Urban Chic Style Weddings in Spain

We love weddings, all sorts of style weddings, from rustic balmy summer evenings in Andalusia to smart, passionate flamenco inspired weddings in Seville but are currently deeply sighing over Urban Chic style weddings, combined of course with a bit of glitter!!  

Glitter, glamour and sparkle are my BIG words for 2013, let´s sparkle and have some fun!  

We love our rustic raffia and burlap weddings but let´s put some glamour and shine back into these gloriously, wonderfully happy days and create some flair, sophistication and shine!

Retro, cool, young and vibrant are good words to describe an Urban style wedding, particularly if held in a fabulously stylish city like Barcelona, Malaga or Seville.  

It does not matter what the weather is like, in fact if it is raining or dramatically moody weather it is even more fun as out come the umbrellas as props against the stunning romantic scenery.

Our Spanish cities are dynamic, bustling and hugely cool.  Tapas, fiestas, sophistication and fun are guaranteed to create the most amazing wedding weekends for you and your guests.  

The photos from these weddings are always breathtaking, we are sure many of our photographers would agree with us.  The atmospheres captured are amazing. 

We are now busy planning and creating even more weddings in some of Spain´s fabulous, cities including Malaga, Seville, Madrid and Barcelona so we thought we would share some of our urban city inspirations with you for the sleek, sophisticated city lovers.  

Many people love to design but cannot get out of their ´personal´ style.  A trained designer and stylist can approach any style with vigour and enthusiasm and jump out their comfort zone bringing detail and style to any theme, home, fashion or trend. 

From the soft whites tones of Provence style weddings to the urban style concrete and graffiti trends, I embrace them all in their unique qualities and design aesthetics. 

It is the diversity and challenge of each design, inspiration and style I love to work with to reflect each couples individuality enabling them to stamp their personal style on their day.

Here are some of our inspirations for an urban city style wedding, we hope you love them.

Gorgeous Vintage Spanish Wedding Stationery Design

Andalusia

Berry Sorbet

Here at Reviva as we are busy planning, designing and getting organised for our fabulous weddings this year, we thought we would share some of our latest vintage Spanish designs with you.  

Sarah, one of our delightful brides from last year and now a personal friend, has finally thrown the towel in on her regular job, jumped off that cliff and is collaborating with us to create some gorgeous designs for our weddings.  

I so love chatting to Sarah and sharing design inspirations with her, she is truly an amazingly talented person and for me personally it is wonderful to work with someone who has this designer artistic brain that I can relate to and bounce ideas off.  

Her infectious enthusiasm is delightful and her eye for detail astounds me, it is a breath of fresh air.

We keep squeaking with delight when we receive her beautiful colour inspiration boards and new stationery designs for our clients, it is a very exciting time, a lot of fun and Sarah is jaw droppingly amazing, if there is such a word!

We cannot wait to showcase our designs for this coming year and are thrilled to have Sarah on board and supporting her in her new venture as she designs and creates some fabulous stationery, signs and all sorts of gorgeous things for our weddings.

If you have fallen in love, as I did last year, with Sarah´s Spanish vintage designs please do contact us for more information on info@reviva-weddings.com

We will also be sharing Sarah´s designs as she creates them for us and for her business so do keep checking back or like us on Facebook to keep up to date with our latest design trends and news.

DJ´s for Weddings in Marbella

Our blog about weddings in Spain continues to grow in popularity and many couples planning their wedding here in Spain are finding fabulous suppliers to the wedding industry here.  

Now usually we write about pretty things and we are not saying that Rob is not pretty, he is utterly charming and a fab DJ!   My only gripe is he steals our candy bar sweets along with a certain photographer, who shall not be named and shamed!  

Rob Rocks the House certainly gets our weddings rocking and he is one of our favourite wedding DJ´s here on the coast covering most of Andalucia, albeit we have to keep guard over our candy bars.

Music was not Rob´s first love, it was (deep girly sigh) football.... but music’s in his genes – his great grandfather was the drummer in a professional big band in 1920s!

Music’s always been a big part of Rob´s life. “There’s nothing better than sharing great music with other people”.  Rob first entered the world of working as a DJ at a primary school disco when he was just 14 and now he spends his weekdays as a Producer on one of Spain ’s largest English language radio stations and rocking weddings the rest of the time :)!

We love Rob´s description of his work.

