Tell us a little about yourselves, what you do, what you love, what is unique about you and your relationship … I, Elli, am a lawyer for a tech company, while Jussi has his own SaaS business. We love travelling the world, but also just as much the Finnish archipelago.
I don’t think either of us could ever live too far from the sea for a longer period. Jussi loves rain and storms, while I adore animals, especially in their own habitat. Food is another passion of ours, and we often make that the centre of our trips. I’m the dreamer and planner, he’s the engineer who gently pulls me down from the clouds once in a while. All in all, we simply have fun together and therefore easily have a really good night just staying home with some good wine and food.
Tell us about your special day, was there a specific theme or style? Tell us a little about the setting, the styling and some of your favourite details…
Interestingly enough, we decided to have our wedding in a tiny town, Fiskars, in Finland, not anywhere close to the sea. We both love the fall, and always knew that would be when we have our wedding. In our home city of Helsinki there also are not too many venues in general, especially in the fall, when all summer venues are closed. When we saw a picture of the venue in Fiskars, we knew we had to have our wedding there. What made the whole location even better, is that Fiskars is an old ironworks town, and we both greatly appreciate local entrepreneurship and handcrafts. That also then became some sort of theme for the wedding, as the food ingredients were sourced locally and made into some of our favourite classic Finnish dishes, the drinks were local (excl. wines), some natural decoration was brought in from outside, we sang typical Finnish snaps songs, and danced our wedding dance to an old classic Finnish waltz. All in all, we wanted our wedding to be stylish, but also casual so that everyone could enjoy a good party with good food and drinks. That was also our favourite “detail”, creating a laid-back atmosphere in a classical setting that also showed our appreciation to our home country and all that it has to offer.
Tell us about your main outfits:
We both wanted our outfits to be such that we could also wear in the future, as we believe in sustainability and do not like putting money into single-use products.
My outfit was based on the skirt that my mother wore, when she got married almost 50 years ago. I wanted to pair it with a snug long sleeved lace top, and was really happy when I quite quickly found the Zimmermann top on sale at Outnet. I rarely wear anything but black clothes, so to bring some of me into the outfit I decided on some black velvet Christian Louboutins, which also matched nicely with Jussi’s velvet tux jacket. Then I finished the look off with my everyday pearl earrings and black leather jacket.
Jussi’s velvet tux jacket was tailored by a local men’s clothing store, Fere, and he paired it with black pants that he had some years earlier had made at the same shop as part of a classic black suit. He then paired the suit/tux with a non-pleated tux shirt with black buttons, black velvet bow and classic patent leather shoes.
What were some of the most memorable/unique moments from the day?
Everything. Everything went just so perfectly that we could not have asked for anything more – it was simply perfect, and so us. However, it really did warm our hearts to see our highly skilled friends do various beautiful musical performances, have our beagle baby bring the rings, listen to amazing speeches, and simply to see everyone having a really good time.
Any advice for other couples planning to spend the rest of their lives together?
Do what feels like you, and concentrate on what is most important to you. Also plan details and schedules carefully in advance, as then you can enjoy every second to the maximum – and remember to leave buffers to the schedule, as there is always someone who simply does not want to finish their speech, and that’s part of the fun.
Venue: Fiskars Black Hall | Photographer: Sebastien Boudot | Celebrant: A friend | Entertainment: Band: Mr. Wife; DJ: Terasheppa Oy; Friends: Hannu Hirvensalo, Tuomas Mäkelä & Julius Miikkulainen | Flora & Styling: Nord and Mae | Cake: Lush Design Cakes | Candies: Roobertin Herkku | Bride’s Skirt: Mother’s wedding skirt | Bride’s Top: Zimmermann | Groom’s Outfit: Fere (tailored) | Ring/s: Goldsmith Kulmala | Bride’s Shoes: Christian Louboutin from Net-a-Porter | Groom’s Shoes: Lloyd | Bride’s Jewellery: Vintage Chanel bracelet, Vintage Rolex watch & Grandparents’ golden wedding bands | Groom’s Watch: Tag Heuer | Makeup & Hair: Hiushuone Ihana | Fragrance: Gucci – Flower Bloom | Flower girls’ dresses: Chloé | Flower girls’ shoes: Zara | Ring Bearer outfits: Roco Clothing | Beagle’s collar and leash: Found | Groomsmen Suits: Rented from Seremonia
