Family Style Weekend Wedding
Before we dive into Wissam and Marta's wedding we have to stop for a second and admire her long sleeve Rosa Clara dress and white rose wedding bouquet. Pure perfection ... right? Ok onto the wedding. After a long distance relationship, one sweet and lovely romantic proposal, these two celebrated their wedding surrounded by family friends. All of whom traveled near and far to celebrate their union together. So, of course they had to spend as much time with all of their guests. They started out their wedding festivities with a church wedding followed by small reception, and ended their family style weekend wedding with an outdoor rustic wedding reception. Read on to hear more from Marta on their love story and always see the entire gallery here all captured by Joel Bedford Photography.
From the bride on how they meet: Wissam and I met at a total twist of fate. Almost as though our lives previous to knowing one another was a sick joke from God himself. We are so glad to have our paths collide through the help of friends. If it wasn't for both of our pasts: we would not know and understand each others' culture, country of origin or language. I jokingly say that my maid of honor Sandra, also my matchmaker to Wissam, trained me my whole life to meet him. And it was effort and commitment which really sums up our dating story.
Set up through friends, I flew to Washington, D.C. for my first date. That led to living apart in two capital cities, where we would travel/fly every second weekend for 7 months before we became engaged on Palm Sunday in Tampa, Florida. We took a getaway weekend to my dear "aunt" Zosia's house who jumped for joy to know her house was blessed with Wissam's proposal. Wissam asked the question after a romantic night of Greek food and a drive down the narrow interstate highway which has water and fishermen on both sides. That's when he asked if I'd had enough of the long distance. I smiled and accepted his beautiful offer. We traveled to Lebanon to tell the rest of his family and friends and complete our premarital course with his lifelong priest, Abuna Ibrahim.
Advice From The Bride: I wish I had gotten my makeup and hair done by someone professional. Especially on the second day, I would have taken some more time to get ready. Instead, I ran around still helping to set up everything BUT myself. I like to be a low-fuss type of woman, but I barely brushed my hair!!
Our wedding day was a simple gathering of family and friends from near and far, to celebrate our unique collision of cultures. Having traveled from Lebanon, DC, Seattle, Winnipeg, New York, Windsor, Cyprus, Rochester, Montreal, Toronto, Switzerland, and other places, we wanted to engage our guests for as long as possible. We extended our wedding day with a second-day follow up at the cottage. The weather was perfect and so was the catered Polish lunch and the fresh Lebanese dinner. The night ended perfectly with a camp fire under the strung tea lights and stars.
- Bridesmaid Dresses: BCBG
- Cake: Three Sisters Bakeshop
- Catering & First Wedding Venue: Prinzo Fine Catering
- Event Planning & Design: Events by Bliss
- Groom & His Men: Ralph Lauren
- Hair: Rinaldo's Hair & Spa
- Photographer: Joel Bedford Photography
- Second Day Caterer: Cedars & Co. Food Market
- Veil or Hair Accessories: Chapeaux de Madelaine
- Wedding Dresses: Rosa Clara