I am beyond excited to share Brittany and Lou’s wonderful wedding and adorable stories with you. And deep inside, we are so touched to have contributed {albeit in a tiny, tiny way} to the their absolutely gorgeous big day. Enjoy!
Civil ceremony: Leuven Stadhuis , Leuven, BelgiumChurch ceremony: Sint-Kwintenskerk , Leuven, Belgium
Reception site: Faculty Club , Leuven, Belgium
Photography: Tag7 Photography
Consultant/Planner: Anne Coppens , Belgium
Gown: Designed by Marylise and purchased at Le Chapeau in Antwerp
Shoes: Nine West
Hair: Michel & Co. Salon , Leuven, Belgium
Bridesmaid Dresses: Davids Bridal
Cake: Delrue Bakerij, Tervuren, Belgium
Favors: Belgian Neauhaus Chocolates
Accommodations: Martins Kloosters , Leuven, Belgium
How they met:
Unfortunately, we are still perfecting our “how we met” story. The very unromantic truth is that we met at a college {Case Western Reserve University} party during my sophomore year and Lou’s senior year. Unlike a fairytale where the heroine sees her prince across a crowded ballroom, I caught Lou’s eye across a crowded beer pong table in a somewhat suspect basement.
Given the surroundings of our initial meeting, I didn’t give Lou much thought. However, in the following weeks our friends {many of whom were dating} continued to try and set us up. Eventually our schedules matched up and we went on a group date with our friends. By the dessert course I was smitten and nearly seven years later we not only go on lots of dates by ourselves, but we have attended the wedding of two of the couples that initially encouraged us to date and will be going to a third in the fall.
The proposal:
The fact that a proposal was coming was no shock to me – we had picked out the center stone for the ring together in Antwerp – but the timing and location was definitely a surprise.
Since moving to Europe we’ve seen several remarkable churches. However, my favorite is easily Sainte Chapelle in Paris. Generally unremarkable from the outside, Sainte Chappelle’s inner chapel is a treasure and when you walk up the spiral staircase to the upstairs chapel, the view from the final step never fails to take my breath away. Knowing this, Lou planned a special weekend trip to Paris in December of 2008.
Suspecting that I would be expecting more from him than just some Christmas shopping, he threw me off by planning a classically romantic Saturday – we browsed the Christmas markets, he surprised me with tickets to a concert at the Theatre des Champs-Elysees {complete with a champagne intermission!}, we had dinner at our favorite Parisian restaurant and then strolled a Champs-Elysees covered in twinkle lights. But no matter how romantic the setting, he didn’t propose. By the time I went to sleep on Saturday I was convinced there would be no proposal until we were back home in the U.S.
The following day, with me in a somewhat irritated but definitely un-expecting mood, we went to Sainte-Chapelle. Looking up at the stained glass windows, I was as happy as I thought I could be, and then I looked down and saw Lou on bended knee and realized I was wrong – it was possible to be even happier. {sorry, I know that’s super corny, but that’s how it felt}!
Why they got married in Belgium:
I am originally from Pittsburgh and Lou is from Cleveland but for the past two and a half years we have lived as expats in Leuven, Belgium. Between this and the fact that Lou’s siblings are spread across the U.S., we rarely get to have our immediate families in one place. So, we decided to use our wedding as a way to spend quality time together in the place we now call home.
A walk to remember…
To get from the civil ceremony to the church, we walked through the heart of Leuven, past the “Oude Markt” and “Grote Markt” {town squares with buildings from the 1500s} and were met with applause from crowds at each turn. It was an amazing and incredibly surreal experience.
Cultural differences…
One thing that was amusing about the cocktail hour {and meal} was that in Belgium, the “clinking” of the glasses does not signal for the couple to kiss, but for a guest to give a speech. As such, every time one of guests clinked their glass, the Americans looked expectantly at us to kiss while the Belgians looked all around waiting for someone to speak. We actually had to explain this tradition to the person running the venue as nearly every time he heard the glasses clink he was running back and turning the ovens off in anticipation of a Belgian toast – which are often 10-20 minutes long.
Brittany’s best advice for any bride-to-be:
Things {sometimes many!} will go wrong, but if at the end of your wedding day you are surrounded by loved ones who support and will share in this next stage of your life, then know that it’s all gone very, very right.
At our wedding, several things went wrong that probably wouldn’t had if the wedding was in the U.S… However, one of the first things you learn as an expat in Europe is how to be flexible. If you can’t bend, you will break down! For example, I was mildly irritated when the flowers arrived on the big day and instead of hydrangea they were a mix of some random purple flower, peach roses, green baby’s breath and a hint of something blue that may or may not have been hydrangea. I don’t know whose flowers these were, but they were definitely not the ones that I ordered. But, before I could say anything negative about them, my maid of honor said, “Britt! These are fabulous!” To which there was nothing I could reply but, “Yes! Yes, they are! Don’t you love them?”
Not only did no one notice the mistake, but my littlest sister-in-law, the flower girl, loved hers so much that unbeknown to the rest of us, she kept her bouquet with her at all times in her backpack for the rest of her trip {which included stops in Bruges, Brussels and three days in Paris}! Weeks later, the image of her taking the dried bouquet out of her bag is far more heartwarming than the perfect mix of flowers ever could have been.
All photos courtesy Tag 7 Photography.
