Rafaela and José’s Beautiful Vineyards Wedding: Getting Married in Portugal
THIS INTIMATE ELOPEMENT WILL INSPIRE YOU TO MAKE YOUR WEDDING ALL ABOUT YOU!
It’s time to share the last real wedding of 2018 and I promise its a good one. Anyone whose planned a wedding will know just how easy it is to get caught up in trying to create a wedding you think everyone else expects rather than for you and your partner. As this is the last wedding of year we thought we’d use it as reminder to anyone who is intending to do any planning over the Christmas period, that your wedding is about you and you only, stay true to yourselves and your sure to have the BEST DAY EVER!!
“We decided to elope because we wanted the most special day of our lives so far to be just about us, not worrying about pleasing or being distracted by anybody else.” Alexa began.
“Our wedding was more a planned elopement than a traditional secretive elopement as we still invited both our mums and we planned to have a garden party at home a few weeks later, with family and friends. When you’re marrying your best friend, the most important person to you in the world, you just want the day you say “I do” to just be about the two of you!” She added.
“A colleague at work told me about her daughter getting married at Millbrook Estate; the photos of the venue looked beautiful and the service sounded really personal. So when we decided we wanted an ‘elopement style’ wedding with just our mums to witness it, I set about generally researching venues that specialised in tiny weddings and decided that Millbrook seemed to tick all of our boxes too! Plus it meant that we could have a ‘mini-moon’ in Cornwall/Devon area afterwards and have a beautiful but accessible place to return to for future anniversaries.” She explained.
“We booked the ceremony and accommodation at Millbrook 8 months before our August 2018 wedding, so once that was done, all we had to worry about really was our outfits! I am so glad we didn’t have all the usual ‘extras’ to plan and worry about on the day! Millbrook Estate guided me in booking the registrars, and creating a simple timeline for the day. They have their own recommended suppliers list, which I found a brilliant make-up/hair artist through, Cathy Proctor, and we had our own evening Private Dining back at the summerhouse where we got married on the day with Mandy Harding, who was also recommended by Millbrook. Their recommended photographers were all booked up with only 8 months to go for a summer wedding so I had to set about finding our own photographer and stumbled across the very talented Jennifer Jane, who had a beautifully soft and romantic style, which we loved!”
“My dress and flower crown had a definite woodland/hippie vibe. Apparently I looked like something from A Mid-Summer Night’s Dream! We didn’t set out with any planned idea of what we wanted everything to look like, we just wanted the wedding to be relaxed and we were more concerned with us being together than the details of what we wanted everything to look like. Although I knew I definitely didn’t want a plain white dress; I’ve never been one to go with the norm!”
“If you are thinking of eloping; do it. Your wedding day should be about you two, so do whatever makes you both comfortable and happy. We wore our wedding outfits and had another wedding cake to cut in to at a garden party a few weeks later, so we still got to celebrate with everyone important to us and they felt like they were a part of it. It was a bit stressful as we had to cater for 50 guests ourselves and wished we’d outsourced that part so that we had more time to relax, mingle and enjoy the day. I barely saw Dan that day! But it made us even more thankful that we’d decided to have our wedding just for us two.”
“On our actual wedding day, we had our beautiful, intimate ceremony, then photos in the grounds (including a guest appearance from our dog for ‘family’ photos) and a scrumptious afternoon tea with our mums in the summerhouse. Dan and I then headed back to the luxurious venue that we were staying at for the weekend and enjoyed champagne and wedding cake in our private hot tub together – not many couples get to do that on their wedding day I’m sure! But it was amazing! That evening we returned to the summerhouse for our own private dining experience to finish off our romantic day. Just the two of us. It was just perfect!”
Suppliers: Photography: Jennifer Jane Photography I Venue: Millbrook Estate I Dress: Dulcinea I Hair & Make-up: Cathy Proctor I Florist: Alice Shaw Flora I Catering: Mews Cottage Catering I
Love the pastel colours! Just what I needed to look at on a cold winter day 🙂
Everything is looking awesome. The bride is looking gorgeous in her wedding dress and groom is looking handsome in the blue suit. Thanks for sharing.
What month this wedding?