A Chic City Wedding in Seville, Spain

After what seems like months of hibernation we are all finally surfacing from Christmas and the arrival of 2016!  

Well, actually, we have not been hibernating at all, our last wedding was November, then a gorgeously romantic secret proposal here in December and since then we have been busy planning and designing our up and coming weddings for 2016 and 2017.

We have some very special weddings booked again this coming year in one of our favourite cities in Spain and even a New Years Eve wedding this year to look forward to!  

Looking back over 2015 we still have quite a few gorgeous weddings to post and are delighted to share one of our fabulous weddings from last September of the lovely Jennifer and David all the way from Dallas, Texas.

Jennifer and David were a small wedding party, flying in from the US, who really wanted to capture the essence of real Spain and create some beautiful memories for themselves and their guests.

Where better than the vibrant, passionate city of Seville for some serious fun, tapas nights and of course a beautiful wedding day.

Isabel worked hard with Jennifer creating a very unusual day for her and her guests, starting with a beautiful ceremony on the rooftop of the Alfonso XIII hotel right in the heart of the city overlooking the fabulous Cathedral de Santa Maria de la Sede.

Once the ceremony was over the guests were taken by horse and carriages for a little city tour and bought to one of the finest restaurants in Seville, the Abades Triana, overlooking the Guadalquivir River that runs through the city.

Jennifer and David's guests were treated to a fabulous cocktail reception and dinner in the cube as the sun set over the river and city.  

It was a very romantic and magical setting.  We decorated the cube with some beautiful floral arrangements in reds, orange and yellow, gold sequin table runners and charger plates finished off with lots of gold tealights.  Truly sparkly!

Each guest place setting had some lovely Spanish favours of infused oils and vinegars from one of our amazing Spanish suppliers and Jennifer had ordered some really pretty menus in navy with gold polka dots.

After the dinner the guests were invited to embark on a boat to sail up the river where they were treated to a cake and dessert bar, dancing, an awesome flamenco show and of course the spectacular views from the river over the city.

Many beautiful memories were created this day in such a fabulous city, our congratulations to Jennifer and David and a big thank you to Jeremy Standley for sharing such fabulous images with us.

A Perfect Wedding Proposal in Marbella

Romance is in the air and we love a Love Story!

With Christmas approaching it is such a festive and magical time of year so it is no surprise that December is the most popular month to get engaged, the perfect proposal season.

We recently organised a rather sunnier beach proposal as our clients flew in from London to the warm blue skies of Marbella for the weekend.

Top secret planning was required as we worked with our rather romantic client and his assistant, to organise the perfect setting, music and a photographer to capture this wonderfully romantic proposal.

Our clients had lovely memories of a particular restaurant they had previously visited when they first started dating so this was set as the location.

We helped with a plan a and plan b in case of not such good weather making sure everything was perfect and ready for them when they arrived.  Denis sent over his proposal suit beforehand so no suspicion was aroused and we organised a guitarist and photographer to serenade and capture the moment.

She said yes, but with a man this romantic how could she be otherwise :)!

We wish our clients a very Happy Engagement and of course no doubt a wedding is imminent and to all the other happy couples who will be celebrating their engagements this coming Christmas.

Our thanks to Gary Tapp for taking some great shots and putting together a fabulous short video below and to Raul for his brilliant guitar serenading.

Surprise Wedding Proposal - Denis & Natalja from Gary Tapp on Vimeo.

Best Tapas Party Food

Today I read a lovely article about Easy Spanish Recipes for a Tapas party via Costa Women so I thought it would be a nice idea to create our own blog post and share some of the most popular Spanish tapas dishes often served at our events and weddings as ideas ready for the festive season.

Many of us are hosting parties, small get togethers with family and friends and nothing is easier than serving small dishes of tasty treats of which many can easily be prepared in advance.

Salted almonds and marinated olives are always a good starter, washed down with a glass of dry sherry or cava.

Gazpacho and white almond and garlic soup are always really pretty served in shot glasses and garnished with cherry tomatoes and some crispy fried pancetta.

Croquetas are a firm favourite, jamon, chicken or cheese are always popular choices and the kids always love them.

Slices of manchego cheese topped with membrillo are delicious or be more adventurous and top a crostini with manchego cheese and some slices of apple or figs.

A must have for all Spanish tapas parties is the famous Spanish tortilla, a thick omelette of potato, no Spanish party is complete without this!  Why not top each cube with a pimiento piquillo to add a bit of colour and sweetness of the red pepper.

Pimientos del Padron are small sweet green peppers often fried and then sprinkled with sea salt, again a popular Spanish tapas dish.

The famous Spanish chorizo is a must have, just sliced and fried is truly delicious and if you are feeling slightly more ambitious prawns always work really well with slices of the fried chorizo skewered onto cocktail sticks.

Gambas pil pil, prawns fried with garlic and chilli in olive oil, is also a popular choice, serve in small terracotta dishes and make sure there is some freshly baked sliced bread to soak up the oil.

Figs play a huge role in the Spanish kitchen as they literally fall off trees here so grab some fresh figs, split them open and fill with goats cheese, pop under the grill and you have a delicious tapas that not only will look fabulous but tastes divine.

Albondigas are a cute small, usually pork, meatballs cooked in tomato and olive oil, again a lovely idea for tapas and easily served with cocktail sticks.

Mojama is a Spanish delight, a salt cured tuna which is served thinly sliced and delicious on a crostini topped with a tomato and onion homemade salsa.

Melon con jamon is a refreshing and light snack, chop up cubes of melon and present them on cocktail sticks with slices of Spanish serrano ham on top and patatas bravas are always popular with the hungrier guests, cubed roasted potatoes topped with a spicy tomato sauce.

Pinchitos are the Spanish kebabs, usually either chicken or pork on skewers and seasoned with garlic, cumin, thyme and olive oil and grilled or placed on the BBQ.

Finally for some sweet ideas, the classic flan, creme caramel, is always a tradition here in Spain along of course with our famous churros and chocolate, never fails to please!  Turron is a classic Spanish sweet and comes in many different varieties and is delightful served up at a tapas party

A Spanish tapas party is so easy to prepare as most of it can be done in advance and of course copious amounts of sangria will always get your guests into a party mood!