Get ready to feel all kinds of ready for Christmas when you see Maria and Petr’s winter-focused wedding. The couple, from Moldova and Slovakia respectively, met in London and chose to return to the Republic of Moldova for their celebration.

“We are snow people,” Maria told us. “I also really love the colour green. I adore winter and the small, gentle magical snowflakes. Beside our love, our wedding reflected the joy of snow. I couldn’t imagine having a wedding in any other way. Of course, you can’t really predict a snowy day, so I tried to make most of it through décor elements and by throwing snowflake confetti. My bouquet was made by me and it also had to be snowflakes.”

Maria had been set on a winter wedding long before Petr was even in the picture. In 2010, she saw a wedding photo shoot of a couple standing in a snow-covered pine forest, dressed in long robes. She kept the image. At the time, winter weddings felt almost unheard of where she was from. Summer was the default, autumn a distant second, and winter barely an option. For Maria, the cold season already held everything she loved.

Snowflakes appeared everywhere, she explained, “Even though I had a winter wedding always on my mind, I didn’t have any idea how it was going to look until we got engaged in 2022. That’s when the hunt for actual ideas started. First, I discovered my Harriet Wilde shoes, then I came across Howling Moon Headwear and those crystal hair pieces felt incredible, icy but with a witchy vibe. Then one day during Christmas season, I was looking at our Christmas ornaments and I decided in that moment that they were going to become my bridal bouquet! I didn’t have any technique, I just took silver wire and started to form the snowflake ‘stem’. That’s the moment when I realised we were really going to go all out on the snowflake theme.”

“From there, we tried to include as much of them as possible – in my the veil, the artificial confetti snow, the cross-stitched table signs, the guest favours, the temporary tattoos. We made felted white snowflakes for each place setting, paired with handwritten tags reading ‘thank you snow much’. We would do it all over again and even with more snowflakes!” Maria even spent three months growing sugar rock candy crystals to give out as favours.

“The one thing I wish more people understood about planning a non-traditional wedding is that it gives you the freedom to create a feeling that’s completely your own”, the bride concluded. “It’s just more personal, more sincere and carry a deeper meaning. And definitely it’s a much more creative process. That doesn’t mean you need to break all the rules or skip all the traditions. Because if a tradition means something to you and you want to keep it, you can do it in a way that reflects your personalities and it’s unique. Our experience of planning our wedding was really wonderful. We followed some alternative Facebook groups, alternative photographers on Instagram and of course Rock n Roll Bride magazine!“