Marriage proposal in the Swiss mountains
Peter and Diego met in the summer of 2015, at the Pride Parade in Antwerp. Six years later, on 26 July 2021, Diego asked his Peter to marry him - while Peter had similar plans "I had planned to propose to Diego in 2022, but he beat me to it! During our holiday in Switzerland in July 2021, he suddenly got down on one knee in the middle of a mountain hike, with the impressive mountains in the background. It was a wonderfulsurprise," laughs Peter.
The welcome drink
The couple immediately thought of an authentic, minimalist wedding party with a warm atmosphere. Their closest friends and family, good food and live music were certainly part of it! Diego says: "The most important thing for us was to be able to celebrate our day with our closest friends. I'm Brazilian and Peter is Belgian, which meant that many of our guests had never seen each other before. So we wanted to have an informal welcome drink the night before our wedding at the Spéciale Belge Taproom, an atmospheric and spacious café in Antwerp. This way, all the guests could already meet each other. Itwas a very good idea, which only added to the atmosphere of our party".
And here we are!
The wedding venue and style were also very important to Diego and Peter. "We wanted the venue to be very festive and relaxed at the same time. We initially visited a venue in Portugal, to reduce the language barrier a little for our Brazilian guests. But when we visited the Verbeke Foundation in Stekene, we both had a very strong feeling : "This is it". We could use the whole site and had the freedom to organise our wedding as we wished. What's more, we were reassured toknow that there were options for both indoors and outdoors," explains Peter.
Minimalist chic, courtesy of Wondrous Weddings
Peter and Diego chose minimalist chic as the theme for their wedding, with white and olive green as the main colours. "We wanted our personal aesthetic to be reflected in our wedding too ," the couple explains.
To help them with the conception, design and organisation of their wedding, Peter and Diego called in a wedding planner. "We already had an idea of what we wanted, and although I like to organise a lot of things myself, we didn't want to be stressed on the big day. We wanted to be able to concentrate fully on our wedding. We wanted to be able to concentrate fully on the party and be in the thick of things all day. That'swhy we took Stefanie from Wondrous Weddings under our wing. Thanks to her, everything went according to plan and we were able to enjoy the day undisturbed. Using a wedding planner was the best decision we ever made," says Diego enthusiastically.
Tailor-made wedding suits by Café Costume
Diego and Peter found their wedding suits at Café Costume in Antwerp. "We had already bought suits here. For our wedding too, we felt that a made-to-measure suit was very important. Café Costume always offers a very nice range of colours and works with good quality fabrics. They were very helpful in making our choices", say Peter and Diego.
The big day!
After waiting impatiently for their big day on 16 September 2023, the day finally arrived: Peter and Diego's civil wedding! The legal wedding took place at 11am at Antwerp Town Hall. Photographer Pâmela Mello captured the ceremony, as well as the welcome drink the night before. Diego: "Pâmela is a good Brazilian friend of mine. We've known each other since high school. It was very special for me to have her photograph these moments for us! After the civil wedding, we had lunch with our immediate families at Peter's parents' house."
After lunch, Peter and Diego headed to the Verbeke Foundation for their photo shoot with wedding photographer Annelies Boeykens. She captured the rest of their beautiful day on film.
Bilingual ceremony
At 5pm, Diego and Peter 's ceremony began at the Verbeke Foundation, in the presence of some 85 guests. "We wanted to take into account the language differences of our guests during the ceremony. So we organised the whole ceremony in Dutch and Portuguese, with the help of a good friend who speaks both languages perfectly. We also provided bilingual ceremony books. Our ceremony was the most intimate and romantic part of the day, when we celebrated our love with those closest to us. The speeches from our friends also meant a lot to us", say Peter and Diego. Marijke Van Nimmen played beautiful live music during the ceremony.
Festive dinner
The ceremony was followed by the reception, with bossa nova music - a Brazilian musical style derived from the samba and influenced by jazz - provided by the Fresh Jazz Agency. Dinner followed the reception. Peter: "We opted for a sit-down dinner; personally, I find it a bit more festive than a walking dinner. However, Ledessert was served as a buffet.
Eighty-five guests were present throughout the party. "We deliberately chose a small group. We wanted everyone to be able to enjoy our full day; the concept of inviting some people for the reception and others for the evening is unfamiliar to us in Brazil. We also didn't want to be constantly greeting new people and saying goodbye to others. We wanted more quality time with our guests, more bonding - and more time to party ourselves," laughs Diego.
Brazilian dance party
After dinner, it was time for the dance party. There was no opening dance, but a very pleasant alternative. Diego: "Peter doesn't really like dancing and he was stressed by the idea of everyone watching us during this dance. So I came up with the idea of organising a Brazilian carnival instead. It was a great way to bring a bit of Brazil to Belgium! Later in theevening, there was also a performance by drag queen Veronika Deneuve, who then played a DJ set during the final hours of the party.
Looking back
Diego and Peter look back on their wedding party with great gratitude: "It may sound cliché, but it really was one of the happiest days of our lives. There are no words to express how fantastic it was to bring together in one place our family and friends, who came to Belgium from over 13 different countries for our party. It was just wonderful! Our family and friends really enjoyed it too."
Make it yours!
Finally, the couple give some advice for future weddings: "Make it yours! Make your celebration special and unique by prioritising what's important to you. Start on time , so that you can work with the best suppliers and have time to plan everything properly. Finally, choose quality over quantity. For us, this meant inviting fewer guests, which allowed us to have a larger budget per guest - to create an exceptional experience for them and for us!"
The whole House of Weddings team would like to wish you a big congratulations, Diego and Peter! Thank you so much for sharing your story with us. We wish you lots of happiness and love!
Would you also like to be assisted by reliable and quality wedding suppliers? Book them now through House of Weddings.
Wedding venue: Verbeke Foundation / Location welcome drink: Spéciale Belge Taproom / Wedding Planner: Wondrous Weddings / Wedding costumes: Café Costume / Wedding photographer: Annelies Boeykens / Photographer welcome drink & town hall: Pâmela Mello / Videographer: Ndn Productions / Catering: Food and Passion / Flowers: Flore's Forest / Printing: Visuall + Cotton Bird / Decoration & furniture: Goldfish Industries - Party Rental / DJ: The DJ Company + Veronika Deneuve / Light & sound: The DJ Company / Live music: Marijke Van Nimmen + Fresh Jazz Agency / Entertainment: Fidelinas entertainment / Hand fans: Loume By Lou
