Wedding planners work hard to make the dreams of couples everywhere come to life. They are some of the most selfless people, often willing to go above and beyond. Martina worked as a planner for 10 years before she got the chance to plan her own wedding with the love of her life, Branko. The first thing that came to mind in the planning process for the planner bride: the guests.

“I wanted to create a special experience for our guests. We decided to organize a seaside wedding weekend that included Friday welcome party, Saturday wedding and Sunday brunch,” Martina says. 

With an idea of how they wanted the wedding weekend to play out, the next big decision: where to say “I do.”

“When we started planning our wedding I made a shortlist of five venues, but I left the final decision to my fiancé,” the bride says.

Branko chose the venue Martina was most familiar with, Villa Polesini. In fact, the bride had organized a handful of weddings there and was quite impressed with the service. Having their ideal venue, the couple now looked to recruit a solid team of vendors to help their wedding weekend dreams flourish. Luckily, Martina easily rounded up a group of talented vendors who she knew as friends because of the many years of working together on her clients’ weddings.

Despite Martina’s experience with the Villa and all the vendors she hand-picked, the couple simply knew they didn’t desire to handle any wedding-related questions in the days leading up to the wedding. “My priority was to focus on us and our guests and just enjoy every minute of the wedding weekend,” the bride says. The couple, therefore, decided to hire a planner from Weddings in Croatia.

Plus, the travel logistics weren’t too complicated as all of the guests were driving-distance from the destination and arrived a day prior to the ceremony. 

Although Martina and Branko ended up spending more money in choosing a destination wedding (seaside venues charge almost double for food and drinks in comparison to the couple’s hometown venues), the two say it was well worth it for the weekend-long experience. 

When asked to share her expertise after enjoying her own destination wedding, Martina says, “let’s stick to these two simple points: relax, it’s your wedding day, and have a back up/rain plan if you’re having an outdoor celebration.”

Whether it’s Croatia you’re considering for your destination wedding or some other magical location, always remember – if a planner like Martina can sit back and enjoy her wedding weekend, knowing everything is in the capable hands of wonderful vendors, you can too!

Vendors: Event Planner: Weddings in Croatia; Photographer: Mihoci Studios; Reception Venue: Villa Polesini; DJ: Londero Events DJ Services; Lighting: HaeM Light; Hair Stylist: Charm Weddings; Dress Designer: Vesna Sposa; Groomsman Attire: IK Studio; Floral Designer: Lepor Weddings; Shoes: Valentino; Cake Designer: Isidora Patisserie