This wedding was no simple, pleasant, warm and happy – just like the main characters of the day! A perfect example of what a summer barn wedding in Estonia can offer. Janar and Evelin’s first thoughts and wishes were so inspiring to us and we are so grateful that the bride and groom agreed to come along with all this. It was a truly beautiful day and our love for sunflowers only deepened!

Our whole lives had reached the point where everything was in its place – the children were old enough, home, work and other activities were all set, but we were still missing something! We had talked about it but never too seriously, it always seemed like there was enough time for it… and so the decision was made, on a very ordinary day.

We planned our wedding for ca. one year and we thought that our vision was clear, but in reality it wasn’t. Evelin said that she doesn’t want a manor wedding and that became our starting point. We had some options and we did research online, where we looked up weddings that had been done previously and got information, but we understood quite soon that a modern wedding is not something we would want either.

When we decided for a barn wedding, we quickly found the right place for our wedding, although we were a bit worried about the accommodation of our guests. We just hadn’t been in a situation like that before, where there was an ending time for a wedding party, but thinking back it was a right decision. When we visited Rehe Küün we got information about the wedding planner. We had been thinking about using the help of a wedding planner before, because I knew how much work, time and effort the organizing takes. So again, thinking back I canät imagine our wedding day without their help.

When the location and date were set, we could go on with other tasks. The Barn and date made the decisions about other things easier. The wedding took place in the summer when there is a vast variety of flowers, but in this question I (Janar) didn’t even get time to think about it because Evelin already had a clear vision from the beginning that our flower is going to be a sunflower. The theme of the wedding was yellow and sunflowers – that was the baseline for the clothing and everything else.

The location of the ceremony was quite difficult for us – we couldn’t imagine where we would like it to take place. But we were sure that we didn’t want it to be by the sea! For me it seemed like it had been done too much, too ordinary.

After some consideration a bog, swamp or forest remained on the sieve. To find a place like that near Tallinn was another difficult task – we went to see the bog in Pääsküla, but this didn’t seem right. Eventually the wedding planner Taago remembered a rather unique place 60km from Tallinn. We went to see the place in the winter together with Evelin. When we arrived, I realised that I had been there once before accidentally when riding my motorcycle. Without further ado, we decided that that’s the place. I already had the image running before my eyes – beautiful alley, nature and its beauty. But I also knew that this was going to be the hardest part, because the alley and the road we had to walk was quite long. On the wedding day Evelin also commented that it is going to be difficult – I had been thinking about it since the beginning but I didn’t want to say anything to her! The alley was lined with sunflowers and we knew that in the end of the alley there were all our close friends and family waiting for us which made the emotions even stronger. At some point we started to hear music and we saw our parents, guests, musicians and the master of the ceremony who, as we found out later, had worked hard on our biographies and put quite a few striking facts into his story. When thinking about that day today, I still get a good and very emotional feeling. We had nailed the choice of the location, because many of the guests asked about our decision.

Here are some thoughts from our and the wedding planners reflections:

• I heard the music of the ceremony from radio, I had never heard it before but I knew momentarily that it was the right song. Evelin also approved and it was decided. We didn’t have to spend hours searching for the right music.

• As a welcome drink we chose the pumpkin wine that Evelin’s uncle made, that suited well with the barn and the atmosphere and for many guests it was a first-time taste experience.
• We agreed that we’ll send away the names with stones and before the wedding when I went to Georgia I said that I will bring them from there. It was already the last days of my trip to Georgia when I realized that I hadn’t been looking for them nor found them. One day I visited the monastery of Kazbeg and I found them at the foot of mount Kazbeg.

• There were places set for us at every table so that we could go around the room and sit at every table with all our guests. In that way no one had to stand up to make room for us. It was a great and unexpected solution for everyone.
• One definite element was the motorcycle – since we are big motorcycle enthusiasts – it was in our plans here and there, but in the end we found a place where it fit well and we got our wish fulfilled.

• Amber powder – it was a very emotional solution for our wedding and we still remember the good wishes.
• Many of the handicraft solutions – the box for rings, photo album, bag for the rocks, etc. – were made by Evelin herself and are still in visible places for us every day.
• We didn’t have to go through much trouble for our wedding – we were calm and we had considered that the wedding planner will do most of the work for us. At some point we were maybe too passive, but we felt like we had enough time. From time to time the wedding planners told us that now is the time to do or decide something. Based on that, we didn’t get stressed or start overreacting – things went just the way we wanted. We didn’t see the work that the wedding planners did, but after the wedding I have understood that they did a lot.

• The wedding planners didn’t talk a lot about the details of what and how they are organizing things, although we had all the information that we needed, but that added the positivity to the wedding day and gave us a good feeling when we noticed some things on the wedding day. My mother said that when she sat down in the barn, she felt like she was in another country.

Many guests have said that the wedding was exactly like us… and we think it was as well.