A Rustic, Sun-Drenched Wedding in the Spanish Town of Sitges
Written by on September 8, 2014.
Tagged under: Destination Wedding, Dubai Bride, Real Wedding, Spanish Wedding, Weddings in Dubai
A Rustic, Sun-Drenched Wedding
What a wonderful wedding we have to share today. Submitted by newlywed bride Holly, this rustic, sun-drenched wedding took place in the town of Sitges, often referred to as the Saint-Tropez of Spain. The venue was a grand winery called Can Rafols Dels Caus.
Holly and her beau Adam Long (a listed wedding vendor with Bride Club ME) are originally from Scotland and London, and both currently reside in Dubai. Thanks to Holly’s meticulous planning and admirable organisation skills, she pulled off the Spanish wedding of her dreams all the way from Dubai, while her talented husband Adam (a saxophonist and founder of Dubai-based music agency Sole Agency) wooed the guests with his musical flare.
The bright sunflowers, attention to detail, impressive venue grounds and beaming smiles make us wish we were guests at this stunning wedding. The groom’s perfectly tailored blue suit and the bride’s gorgeous boho dress were both designed and made by BCME vendor club member Barbaranne Heaton, founder of Moirai Style.
These gorgeous images by photographer Ola Hopper allow us to experience Holly and Adam’s wedding day journey, complemented by the bride’s documentation of the planning process and her tips for all you brides-to-be in the midst of your planning. Enjoy!
The proposal…
Adam proposed on 9December 2012, the day before my birthday, in the desert outside Dubai. We have two dogs, Rosie and Daisy, who we adopted from K9 Friends, and we sometimes take them for walks in the desert. On this particular day, Adam was adamant he wanted to go out for a walk, so we walked for ages, climbing dune after dune, until Adam said he had an early birthday present for me.
He gave me a book with all the different things we’ve done over our time together, including holidays we’ve taken, places we’ve visited, etc. Then he got down on one knee (tricky on a sand dune) and asked me to marry him. He had chosen the most gorgeous ring as well. For a usually unromantic guy, he pulled off a beautiful proposal.
The wedding theme…
Yellow, blue, sunflowers, small, rustic but elegant, countryside, amazing views, great Spanish food and wine, and, of course, lots of music and fun times! I always knew what type of wedding I wanted, so I started a Pinterest board to share with our wedding planner. She also arranged our flowers and some styling for us. We were totally on the same page and it was great having her as a one-stop shop.
I’ve loved sunflowers since I was a little girl, so I knew they would be incorporated into the day. We even gave sunflower seeds as wedding favours to our guests.
Details and personal touches…
For our sweetie table, I asked Adam’s mum to bring over flapjacks, which Adam loved when he was growing up. My aunt made her amazing shortbread, and my brother and his wife brought lots of my favourite Scottish delicacies, such as tablet (sort of like fudge), Scottish macaroons, Irn Bru rock sweets, etc. (They ended up with a Ryanair charge for over-weight baggage.)
We set up these goodies on wine barrels with a note saying what they were and who had brought them. I had adorable old-fashioned yellow and white striped sweetie bags for people to use and everything was placed in mason jars.
On top of other barrels there were props such as bubbles, fancy dress items (ie, oversized glasses), noisemakers and a bright pink blow-up saxophone, which seemed to go down very well on the dance floor.
As I’m Scottish, I always imagined I would be piped down the aisle by a bagpipe player. Thank goodness for Google as I managed to find one who lived nearby. He also piped the guests off the bus on arrival, and he came as a lovely surprise to the guests who perhaps didn’t expect to hear bagpipes in a vineyard in the middle of Spain. We also added some Spanish flavour during the cava and canapés and the meal with an amazing Spanish guitarist.
The wedding cake….
We had a giant sunflower cupcake and lots of little sunflower cupcakes, made from vanilla sponge with lemon icing.
The dress…..
I adored my dress. I had it made in Dubai by the amazingly talented Barbaranne Heaton from Moirai Style, who became a really good friend during the process.
She also made Adam’s suit (which was kept as a surprise for me – all I was told was that it was colorful!). I loved it, as did Adam.
I also had some of my mum’s old jewellery reset and remodeled by Barbaranne’s colleague Jane Hewitt.
Most enjoyable part of the planning process…
I loved planning the whole thing. I love to plan and organise so it’s hard to put a finger on one part. I guess one of the best parts was updating my bookings sheet with the guests’ arrival/hotel and departure details as that made it all seem very real and exciting. Also we felt really honoured that family and friends were making such an effort for us.
Most testing part of the wedding planning process as a destination bride…
The original venue cancelling six months before was a bit of a test! (Ha ha!) Also the Spanish are generally pretty laid back, so getting confirmations, even paying deposits, was a challenge as they have a much more ‘manana manana’ approach to things.
Top three tips for a bride-to-be…
- Take the time to enjoy every moment of it, as it goes so fast.
- Accept that you can’t please everyone. It is your day and you will never make everyone happy. So make sure you and your other half really enjoy it!
- Don’t sweat the small stuff, and finish the to-do list early. I was so pleased that I was pretty much sorted and organised. So from the moment I arrived in Spain, I got to spend time catching up with people, relaxing and generally feeling like I was on holiday.
{The Brides Little Pink Book}
Venue: Can Rafols Dels Caus | Photographer: Ola Hopper | Grooms suit & brides dress: Moirai Style | Wedding & BM Jewellrey: Jane Hewitt | Wedding Planner & Florist: Philippa Events | Celebrant: Xvaier Ortiz | Band: Danny Lippit | Guitar & Bagpipes: Pablo Imaz Montesano & Alistair | Hair: www.michaelmawson.com | Makeup: Angie Torres | Wedding cake & cupcakes: www.patriciacupcakes.com.
Keep an eye out later this week for Holly and Adam’s wedding video. Looking for more REAL wedding inspiration? Click here.
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