“For me a great night starts with good preparation, then it’s all about finding ways to encourage people to get on the dance floor by creating ripples of energy. Then you ride the wave as it builds, guiding it in the directions you want to go by not just playing superb music that people love, but playing the right song at the right time”.

That’s what a DJ can do, create a truly memorable night.

“Music was not my first love, but I’ll be surprised if it’s not my last.”

If you are looking for a brilliant DJ for your wedding, you will not be disappointed, Rob is always at our weddings until the last guest drops and comes complete with pretty lights!  Rob can be contacted via his website or on (0034) 607 764 899.

New Fairy Godmother of the Costa Del Sol

January is not one of my favourite months, it is coldish, all the sparkly things have been put away, we are all supposed to stop eating chocolate, embark on diets and everyone seems to be wearing tracksuits and trainers :)!   

All of us super women should by now have completely reorganised our storage in every cupboard, have a spotlessly clean house, be attending the gym twice a day, creating super, culinary, lean, healthy meals, given up the coveted glass of well earned wine and still of course be working and looking after our children.

We are also embarking on our newly prepared household spreadsheets, managing to budget and balance the books, finding cheaper utility suppliers (which in Spain do not exist!) and generally tidying everything up and preparing for another year which will descend into the usual chaos around Easter when we can eat chocolate again :)!  Better still Valentines Day which is now only 21 sleeps away!!

I also find if something can go wrong it will in January, so can you imagine my horror the other night when my dearly not so beloved emptied a glass of wine over my computer, he has not given up the wine or embarked on a diet and is very accident prone.  My heart and computer died and not so beloved partner escaped a near death.

But along came a Fairy Godmother in the tiny shape of Fay at My Destination Marbella.  

Fay recently, and very romantically, became engaged to a wonderful man called Mark and I was supposed to be meeting Fay for a pre wedding chat but I knew I had to get my computer and work sorted out asap. 

I was in a state when I sent Fay an email in the morning.  My state is usually a very calm quiet moment with lots of swear words ringing around my head of which there were quite a few followed by some louder swear words on this occasion :)

I have to hand over my Fairy Godmother of the Costa Del Sol title now to Fay, I think we could start something here!  

As soon as Fay heard about my predicament she efficiently starting waving her magic wand for me and her fabulous team of techies, including her H2B, at My Destination Marbella had rescued my computer and all it´s contents within 12 hours.  Never have I been so impressed and grateful.

My Destination is a global travel resource that is powered by a diverse community of hundreds of local experts. Passionate about providing the best value for money, they work closely with the global partners whilst supporting local businesses. As a result, they make travel experiences inspired, more enriched, and quite simply, better.

Their local experts are on the ground and personally experience what each of their destinations has to offer. Armed with this unrivalled local knowledge their local experts produce comprehensive information in the form of travel articles, local tips, guides, reviews, videos and panoramic virtual tours. 

They began in 2006, picked up numerous awards along the way, and today count over one hundred destination offices worldwide.   If you want any up to date information about Marbella and the surrounding areas, My Destination Marbella has it covered.

Reviva Weddings are featured on there as well in their services section, it is well worth popping over to have a look as there is so much information about Marbella.

So now added to my already long January list is to make sure I am even more super efficient and back up my computer every night!  I have been told :)  

I am also hugely excited about Fay and Mark´s wedding which will be held on one of our fabulous beaches here in Marbella, so watch this space!  It will be my turn to wave my magic wand again!

Flip Flops for Beach Weddings in Marbella

 We love flip flops for our weddings, they are always very well received in our hot sunny climate as the guests feet swell up in the heat. What may fit well in a colder climate is soon put to the test in our glorious Mediterranean heat.  

I have even seen guests limping out the church clutching their extraordinarily high shoes. Goodness knows how they managed to hit the dance floor later!

Be the Hostess with the Mostess and have a basket of comfy flips flops waiting for your guests at the reception.  

We often provide flip flops in our dancing shoes baskets for our weddings and are thrilled to find it just got easier!

We love this idea from Heels Off, a rather snazzy box filled with 20 pairs of white flip flops with pink straps.  Five small, ten medium and five large to fit all sizes.

Heels Off recommend about 20 pairs for every 70 guests so if you are having 120 guests, two boxes would be perfect, we agree with this quantity, usually providing about 30 pairs for 100 guests, any more and there will be an excess left over.

