This week we interviewed #rcrealbride Donna who married the love of her life Ashmid in an our 9121 Allure Bridals ballgown wedding dress. __ THE FIRST SIGHT On August 9th 2013, I decided to hit the town with a couple of friends to see a DJ play that I was a huge fan of. Little did I know I was about to meet the man of my dreams. On the night I wore a funky hat – little did I know that this hat would be the conversation starter to meet my soulmate. Ashmid starting talking to me on the dance floor, we had a laugh, had a dance and we soon realised that we got along like a house on fire! Everything was so easy, everything connected and we both shared the same zest and love for life and music. THE PROPOSAL A large shared passion of ours is travel and culture, so in 2013 we ventured of on our Europe Trip which consisted of many countries such as Cyprus, Greece, Morocco, Spain, Ibiza, Amsterdam & Singapore. The first country we visited was Greece where we island hopped and enjoyed the European summer and beaches. I had dreamed and always talked about visiting Santorini for its beauty and picturesque sunsets. On our first night in Santorini, we wined and dined finishing with a walk for the best view of the sunset which is Oia Castle. Ashmid got on one knee, I cried my eyes out and I said yes when I was able to compose myself and take in the view. A moment I will never forget. THE VENUE Our Inspiration for our wedding was Moroccan Wonderland. This was inspired by our love for Morocco and also to infuse both our cultures Greek Cypriot and Bangladeshi within the mood. Our venues were chosen to help infuse and support our Moroccan Wonderland Vision. Our wedding was held in Adelaide, South Australia as I was originally from South Australia. We used the Adelaide Town Hall – Meeting Hall for our wedding Ceremony as we loved the arches within the hall and the wooden beams across the ceiling. Adelaide Pavillon played a huge part of creating that Moroccan Pavillon feel and we loved the glass backdrop to work with our violet mood lighting within the function room as well as a Mediterranean/Moroccan inspired menu. THE FAVOURITE MOMENT Our favourite part of the wedding was the entire finished product – the colour, the fun, the uniqueness and offering something different with a wow factor to our guests. We were super lucky to have all our styling for both venues completed by Inside Morocco. Inside Morocco imported everything from Fez, Morocco especially for our wedding. Everything from urns, lanterns, cushions, platters and moroccan tea light bombonieres. We danced the night away with Arabian Drummers and Violinist enjoying fresh Moroccan Mint Tea that was made by professional Moroccan Mint Tea Performers. It was a wedding and experience unlike no other that reflected Ashmid and I and our love. THE DRESS I wore Allure 9121 which was in blush and Ivory. When I was shopping for my dress my vision was inspired by a Moroccan Bride – bold and mysterious makeup and big hair, I wanted to look and feel like an Arabian Princess. The lace on the gown incorporated with my white henna glam perfectly. My Henna Artist – Vanessa @velvethenna flew especially to the USA to purchase the henna for the day and the finished product was 2 years in the making. I loved the touch of blush in the dress to work with my pink Swarvoski tiara and our bright bouquets of flowers. FINDING THE ONE What I love about Raffaele Ciuca is I could shop online before my appointment. My fitting was with Maria and she was amazing, my mother couldn’t attend and Maria felt like she filled the void of my mother being there. I showed Maria all the pictures of what I wanted to try and straight away I cried when I tried the Allure 9121 – it was perfect. The ladies in alterations did a FANTASTIC job – I didn’t realise how important the alterations were until I got to wear the finished product. “Girls, alterations are so important!” Our groomsmen also got to experience the Raffaele Ciuca Mens Shopping Experience. ADVICE Best advice I can give is to create mood boards. I used mood boards to create ideas, work with themes, colours and also to communicate with my vendors in a visual way with notes. Last but not least be organised, don’t leave everything to the last minute. As I was also organising a wedding from another state this made the process so much easier and smoother for everyone involved.