“We wanted to keep it quite natural and bohemian so went with a green and blush theme.”
Names: Greg and Sanita Ginnever
Length of engagement: 1 year and 9 months
Wedding Date: 6th May 2019
Wedding location: Villa Arrigo, Naxxar
Photographer: Shane Watts
We met… On Tinder! Shout out to online dating. Our first date was at a bowling alley in Manchester followed by drinks.
Our proposal… was at Edinburgh Castle in Scotland. We had gone for a weekend away with some friends to attend the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, which is an arts festival. Greg had arranged a private balcony in the main area of the castle and had told me they were shooting cannons from there and we should go up to look. Unfortunately, Greg had kept is so quiet that I invited our friends up with us and so they very nearly ended up being there for the proposal! Luckily, Greg managed to pull me up there and make an excuse that the door had to be shut before our friends made it there.
When I entered the room, it was covered in rose petals with a bottle of champagne on ice and I think it was then I knew. I was more nervous than him so I erupted in a fit of nervous giggles whilst Greg managed to keep his composure and got down on one knee to pop the question. We did let our friends come up to share the Champagne once I had answered yes.
Our wedding theme/colours… we wanted to keep it quite natural and bohemian so went with a green and blush theme. We had low flower centrepieces on the tables with gold runners, and also had flowers lining the aisle. We also added some balloons for family members who couldn’t be with us. We wrote their names on them and let them go later in the night. We wanted it to look good but to still have an ‘organic’ feel so it didn’t feel too poised which we thought would assist our guests in feeling comfortable too. We are both quite free-spirited and so wanted our day to reflect us as a couple.
Things we DIY’d/made ourselves… unfortunately, we can’t take credit for making anything ourselves however, a lot of things were handmade to custom order such as the flower girl crowns. Suitcase space was an issue as our daughter was just 11 months old and had a lot of stuff! So we tried to keep packing light and sourced suppliers where we could in Malta. Had we had more space we would have loved to have made more ourselves.
My dress… was a Stella York dress. I tried on a few but kept going back to this one. I just loved the simplicity and the fit of it. The feature of the dress which stood out for me was the lace back. It was also light and extremely comfortable which I think is important when you are wearing it all day.
My hair and make up…my hair was done by Zoe Edgar who did a fantastic job. Again, I just wanted something that looked soft and bohemian so went for a part up, part down style with loose curls. Zoe really listened to what I wanted and was great to speak to as well.
For my makeup, I don’t usually wear a lot and so was wary of having a make-up artist as I wanted to look like myself on the day. I therefore opted to do my own and watched a few wedding make-up tutorials and bought makeup especially for the occasion. It probably ended up costing the same as a make-up artist but I was happy with the result and felt in control of my look.
His suit…was handmade at a tailor shop local to where we live.
What our bridal party wore…various. I wanted all of my bridesmaids to have some ownership of the day to make then really feel involved. I therefore gave them a theme of dark green and a budget of £100.00 and told them all to pick their own dresses (with my approval before buying of course). This took some of the stress off me and meant that they all felt comfortable as different dresses fit different body shapes and it really fit the bohemian feel given that all the dresses were a little mismatched. The flower girls wore dresses from a great shop called Little Bettys which make bespoke dresses to order so I was able to choose each feature from the sleeves to the bodice and the skirts. They had big green bows at the waist.
Our ceremony…took place in the garden at Villa Arrigo which was a beautiful setting, really lush and green. It was a very windy day but this didn’t negatively impact the ceremony and in fact it was nice as it kept us all cool. The layout was great and felt really personal. We wrote our own vows and had a few people shed some happy tears.
There was a mishap or two, such as the vase blowing off the table due to the force of the wind but in all honesty, I really think this added to the day and the memories. We still laugh about it now.
We chose our photographer because… having looked at a number of photographers, Shane’s work really stuck out for us as his pictures appeared less posed and instead, there were a lot of spontaneous photos of people just having fun. The dancing photos are hilarious.
We wanted our photographer to really capture the spirit of the day and fly under the radar to catch the unobserved moments which are often missed. We did of course have some choreographed photos but even with these, it felt unpressured and easy.
Shane even went over and above being a Photographer with extra little touches, even helping out with getting some creases out of my dress last minute and encouraging guests out of my room (politely of course) so that myself and the wedding party could get ready with minimal stress.
We chose our wedding coordinator because…having looked through and enquired with a few, WOW just seemed to really ‘get’ what we wanted. A lot were tailored towards a pre-packaged set up without a lot of flexibility. With WOW we able to have control over each element of our wedding and Skype chats and even on location venue visits were easy to arrange and never too much trouble. Martina took the time to get to know us people first so that she could envisage the wedding ‘we’ wanted rather than applying a one size fits all mentality.
We chose our venue because…it was simply beautiful. It has to be seen in person to fully appreciate it and in fact, before we did the venue visits this was not at the top of our list. However, one visit told us this was the right venue, the space was perfect for our wedding party size and it had an indoor and outdoor section meaning that we would not be at the mercy of the weather if there were any unexpected downpours.
The outdoor gardens were really green and well maintained and everything just looked fresh. There were even fruit trees.
I also really loved the entrance which had chairs and tables in a kind of snug, although snug is probably the wrong word given that it was a very large snug! This meant that any very old or young members of our party had somewhere quiet to go if they needed a rest from all the festivities.
Our menu…This was provide d by the venue and we opted for a menu which included Salmon and Chicken option as we considered this would please most. I can’t remember now exactly what was on our menu as it was 5 courses but suffice to say, it was exquisite. We had so many comments and compliments on the quality of the catering and there was not one guest who was unhappy with the food.
The venue even agreed to make a few custom meals given that some of our guests had specific requirements such as needing pureed food or alternative vegetarian meals due to allergies.
Our honeymoon…as this was a location wedding the honeymoon was the second half of our holiday following the wedding in Malta. We are however planning a further honeymoon next year when our daughter is a little older as she will be going on her own holiday with her Nanna. Destinations under consideration are India, Bali and Cambodia amongst others. We always like to go a little off the beaten track, our first holiday together was in Vietnam.
My favourite part of the wedding day… there were 2 favourite parts, the first being our vows as this was the first time that we had heard each other’s and they were really personal and heartfelt and reflected us perfectly. The second part would be the dancing. Everyone really let loose and our family and friends still comment now about how much fun our wedding was. It certainly wasn’t a quiet one!
My piece of advice for other couples… please yourself rather than everyone else, after all it is your day. Laughter is infectious so if you enjoy yourself then your wedding party will too. Also, try to space our your planning jobs so they don’t all come at once, I was maybe a little too relaxed at the beginning of our arrangements.
What is it that makes your wedding unique? My sister sang me down the aisle to “A Thousand Years” by Christina Perri.
Suppliers
Wedding venue: Villa Arrigo | Photographer: Shane Watts | Planner/coordinator: Martina – Wed our Way (WOW) | Musician: Mics Band | DJ: Tony Tony | Hair: Zoe Edgar | Makeup: Bride | Dress: Stella York | Suit: Local Tailor | Bridesmaids dresses: Various | Groomsmen outfits: Primark | Caterer and cake: Osborne Caterers | Celebrant: Maria Dolores Schembri
