Gerli & Ivo | Wedding in a private island – Viirelaid

The night before my high school graduation I met Ivo’s sister Ene and her friends in front of cafe Saatkond. I also found out she had a brother – we shook hands and I felt this strange feeling as if electricity ran through my arm for a moment. Yet I didn’t pay it any mind at the time, the meeting lasted only a few minutes.

On June 21st, 2012, I graduated from Tõrva Gymnasium where Ivo had come to bring flowers to his sister’s friends. Coincidentally, he ended up with a single rose left and he had no one to give it to. So, since we’d met just that previous night, he brought it to me.

“…he ended up with a single rose left and he had no one to give it to. So, he brought it to me.”

I remember my friend Kristiina, who was then good friends with Ivo’s sister, telling me that he kept asking about me… trying to find out what I’m like, who I am, and so forth. Supposedly his entire phone was even filled with pictures of me. At first, I never thought or expected that this could become a relationship. But he did ask me out to go for a walk and we ended up just walking around for hours. He was so caring and calm!

Wedding photographer: Valdur Rosenvald | Rosenvald Photography

Videography: Rain Aunapu

Wedding venue: Viirelaid

Bridal bouquet: DD Studio

Decorator & Florist: DD Studio

Rings: Karl Peebo

Catering: Viirelaid

After that, we continued talking daily. When I went to visit my sister in Finland, Ivo and I spent time together there, watching a thunderstorm in Hanko. He asked me over to his place and wished to figure out our situation – now or never. There I first said “YES!” to him.

“He asked me over to his place and wished to figure out our situation – now or never. There I first said “YES!” to him.”

Later, I first went back to Estonia, but near the end of the year I, too, moved to Finland, where we found our home together. I think the first big feeling was just then, coming to Finland, where it all suddenly became real. We had already talked so much and we knew each other's feelings.

So, on a white Christmas Eve in 2014, in the middle of mountains of snow, he invited me out, where he then asked me to become his wife.

We still reminisce how a few days before meeting me, Ivo happened upon an old man, who supposedly told people their fortune. The man had said then that a young woman would be arriving in Ivo’s life and his life would start to go uphill. Days later, he met me and we’ve been together ever since – 10 years of exciting, unexpected, happy, and also difficult moments. We have two wonderful children and three very unique cats. Together, we have all we could ever want from life, and only by fully supporting each other in better and in worse can we make it through.

One leftover rose brought together two soul mates. Sometimes I think that miracles really do exist, you simply have to notice them.