Tell us a little about yourselves!
We met through Peter’s sister after I (Claude) became friends with her on a youth camp! A few months later, Peter and I found ourselves at the same place at the same time, having a lovely conversation by a bonfire, we started chatting on the regular, went on a five day camping trip as our second date, and the rest is history!
From the green and pleasant land that is England, Peter is a camera connoisseur, passionate about photography, videography, and is also a pro in everything airplanes. Being born and raised in Geneva Switzerland, I moved to the UK at 15 to study professional dance. My passions lie in dancing, singing and everything to do with food!
Why did you decide to get married where you did?
The UK brought us together, but our mutual love for Switzerland, and specifically for my hometown Geneva, made us know we wanted to celebrate our wedding somewhere different and special. Having a Filipino dad and family there, being able to have most of my Filipino family present on the day was also a big factor.
One of the first things Peter knew he wanted at our wedding, was to end the celebration with a jump in a pool in our wedding clothes! Having our friends and family doing the same, our aim was an epic pool party send off. This led to Peter searching for hours on end on Airbnb, contacting each and every house with a big garden and pool in the near vicinity of Geneva. He messaged so many owners that Airbnb was starting to put a warning on him for suspicious behaviour ha! Luckily, we found our one!
How many guests did you have?
We wanted to keep it fairly intimate, and were also limited due to the party being at someone’s home, so we made 60 the number of guests we would have.
What was your budget?
Being both in our early twenties and still finding our feet, we had to keep things as budget friendly as possible whilst achieving the ambitious visions we had. This led to a lot of DIY and Facebook Marketplace finds! We were kindly given £6000 from Peter’s parents and £1000 from my mum and everything else was self-funded. It probably totalled about £15,000 but we’re yet to sit down and work out an exact figure.
Tell us about your outfits.
Peter had a clear vision and knew just what he wanted, and opted for a classy James Bond-esque feel to his outfit. From his bow tie to his shoes, each element was so carefully considered, and dang did he look good! A custom deep navy blue suit with gold buttons, and custom trousers all from Suitsupply. His shirts were bought from Charles Tyrwhitt and his shoes from Duke&Dexter. To add personal elements, he wore his BR05 from Bell&Ross which he works for, and his dear late grandad’s cufflinks. His favourite detail though was his bow tie, a silk diamond shaped bow tie from Ralph Lauren, it tied his whole look together so well and was so characterful.
For me, I just knew I wanted something comfortable, that spoke to me, and had a potential vintage charm to it. Turns out Monsoon Bridal was just the right place for me: affordable charming wedding attire that, after an easy alteration, got me a dress and shoes I felt comfortable wearing and dancing in the entire day! I got my freshwater pearl necklace from a vintage market in London and some simple pearl earrings to match. I was lucky to find a last-minute super soft sheer veil from Etsy, and everything came together beautifully. All my wedding clothes including alterations and jewellery came to less than £1000!
What was the most important aspect for you, in terms of planning your wedding?
We wanted it to be different, memorable, and 100% our own. We didn’t want to pay for a single thing we didn’t explicitly want at our wedding, which so many wedding venues kind of force on you. Hence SO much DIY was involved in our wedding planning. Countless Facebook Marketplace pickups, and countless trips to Hobbycraft. This meant each element of our wedding and celebrations were entirely wanted and intentional, which was super important to us.
Were there any elements that were important for you to incorporate?
My Nonna paints and decorates hangers as a hobby, and I knew I wanted to use her gifts and talents in our day; a perfect opportunity to ask her to paint hangers for Peter, myself, and my bridesmaids wedding clothes, with each one having a personal, relevant detail relating to us and our day. One was of our stunning vintage pink cherry-topped cake, another was of the Jet d’Eau on Lake Geneva, and another was of our chalet we did our celebrations at. So special, and heirlooms we will cherish and preciously keep forever.
Being both foodies, gooood food was also an absolute essential. So Mexican street style tacos was our choice for the win, and win they did. The guacamole is especially what our guests kept coming back to. Another really important element to us was to have some Filipino food included too! Such an important part of my culture and one of the first things Peter fell in love with getting to know each other. So my gorgeous Titas (Filipina aunties) gathered in force and cooked up amazing lumpia, pancit and adobo. We kept these for later in the evening when people were getting hungry again, and they were oh so appreciated.
Any tips for couples getting married?
Screw tradition. Have high aspirations. DIY til you die and make it completely your own!
Are there any vendors that you would like to tell us a little more about?
We have to say our NZ born photographer Zara Staples Photography deserves special praise. Finding and choosing her for our day was the most exciting, affirming, and rewarding decision we’ve made! We were lucky to meet her before the wedding for a couples shoot in London and have our friendship emerge from there. When it came to the actual engagement shoot and wedding in Geneva, we felt we already knew her and were so confident in her talents and flair, it was so enjoyable having her with us capturing these special moments. She felt like an extra friend at our celebration, heck she even went grocery shopping with my mum and helped cook Spaghetti Bolognaise for the chalet (it sleeps 14 so we had an epic wedding sleepover with our friends and fam, her included). Seeing the images from our days, we can’t believe these are of us! All of our visions and dreams came true with her, and we couldn’t be more thrilled.
Photographer: Zara Staples Photography @zarastaplesweddings | Planning & Styling: by the couple | Flora: Aux Voyages Fleuris @auxvoyagesfeuris | Videographer: Altalu Photo & Video
@altaluphotoandvideo | Ceremony & Reception Location: Private Chalet | Celebrant: Lauriane
Genser | Hire: Options @options_ch | Ceremony Space: Mairie de Carouge | Hair & Makeup: by the Bride | Catering + Beverages: Los Primos @losprimosannecy | Cake: Christie’s Bakery @christies_bakery | Stationery: Vista Print @vistaprint | Dress: Monsoon Bridal @monsoon | Suit:
Suitsupply @suitsupply | Veil: Britainbrides @etsy | Engagement Ring: Quality Diamonds (designed by Peter) @qualitydiamonds | Wedding Rings: Tiffany&Co @tiffanyandco | Shoes: Monsoon Bridal @monsoon | Earrings: Hey Harper @heyharper | Watch: Bell&Ross @bellrosswatches
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