While on a romantic holiday in Krakow, Poland, Rachel and Simon dreamt of their perfect wedding in this charming city. Fast-forward to the 1st August 2017 and the couple's dream became a reality when they celebrated their love in the picturesque surroundings of Zamek Korzkiew.

“We visited Krakow on holiday the year before Simon proposed. When in Krakow we went to put our padlock on Krakow’s lovelock bridge. Afterwards, after one too many Polish vodkas and seeing a wedding happening close by, we joked that if we were ever to get married we’d come back and do it in Krakow because it would be cute to give out lovelocks as wedding favours. So, when Simon did propose, it just seemed perfect for us! And since we wanted to keep everything as traditionally Polish as possible, where else more perfect than a traditional Polish Castle?”

“When we decided that Poland was for us, we wanted to keep things as traditionally Polish as possible as most of our family and friends hadn’t visited the country before. Due to this, our 50 guests received invitations with a meeting point for minibuses rather than a venue name, meaning the wedding venues were a complete surprise until the guests arrived on the big day.”

“The Polish traditions we kept were our parents greeting us after the wedding ceremony with bread, salt and wine. Bread so that the couple may never go hungry, salt so the couple are reminded that life may be difficult at times but they must learn to cope through life struggles, and the wine so that the couple may never go thirsty and will always be happy. Then the wine glasses are then thrown over the shoulder for good luck.”

“Also it is Polish tradition to party until the sun rises, which meant our wedding only finished either when the last guest left or at 5 am, whichever came first. We are proud to say that we and four of our guests toasted the sunrise with a plum Polish vodka at 5.30 am.”

How did you choose your photographer?

“Lauren is actually an old friend of Simon’s and over the years we have loved the amazing work she has shared on LaurenB Photography’s social media. She really does have an artistic eye and when given a setting she see’s photo opportunities in places where others can’t. Going for our Pre Wedding Photoshoot we were both out of our comfort zones posing for a camera and Simon doesn’t like getting his photo taken at the best of times. However, Lauren made us so relaxed and we actually ended up enjoying ourselves. By the wedding day, she knew exactly what we did and didn’t like and we were so pleased with the relaxed, natural photographs she captured of our day.”

What was your highlight of the day?

"It had gotten to about 11 pm and we sat ourselves down in a corner of the castle's courtyard and just took a minute to watch our family and friends eating, laughing, drinking and dancing. It was one of those “We did it, we actually pulled this off” type of moments. It all became a little overwhelming watching everyone have so much fun together that it was the only time on our wedding day that I cried!"

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