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.

Sparkly Winter Wedding, Villa El Cid, Marbella

When Elaine and Kevin first contacted us it was to help them style and decorate their wedding day, the rest was pretty much booked from the church ceremony to the cocktail and reception at the villa they had hired for the week and Elaine had been picking my brains during her wedding planning to get some help and direction when she was booking suppliers.

Elaine had some gorgeous ideas for decorating her dream day using purples and deep grape colours mixed with some softer pinks, silvers, lots of sparkle, fairy lights and twinkle, I was in heaven as we worked on the details together and very excited when Elaine finally hired us as knew this would be a beautiful wedding.

Elaine then hit what I call a wedding planning wall.

As we had got on well chatting decoration she then hired us to finish off her planning and oversee the actual wedding day.

We took over her wedding arrangements, which was easy as we already knew all their suppliers, and made sure that every element of her day was covered and finalised so she could relax and enjoy the day.

It started as a typical November day, slightly cloudy, some showers threatening and everyone looking up to the skies all day and checking their weather apps!  We had a touch of rain in the morning but soon the skies cleared and the rest of the day was beautiful.

Elaine and Kevin got themselves ready in different parts of El Cid villa and it was lovely to see them so excited and nervous at the same time.  

The ceremony was quite early for Spanish standards, at 1pm at the Encarnacion Church in the Orange Square, so after a busy morning everyone set off to Marbella for the wedding.

I left my capable team at the villa waving their wands to create Elaine and Kevin's dream day, Pedro Navarro's team were working their magic in the conservatory hanging up white drapes, decorating the tables with some gorgeous florals and hanging beautiful glass bulbs with tealights.  

Everything was being overseen by Rocio making sure each detail was finalised from the addition of our silver charger plates, the chairs decorated with deep grape sashes and secured with diamante brooches, menus set on each place setting and finished off with our grape napkins decorated with diamante napkin rings.

Gusto catering were whipping up a culinary storm in the kitchens ready for when the guests arrived back to the villa starting with a cocktail and canapes and then a fabulous 3 course meal finished off with expresso martinis and a dessert station.

I was overseeing the church ceremony and have to admit I had to walk out during one song as tears welled up, I was thinking of the recent loss of my father, it was an emotional day and a beautiful ceremony.

Afterwards everyone popped into the bar opposite the church for a drink and Elaine and Kevin had some fabulous photos taken around Marbella with Jeremy Standley.

Once back at the villa, the guests were treated to a fantastic reception during the afternoon and evening followed by dancing well into the night with the Midnight Mechanics.

We finalised all Elaine's arrangements after the wedding to make sure her paperwork was registered and she left Spain with her marriage certificate.

Our thanks to Jeremy Standley for sharing such fabulous photos with us and our congratulations to Elaine and Kevin.

Sporrans and Noodles Wedding on the Marbella Lakes

Chris and Sam contacted us to help them organise their wedding in Spain as we had previously organised their best friends, Katy and Scott's wedding in 2010 and came recommended.

We were delighted to meet Katy and Scott again complete with firstly a bump at the beginning of the planning, then later a beautiful little boy! It was so lovely to also meet the now doting grandparents again too and with Katy and Scott as best man and bridesmaid, they were of course on duty for the night!

What a lot of fun Chris and Sam were, they instantly fell in love with the villa set on the lakes in Marbella and loved the fact it was private as music was to play a big part of their wedding and partying outside all night was a must for the club lovers!

Having settled quickly on the venue we started planning what I call the sporran noodle wedding, we wanted to combine both the Scottish for Chris with the Chinese for Sam and the overall theme was of course music.  

The catering by Chez Vous combined various different elements of both traditions of food, serving a mix of oriental and Scottish canapes and finishing off the evening with boxes of noodles for midnight snacks.

The decoration and stationery was created with a lot of input from Chris and Sam, using vinyl records as table centrepieces, and Chris had even ordered vinyl record cake stands, which took quite a few of us putting heads together to get them assembled and to stand upright!  

Chris organised the favours to bring in the music theme with musical note placecard holders and stubby holders for beers. 

The tables were simply decorated with purple and orange flowers in glassware, surrounded by some retro coloured tealight holders we found in Casa with Chris and Sam on a shopping trip.

We finished off the decor with lots of lanterns and candles, hung hearts supplied by Sam from the trees and created the table seating plan, again using the record theme and the tables named after famous nightclubs.

The golden wheelbarrow made it's appearance filled with ice and bottled beers!

Our thanks to all the wonderful suppliers who were part of Sam and Chris's special day here in Marbella, Kathryn Parr for Hair and Make Up, Julia at Chez Vous for the catering, Monkey Tennis for the entertainment and of course David Toms for the fabulous photographs.

A huge congratulations to Chris and Sam who were such fun to work with and looking forward to meeting with you all next time you are in Marbella!

Norwegian Weddings in Marbella

Our wonderful Mediterranean climate and food combined with the laid back, relaxed Spanish lifestyle proves the perfect getaway for many Northern Europeans escaping colder climates and wishing to enjoy some relaxed sunshine time.

So where better than to host a wonderfully warm celebration with close family and friends than here in Andalucia.  Many of our clients are from the northern hemispheres of Europe including Norway, Holland, Sweden and Belgium, and we love the relaxed nature and disposition of our Northern European clients, and I adore their style!

It is beautifully simple yet elegant and no fuss is anywhere to be seen!  I do follow a lot of fabulous Norwegian and Swedish design blogs, albeit I cannot understand them but I so love their understated decoration and google translate helps :)

We have been planning and designing a gorgeous wedding for a charming couple from Norway and their special day starts with a beautiful ceremony at our local Norwegian church followed by an intimate reception at a nearby villa with their family, children and close friends.

I thought I would share some of the inspiration boards created as we have worked on the wedding details using predominantly whites, fresh greens, soft peaches and adding in touches of lavender.

These are working boards assembled for Lolita as we have designed the wedding style and we are so excited about creating a beautiful tablescape, a desert, fruits and nuts bar, a cooling lemonade station and creating stylish tiny details such as decorating the napkins with sprigs of lavender and personalised placecards.

It will be a beautiful wedding celebrated with their close family and friends and of course we will share our photos with you throughout the year of our weddings we plan, create and style.