After seeing the beautiful Lago di Fusine in Italy on a Joss Stone music video, Sitso & Rebekah dreamed of holding their intimate wedding, which would see them bringing their families together for the first time, within a similar awe-inspiring space. They enlisted the help of wedding planner Holly of Wonderlust Events, and asked her to source a venue just like Lago di Fusine. Holly however went one better. She contacted the local authorities responsible for Lago di Fusine, who had never before hosted a wedding within the national park, and made it happen for them! Just amazing. Their dreams became a reality on the 12th April 2019 with a gorgeous personal hand-fasting ceremony right by the lake, followed by a relaxed informal reception at an Italian vegan restaurant. They danced, they played games and they celebrated the bringing together of two families…
We wanted to be in a beautiful, natural environment and try to bring that inside our reception venue as well. Rebekah’s family and friends are from Australia, and Sitso’s are from England so it was the first time they met each other. We wanted the whole thing to feel like a warm family reunion. We mixed all the guests, kept it really informal, and had lots of games. And it really did feel like everyone had known each other forever, despite only meeting the day before.
Rebekah & Sitso
Rebekah and Sitso share with us all the details of their day.
Look out for their amazing repurposed cutlery favours, engraved with a personal message for each guest. Such a great idea.
Enjoy lovely people.
Let’s go and watch the sunrise…
Sitso proposed on a family trip to Portugal. He had spent months scheming with Rebekah’s sister to have family members and friends send him sweet video messages as though they were talking to Rebekah, saying how much they love her and want her and Sitso to be happy, including a written message from her grandmother who had motor-neuron disease. He edited these into a video. On the first night of the family holiday, he took her at 5am up to a lookout to ‘watch the sunrise’. Instead he played her the video and at the end of it proposed. In all the stress and excitement, he had taken her to the wrong side of the hill to see the sunrise so it was all done in the dark but it was incredible.
Inspiration from Around the World…
We wanted to take inspiration from cultures around the world, appreciating what we thought was beautiful/important rather than just doing ‘traditional’ things. We researched traditions from other cultures and decided to include a Celtic hand tying ceremony.
We also wanted to represent our own cultures so we used Ghanaian Kente cloth (Sitso) for the hand tying and eucalyptus leaves from Australia (Rebekah) for the reception decor.
Lago di Fusine…
Originally Sitso saw the lake in a Joss Stone music video. We asked our wedding planner Holly at Wonderland Events to find something ‘like’ it as we didn’t think it would be possible to go there. However, Holly said we should try and she made it all happen! After going there to check it out, there was no other option for us, it was perfect. We had to overcome the hurdle of it being in a national park and no wedding having ever been done there. But again, Holly was able to organise this for us.
Our reception venue was at Locanda Mandi. We knew we would struggle to find a vegan caterer in a small town in Italy. But Holly found a vegan restaurant less than a 4 minute drive from the lake, it was meant to be! The owners were so very accommodating and helpful, keen to help us make our day perfect. She was open to all of our ideas for décor and catering requests. We used Australian Eucalyptus and lavender to dress the tables. We placed games on every table and had a ping pong table set up. There was a crate decorated with photos of us. We also wanted scented candles on every table.
Lace, Heeled Converse, Pearls & Lavender…
I chose a Lillian West dress. I found my dress the first time I went looking. It was light and flowy, and off-white. And I felt amazing in it! I also wore a second dress for the reception. This one was from Lulus in the US. I had my seamstress sew pieces of lace on to it that matched the lace from the Lillian West dress.
For my shoes I wore heeled converse. I needed to be able to walk along a rocky lake path and they are really comfortable. I decorated them with lace from my mother’s wedding dress and pearl beads from my grandmother’s necklace. I wanted my grandmother with me on the day as she was too ill to be there.
I had a custom hair piece made for my hair that had porcelain flowers and Swarovski crystals. This was made by Eden B Studio, a small business in the UK. The hair stylist, Sandra, also wove pieces of lavender in to my hair – this was extra special because Lavender was my grandfathers favourite flower. He died a few years ago and I wanted to honour him in our wedding.
The Groom…
Sitso wore a tailored 3-piece suit from Moss Bros, with shirt from TM Lewin. Our wedding date was embossed into the lining beneath the inner jacket breast pocket. His pocket square was a piece of purple Kente cloth (to loosely match the lining of my jacket/waist coat).
Sitso’s best man and Rebekah’s brides man wore a blue and green piece of Kente cloth, respectively, as their pocket squares.
