Meeting at a party at just 16, Maylén and Christian’s love blossomed, leading them to a romantic proposal in Italy. Taking inspiration from the autumnal season, the industrial location and a touch of Italy, the couple created a day that reflected them perfectly. Maylén told us, “We are so glad how it turned out – big contrasts between the broken and rustic to something romantic and beautiful.”

The couple chose a dark, old factory building for their ceremony, using the space to create a unique atmosphere. Maylén explained, “We wanted to have a unique ceremony that reflected our taste. It was lit up with candles all over the room and beautiful, old chairs for us to sit in. We also had some flowers, but we didn’t want ‘too much’ since the building was the whole experience. Christian’s cousin played Ohne dich by Rammstein on the piano as I walked in. When the ceremony was over we wanted to have an uplifting song, since everything was so serious and intense, so we ended it with Never gonna give you up by Rick Astley!”

With a long time between the engagement and wedding, Maylén and Christian made sure they enjoyed the planning process, taking their time to get all the elements right and making planning a celebration in itself. They told us, “The planning became something fun, and then it wasn’t so hard to wait for the wedding either. We took our time and had different nights with a nice dinner and wine, and just talked about how we wanted things to be. The hardest part was probably sticking to the budget. But we had a lot of time, and had a good plan on when we had to be done with everything on the list.”

Their budget was 400,000 NOK, or about £34,000, and they were keen to make informed choices and have exactly what they wanted, including rings designed just for them. They explained, “Our rings were hand crafted by the talented Ole Prin-Sand. We wanted more than just a typical wedding ring, so these was made specially, just for us. We love our rings and we are so glad that we have something that nobody else has. They’re unique.”

They didn’t want to restrict the budget for the things that mattered, telling us, “We knew we couldn’t hold back on the expenses on both the rings, dress, and enough alcohol. We were so afraid that we didn’t have enough alcohol, so we did a second shop right before the wedding! Although it turned out that we had more than enough!”

With a day that reflected them completely, Maylén and Christian advised future couples, “Do your thing. Don’t think about what everybody else think and what a ‘standard’ wedding should be like. It is your day! And also, get a good photographer. You don’t want to end up with bad pictures after a day like this.”