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Agroturizam Paladnjaki

There are some questions we get asked time and time again and we just can’t give answers to them. We can’t decide on the favourite people we’ve shot or the favourite city we’ve shot at or our favourite designer, floral artist, band… We’re just really luck to have worked with so many fantastic people at amazing places.
We can, however, decide on our favourite venue. It’s undoubtedly Agroturizam Paladnjaki, no question about it.
We have only had a single wedding there, but it has been more than enough for us to completely fall in love with the place.
Why do we love it so much?
For starters – Agroturizam Paladnjaki is located in the heart of Istria, aka “Terra Magica”.
We have been lucky enough to shoot lots of wedding in Istria, and they have all been amazing.
When you get to Agroturizam Paladnjaki you’re surrounded by incredible nature all around, in the midst of which you find this old traditional Istrian stone house and – for good measure – an infinity pool.
So the nature is amazing, the stone-wall restaurant is fascinating, but let’s not fool ourselves. We love it so much mainly for one thing and one thing only – by far the best food we’ve ever had at a wedding.
The secret to food at Agroturizam Paladnjaki is that everything is grown locally. Anything you eat has been in the garden just a couple of huors before it arrives to your table, and if you take a sneak peek in their kitchen (which of course we did) you’ll typically see a chef making fresh gnocchi from scratch.
Sandra & Domagoj who we’ve photographed there were also amazing people and we tried to do our best, but at a certain point around 2 AM we just couldn’t resist ourselves. We went to their garden and with the help of a smartphone-flashlight we started to take some of the cherries. Directly from the trees, and of course they were the best we’ve ever had.
We’re not being payed or endorsed in any way by Agroturizam Paladnjaki to write this, but we hope that this post makes up for a kilogram or so of the cherries we’ve taken from them. 🙂

In Dubrovnik with Kristina & Damjan

markoandvanja •

Dubrovnik is one of the most popular wedding destinations in Croatia, and for a good reason. Best known for its 13th century walls which encompass the old city, Dubrovnik is a world famous tourist destination, and among other things King’s Landing from Game of Thrones.
It was also the perfect setting for Kristina & Damjan’s wedding, who took all of the best things that Dubrovnik had to offer.
We started off with a pre-wedding session, going from Banje beach through the old parts of the city, and ending at the amazing bay beneath the Lovrijenac fortress.
On the wedding day itself it got even better.
The preparations were held at Vila Argentina, a luxury hotel with the best view of the old city. The ceremony was held at the St. Ignatius church in the middle of the old city, and then for the reception we went to a restaurant located at Banje – the best known beach in Dubrovnik.
The icing of the cake was the Retrodukcija band, with klapa Ragusa doing a performance at one of the band’s intermissions, and Kristina’s brother performing a surprise song at the end.
We’re not ashamed to admit that both of us cried a bit.

Spring in Zagreb means Magnolia trees

markoandvanja •

Arguably the most beatiful time of the year in Zagreb is spring, and we especially love it because that’s the time when the Magnolia and Japanese cherry trees start to blossom.
It’s already become a tradition for us to use the Magnolia trees for at least one wedding session each year, even if there are no weddings because nobody is getting married before Easter in Croatia. 🙂
This year we had the luck to photograph Minja & Nino at the Ribnjak park – the place where they had their first date. It was also a first time shooting at Ribnjak for us, and it definitely wasn’t the last.
Take a look at the photos and see for yourself what an amazing location Ribnjak is – you just have to catch it at the right time of the year! 🙂

Our 2018. best of

markoandvanja •

It’s that time of the year when we look back at what has happened in the last 365 days, and looking back now, we can say that 2018. has really been a fantastic year for us.
Before we even got to shooting any weddings, we had a spontaneous little editorial in Pula which god featured on Fstoppers, one of the biggest photography websites.
And when the wedding season started it instantly became hectic, ending just a couple of days before New Year’s eve 2019., and we loved each and every amazing couple we got to shoot.
It’s incredible how many positively crazy people we get to meet. They got us to climb on the roof of Haludovo, steal cherries from trees in Paladnjaki, get our feet frozen on Sljeme and then warmed in Malinska, almost set fire to a forest in Zagreb and close the curtains in a theatre in Karlovac.
And we went to Istria so many times that it’s no longer just a crush, it’s definitely love and we’re thinking of moving there.
More important than all of this, for a couple of very special days we got to be a part of your life, your families, your memories, laughter and joy.
And for that, we’re extremely grateful.
Thank you.