If you love this idea and wish to order a box of Heels Off Flip Flops for your wedding here in Spain we will be stocking them in our shop here in Marbella.  Even better still you can place an order to ensure yours are reserved ready to be collected. 

If you would like to win a free box of Heels Off Flip Flops for your wedding here in Spain, hop over to our Facebook Page, like us, share this post with your friends and you will be entered into our flip flop competition :)

Pop Memories Photography Landing from Australia!

It is always exciting meeting new suppliers to the Wedding Industry here and we are eagerly awaiting the arrival of Sam Wordley, the Owner of Pop Memories Photography.

Australian, Sam Wordley has spent the last decade working as a celebrity portrait, news and feature photographer for magazines and newspapers all over the world with postings in New York, London, Sydney and LA. 

Sam´s images have been published in many of the world’s well known press publications including The Sun, The Times and covers of Grazia and Hello magazines and has even photographed the gorgeous Rhianna! 

In the last few years Sam has concentrated more on Weddings and Portrait photography

and finds the work extremely rewarding  as he loves creating lasting memories.

After meeting the love of his life,  Sam is shortly moving to Spain to be with her, we do love a love story :)

Sam is offering full weddings packages from 1000 euros for his first year here in Spain as he settles in and to gain exposure in the Spanish market. 

If you would like more information and to meet Sam please do contact him on 

email, join his facebook page or visit his website.

A Vintage Spanish Lace and Bouganvillea Wedding

Squeaking, more squeaking, some hyperventilating followed by happy deep sighing and thank heaven for Style Me Pretty!

Completely head over heels and deeply in love with this gorgeously, beautifully styled vintage Spanish influenced wedding. 

All the details are enchanting from the pink bougainvillea and lace ceremony area to the beautifully dressed tables, the intricate gold Moroccan styled stationery and we love the blue and white Spanish tiles.  Still hyperventilating!

 We adore the thoughtfully designed blue table runners setting off this tablescape combined with the jewel coloured votives adding a touch of the Moroccan style, which of course is synonymous with the Andalucian culture, it works perfectly. 

Love the eclectic mix of colours used from the smaller touches of purples and turquoises, casually throwing in some pales pinks amongst the brighter pinks, golds of course, as this is our year to sparkle! and a few hints of bright zingy Sevillian orange.  

The wonderful array of accessories combined with the proteas, succulents, the mix of florals, fruits and nuts and the dark wood Moroccan screens all bring this gorgeous wedding to life and convey a beautiful Spanish style. 

Here in Spain our Mediterranean sunshine and the wonderful light we have brings all the glorious colours of Southern Spain to life, it is a passionate country and we sing and dance colour so why not introduce this wonderful evocative style into your Spanish wedding.  

Southern Spain is not the beautiful dreamy whites and lavenders of Provence, the deep terracottas and greens of Tuscany nor the subdued ivories and blush of vintage UK.  

Spain is a vibrant, passionate country and here in Andalucia, the land of flamenco, tapas and Spanish guitar, we are full of history steeped in Moorish influences so let´s embrace these gorgeous jewel colours, include the culture and throw some Spanish style and fun at our weddings!

We are creating some gorgeous weddings this year including using handmade Spanish ceramic tiles, made in Seville, personalised as favours for guests. 

It is such a fabulous idea and we cannot wait to see them.

Our thanks to Style Me Pretty for just being there and sharing such gorgeous events to inspire us and to Alchemy Fine Events and Luna Photo for sharing these wonderful images for people like me to drool over!

To see the whole gallery click here.

Becky Sharpe on Dating and Wedding Photography

We love Becky Sharpe.

Fabulous and funny, Becky is one of our favourite wedding photographers and videographers based here in Southern Spain. 

Becky enjoys life as a mother to her very handsome son Charlie, eats, lives and breathes photography and filming (and chocolate) and to top it all is a witty storyteller.  Becky will always tell you how it is!

Today Becky has shared with us her humorous and, we think, hugely helpful take on choosing your Destination Wedding Photographer, along with some of her fab photos :)

"I was tickled pink to think that choosing your wedding photographer is a lot like online dating. But then when I think about it some more, I think we can take some tips from that…

A few years ago a friend of mine was bewailing his experience of online dating, as he was having no luck. I could not understand this as he is a good looking guy with fun conversation and was looking for a long term relationship.

Isn´t that what women are seeking? 

