A Woodall-Pavuk wedding

Editor’s note: This was originally written in early 2019. As we celebrate our 2nd anniversary today, I wanted to share a little piece of our story with you.

We planned a wedding from Vancouver, Copenhagen and finally London to marry in Chicago. Whilst we never intended on planning our wedding from three different countries, it turned out to be the most wonderful day full of so much love – even if everything was very last minute.

I met James, a British Sustainable Design Manager in Architecture whilst working as a Design Director in Vancouver, BC on April 29, 2014. Though it wouldn’t be until late July 2014 after a third date kiss along the seawall where we would become inseparable. Fast forward four years later – April 28, 2018, we were married surrounded by our closest friends & family across the globe in Evanston, Illinois.

We both moved to Vancouver for international experience within our profession and whilst fate would have it, we met, fell in love and started one of the biggest (and craziest) adventure of our lives.

I had just left my job as a Design Director in December 2016 to begin working for myself whilst entertaining the idea of following a dream of mine to live and work in Copenhagen. James and I had briefly talked about moving to Denmark, but it wasn’t until a vacation to Cuba in February 2017 where he would agree to make the big move right after asking me to marry him on a private beach on this teeny, tiny island in the middle of nowhere.

Soon after, we flew to Chicago over the Easter weekend where we committed to securing a venue, baker and caterer all in 3 days. Looking back that was the easy part! We chose the Woman’s Club of Evanston, a gorgeous building built in 1912. As designers we appreciated all the beautiful details – high ceilings, gorgeous moldings, and beautiful flooring. It felt like a building right out of England. We really didn’t need much to make the space feel special.

Shortly after our trip to Chicago, we announced to our friends and family that we would be selling everything we owned in Vancouver and moving to Copenhagen. (Tip to those planning a wedding: try your best not to make such a rash decision a year before the wedding – haha) I wouldn’t have changed it for the world though!

As lovers of Scandinavian design and clean lines, deciding a theme felt natural. Our original mood boards were dubbed Scandinavian minimalism meets English Garden. Because we weren’t getting married in England, it was really important to me that we try to tie some of that character into our day.

I began looking for my dream dress in Vancouver and after scouring shops in Chicago and Copenhagen, I found the most perfect Pronovias dress in Birmingham, England. Searching for something elegant and timeless, the Elsa Pronovias dress felt like the one as soon as I put it on. Though I was incredibly nervous about the sheer material! The seamstress I worked with was such a delight and hand stitched the flowers so I could comfortably wear my choice of strapless bra underneath.

We didn’t provide a full invitation suite as reducing waste was one point James drove home throughout the entire process. But because I’m a designer and a huge fan of beautiful paper we agreed one, really good piece would do the job. I chose to design an elegant & simple blind embossed invitation on a cool grey cardstock. Fun Fact I recently learnt: Meghan Markle and Prince Harry had their invitations printed at the same printer we chose in London:)

No one could have ever prepared us for what would be the craziest engagement leading up to our wedding day. Long story short, Copenhagen didn’t pan out as we had hoped but instead there was something better in the works for us, James was offered an incredible opportunity in London. In early March 2018 we made our move to London and began the most daunting and expensive (!!!) immigration process. I was then offered my dream job, 4 weeks prior to our big day. Clearly we were meant to be in London.

Settling in London and working out our immigration application became the most important aspect of the planning. Everything else kind of took the back seat. All of the logistics were sorted but the details (the part I really love) would have to wait until I was back in Chicago, 2 weeks before the wedding.

As soon as I arrived in Chicago, it felt like I had bit off a lot more than I could chew. We had friends + family flying in from around the globe so whilst not prepping for the immigration meeting the Wednesday before the wedding, we were spending time with relatives. The immigration process really left my head spinning. Three days before the wedding, we were finally eligible to submit the legal paper work. I could finally think about the final details for the day such as the programs, table numbers, and finding my wedding shoes (yes, I really did leave that until 3 days before our wedding!!) I ended up choosing a simple, nude pair of Stuart Weitzman heels.

James and I spent the Thursday finalizing all the details before meeting our friends for their first American baseball game, the Chicago Cubs, of course; Go Cubs, Go!

Waking up on the Saturday morning of the wedding, I felt more relaxed than I had in the last year. I was so ready to meet my groom at the end of aisle and start our life together. One of my favourite moments of the day was when James squeezed my hand once I met him at the end of the alter. It finally felt like all the hard work was done and the fun could begin; I was marrying the man of my dreams! (Still makes me smile today!)

We both took a moment in the evening to take in our best friends + family traveling from everywhere to be with us. It was literally the best day of our lives. And the dance floor was brilliant! The Americans & Brits really know how to move;)

A few of my favourite touches from our day included:

The string quartet, members of the Chicago Philharmonic, played the most beautiful music during our wedding ceremony
My mother-in-law tore and frayed every last one of our natural linen cool grey napkins. She also surprised us with a sweet custom cake topper she made back home and brought over from England.
My dad hand cut wood blocks to hold the table numbers on each table setting.
The bridesmaids bouquets were created by bridesmaid and fellow stylist/designer Kendra. I had asked her to create a minimal and elegant bouquet out of baby’s breath and she definitely made my vision come to life.
The flower girls, our little nieces & cousin wore dresses custom designed by Gilly Gray & handmade flower crowns also made by my mother-in-law. The page boys, our nephews & cousin wore sweet little bow ties.
Because a few of the bridesmaids were flying in from Austria, Canada and Denmark we decided to rent dresses from Katie May via Rent The Runway. It was such a great solution for those traveling.
James wore a classic navy suit from Hugo Boss and asked his groomsmen to wear their finest blue suits.
During cocktail hour, our guests were offered Pimm’s, the Groom’s drink and an elderflower gin cocktail, the bride’s favourite.
We danced to the classic “Stand By Me” which seemed so fitting given the year of all the obstacles we endured with immigration
We wanted to keep the waste to a minimum and everything had to have a purpose! So in lieu of party favours, we donated to an organization dedicated to helping immigrants settle in the USA which became very significant and eye-opening to us throughout our own process.
Our photographer did an incredible job at not making it look like it was 10 degrees (-12c) with arctic-like winds blowing us around! She convinced us to take the photos outside and I’m so happy she did.

Whilst we never thought we’d be planning our wedding from three different countries, it turned out to be the most wonderful day full of so much love. And now we’re happily settled in London with a sweet little baby on the way:) (editor’s note: Our sweet little baby boy, Louie is here and already 5 months old!!)

(photo by Angela Grayce)