Winter magic with Ivona & Zdravko

markoandvanja •

There’s something different about winter weddings. Even if we shoot in our “usual” locations, everything changes. The light, the feeling in the air… It’s just different. So you can imagine how childlike happy we get when we meet people who are brave enough to not just have a winter wedding, but also to have their photo session a day before the wedding on Zagreb’s Sljeme mountain.
The only thing that can make this better is when the first snow of the year falls down, and you end up walking in this real winter fairy tale scenery.
This was so beautiful that we had to remind ourselves to take pictures! 🙂
And no, we weren’t cold. And neither were Ivona and Zdravko. We were just having too much fun to feel the cold. So if you’re thinking about having a winter wedding – yes, definitely do it! And while you’re at it, go a bit out of your way to have a photo session like this. 🙂

Malinska with Maja & Kruno

markoandvanja •

If you send us an email with your wedding date you’ll get a reply with a couple of packages. The price will vary depending on the included options, but one thing is common to all of them: we *always* include a free engagement session.
This can be done whenever you want – we’ve had sessions a year before the wedding or half a year after a wedding. They can be whenever and wherever you like, and you can be in your casual clothes or in the full wedding dress and suit attire.
They can last just an hour or two in the city where we live, but the best way we think it can be done is like with Maja & Kruno.
They just picked us up and drove us to a place that meant a lot to them personally, and for Maja & Kruno that place was Malinska, at the island Krk.
What this allows us to do is to have time in which we just hang out. We’ve made a floral arrangment for Maja’s hair at their appartment, we’ve hiked around, we even had time to go swimming at the end.
And yes, in the meantime we also took some pictures. 🙂
When you have all the time in the world then the pictures can be as relaxed as they get, and we think it shows.
Although… One part of the session was definitely an exception.
Malinska is also known for having a huge hotel complex called Haludovo. It was one of the most luxurious resorts in this part of Europe in communism times, but today it’s just a ruin.
We decided to go there and do a bit of exploring, and somehow along the way an idea appeared about taking some photos on the roof of the complex.
The problem is that you can get to the roof only by climbing some iron beams on the outside of the building, which looked like something only a crazy person could do, so naturally we said no.
And then Maja climbed. In the wedding dress. And high heels.
So after a minute or two of being shocked we just said sc**w it, and… We think you can see from the photos that it was worth it.
The view from the top of Haludovo is amazing, and in the end we not only had a great day with some amazing people, but also a story to share. 🙂

A Polish & Croatian fairy tale

markoandvanja •

The Polish and the Croatia love each other very publicly. The Polish families come to Croatia for the sea and vacation. Lots of times the same families will keep coming to the same places on the Croatian seaside, and through the years become best friends with Croatian families. The kids also become friends amongst themselves, and not that rarely love stories are born. Julia & Sandro are a perfect example of this kind of love story. They’re an incredibly happy, goofy, head-over-heels couple. And we beg them to bring some Ptasie Mlezcko every time. Is it surprising that on the way to their wedding we stumbled upon another Polish & Croatian wedding? These things happen here more often than not, and we couldn’t be happier that they do.

When boys go crazy

markoandvanja •

After all these years of shooting weddings, we still get stunned when we see our beatiful brides on their wedding day. If you take a look at Klara’s eyes, you’ll see what we’re talking about. But then you start shooting the session and you get into it and the wedding starts to go the usual way… And then they leave the church. And magic happens again, but in a very, very different way. In Zagreb we have some crazy football fans. They call themselves the BBB, which stands for Bad Blue Boys, and that tells you everything. When most of the guys at the wedding are BBB, that means one thing – torches. Tons and tons of torches that fill the air with smoke and give you some amazing photos in front of the church. And in front of the restaurant. And in the restaurant. And again in front of the restaurant. Another thing is that these boys are full of love. For their football club, for their ladies, and for each other. And you can see that. 🙂

It’s springtime with Antonia & Antonio

markoandvanja •

Spring has come to Zagreb, and is there a better way to take advantage of it than photographing a beautiful couple in magnolia flowers? Their wedding is not until the summer, but we always do the engagement session whenever the bride & the groom want it to happen. We were more than happy to fulfill Antonia’s wish of having photos with her soon-to-be husband in some magnolias, and we had a special guest star on the shoot – Coco the dog. 🙂