 So we wrote him a totally new profile – just focusing on the points that women are more interested in (IMHO)… 

A few photos uploaded, and something written that demonstrates he really has a sense of humour – and his situation totally turns around. He could hardly keep up with all the interest he then got.

Being a wedding photographer in Marbella, I realise that much of what wedding suppliers do is similar to online dating – especially in a destination location.

 Essentially, we are showing ourselves to you as you view our profile… oops, I mean website. 

So much like online dating, I am trying to my best to show who I am as well as what I do all on my website. I have to let you get to know me to see if you want to go on a date with me (albeit a photo shoot date!)

This is important because if you, the bride, hire a photographer to document your wedding, you need to like that person. A lot. 

You will be with your photographer more than anyone else (the groom included) on the wedding day. 

So here are some tips to brides choosing their wedding photographer online.

 After all, you want to find a photographer who fits as perfectly as a glass slipper.

Finding your Photographer Online – Sharpe Tips

Top Tip One - Do The Research

Photographers have resources at our fingertips to create an online identity to convey who we are – in our websites, blogs, and other social media like Facebook. 

You might realize you share the same humour, or have similar interests or find a photographer’s point of view enlightening. 

The opposite can be true as well, so be sure to follow up your research with some communication…

Top Tip Two - Email or Telephone

An email to say Hi is always a great start. 

If you find that you only get an automated response from a photographer by email and then you are ignored… how can I say this?! 

That is not a beginning of a great relationship.

If you are looking to communicate with the photographer best suited for you, it’s best to email a couple of times and see how your chosen photographer responds. 

But you will also want to progress to chatting to your photographer too… so, at some point before the wedding, I suggest picking up the phone – possibly as a scheduled call if you are busy, and if your photographer is busy (we are! but not too busy to talk to you!).

Top Tip Three - Read The “About Me” Section

The best pitch a photographer has to capture a bride’s attention is this section on our website. This is our opportunity to let you know who we are and what we’re passionate about. 

As Brits we may not want to be seen to be bragging, but we are using this Biography section to introduce ourselves to you – so you can choose if you want to go to the next stage of our relationship.

Top Tip Four - Ask Away

Don’t be afraid to ask any and every question. 

A professional wedding photographer knows a bride is preparing to draft an all-star team for her wedding day, so you can ask whatever questions you need to ensure you feel good about your decision to book someone.

My friend’s dating worked out really well for him and he is now in a serious relationship as a result. At the end of the day, his profile needed to showcase his best attributes and not leave her guessing about who he was. 

In the same way, if a photographer can put themselves out in a personal capacity — offering a bride to get to know them better — chances are the relationship will be happy, professional and mutually beneficial."

Becky sends you some

WEBSITE | EMAIL | BECKY SHARPE WEDDING BLOG

Short & Chic Wedding Dresses

 

 

 

Continuing with our 2013 Wedding Trends predictions, stylish, shorter wedding dresses are making a comeback reflecting the fashions of the past decades from the 20´s flapper styles to the retro knee length fifties and swinging sixties thigh high minis.

Finding the perfect wedding dress is every one of our brides favourite days and when we receive excited emails and texts of photos from our brides twirling like princesses, in dressing rooms having found their dream dress, it is always a very special moment.

 

I am always excited to see our brides dresses in real life and usually I launch myself into their rooms under a disguise of flowers as they are getting ready and immediately seek out their gorgeous dresses, usually by then tastefully arranged and hung by the photographers.

 

Our brides always bring a tear to my eye and we have seen some gorgeous to die for dresses from fabulous design houses, Jenny Packham, Pronovias, Temperley, Vera Wang and many more.

 

One thing I am surprised at, not being a conventional person myself, is that we have yet to witness a shorter style wedding dress and yet they are so chic, stylish and fun.  

 

Shorter styles are so much better suited to our hot climate and I recall one of my brides this year being rooted to the spot at her cocktail hour.  

 

When I dashed over to see her, she explained she could not walk or move that well as her legs had welded together in the heat under her dress!

 

She did look very hot and I did giggle with her at the dilemma of trying to move with sweaty welded thighs!   After a few cooling cocktails she recovered enough to make it to the reception area :)

 

 So when choosing your wedding dress for your Mediterranean or just hot, gloriously sunny day wedding why not break tradition and keep cool by choosing a funky, retro, chic shorter hemline.  You will be amazed at how much better you will be as well once you hit the dance floor!

 

These images are from two of my favourite websites, Ruche and BHLDN