A Semi Circle, The Lake and Hand Tying…
The ceremony was held on the edge of the lake. We didn’t want anything to distract from the stunning scenery so we didn’t use any decorations.
Our guests stood in a semi-circle around. Dayton (Rebekah’s Bridesman) played Say You Won’t Let Go – James Arthur on guitar (this was the same music used in the engagement video Sitso made) while Rebekah’s Dad walked with her to the lake edge.
The ceremony first had vows, then exchanging of rings, and lastly a hand-tying. There were 5 pieces of material. Each colour/piece represented a different promise. In traditional Celtic ceremonies the different colours have different meanings. However we wanted to use colour meanings from the Ghanaian culture as well as Celtic. So after a lot of research we settled on blue, silver, green, purple, and white. The knotted fabric is now kept in our home.
A Change of Name…
We wrestled with changing Rebekah’s last name for a long time because it seemed very patriarchal for her to be the one to change her name and Sitso Boots just didn’t make sense. We decided to choose our own last name, make our own new family. Rather than choose a random word, we decided to look into our family trees. We came to learn that Rebekah’s Grandmother (who couldn’t come to the wedding due to being bed-bound from Motor Neuron Disease) had originally been called Brigitte Rubeau before she married into the Boots family. We loved this name, Rubeau, and at the Reception were introduced as Mr and Mrs Rubeau. Rebekah’s Grandmother, Omi, died a month after our wedding. We are glad her name lives on with us.
Phenomenal Photography…
Linda Lauva is phenomenal. After seeing some of her previous weddings we knew we really wanted her. She created the most beautiful photos, beyond what we had expected.
A Family Feel…
We really wanted a ‘family’ feel to the evening as it was the first time our families met each other. We played a lot of games including Jenga, Cards against Humanity, and whole family charades. Sitso’s uncle is a drumming teacher. He brought his kpanlogo (Ghanaian drum) and performed for us. Then he taught all the guests a Ghanaian dance. It was amazing to see our two very different families united in learning a dance together.
Favourite Moment…
Rebekah: Everybody learning a Ghanaian dance. Sitso was the first person of African heritage that I had dated. When I first met Sitso’s family, it was at a big family event where Sitso’s Uncle did a drumming performance, and everyone got up to dance, and they all just seemed to know how to dance! This was so far out of my comfort zone and I hid behind a table so no-one would try to make me dance. I did NOT know how to just follow a beat and dance. I can only jump up and down on the spot. But I loved watching everyone have a good time and wished I was confident enough to join in.
We asked Uncle George to do a performance at our wedding but he told us he wouldn’t be able to get his drum to Italy, which was really disappointing. So Uncle George surprising us with his performance meant so much! And seeing all of my family (who would have been as nervous as I was the first time I saw Ghanaians dancing!) get up and join in and have such a good time – It was incredible.
Sitso: Bek’s sister (Mel) drove me to the reception venue, which is also where we were going to have our ‘first look’. This was one of the parts of the day that I had felt most nervous about. On the drive, Mel told me how happy she was for us and how she had initially found it tough during the first year of our relationship. Now, she was very happy that Bek had managed to find someone who loves Bek as much as Mel did. Mel isn’t the most touchy-feely person, so this outpouring of emotion made me very emotional and I was doing my best to hold it all in. This led to me crying multiple times before and during the ceremony as well as when I saw Bek walking down the path to the lake with her Dad.
Any Advice?
Get a wedding planner! A good wedding planner is worth their weight in gold!
Stick to your budget but negotiate as much as possible to make it go the distance
Don’t argue about things – always take on each other’s ideas positively and be willing to adapt. We wanted it to be a joyful journey that we made together, not one person bulldozing the other.
The Video…
Eva and Martin were lots of fun! They were very subtle, we barely knew they were there but they got such fantastic footage. We also did an engagement video with them in London before the wedding and they just seemed to understand us as people. We loved working with them and would highly recommend!
Bek + Sitso I Trailer from Marie Marry Me on Vimeo.
The Line Up…
Photographer: Linda Lauva Photography; Destination Wedding Planner: Wonderlust Events; Venue & Catering: Locanda Mandi; Videographer: Marie Marry Me; Wedding Dress: Lillian West; Hair & Makeup: Sandra Pranjic Sfumato Make Up; Hair Accessories: Eden b. Studio; Florals: Chobham Flowers; Suit: Moss Bros.; Stationery: LouPaper; Linen: Just 4 Linen; Ring Dishes: Type & Cast; Cutlery Favors: Hoarder & Maker; Ribbon: Camomile & Cornflowers and Floi Ribbons
