Crazy and awesome wedding story

(Press play and then read. This is the song that Lavinia chose for her entrance to the wedding, to the ceremony)

Lavinia and Mark describe themselves as foodies and wine lovers, so their wedding was all about that: good food to reflect their different cultural backgrounds, paired with beautiful wines from around the world. But it was also about care and respect for your guests and making sure everyone, including the staff, felt welcomed and appreciated.

I first met them online and knew from the start that this would be my best project yet. I was really nervous until they decided I would be their wedding planner. From that moment I already started looking for the perfect location and imagining how it would end. After meeting Lavinia and discussing their expectations, I had the perfect place in mind: Domeniul Manasia, with its old but completely renovated manor and with the most wonderful garden you will find (at least closer to Bucharest).

The crazy thing about the place is that most guests didn’t know what to expect. On the wedding website, which I created for them, there was no information about it – we tried to keep things as a big surprise for all the guests (except the closest of Lavinia’s family, from Romania).

But the level of crazy awesomeness increases from here. Their wedding menu was entirely written by them. A Lebanese starter, served meze style, a plate of fish and chips, served London style (wrapped in newspaper and all), a traditional Romanian Sarmal dish, which people can serve as they wish and a Sunday roast beef as the main course. And the cake, a French croquembouche, one meter high! The menu was in the hands of the talented Chef Foa and his Flavors Food Design team. And it was delicious, as expected!

Now, the adventure of the wines… The bottles have literally traveled from all over the world (from the Redwood Valley USA, South Africa, Lebanon, Italy, UK) to arrive in Bucharest and then in Domeniul Manasia. It was a trip organized with the help of the couple’s good friends and the support of our catering team. When all the wines arrived in Manasia, the manager on site said something about the huge quantity and how they will drink it all. Not everything was consumed, but it was well enjoyed!

Learning about Lavinia’s work as a chef in a London restaurant, I came up with the idea of ​​floral arrangements: pots and pans hanging from above, mixed and dressed with flowers and large light bulbs surrounding everything in warm light. They both loved it and we collaborated with Floria to create this dreamy floral concept. Since all the food was served family style, the flowers on the tables were simply scattered among the plates. For their free style ceremony, we created a floral backdrop that covered the gazebo and let the greenery of the garden do the rest.

The table names were the logos of their favorite restaurants around the world.

Now, the story of the donkey. This is really special 🙂 In true British humor and best of all, in his style, Mark suggested that you won’t know it’s a Romanian wedding unless there’s a donkey. His idea was to have a donkey accompany him to the ceremony or at least be there for a couple of minutes, for photos. At first I refused and was serious about denying his most important wish regarding marriage, until I thought it would be a big element of surprise for everyone. With the help of Manasia staff, we managed to capture the donkey girl, right after the ceremony. Questions about this white animal came from left and right. It was the most interesting photo op I’ve ever managed to pull off!

Between the speeches and right before their first dance, there was the moment of the day: the jager bombs domino. We had two tables of jager bombs set up by the bartenders, they turned them around and everyone enjoyed a drink. It wasn’t the perfect angle for every glass, the dance floor got really wet and sticky afterwards, but still nothing stopped Lavinia and Mark from throwing the best party ever 🙂

As for the music, their requests were specific and honestly, they scared me a little. All live moments, no DJ (but until the end of the party), no breaks. This is the moment where I have to give my heartfelt thanks to the 2musicevents team, especially Tony, for his support and efforts in organizing everything with all the artists.

We started the day with the ceremony music, performed by the Teen Strings quartet, and then moved on to the cocktail party, again with Stephen Sax and the quartet, until the party began. From there we had Irina Sarbu Band, Alex G, Trupa 2Zece, Filip and Fly Djs, who gave their all to keep the atmosphere at the highest level.

The bride got rid of her precious shoes, some ladies used the flip flops that we made available for their comfort and everyone enjoyed every moment of the wedding.

The backstage of everything we have put together is this: over 80 staff members, including artists, technicians, service and kitchen, photos and videos, entertainment and supervision for children, make-up and hairdressing, the Jager bombs and all the drinks, ice cream bar, coordination and management. Six buses to take everyone safely from Bucharest to Manasia and back. A whole night of work (and most of the day) to hang all the flowers. Countless hours of planning, two walkthroughs for all my coordination assistants. I really don’t know how many emails and telephone calls we exchanged.

It was huge and bold. But it was also very welcoming, everything made sense and had a story. No drones were injured, not even when Lavinia sabered their first bottle of champagne! And the little donkey has returned safely to her peaceful life, even if she is now famous!

This is, in very short version, my story for what I called #thecrazyawesomewedding.

And it’s only for the wedding day. I’ll never get to the end if I start talking about the other two days of parties, dinners, tours and so on…

I loved this wedding with all my heart and put all my passion into it. I dreamed of every flower hanging from the ceiling and every second of the timeline. When it was all over, I felt like something was missing, big time, and that hole can only be filled with the next wedding of this scale (it’s called post-wedding depression, guys, and it’s a real thing, experienced mostly by the couple and, sometimes, the overly attached planner).

It was all hard work, sweat and tears and it was worth it!

Somewhere in the back is me, right after Mark mentioned me in his welcome speech. I was overwhelmed by their kind words!

All images in this article belong to Dana Tudoran and Marius Chițu.

Lavinia, Mark, you already know that I am in love with you and your wedding 🙂 It was such a pleasure working with you, meeting all your family and good friends and seeing their true excitement and happiness for you.

Next year, maybe? 😛

More photos and the full list of our amazing team, here!