A Magical Hacienda Wedding in Seville

As wedding season here in Spain has got off to a rather gloomy start we are so excited and looking forward to returning shortly to one of our favourite wedding venues which we know has a special place in many of our couples hearts who have celebrated their weddings at this stunning Hacienda.

The owner, Anthony along with his fabulous team, ooze character, style and magic as they seamlessly and professionally create each wedding at their venue and work effortlessly with us, we love them!

Saro and Sue of Saro Callister recently sent us these gorgeous images of Kate and Rob to share with you of their stunning wedding day at the Hacienda.

The day started with a beautiful ceremony in the olive groves followed by a cocktail around the pool in the west garden. 

A fabulous Sevillian horse arrived to take the bride and groom off for a ride into the sunset to take some more beautifully romantic photos before being bought back to the Hacienda to continue celebrating their special day with their family and friends in the olive groves.

Thank you to Sue and Saro from Saro Callister photography for allowing us to share these photos and of course a huge congratulations to the delightful Kate and Rob!

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Considerations when choosing a wedding venue in Spain

Finding the right wedding venue can be a daunting task, especially when you are trying to get as much information as possible whilst organising a destination wedding in a different country.

Here is a bit of professional advice before you commit to booking a venue here in Spain.

1. Plan B Weather

In the event of high winds or rain does your venue have a back up space?  

If your venue does not have enough space to move an entire wedding inside, i,e, ceremony, dinner and dancing then you must factor in the cost of installing a marquee, perhaps with heating, lighting, etc and do check out the available spaces in your venue to make a wedding work if you cannot host it outside.

You must also factor inside spaces into your arrangements if the venue does not allow music outside after midnight, see no 2.

Do bear in mind this will apply even if your wedding is organised in the summer months, i,e June, July and August as often here we suffer from high winds, particularly if you are planning a beach wedding.  I can recall two weddings we had last year, one in June and one in August where it was blowing a gale.

2. Can you play music outside?

Here I find this is one of the most crucial factors for our couples wishing to host their wedding here in Spain.

Often it is assumed that as we lead a very outdoor Mediterranean lifestyle we can party outside until all hours, but sadly no.  There are very strict noise regulations in place in venues and private villas which are located in built up areas.

Noise has to be kept to a minimum during the evening and after midnight it is forbidden, hence you are going to have to move your party inside.  There are a few venue exceptions but over this past year I have met with many couples who have booked a private villa only to subsequently find out about the music curfews and are faced with having to work around these restrictions for their celebration, which of course they had not anticipated.

Do be careful, many private villas want bookings and are not going to enlighten you with this information until they have received your deposit and you are locked into a rental agreement with them.  Ask them before you book if there are any music restrictions.

3. Decoration of your Spaces

Many of our venues here in Spain are already stunningly beautiful which is a bonus and only require a few elements of decoration to add some style and personalise your wedding.   

However do consider if you are hosting a wedding which has a plan b room that you may need to spend extra on providing some more decor to liven the space up.

4. Catering and a Kitchen at your Venue.

If you have chosen a stunningly remote venue for your wedding do check that there are facilities installed, i,e kitchens and toilets.  It sounds quite a basic thing but if there is not a lot at your venue you are going to have to pay to bring them in, for example mobile kitchens and mobile toilets.  This is quite a cost as off premises caterers will have to build adequate kitchens to cater for your wedding on site.  So do get quotes and check with suppliers how much it is going to cost to bring everyone to your wedding before you commit to your beautiful but secluded venue.

5. Access to the Venue.

You have fallen in love with a venue, it ticks all the boxes and it is set in the stunning hills of Andalucia. You can play music outside all night and it is perfect, it has adequate kitchens and toilets, but it is accessible for all the suppliers who will be arriving to create your event?  
Calculate the amount of suppliers who are going to come to your venue to create your wedding, they arrive in cars!   

You will have catering trucks, coaches or mini buses bringing guests to your venue and all the other suppliers, hair and make up, photographer, videographer, entertainment, wedding planner, etc so do check the access roads are suitable and there is adequate parking available for all the trucks and cars who will be there attending to your event and make sure they can park out of sight.

I hope this helps you with a little bit of advice and of course you can always enlist our pre-wedding consultation service with our expert knowledge before you confirm your perfect venue.

A Hip Hacienda Wedding in Seville

Here in Spain on a pretty gloomy cloudy day we love nothing more than receiving photos of our fabulous, glorious hot summer weddings!  

This day was certainly no exception, in the heat of Seville at the end of July at one of my favourite venues, the gorgeous Hacienda San Rafael were hosting the wedding of Nicole and Andrew and the Reviva team rocked up to put many finishing touches to their day.

We had been working the day before in Malaga in a very hot venue which was hitting 56 degrees by the afternoon so I have to admit I was rather dreading heading up to Seville the next day but was pleasantly surprised to find it was only in the early 40's with a slight breeze and luckily, Nicole and Andrew being sensible people had decided not to start their wedding until 8pm!  

We can never stress to our clients how hot it does get here and to plan accordingly.

Nicole had contacted us to help her with her styling and some aspects of her planning to make sure her day went as smoothly as possible and she knew we worked at this beautiful venue a lot.

We created personalised signs, dressed the chairs with Spanish lace, and created the magical twinkly setting in the dining area dressing the trees with lanterns, crystal fairy lights and chandeliers.  We ordered her wedding flowers from a florist we know and work with in Seville and made sure everything went smoothly.

Whilst Nicole had planned most of her wedding herself, we assisted Nicole with various suppliers, plenty of wedding advice and jumped in to help her when her make up artist had double booked and she had to fly over to Spain to find a new one.

I do giggle when I arrive the next day to find our couples have lost their voices and are trying their best to entertain their guests and this was no exception but it was a delight to see how thrilled they were and what a fabulous evening they had enjoyed with their close family and friends.

Our congratulations to Nicole and Andrew and thank you to Richard at Elan Images for such fabulous photos.