Capturing Romance with a Paris Film

The festive season certainly brings out the romance in me and today we are sharing the romance around with a Paris film by WeddingLight for Donna and Yann . Donna has shared a sweet and heartfelt insight into their romantic journey that led them to Paris, matched with the charming film, I will hand the blog straight over.

Donna: “I was introduced to my fiance through a mutual friend in a nightclub in Jakarta and exchanged a mere ‘Hi I’m Donna, nice to meet you.’ After all who wanted to get to know a salsa teacher who wore sunglasses indoors.

A few days later when I was visiting my grandmother I added the salsa teacher onto Facebook and got semi rejected as I had to provide 3 reasons as to why my friendship request should be approved. Something I didn’t have time nor the emotional capacity to do, so I advised my fiance that I would be throwing him into the too hard basket. Not used to being rejected himself, Yann accepted my request on the proviso that perhaps we could find some common ground and that he thought the idea of a koala bringing him a beer would be novel (because I am Australian).

So we agreed to have dinner when I returned to Jakarta, but not before sending a series of text messages and emails that challenged my initial thought of this otherwise intelligent-less salsa teacher (because all salsa teachers are stupid right?) It was not the mere flirtation that excited me, but the level of with that exuded from someone who spoke English as a second language. A humour that was akin to the Australian humour that I know, not taking oneself seriously and a light heartedness which was something I needed at the time.

(Keep reading for the rest of the love story…..)

I remember my stomach being in knots before our date. Looking back, I laugh at how incredibly nervous I felt. Throughout dinner I could not eat, I felt a connection I was longing for and yet I could not reconcile the fact that even if I wanted something serious to develop with this guy, it was impossible. He lives in Paris, I lived in Sydney. He loves Paris, wants to be close to his friends and family and I had my heart set on practicing law in Australia. As the evening drew to a close and we were in the elevator I felt a sadness that it would be the last time I saw this dumb salsa teacher who was in fact a smart engineer.

“When I returned to Sydney I knew something inside of me changed as I had met someone special. I could have written a Mills and Boon novel about our encounter because the honest truth was that I was smitten. Our email exchanges continued and I found myself going to Jakarta for a weekend to see him again, not long after Yann came to visit in Australia.

We agreed that it was all a bit of fun but the moment we started falling in love with each other, we needed to let the other know. I knew I was in trouble after Yann left Sydney. I was angry for letting myself get to that stage because no good could come out of us being together. Eventually the differences and the logistics would get the better of us. Yet not hearing from him made me sad and hearing from him made me 100 times more productive at work.

Towards the end of 2008, I returned to Indonesia to visit my grandmother one final time who at that point was destined to meet her maker and I told her that I had met the man I was going to marry. She passed away not long after and I realised I needed to introduce Yann to the people who mattered most. My parents. They had begun to think something was wrong with me because I was not yet married.

My father in his good natured way accepted Yann and welcomed him into our lives however my mother had a more interesting way of welcoming him. On the first meeting, she forcefully told him he needed to marry me because that is the way things are done which made me cry from embarrassment which made my cousin who was at our place cry because I was crying. My father remained sitting on his chair smiling and watching the bloodshed unfold. Yann took it like a real tropper and performed his obligatory duties (smiling and nodding).

I think my parents understood things were serious between us when I left Sydney to be with Yann, and indeed with trepidation I followed my heart. Living apart left a hole inside of me because all I wanted was to be with him – there was no real decision to make. So I packed 32 years of my life into 200kgs that were destined for Paris unbeknownst to me that I would marry Yann the following year.

Though we have had our share of challenges, I pinch myself on most days in disbelief that I have found the man of my dreams, someone who I love and who I am in love with. To have that love returned unconditionally is something that love songs are made of. Yann is my love song that I will never stop singing because I have a partnership that will last a lifetime and a lifetime filled with love and laughter.”

WeddingLight is proud to announce that we are now available to shoot Save The Date and other types of couples videos. Send them an email at [email protected] to get more information.

Monique xx