The world works in funny ways; a mutual friend showed Dóra a photo of his tattoo artist, Krisztián. A few days later, Dóra took a train to visit this friend, and Krisztián, who had never heard of Dóra before, spotted her at the ticket booth and decided to sit next to her on the train. “I immediately recognised him,” the bride told us, “as at the time he had a red beard, long hair and enough tattoos for a whole village.” A three-hour train journey later and they became firm friends. “What’s even more serendipitous about this story is that my mum and dad met on a train, too!”

When asked to describe their wedding theme, Krisztián called it “pure fucking rock ’n roll,” and we’re hastened to agree. “We both love rock ’n roll, and we wanted a day that reflected us. So we took an unusual path, and came up with a middle ground between a formal wedding and something more rockabilly. We kept the traditions we liked, and implemented some new concepts that we thought the guests would like too. In Hungary, wedding are almost 100% conservative, and based on the response from our guests, they seem to like the the not-so formal things we planned. Even our elderly relatives appreciated the tattoo corner!”

The whole day was a DIY project – as self-confessed control freaks, they relished the idea of making every detail perfect. Krisztián designed all the print elements and the visual plans for the decorator, while Dóra designed her wedding dress, and her mum made the ring bearer pillow. Krisztián was very daring regarding his outfit; he bought it a week before the wedding, and it happened that the store had a huge sale on. Many of their props and details were purchased online, not only to save money, but there were no local shops selling the things they wanted.

Their favourite part of the day was the Roman Catholic ceremony. “I do not like fancy and corny churches with golden angels and red velvet chairs,” the bride explained, “so our traditional ceremony was held outside, at a Romanesque church ruin in Zsámbék. “I basically cried throughout the whole ceremony, my best friend’s purse was full of used tissues by the end! Having no roof above us, shielded by 800 years old stone walls covered with ivy while I’m marrying the man I love was all that I have ever dreamed of.”

“The ceremony was simple, touching, and it even made the groom cry. We were fortunate that all of our loved ones were able to attend, and I was especially glad to see how happy my elder relatives were, being there with us.” They went on to have a second, civil ceremony to seal the deal at their reception venue of Csillagkert in Budapest. 

In the lead up to the wedding, they took some time out from the stress of planning to wander the city for portraits in their favourite locations, enjoy their favourite foods, and they even had the opportunity to tattoo one another. “Luckily for me, it’s Krisztián’s job… not so lucky for him as it was my first time,” laughed the bride. “It was lovely to spend some time together in the midst of all the stress of wedding planning to just enjoy each other’s company and celebrate one another.”

“We want to show the world that even in Hungary, a country of tradition, it is possible to host a wedding that differs from the ordinary and truly reflects the couple,” the bride concluded. “You can have an event, that has a non-conformist base but also involves conventional Roman Catholic ceremonial elements. Don’t let anyone else tell you otherwise!”