Sarah and James Gauci partially owe the start of the rest of their lives to their mothers. Both employed by the same school, they often pointed out their children to each other. James even harbours memories of his now-wife eating her lunch in the school playground out of a pink princess lunchbox. Despite meeting at a very young age, however, it was only when their paths crossed each other’s again years later that the spark between them lit up and kept burning bright.
James’s proposal caught Sarah completely off-guard. Recovering from a fresh bout of excitement at having purchased a new camera to supplement her photography hobby, James had suggested they go together around Malta to gather some practice shots. “It’s usually extremely hard to plan any surprises for me as I can tell when something is off within seconds,” Sarah says, adding that he planned it very well to have caught her on the wrong foot.
“I was snapping away happily at Dingli cliffs, when James requested that I take a photo of him with his car,” Sarah elaborates on the proposal, admitting that it was “quite random, but hey, I went along with it!” James had hidden the ring box between the car tyre and rim, and when she went over to show him the picture, he went down on his knees and popped the big question. “It was absolutely beautiful!” Sarah gushes.
Sarah delved into wedding preparations body and soul. Being a jewellery designer , she also took it upon herself to create the invitations. “I don’t regret taking on so much work one bit!” Sarah says. “I’m very creative and love these things, especially all the little details.” References were drawn from her childhood visions and she settled on a traditional romantic fairytale theme. “I love greenery, peonies and blush pink so I made sure to have those key elements,” Sarah explains. “The rest fell into place.”
As for the dress, Sarah admits that its origin predates the proposal. “You know before you’re even engaged, you’re just on Pinterest pinning every beautiful dress you see to your secret ‘wedding dress’ Pinterest board – hoping your other half doesn’t get any peaks and also hoping you find the dress of your dreams when the day comes!” Sarah giggles. In the end, it was a completely different affair, as Sarah herself explains. “I headed over to Ivory and Co, walked in and saw this dress on a mannequin. So beautiful, so sparkly and so me – a little out of budget but hey.”
“As soon as I tried it on, I knew it was the one” Sarah says. “I never really understood what they meant when they said, ‘you’ll know when you find it’”, Sarah admits before revealing that ultimately she “walked down the aisle in the first dress she had tried on.”
The couple settled on Razzett l-Abjad as a venue, because its dreamy look complemented Sarah’s magical vision. “It had the perfect romantic and rustic vibe with the grape vines and fairy lights, full of greenery and beauty on its own,” Sarah says. The wedding was a smooth-sailing affair with the only downside being that their big day landed in the middle of a June heatwave. Luckily, the surrounding trees provided “the perfect amount of shade and a lovely breeze”, and there were no complaints to be had from the 250 guests.
The couple opted to omit souvenirs from their wedding. “I see souvenirs as a waste of money to be honest,” Sarah confesses, as she reveals that together, they decided to give a generous donation to Puttinu instead of sharing souvenirs. “The allocated money went to a proper cause and we are really happy that we opted for that.”
When asked to choose her favourite part of the wedding, Sarah immediately says that walking down the aisle of the Attard parish church with her very emotional father by her side and an equally moved fiancée waiting for her at the end of the path was the absolute highlight. “The other part was that we actually both got to enjoy the wedding!” Sarah adds. “It was amazing, and truly magical. We danced, we laughed and we loved! A day I will treasure for the rest of my life!”
Cristina ilao