Leanne & Dan
Dan surprised me with a trip to Iceland on my birthday. He’d been acting a bit strange and even shouted out, “oh no, I’ve forgotten it haven’t I?” in his sleep which I thought was a bit suspicious. The day of the proposal we visited the blue lagoon. It was towards the end of the day so we had a quiet spot to ourselves and it even started snowing! He gave me a piece of volcanic rock and asked me to marry him, before giving me the ring once we were back home. I still have the volcanic rock to this day to treasure.
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At the time I was living up in Edinburgh so I visited my local boutique, Pretty Woman. I didn’t like any of the dresses I tried but, just as we were about to leave, my friend found one last one to try – ‘Legato’ by Mia Mia. I loved it! It was an elegant satin dress with a pleated bodice and pearl detailing at the waist. We celebrated with prosecco at a bar across the road!
I also found my tiara at Pretty Woman, adding hairpins from Atrio by Elizabeth Anjos made from Portuguese tiles – she also made Daniel his cufflinks. My shoes were Debut by Debenhams.
Daniel wore a three-piece, grey suit from Hugo Boss. His tie and pocket square came from DQT and his shoes were Ted Baker. I loved the grey and his suit looked amazing – it was perfectly tailored!
My two friends were my bridesmaids. They wore dresses that were comfortable in the heat, beautiful and easy to transport to Portugal for our destination wedding. They were royal blue. Sue wore her dress strapless and tied to the side while Emma had hers as a halter neck.
We held our ceremony in Estoi Church in the sleepy Algarve village of Estoi. Dan’s mum is Portuguese and his parents live in the Algarve, so we decided to get married there!
Our food was mainly Portuguese with the traditional courses, meaning lots of them! We wanted excellent food and our venue didn’t disappoint at all.
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“Portuguese tiles became our wedding theme, inspired by our venue, so we used them throughout our stationery, hairpins, earrings and cufflinks. The Palacio de Estoi was just beautiful, filled with traditional tiles, and we used the blue and pink tones for our colour scheme.”
We filled glass vased with fairylights, added royal blue chair sashes, a Mr & Mrs sign and a banner with our names on it. We also had a bespoke white sail shade to give the guests some shade – it looked fantastic! Algarve Wedding Planners supplied the shade and sourced our flowers, setting everything up.
Gina was the florist our wedding planners selected and he did a great job, using pink and white blooms to fit our theme. Our bouquets were largely made from roses, with hydrangeas on the tables and peonies and baby’s breath at the ceremony. Our wedding planners also arranged the cake. It was three tiers with an illusion bottom layer, featuring layers of chocolate and vanilla sponges all filled with Ferrero Rocher filling! The cake was decorated with white and pink icing and pearl details to match my dress.
Our praline favours came all the way from Dumon in Bruges! We’d been there ourselves and fallen in love with their chocolates. They sent us over small boxes for each guest containing two milk chocolate praline hearts wrapped in a royal blue ribbon. Our guests loved them!
“We made a DIY photobooth using Dan’s camera and a wireless remote so guests could dress up in hula gear and take photos! It went really well and saved us lots of money.”
Our wedding planners also hired an acoustic duo, band and DJ to take us from the cocktail reception to the end of the night!
We honeymooned in French Polynesia, flying from Portugal via London and Los Angeles
to get there. We spent two nights in Tahiti, five nights in Moorea and five nights in an overwater bungalow in beautiful Bora Bora, too! We snorkelled, swam with dolphins, visited a pearl market, enjoyed a sunset cruise and even scuba dived with sharks and rays while we were there!
CEREMONY Estoi Church, Portugal | RECEPTION VENUE Pousada Palacio de Estoi, Portugal | DRESS Mia Mia at Pretty Woman, Edinburgh | BRIDESMAIDS DRESSES for similar, try Dessy | GROOM Hugo Boss and Ted Baker | ACCESSORIES Atrio by Elizabeth Anjos and Debenhams | PLANNER Algarve Wedding Planners | FAVOURS Dumon | PHOTOGRAPHER Matt & Lena Photography
