Sent all the way from Germany, we have a gorgeously unique and stylish micro wedding to share with your eyes today, captured in August last year within the stunning ruins of Münzenberg Castle in a small village where Laureen and Justus, the Bride and Groom, grew up…
The castle ruin is located in the village where Justus and my parents live, where we grew up, where we met, where we shared our first kiss – so a place really close to our hearts. Sometimes you forget to see the beauty in things and places you see all the time and we didn’t want to let this happen.
With a modern fairly tale theme, and an oh so pretty colour palette of pastel pink and blue, Laureen and Justus’ small yet perfectly formed micro-wedding, like so many other weddings in 2020, was forced to change due to Covid-19. Instead of postponing, they decided to keep their ideas and plans simple so they could be flexible and adapt to any new restrictions that may come into place in the days leading up to their wedding. This meant they did away with plans for a wedding reception and instead held a ceremony only with a small selection of guests followed by some beautiful family and couple portraits.
Their theme was simple – anything that lifted their moods and brought them joy was part of their day. This included plenty of DIY and handmade details unique to them, and a gorgeous floral backdrop designed and made by Laureen herself…
The wedding’s focus was on handmade details which reflected our personalities and heritage. It’s not a fancy high-gloss wedding designed by a wedding planner held in a stylish location, it’s a very personal DIY wedding at the back of beyond, truly meant from all our hearts.
For all of our readers who are questioning whether to postpone their wedding or marry now and party later, I hope Laureen and Justus’ wedding makes that decision a little bit easier. Holding a small ceremony can be just as special in its own right and, if you decided to marry now but party later, you could even get away with having two wedding dresses! A super stylish ceremony outfit for 2021 (if large weddings can’t go ahead) and one for your party in 2022!
Enjoy this gorgeous wedding lovelies and look out for Laureen’s amazing Zimmermann wedding and bridesmaid dresses. We are in love with them all!
Laureen and Justus share with us more details on their gorgeous micro-wedding day.
5 Years, A Room Full Of Flowers and One Knee…
Justus proposed to me on our 5 year anniversary. As he knew that I would find an engagement a very personal event and feel like any spectators would rather be quite uncomfortable, he decided to propose in our home and ditched the idea of proposing at Disneyland, his initial idea. That day he took me to my favourite sunday brunch spot – greedy me was so focused on the food, I didn’t even realize his nervousness. Back at home he took me to our living room which I haven’t been allowed to enter since the evening before. There he decorated everything with my favourite flowers, in the middle of the flowers there was a huge package (we always gift each other each anniversary, so everything seemed more or less normal to me). In this package there were multiple package layers for each year we dated, each package becoming a bit smaller the closer I got to the core. Each package contained a rose colored, glittery hand-cut paper heart with a message for me and a present which represented something of each year. But the last and smallest “package” was the ring box he carried in his pocket. So cliché but: he went down on his knees, I started to cry, he sweated so much he had to change his shirt afterwards, and that’s it.
Personal, Bespoke & Spontaneous…
Our wedding was a civil wedding but it felt very personal and customized. The registrar loved his job and sent us a huge questionnaire before writing his speech.
The castle ruin is located in the village where Justus and my parents live, where we grew up, where we met, where we shared our first kiss – so a place really close to our hearts. Sometimes you forget to see the beauty in things and places you see all the time and we didn’t want to let this happen.
It was a micro wedding without a real official reception. Due to Covid-19, we didn’t even know where our guests would get food from two weeks prior the wedding, so it was a real spontaneous day.
A Light-hearted & Fun Dress…
I was bored of the dresses shown in wedding boutiques, at a certain point everything looked the same to me somehow. I didn’t want the dress to look anyhow traditional or severe, so I looked for a more light-hearted and fun alternative.
An Inspiring Photographer…
Caro from Minna Emilie went to the same school as I did and became a successful professional photographer in Hamburg, Germany. She is the most kind hearted person you can imagine and her passion for her work was inspiring everyone that day. Justus and me are very shy in front of a camera but she managed to let us forget that we are quite unphotogenic.
Personal DIY Details…
The backdrop was definitely my biggest one for the day. Over several months before the wedding I made those giant paper flowers by hand and put them together one by one. The eucalyptus branches were taken out of my mother’s garden from a plant she raised from scratch. The boutonnières of groom and best man were just little DIY projects I did for our special day. The most special DIY topic for me was the stationery: From the save our date dried flower confetti bombs, the engagement and wedding ring illustrations to the customized invites, I did everything myself and had just so much fun developing everything.
Favourite Moment…
My favourite moment of this perfect day: How my 97-old grandfather left his walker behind to congratulate us and pose with us for the wedding pictures despite of those 38°C!
Any Advice?
To all those couples out there affected by Covid-19 just as we were, worry less, love more! At a certain point after months of worrying I just decided to let it go, stay clam and just be curious what would happen the next day. I got very sick 2 months before the wedding and spent most of my days in medical practices, but nothing can take away a loving heart. In the end everything worked out super spontaneously, it just needs a bit of trust and fairy dust!
The Line Up…
Photography: Minna Emilie; Venue: Muenzenberg Castle; Bride’s Dress: Zimmerman; Bride’s Shoes: Peter Kaiser; Bride’s Hair Accessories: Tedi Deutschland; Bride’s Jewellery: Alessandra Rich; Groom’s Suit: C&A; Bridesmaid Dresses: Zimmerman; Bridesmaid Accessories; Lele Sadoughi; Flowers: Blumen Volz; Stationery: Atelier Lavish & Bécot; Beverages: Fentimans Ltd; Wedding Favours: Heart Shaped Bubbles
