I met with Bojana Jovicic to talk weddings. After many years working in bridal industry for various companies, Bojana is running her own wedding and bridal consultancy company, called White Glamour.

Can you tell us about your background?

I studied business development and marketing, but I was always passionate about weddings. About 7 years ago, I decided to pursue this dream and moved from Budapest to London. I joined one of the largest international bridal companies, Pronovias, as a bridal consultant. After I left Pronovias, I enrolled in the International Academy of Wedding & Event Planning to gain even better knowledge of the wedding industry. Then I got an opportunity to work for Vivienne Westwood in Bridal & Couture department as a manager. This was a very emotional experience for me as it was completely on a different level. Making wedding dresses for celebrities, Vip clients, movie premieres, planning bridal fashion shows and so on. My last employment in London before moving back to Budapest was in a Wedding gallery, where you can find everything under one roof, everything from venue search, decorations, invitations, cakes to music options. There is even a bridal members club. I worked with the couture dresses from Vera Wang, Elie Saab, Suzie Turner, Suzan Neville, Halfpenny, Sassi Holford and many more. It was an honour. Back in Budapest, before starting my own business, i worked as wedding planner at the White Project. My company White Glamour, is a wedding & bridal service company for couples who don’t necessarily need whole shooting match of a wedding planning, but need consultation of that first step when they start planning the wedding.

Can you tell me what are the latest wedding trends?

There are some new trends each year, but in the end it always depends on what type of wedding you have, classical, vintage, bohemian, casual etc.
But one trend i would like to highlight for this season is tropical: animal prints, bold colours, big green leafs… I have recently organised tropical style wedding for one of my clients and it became my favourite trend for 2019.

How does a bride find out what type of dress to choose?

Choosing a wedding dress is completely different from buying an everyday dress. Its very important to try all the different styles during your first appointment: princess style, fish tail, sophisticated dress etc. Also its important to try various types of necklines: strapless, sweetheart, V – neck and so on. First she should find the right shape, to see what fits her body. She must feel either sexy or elegant, depending how she wants to feel as a bride. After she finds the right shape, she can play around with the material. Does she want full lace, half lace or simple plain dress. From my experience, when a bride finds her dress, she KNOWS it. I always tell brides to imagine they are walking down the isle towards their man in that dress. If the bride wants Couture dress (made to measure), it’s a completely different process. Dresses start somewhere from 10 000 Euro and can go up to any amount, depending on the material, designer and how much work is done. First you have consultation with the designer who makes some drawings as examples. I love this process because you can be very creative, you can choose your own fabric and style. It’s a very emotional and unique process. It is also quite brave, because sometimes you can’t know how it will look in the end, even if you do many fittings and calico fitting (dress in calico fabric to see the shape). During my work at Vivienne Westwood, i always enjoyed creating dream wedding dresses. You create a very personal relationship with the bride.

What brands should we look at when looking for wedding dress?

This depends on which country you live in. In UK, London brides are mostly getting new wedding dresses, they either order them from a certain brand or they order couture dress to measure. In Hungary, for example, it’s still common to rent dresses. I can suggest Spanish brand Pronovias, as its very global and one of the most popular. I also like dresses from Lebanese and Israeli designers, for example Liz Martines, Berta, Galia Lahav, Elie Saab. In terms of price, again that depends on where you live. Simple chiffon dress can start from 800 Euro to 2000 Euro and with some lace it starts on 1000 Euro and more, depending on brand and where you are getting it. I always sugest to brides to start looking for her dress minimum one year before the wedding or at least 8 months before. I know sometimes it’s not possible, but even in case of short period, please don’t panic, you can always have an express order with an aditional service fee.

What areas can you save on a wedding and where you need to spend?

This depends on the couple. I always ask what is the most important thing for them at the wedding. Is it food? music? decoration? So this is where I would sugest they should spend more money and cut the budget on what’s less important…

What are your favourite wedding destinations or venues?

That would be weddings by the sea. I find it romantic and elegant. My favourite place is an island in Montenegro, Our Lady of the Rocks. I spent most of my childhood in Montenegro, thats probably why it’s the most beautiful place for me to get married. My second favourite place would be Budapest, at the Buda Castle, because there is a beautiful view of the city.

But again, there are so many beautiful places to get married, my job is to find the perfect one for each couple. Some of my favourite weddings I worked on were in Savoy Hotel in London and in Croatia – Opatija, at the sea side. The locations were simply beautiful.

What was the coolest or most original thing that you have incorporated in a wedding so far?

That is really hard to say, because each wedding is unique and original as a whole. But as an example one of my wedding’s entertainment included ballerinas, dancers and acrobats in custom made costumes, that was very special.

Where do you start when you are planning wedding? What is determined first, second etc..

There is lot to be done. I ask if they already have the destination, what style they like, is it a big or small wedding, what is their budget, what is their style of music, decoration etc. After specifying this, i create proposal and first version of budget calculation. I also always create several different mood boards, so that they can choose the style.

If you wish to book consultation with Bojana, send us message via contact form and put “White Glamour” as subject line.