Carmen + Michael, uma festa vibrante!

Fechamos a semana com muita cor, a acompanhar os dias bonitos e luminosos que o São Martinho luxuosamente nos reserva por esta altura.

Hoje temos o vibrante casamento da Carmen + Michael, ingleses, fotografado pelas Aguiam Fotógrafas.

Deixem-se levar!

 

 

 

How was your proposal?

Michael proposed to me on our anniversary, since we started dating in 2009, he made a special date in our lives even more memorable.

We had a beautiful North African meal at London’s Del Aziz restaurant, wich finished with Michael poring his heart out before it hit midnight on a bench located in the centre of Bermondsey Square, where he asked me to “be his wife for the rest of his life”.

 

 

How did you get organized, where did you start and how far in advance?

First thing we did was decide we wanted to marry outside of the United Kingdom.

I am a Civil Registrar and marry people daily so I wanted something completely different to what I see in my day to day.

We knew it had to be Portugal as that was where we had our first holiday and made plans to start our family in 2008.

So as our families are very large we needed it to be in a place where they could travel and enjoy our special day but have a holiday also at a reasonable cost. So Portugal it was.

We googled “Getting Married in Portugal” and our lovely Wedding planner Melanie Reegs Wedding planning company was the first option via Google.

That’s where we started looking at Churches and Venues, it truly helped us decide on where we wanted to go and visit. We booked our planner immediately and arranged a flight to Portugal to make concrete decisions in person.

 

 

 

 

 

What kind of mood did you aim for? How did you achieve it?

Michael and I are very modern and enjoy minimalism and are creative spirits. As an Interior Architecture Design Graduate my love for Interiors  is endless so the mood and ambience was essential.

We had a list of a few favorites, but planned a trip to Portugal to view and decide.

 

 

Was DIY an option? Why?

Living in another country, made it hard to do all the things I would normally have done myself, so it was crucial to delegate and deliver our vision to our wedding planner Melanie.

I did a variety of things myself, all our stationary,  table number cards , reception menu cards, order of the evening, forget me not seed favor packets, children activity packs, church order of services, wedding invitations, Mr & Mrs chair signs, all were designed, printed  and assembled by me, it saved so much money and as we are both creative, was a beautiful touch to our day.

 

 

 

 

Did you get any help?

We had help of our wedding coordinator ensuring the flowers were delivered to the right hotel suite.

Then the help of those in the bridal party to assemble the white bouquets. Our wedding had a strength of African Summer colors so we kept the flowers very neutral and fresh, adding color only to the stem.

 

What was the most important thing for you?

Generating the finances to ensure our dream wedding came true. We worked hard and together over two years to ensure we covered everything.

 

 

 

 

And the least?

The least important thing for us was the number of guests who would finally make it. We knew so long as our immediate family was there, that’s all that mattered. It’s difficult with number/capacity for destination weddings as the number changed constantly. So this became less of an importance, we just ensured we planned with this in mind but it was not the deciding factor for us.

 

What costed you more?

We spent more on the Wedding Venue, Coconuts by the Water in Cascais worked out to cost more than we expected but remembering the quotes were in euros converting back into Pounds was a mild relief.

 

 

 

 

And what costed you less?

Everything I designed and made.

 

What was the easiest thing to get done?

Easiest thing to do was the bridesmaids bouquets. After we cross checked a few YouTube tutorials to ensure we had all necessary supplies, it was easy.

 

And what was the hardest?

The hardest thing was ensuring everyone knew there positions for the day, as we had such a large wedding party. It was fun, but slightly stressful.

 

 

 

 

 

What did you enjoy creating the most?

I enjoyed designing all the stationary from our invitations to menu cards and our church order of service along with our scented fans for the female guests. I loved designing the table centre pieces with the florist via my wedding coordinator. I was very focused on our the vision and ambience we wanted to create and Martins Alves and Casa Do Marques assisted us in delivering this.

 

The wedding you planned, is it a reflexion of you two, or did you had to give in along the way?

Exactly a reflection of both of us. Confident, elegant, the entire day beautifully orchestrated our love and passion as two creative souls becoming one.

 

A special detail?

My bouquet. I carried a picture of my late grandmother along with my something borrowed and old on my colorful bouquet along with my rosary.

 

 

 

 

Now that it has already happened, would you change anything?

No. Not one thing.

 

Some words of advice for the brides to be…

Plan, plan, plan and delegate only to those you trust to carry out your vision. Ensure you take time to relax and start winding down weeks before.

Make sure you have an amazing photographer and videographer as we did so you can relive every moment after the day together as it goes too fast, plus you get to see things you missed on the day.

 

 

 

Our vendors:

 

venue: Coconuts

catering and decor: Casa do Marquês