Eva + Haroun by Camille Huguenot - Together Journal

We wanted to offer a simple wedding but put the emphasis on small details and little touches.

Tell us a little about yourselves, what you do, what you love…

We’ve been living in Paris for a while now. Haroun works for a tech company, and Eva works for a bank. We’re both very active people, always planning a thousand projects. Haroun plays rugby, loves reading comics, watching and playing football, and learning about History. Eva is not to be outdone, she also reads a lot, plays the piano, enjoys classical music and dancing. Together, we love travelling, going out to see exhibitions, seeing our loved ones and dancing with each other.

How/where/when did you meet – and what were your first impressions?

We met for the first time 10 years ago at university, but we didn’t dare approach each other. Eva thought Haroun looked too cool and impressive and would never have dared talk to her, while Haroun found Eva very intimidating (and she had a boyfriend at the time)! We met up again a few years later at a party, quite by chance, where we spent the whole evening chatting together. Haroun asked a lot of questions about Eva’s work, and she thought he was just interested in her job, but at the end of the evening, he told her he wanted to see her again, and she was surprised because she hadn’t expected it at all! (She was very happy about the request, though).

When did you first realise that this was someone you’d like to spend the rest of your life with?

(Eva) After the party, when we bumped into each other, I told Haroun that I was moving to Stockholm, Sweden, for a year to work. I was organising a Swedish-themed farewell party, and I saw Haroun turn up with several packets of Krisproll’s (a kind of Swedish rusks) and offer them to all the guests at the party (he didn’t know anyone at the time) and I laughed so much when I saw that, and to see him at ease among my best friends, dancing and laughing, that I really got hearts in my eyes.

(Haroun) It happened very quickly; from the start of our relationship, I found myself completely fascinated by Eva, and I wanted to spend as much time as possible with her (sometimes to the detriment of my sleep). The crazy thing was that the more time I spent with her, the more I wanted to spend with her; we were so aligned on our long-term desires and complementary in our passions! She pushed me to be a better person, the person I wanted to be, and I’ve been convinced ever since that she’s the best person for me.

Tell us about the vision you had for the mood and style of your wedding.

(Eva) It’s going to be a cliché, but I’ve had a Pinterest page about weddings for 10 years. But in the end, I didn’t have any ideas! We started from the venue to build the wedding. Haroun had told me that he’d love to get married in the Great Lakes region of Italy, and it turns out that my grandfather comes from a village near Lake Maggiore. So, for days, I searched the internet for a place. When I came across the Villa Orsi di Azzate, I had no doubts; just by looking at the photos, I was won over. Haroun was in the same state of mind as me when he saw the place. Seeing it in person was even better! So, starting with the venue, we were able to plan what we wanted: pastel colours for the flowers, but colour though (our centrepiece was the very colourful arch of flowers that we used for the ceremony), we wanted to offer a simple wedding (because the venue was enough in itself), but put the emphasis on small details, little touches (embroidery, simple bouquets to dress up the ceremony).

(Haroun) I’ve always wanted to have a very authentic wedding, one that borrowed from tradition while playing with it (what could be more normal when you come from 3 different cultures?). That’s why I absolutely wanted a wedding that was Mediterranean but not too hot at the same time. So when I visited the Italian lakes for the first time 2 months before meeting Eva, I immediately thought it was the perfect place to get married, and it was only natural that I should mention it when we talked about it together. As far as the style itself was concerned, what was important to me was to be in harmony with the location and the region while bringing in the decorations and touches of colour that suited Eva and me. The aim was really to distil our style down to the smallest detail.

What did you enjoy most about the planning process and do you have any tips for couples starting their wedding planning journey?

What we loved was that as the wedding was taking place in Italy, we were able to travel there several times during the year of preparations to meet the suppliers onsite and organize the event. It was a great excuse for the two of us to get together in this part of Northern Italy that we love so much. We were able to enjoy it through the seasons and discover the different aspects of the wedding venue.

Tell us about your main outfits, what was unique, is there a story?

(Eva) A few months before the wedding, I was due to have an operation on my knee. To cheer myself up, I planned to try on my wedding dresses beforehand. I was thinking of going for a dress with a bit more embroidery, pearls and a fuller underskirt. In the end, I completely changed my mind, and when I tried on this dress from Margaux Tardits, which had simple lines but a beautiful fabric and strapless effect, I loved it and knew it was the dress I wanted for my big day. By choosing a simpler dress, I indulged myself by adding a large veil with Calais lace, and today, I really love the result.

(Haroun) I’d known for a long time which tailor I wanted to use for my wedding costumes (Garbo) because I’d already worked with them for other outfits, and I wasn’t disappointed! We were able to explore all sorts of possibilities and choose everything, from the fabric to the finishing touches, to achieve a result that struck the right balance between class and originality. Given the venue, I wanted a jacket that looked like Dolce Vita while capturing the solemnity of the moment, and that’s what they were able to give me.

What was one, or two elements that were most important to you both that you were happy to spend a little more on?

(Eva) We wanted to do something original and personal to indicate our guests’ place at the table. I came up with the idea of hand-embroidering each guest’s first name to make napkin rings. It took me hours! But I was very happy with the result, and the guests were delighted to leave with this little gift. Secondly, the flower arch was even more magnificent than I could have imagined! (Thank you, Ornella)

(Haroun) My maternal grandfather had several olive trees planted for the whole family before he died, and since then, we’ve been lucky enough to enjoy an annual harvest of exceptional-quality olive oil. It was very important to me that every guest should be able to enjoy it, so we organised to bring almost 15 litres back to Italy in little lighthouse-shaped bottles (a reference to Brittany – West of France – where Eva grew up) so that every guest would leave with a small, very personal souvenir.

Did anything happen on your wedding day that you laugh about in hindsight (even if it was stressful at the time)?

When we cut out the pièce montée, we had planned to arrive to music that turned out to be much longer than expected! At first, we didn’t know where to stand, but our guests were incredible. They surrounded us and danced for joy, and this moment became one of the most beautiful of the wedding, even though it was one of the few that wasn’t planned.