Tell us a little about yourselves!
Four years ago, David and I met on a beautiful summer night at Borchardt - an iconic Berlin restaurant that regularly turns into a club on Friday nights.
At the time, I was still living in Hamburg, where I worked in the fashion industry, while David was a consultant in Berlin. After a long period of texting, in which David quickly said before a first date that I was his dream girl and that we would get married, we had a long-distance relationship until I finally moved to Berlin too.
Why did you decide to get married where you did?
As beautiful as destination weddings are, there were a lot of reasons for us not to get married abroad - we didn't want to burden our family and friends with the rising costs, nor do we think the travel expenses are in keeping with the times.
The most important reason, however, is that we both don't like being the centre of attention, so a wedding lasting several days was out of the question for us. On the contrary: we needed something where we could quickly let go and feel at home.
The Borchardt was and still is a kind of living room for us and our love. After we got engaged, the idea of getting married at Borchardt came up quite quickly, but the restaurant is not available for private events. It took me a few Friday evenings with a lot of charm and convincing, but I was finally able to win the restaurant management over to our idea - we were the first private guests to celebrate a wedding exclusively at Borchardt!
How many guests did you have?
We decided on a "small” group of close friends and family and celebrated with 80 people.
What was your budget?
We started the planning process with a rough figure in mind. Frankly speaking, the number grew with the wedding planning process!
Tell us about your outfits.
With a professional background in this industry, fashion has always been a big topic for me. But I never saw myself in a classic wedding dress. About ten months before the wedding, I was eagerly awaiting the launch of a collection, because I had seen a combination of skirt and top that I really liked.
Unfortunately, the quality was ultimately not right, so I embarked on a long journey – and got to know almost every white dress in the Spring/Summer 24 collections. I wanted to stay true to myself – simple, straightforward, not too fancy, but with a modern twist.
As so often in my life, I couldn't make up my mind until the very end. I ended up with a backup look for every part of the day. So now I have them all hanging in my closet, and can regularly celebrate my white era. In the end, my day dress from Anna October was the better choice, because lucky us, our wedding day was one of the warmest days of the year. The two-piece outfit for the evening from Bahia Maria not only looked cool from my point of view, but was also super comfortable, so I was able to party properly.
David has at least a small heart for fashion and wanted a pink suit for the day, but couldn't find the perfect pink – not even at several tailors. So it became a green double-breasted suit, quite slim-fitting from Suitsupply. For the evening, he opted for a slightly looser and wider suit in a dark blue with a fine stripe.
The sunglasses were only added to the look on the spur of the moment, because the welcome champagne with each guest at the reception had left its mark!
What was the most important aspect for you, in terms of planning your wedding?
We didn't just see the wedding day itself as an event, but the whole planning process, which we also wanted to enjoy. That's why we chose and decided many things together. So the wedding was both - the final conclusion of a journey (like the cherry on top) and the beginning of a new start.
Our credo always was that we should feel comfortable so that we could enjoy everything to the full. We didn't want to feel like we had to control or correct things. We wanted a great day & an even better party!
Were there any elements that were important for you to incorporate?
We included some elements that had a special meaning for us. For example bread plates from Borchardt with a ‘The Millers’ engraving in the invitations. The background to this was that on the evening we met at Borchardt, a friend ‘stole’ one of these plates from Borchardt – she gave it to us as a gift afterwards and it has been hanging on our wall ever since.
Any tips for couples getting married?
This picks up on the two points mentioned above.
1. See the preparation time as part of the happening - enjoy this part together, make it pleasant!
2. Don't organise the wedding for guests, not for the grief - do it in a way that you feel comfortable and can let yourselves go. The day will go by so quickly, if you have to worry about control, that would be a shame!
3. Finally, an important tip that was also given to us and which I will definitely pass on: always plan time for the two of you on the wedding day to process together!
Are there any vendors that you would like to tell us a little more about?
In addition to the location and the related food and drinks, the photography part was the past that was most important to us.
In addition to a modern, yet timeless style, it was particularly important to us that we found a photographer that would really blend in with the guests. Someone with whom we are on the same wave - who is there without being too present.
We found the perfect combination of these points with our photographer Corinna Keiser - many thanks again to Corinna at this point!
Photographer: Corinna Keiser @corinnakeiser | Planning: Couple | Flora: Flower & Art
@flowerandart | Ceremony Location: Standesamt Tempelhof-Schöneberg | Reception Location:
Borchardt @restaurant_borchardt | Getting Ready Location: Telegraphenamt Berlin @telegraphenamt.berlin | HMUA: Marco Alecci @marcoalecci_hh | Catering + Beverages: Borchardt
@restaurant_borchardt | Ceremony Dress: Anna October @anna_october_ | Reception Dress: Bahia Maria @bahiamariasw | Ceremony & Reception Suits: Suitsupply @suitsupply | Clutch: Bottega Veneta
Wedding Rings: Custom made by a family member | Shoes: Tony Bianco @tonybianco (Jessica) & Gucci @gucci (David) | Jewellery: Bottega Veneta