A European Woodland Wedding Planned in One Month!

Can you believe bridal blogger Nadia from Sour Cherry planned her wedding in a little over one month? Done. And guess what? It was wonderful and intimate and meaningful and perfect.

Nadia has graciously shared her bridal portraits will us, along with her best hindsight advice. She’s not planning on publishing

late fall bridal shoot in Belgrade

European bridal shoot

black and white bridal shoot at a European estate

woodland bridal shoot in Europe

exchanging wedding rings

snowy European bridal shoot

Date of the Wedding: Nov, 26th 2011.
Name of the Bride & Groom:
Natasa & Branislav

Briefly tell us a bit about your wedding

Right after my engagement, I started planning my big day. Everything was so natural and smooth from day one. Straight away, I knew what type of dress would best fit my body type and I knew what restaurant to make reservations at.

It’s true, I always dreamed about a beach wedding abroad but I knew that since I was a bride-hit-by-an-economic-crisis who was under a strict budget, a beach wedding was way out of my price range. So, I settled for the next best thing; a small wedding ceremony in a traditional Serbian restaurant in Belgrade and a photoshoot at Mount Avala – my favorite hiking spot. In other words, I successfully combined my two passions in life, hiking and tasty food into a fun and exciting wedding.

What are three things you’re glad you did?

  • Planned a wedding in under two months. Actually, it took me 34 days to plan my wedding. Trust me, saying no to tradition in favor of following what you really want deep inside saves time. And that’s exactly what I did. I wanted a beautiful dress, nice venue and a stunning photoshoot. That’s it! No baby ring bearers, no rice throwing, no disposable cameras on the tables, no mashing cakes in each other’s faces.
  • Had a mountain photoshoot. It was really cold but it was well worth it. The worst part was lifting the dress to avoid the mud and other “hazardous” terrain – like I wasn’t cold enough already. I only wish I had leggings over tights for a little extra warmth. But still, it’s a nice memory to remember.
  • Decided that my wedding will not change my plans for education. Wedding, marriage, kids, regrets. Sorry, but I’m just not that type of a girl. As I already mentioned, my wedding was a fun and exciting experience both for me and my hubby and our guests. It was certainly not a goodbye-to-my-plans party. So now, more than ever, I am eager to accept the challenge of Ph.D-level education in the field of biology.

Any thing you wish you had done?

  • Had leggings over tights. Okay, I already mentioned this in three things I’m glad I did, but just so every bride-to-be is clear on this: If you are to have a winter wedding photoshoot wear leggings over tights. Actually, when I come to think about it, there’s just one thing I wish I had done. It’s all pretty fresh to me.

Things you wish you hadn’t done?

  • Tossing the garter.  I had a red, super-sexy garter and I’m so sorry my hubby had to toss it. Okay, I know it’s a tradition for grooms to toss the garter, but I don’t really care about that. Wonder would it be awkward to ask for it back?
  • Stock up on food for after the wedding. We had some guests coming up the following day, so we cooked tons of food (and ordered cakes) including 10 pounds of pork chops, Russian Salad, Leek Salad, mashed potatoes, potato casserole… Almost forgot, we cooked a veal soup too. We ended up overeating.

Three things you wish you hadn’t worried about?

  • Will the hairstylist be late. I was so worried I even dreamed about it that for days. Sunday morning, Aleksandar was on time, a bit sleepy though (I think he had a rough night), but still professional and showed up with a creative eye.
  • Will it rain. I even bought an extra pair of tights, just in case my feet got wet. Luckily, there were no signs of rain, but it was a bit foggy though at Mount Avala. Despite of that we had a lot of fun, as you can see in the photographs.
  • Will the guests be happy. Maybe this is a silly thing to feel anxious over or worry about, but I worried whether our guests would enjoy the ceremony and reception and remember their positive experience. We got nothing but positive feedback from everyone that attended our wedding.

What is your very best hindsight advice?

One month is definitely more than enough time to choose a dress, plan a fabulous photoshoot and pop invitations in the post. Okay, there are some other things you need to do, but it can be done.

Team Wedding

  • Dress: Pronovias Frase, 2011 Style Collection
  • Underwear: Lisca
  • Photographer: Isidora Djuric
  • Photoshoot Location: Mount Avala, Belgrade
  • Restaurant: Sesir Moj, Traditional Restaurant in Skadarska Street, Belgrade
  • Hairstylist & Makeup Supervisor: Aleksandar Petrovic
  • Cake: Tasty Three Story Cake by My Sister-In-Law (Thank You Marija)
  • Planner: Myself (My Hubby Helped a Bit)