igor + pamela

Good friends Pamela and Igor made a deal in 2006: Igor would accompany Pamela to the wedding of a couple she knew, and she in turn would be his date for a wedding he was invited to. The pair knew they would have a good time together, so it seemed like a win-win relationship for the pair, who were “just friends.” Like many love stories, friendship turned into something more, and the weddings were just the beginning of a lifelong relationship.

Pamela and Igor began preparing for their own wedding four years later. The couple set off on a Caribbean cruise, and Igor couldn’t even wait a day to pop the question! He proposed to Pamela the first morning on their balcony overlooking the ocean. An ecstatic Pamela said yes!

In just four months, the future bride and groom planned a fabulous New Year’s Eve wedding for 110 guests at the Lexington Lansing Hotel. Talented Igor designed a modern, black and white snowflake stationery package of invitations, programs, menus, a seating chart and favor cards. Their chosen bakery, Cakes A-Bloomin’, even incorporated Igor’s artwork into their wedding cake design! Marvin Hall photography got shots of all the “little” details that made Pamela and Igor’s big day so unique.

Pamela and Igor’s entire wedding day was a vibrant multi-cultural experience. Pamela was born and raised in Lansing, and Igor was born in Zenica, Bosnia-Herzegovina (part of former Yugoslavia). Igor and his family fled to Germany during the war in Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, and eventually moved to the United States. Igor’s extended family was also scattered during the war, and had not seen each other between the war and the wedding. The wedding therefore served as a celebration of both Igor and Pamela’s union and the reunion of loved ones.

The couple’s ceremony was conducted in both English and Serbio-Croation and their dinner menu was filled with traditional Bosnian cuisine. While giving his toast, Pamela’s father reflected on how the two families—though from opposite sides of the world and with such different backgrounds—had so many values in common. The evening was a seamless tribute to Igor and Pamela and their family heritages.

Igor and Pamela planned on visiting Bosnia and Croatia for their honeymoon, but decided to postpone so that they could bring a very special person with them on their trip—the couple is eagerly expecting their first child in September.