Ása Steinars' Wedding Diaries, part 3: Final preparations

I’ve learned from planning a wedding that you must have thick nerves and remember to breathe through the stress. You need to know how to embrace everything that goes according to plan, but also the things that go wrong. Because, believe me, things will go wrong. Hosting a wedding has to be, first and foremost, a fun experience. This is why I love sharing the wedding diaries with you because typically, you only hear about the end result: the wedding day itself and not the bumpy road that led there.

A friend once described weddings like a swimming swan. Over the surface, the swan is graceful and beautiful, and looks like all is under control. But under the surface, the feet are flapping back and forth, and it’s much more chaotic. This is wedding planning, and I hope that when the day arrives, we will look and feel like graceful swans gliding through the pond.

So now, with only a short time until our wedding, we have arrived on the island of Vis. We still have lots of work to do to create the perfect experience for our guests, especially considering many of our guests have never been to this island or Croatia. We’re so excited to host them in the hope that they will fall in love with this place, just like we did.

It’s becoming more and more common that destination weddings stretch over more than just a single day. In our case, we are hosting our guests for a whole week in Croatia. So that’s why we have dubbed the event: The Wedding Week.

Since many guests are travelling great distances to join the celebrations, they want to stay longer and make the most of their trip. As well, with all of our friends and family gathered on one island, we want to spend as much time with them as possible. That’s why we have planned an entire week filled with activities, boat excursions, parties, brunches and dinners. We’ve also created an adventure map so they can follow our recommendations of what to do in the area.

We booked a villa that accommodates 15 people, where we are staying for the week together with our parents, siblings and their partners. It’s so special to gather both of our families and enjoy this historic and incredible house right on the seafront of Vis. This is also where our wedding day will start, from getting ready with our bridesmaids and groomsmen, to having our first look on the big day.

The villa is called Palazzo Kut, but on Google maps, it’s called “Mamma Mia 2 Sophie’s House” because the famous film was shot on the island of Vis, and this house was used during the production. The villa is quite extraordinary, built in the 16th century and located right in the heart of the old town; it has one of the best views of the whole bay. It’s beautifully furnished, boasting two balconies and three incredible gardens filled with flowers and lemon trees. We couldn’t imagine a better place to stay for our wedding week, and here we will welcome many of our guests throughout the week and end it with a bang by hosting a party the night before our wedding.

It’s so lovely to finally meet our wedding planner Ivona in person, after many months of Skype calls. We rented a scooter and drove to Fort George to review last-minute planning and details. It’s essential to pay close attention to the finer details of the run of the show, table arrangements, exact timings and decorations, to ensure everything runs smoothly. We’ve arranged for many surprises and happenings during the day, creating even more challenges in the planning. We also had to connect our essential people of the day with our wedding planner, like the DJ, our band, officiator, photographer and videographer. It’s impressive how many people are involved in making your wedding day special.

After two years of Covid, we thought we were pretty safe to host a destination wedding this summer. However, Vis isn’t the most accessible place to get to. It requires first travelling to Croatia and then taking a boat to the island. Then with airlines striking and many airports working at maximum capacity, we’ve already received some late cancellations for our wedding from guests that won't be able to overcome the travelling hurdles. With these issues, some friends have decided to get creative and drive to Croatia all the way from Sweden, while others are taking trains instead. We’re so impressed by our guests’ dedication to make it down here and celebrate this special event with us.

We had always envisioned our wedding ceremony with a beautiful wedding arch, in keeping with the dramatic environment of Fort George. Our florist offered some simple wedding arches that didn’t fulfil our wishes, so we decided to build one with the help of our friend Holly, an artist and designer, who drew up some sketches. But with only one and a half weeks to go, being located on an island complicates the process. Luckily, we found a carpenter on the island willing to take on the project. He said it wouldn’t be easy since there’s hardly any building material on Vis and that he would need to go to the mainland in search of wood and material. With only a few days until the wedding, he delivered the perfect arch to us. We couldn’t have been happier with the outcome.

Even though the wedding is approaching fast, many small things are still on the to-do list. First, we need to make it back to the mainland for some final decoration shopping, where we will buy lights, candle holders, vases, and last minute decorations. We also need to go to the local bakery to pick up our wedding cake and, lastly, order our wedding car from a car rental on the island.

Since you buy your wedding dress a few months before the wedding, your body can change in the months leading up to it. And that’s what has happened to me – especially since we just had a baby in January, and my body is still undergoing transformations. So when I tried on the dress after arriving in Croatia, it didn’t fit perfectly anymore. Luckily, Leo’s sister is very talented in sewing and alterations, and she made some last-minute fixes that worked perfectly. I literally can’t wait to wear my dream wedding dress from Galia Lahav on our wedding day.

We decided to do a lot of the decorations ourselves with help from our family and friends. Fort George is already so magical and doesn’t need much embellishment. But we saw an opportunity for beautiful fairy lights and DIY decoration – nothing plastic, only made from natural material to fit the surrounding. Now that most of the material has arrived, it’s time to start creating. We wanted to write each name on a wooden piece for the table seating and place it on the plates. It will fit the pine trees in the fort beautifully.

For the overall seating arrangement, we had this vision of decorating a few papers, writing all the guests’ names and hanging them on a mirror. Leo’s sisters helped us create that and hand-painted the papers for us. It’s so fulfilling to have a vision and see our family create it for us. I personally think it’s so much more fun and personal when these things are handmade.

With so many talented people on our guest list, I asked my friend Guðrún to do my makeup and my friend Klara to do my hair. They’re both experienced in hair and makeup, and I was thrilled when they said yes. So when they finally made it to Vis despite the cancelled flights, we decided to do the last hair and makeup practice. It worked out well, and the three of us are ready for the big day.

Our wedding rings are now ready in the correct size with engravings on the inside. We have a little surprise planned for our ceremony, where our wedding rings will get passed along to the guests, who will have the opportunity to give them their blessings. So I decided to get a custom-made ring box representing our personalities. It has engraved “The adventure begins.” Luckily the box arrived at the island at the very last minute after being delayed in the post.

We continue to run around the island, fixing things, ready to welcome more of our guests. Stay tuned for the last wedding diary about The Wedding Week before the wedding itself.