bridal party made their way to the island
1pm - wedding in Bled Church
1:30pm - reception on Bled Island and photographs
3pm - guests back to Grand Hotel Toplice and bride and groom had photos
4pm - reception at Grand Hotel Toplice
4:45pm - 4-course dinner at Grand Hotel Toplice
5:45pm - speeches from father of the bride, groom and best man after 2nd course
6:30pm - main course and desserts
7:30pm - first dance
7:30pm-12am - party in Grand Hotel Toplice
The day was truly magical from start to finish and our wedding planner, Tina from Primavera planned each moment to perfection. It all ran extremely smoothly especially given how many moving parts there were with different locations and a boat crossing to reach the island. If you are wondering whether a wedding planner is worth while read here.
Lake Bled is an absolute fairytale location for a wedding and will truly make you feel like royalty for the day. I could not recommend this destination more if you are planning a wedding abroad. It is a truly unique location and I guarantee your photographs will be incredible!
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