What a year! On May 28th 2023, Tom popped the questions during our weekend at Disney. Since then, it’s been a rollercoaster of emotions and different events, making 2023-2024 one of the most challenging years. Sometimes I still feel like I can’t believe 2024 is almost over and then other days I feel like I have been hit by a train and it’s time to rest. But guys, we did it. We did the most adult thing since being an adult: WE GOT MARRIED.
We got married on September 20th, 2024, in Belgium, surrounded by our families and friends, and it couldn’t have been more perfect. All the stress, frustrations, money spent, and hours of planning and traveling between Amsterdam and Brussels were forgotten in that instance. It was all worth it. That day is engraved in my memories as now one of my favorite moments of my life. What a blessing.
Let me tell you more.
Although Tom and I live in Amsterdam, we decided to get married in my home country Belgium. It was not our initial plan. we wanted a destination wedding. We found the perfect place in Altea, Spain. After seeing the cost of the venue and with that we had no accommodation no music and no photographer, we couldn’t. Now that the wedding happened, I’m happy we didn’t do it in Spain. So after a lot of searching, we found our perfect venue. La Maison Basse in Lasne, Belgium. It had all we wanted besides the beach. It was no castle but had a greenhouse, a big garden with a lot of green, a party area, and a tent in case it rained. I have to admit that I fell in love with the place the moment I saw the garden.
I have to say that once we had the venue locked in, everything else went pretty smoothly. We booked the venue in October. By January we had all our vendors. The DJ, the caterer, the wedding officiant and coordinator, the florist, the photographer and videographer and the make-up artist. Which was perfect because we had to focus on a lot of administration to get legally married. Tom, being Australian, had to send over many documents and arrange an official interpreter.
To avoid the stress of having our legal wedding on the same day as what I call the big wedding. We decided to celebrate that a week before on the 14th of September 2024. Besides the admin, not much was to be organized. We just needed to be there at 10.30 am with our close family and witnesses. That day was so perfect! We were in a beautiful room in the city hall, with a piano player and the alderman who did a good job of making it a nice ceremony. We needed to have an official interpreter on that day and that was a whole adventure in itself. Tip if you ever need one to get married: ask the employee of the municipality to explain how all the translations of the documents happen, so you avoid discovering things in the process because they forgot to tell you. After we officially signed our marriage certificate we all went to my parents to have some ‘apero’ before going for a proper lunch at an El Salvadoran restaurant. I absolutely wanted to include something from my heritage and what better than food. Tom’s family left to discover the rest of Europe, and we went to our hotel to enjoy our wedding cake sample and a nice dinner just the 2 of us.
A lot of people were surprised that I decided not to have a religious wedding. Tom and I discussed it a lot and we came to a compromise. No church wedding, but a blessing. We did it it the next day, at the normal Sunday mass surrounded only by my parents and sisters and the community and it filled my heart. I can’t put into words the feeling I got when the priest blessed us, but it was exactly what I wanted and it meant the world.
The week between the 2 weddings was a bit of a blur. I only remember not spending a lot of time with Tom. Tom was taking care of his people and entertaining them, while I was just prepping the last-minute things. I have to say that I have loved spending that time with my parents. And everything went well until Thursday arrived. WHAT A DAY! I don’t know what happened but I concluded that there were just too many cooks in the kitchen. And I thank God to have given me the strength to not kill someone that day. If there was a moment I really felt stressed by all the wedding planning, it was for sure that day.
The big day arrived! All the stress of the day before was gone and I just couldn’t stop smiling! I spent such a lovely day with Julie (our make-up artist), my girls, my mum and dad. The videographer and photographer were amazing and there was a lot of laughter. The brunch I had organized for everyone in the villa was delicious. It wasn’t hard to eat. Of course, it wouldn’t be a proper wedding if no hick-ups would have happened. There was a little issue with our planning and we ended up with no car to drive us to the venue. We had the amazing Focustudio team to drive us in their little gray Citroen and it was perfect to let go of any stress we might have had now that the ceremony was starting. From there everything went smoothly. The ceremony was beautiful, we danced during the reception, the sun was shining, alcohol was flowing and dinner was amazingly good. We went for a classy barbecue to honor Australia and everyone loved it. The desserts were incredible, and the photo booth was a success. We managed to do our first dance with no falls but with a lot of stepping on my dress and we stayed on the dancefloor all night long!
If I can give some advice to give. Marry your best friend and surround yourself with the people you love the most and will give you all the love on that special day. Do what feels right for you and don’t let people convince you otherwise.
I know that marriage is not something that is done by everyone anymore. Lots are against it, are afraid or just have a bad connotation to it. But it does truly feel special.
On this note, if you ever do want to get married and you are in Belgium. I’m leaving here all the incredible vendors:
- Venue: La Maison Basse
- Wedding coordinator and officiant: LoveTralala
- Brunch: Belle et Brunchée
- Hair and MUA: Julie Bassem
- Video and photo: Focustudio
- Flower (bouquet): Anne Alexis
- Flowers: Flowers Schuman
- DJ + Photobooth: Arnaud Pot
- Catering: KTCHN
PS: make sure your maid of honor and bridesmaids love weddings as much as you do! That they are excited as much as you are because they will be your best support! Shoutout to my bridal team, they were incredible!
With Love,
Brenda
Life with Brenda 
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