Our wedding in Budapest!

I woke up early and laid watching Alex’ sleeping body hoping and praying to pink unicorns everywhere that he was going to wake up feeling great. I held my finger under his nose to feel his breath to see if he had a temperature and waited with my face hovering above his.

He woke up with a start and shouted at me for burning holes in him while he was asleep, he could feel me watching him. I didnt ask him how he felt, the worst thing I can do with Alex is remind him that he felt ill yesterday so I let him wake up properly, made him a coffee and waited until we were eating breakfast to ask how he felt!

He was absolutely fine! The wedding would be able to go ahead as planned! Such a relief!

I text Timea with the Hungarian phone she had leant us (as she does with all of her clients to reduce their communication costs) and gave her the great news!

She replied, understandably relieved too and told us that the TV crew would be arriving to the campsite at lunch to see us getting ready. We hurried around tidying up, trying our best to be organised and ready for their arrival. Come 2 ‘o’ clock EVERYONE arrived at once.

3 people with the TV Crew, 2 people with the ‘Surprise’ magazine Crew, a hair and make-up artist, our photographer and second shooter and of course Vicki and Timea!

The other campers watched warily from their deckchairs as wedding dresses and suits were hung from trees, I had my make up done in a deck chair outside Peggy in the shade (it was one of the hottest days EVER), the TV crew handed out slices of watermelon to keep everyone refreshed and Alex was pinned against the van for an interview by the magazine.

While all of this was going on we had jump leads attached to Peggy’s battery so that we could power the electricity in the van, for some reason we had a flat battery! (never a dull moment!)

It was a hive of activity for sure but before too long as per usual we were running behind. The wedding was planned for 5pm, we still had Janet and Sue to collect on route in our private car AND we were probably going to hit traffic!

We zoomed along to the hotel where Janet and Sue were staying and collected them from the doorstep, they had been waiting for us ready to run and we set off at pace to the wedding location.

We were almost there when the car suddenly stopped, apparently for us to take a picture of the spectacular houses of parliament below us. We conformed and snapped away a few times and then sat patiently waiting to go…but nothing. We smiled and waited and sat and smiled and waited but the driver didn’t say a word, just pointed to the view again…so I took another picture or two and then with a beep on his radio we were off again…he must have been told to wait. It all helped build the nerves believe me!

We pulled up outside the stunning Buda Castle and Fishermans Bastion such a famous building and absolutely breath taking in the early dusk. We clambered (as elegantly as possible) out of the car and waited for Janet and Sue to join the other guests at the tower, awaited our signal and set off up the curling staircase to the tower over-looking the beautiful Pest river and the twinkling houses of parliament.

We giggled with anticipation on our way up the steps, we had no idea what was waiting for us other than a wedding. We could hear beautiful violin music and as we appeared at the top step we were taken away by the view. The crowd parted and directed us to a beautiful table set and designed by Fleur & Balloon with flowers, candles and glittering jewels. We were asked to sit by Eve our master of ceremony for the day and we did as we were asked noting with absolute amazement the flower initials behind each seat!

The ceremony was beautiful and Eve had put together a very modern service, talking about how we met, how we finally got together after so many years and our story before and during our wild wedding adventure. Once the reading was over we performed a sand ceremony mixing the colours of the Hungarian flag, each colour given a representative meaning just for us. The white to represent my innocence, the red to represent Alex’s love and the green to represent the hope from everyone present that we share an everlasting love.

The wedding in Budapest was finalised with a toast and we were introduced to some of our guests. There was someone filming a live stream of the wedding, so we said cheers to those watching from their homes, we had a quick chat with TV2 who had been with us all day, we met more of the the team from ‘Surprise’ magazine and thanked our private violinist profusely for such a beautiful soundtrack to our day.

We finished our champagne and quickly went for a wander around Budapest to take some pictures with Benedek. A recent winner of a young photographer award, we were so lucky to have him with us for the day. We wandered the beautiful streets of the city soaking up the beautiful buildings, the sun and the atmosphere. Such a wonderful city, so full of life and energy.

As we took some shots at one of the incredibly famous buildings (whose name has entirely failed me) we noticed someone sitting in the background and watching us. In between shots she came over and introduced herself. Anita had come to find us especially that day as she had heard our story on the news and knew for sure that whilst shooting in the city there was no doubt we would visit there!

I was so touched that she had come and spoken with us and had waited for us to arrive, I gave her my bouquet to thank her and we promised to be in touch.

Anita sent me such a beautiful email after that meeting, and we remain in touch now, I know she is happy for me to share a few of her words that mean so much to us.

“Thank you, you made my one of the best evening of my life. That day i had an another important thing to do, but i felt I have to see you and I have to be there, so i followed my intuition. What I felt it’s really hard to explain, but when I saw you, I can believe again in LOVE now. There is a love what exists in my dream or in my heart. It’s hard to explain but i felt it’s really something different what I see in the world or i experienced before. As I saw you I felt this is it, that i think and now you give my faith back.

And the flowers, it was one of my best gifts…It was so beautiful, and still beautiful. First time that I got the wedding flowers.
Yes I know big words, but I really feel this. So thank you for your adventure, for your love and for your loveliness and that you share it with the world, it’s your mission, I think”

We are so lucky to have the opportunity to inspire others whilst on this journey to believe that love is out there for the taking, that following your dreams is not impossible, that you can make your own fortune and that everyone can be happy. We are very lucky also to have met Anita and many people like her that have urged us on to continue sharing our love and our story with the world.

As if Anita’s inspiration wasn’t a great enough way to end the evening were were struck with more luck! As we prepared to leave the square the lights clunked into life, one colour after another the beautiful building became illuminated from all corners and with a rainbow of colour! We HAD to take just one or two more shots to capture the beautiful scene!

We set off back to the Castle of Buda with huge smiles on our faces even though we were worn out and so incredibly hungry. We had had such a wonderful day already and it still wasn’t over. We had a meal waiting for us back at the Halaszbastya Restaurant!

We arrived back and I went to change before eating, typically I had forgotten half of my clothes so had only a vest to change into. I sat in my fantastic pink tulle skirt and grey vest and ate an incredible meal at the most beautifully dressed table I have ever seen. Candles, diamonds, flowers and the twinkling chandelier made for a perfectly romantic setting…and the view!!! Just spectacular!

Such a wonderful day and finished with perfection, great food, great wine and each others company.

We waved down our taxi and on arriving back at the campsite (as per usual) we collapsed into bed…after we had moved everything off it!!!

Planning – HungarianWeddings | Photography -Benedek Sas – Eskuvoi Fotok |Dress and suit – Nagy Agota | Location – Halaszbastya | Master of Ceremony – ForEVEr | Violin – Sturcz Quartet | Decoration and flowers – Fleur & Balloon | Transport – 6×6 Taxi | Live Stream – Wedding Online

Get more information on how to get married in Hungary 

If you are looking for help with for your wedding in Hungary come and check out our hand picked collection of wedding specialists in Hungary and get in touch.