Josefina & Ali

Josefina & Ali's big day is one of those weddings I'd love to have attended. There's something about a big raucous house party that lends itself perfectly to a post-wedding-ceremony shindig. Once the formalities are out of the way, it's really just time to let your hair down, and I think it's safe to say everyone at J&A's wedding did just that. The whole affair just looks so glamorous, stylish and most importantly, fun! We love the addition of a blush pink silk ribbon to Josefina's dress and her turquoise earrings add a gorgeous pop of colour that keeps things a little bit bohemian. The couple are clearly very creative and that shines through in every aspect of their big day. Enjoy the glamour lovely ones.

The Bride

Josefina The Bride: Most likely as many other brides believe, shopping for wedding gown is truly challenging and sometimes overwhelming. After going through hundreds of dresses online to get some ideas, I was left a little disappointed by the styles and selection. So I decided to fly out to Buenos Aires to design and make a unique, custom-made dress inspired on by Elie Saab dress I had fallen in love with. I booked an appointment with designer Cecilia Miccio, who helped me with the selection of a gorgeous off-white, re-embroidered French lace dress. After drawing a few sketches and several try-ons later the dress was ready; however, I realised the dress was not exactly the one I pictured myself in and dreamed about! I flew to Barcelona and once there, I found a wedding atelier where I was able to make some alterations and finalise my dream wedding gown. The designer in Barcelona was very helpful and few weeks later I finally had the dress I imagined myself in and felt absolutely beautiful! I added to it a hand-dyed silk rose-pale ribbon from Froufrou Chic, a beautiful pretty custom-made long veil and a stunningly comfortable Jimmy Choo shoes. Knowing it would be a very long night, I decided to get a second dress by Adrianna Papell, which I got in Miami. The off-white silk and sheer tulle sleeveless - blouson dress with beading across the body was super sassy and I adored it! Late in the evening I wore a lace-trimmed cashmere Valentino scarf that kept me warm and I paired it with a Nina Ricci mint green flower ring to match the decoration colour scheme. I found my jade and diamond earrings in a jewellery shop in Buenos Aires. It was love at first sight! I had my make-up and hair done by talented Naroa and Cano. I wanted a very fresh, glowing and natural makeup look with perfect bold eyebrows and I wore a loose low-bun with Waxflowers during the day and down with loose waves at night.

The Groom

In contrast to my uneasy dress hunt, Ali’s suit and tie were sorted in a single shop, Hugo Boss, and in couple of hours. The staff were very friendly and tried their best to make the suit ready in less than a week. He looked amazingly handsome!

The Venue

Finding the right venue meant months of Google searches and countless Skype calls and many exchanges of emails. Considering the amount of properties listed in Spain, making a decision was not easy. We had a rather practical approach to this task and shortlisted the venues we loved the most and chose the one based on the points for each criteria. There it was, Villa Blanca in Sant Vicens de Montalt. Villa Blanca is a 20th Century manorial mansion with views over the Mediterranean Sea located in Sant Vicens de Montalt - about 40km away from Barcelona. When we arrived there few days prior to the wedding, we felt immensely happy with our truly unique and magic venue! The villa has an incredible view over looking the Mediterranean Sea and it’s surrounded by magnificent and romantic gardens designed by the famous architect Jean-Baptiste Nicolas Forestier. The house was spacious enough and had bedrooms for most of our family members and close friends to stay over the night of the wedding, which allowed for a friendly atmosphere and kept the party going till early morning. The owners of the property, Carina and Pablo were incredibly helpful and kind and made sure everything ran smoothly, giving us freedom to use the Villa and making us feel at home.

The Decor

Coming from an artistic and creative background this was my opportunity for some fun and enjoyment! After thinking and rethinking about few key decoration points (theme, colour scheme, ambience) I decided that we would have an Art Nouveau theme celebration and we worked with a colour palette of mint, emerald green, blush pink, ivory, and gold. As a daughter of an art collector and art loving mother and now residing in Barcelona, the inspiring city for modernism, I was convinced this would be the right choice for our theme. The collection was mainly composed of glass vases, tablecloths, decorative objects, and was put together in a quest in many cities, bazaars and even searched my mom’s old cabinets to find every single piece that represented that period and match my vision. Still don’t know how I managed to carry on and travel with all these fragile pieces and bring them all to Barcelona in one-piece without breaking or ruining anything! As for the pieces I couldn’t find, I designed and handmade them! Most of the signs including a vintage mirror with art nouveau typeface which was placed in the bar and table cards were made by myself and I enjoyed every second of it!  Our wedding planner Petra and her team in Pearl Sandals helped us with some great ideas and finding the best suppliers for the job. We set up a photo booth, sweet table, bar and few small lounge areas where our guests were able to relax and enjoy the ambience. We received amazing compliments from our family and friends and it was without a doubt my favourite part of the wedding planning process!

The Favours

As a gift to each guest we gave a coaster of Antonio Gaudi’s “Panot Tile”, which was engraved with our names and date on the back and wrapped in Art Nouveau designs wrapping paper. I really enjoyed my visits to the ceramic studio and specially the talks with the artists.

The Flowers

I got inspired and took many ideas from Pinterest and created a board, which I shared with our florist, Esperanca from Vidiella Flors. I didn’t want anything conventional or too structured so we went with a selection of flowers including white peonies, lisianthus, narcissus, calla lilies, orchids, freesias, coral garden roses, blue hydrangea, astilbe, baby eucalyptus, magnolia, to name a few, which were placed loose, garden-style in different old glass vases. Due to the size of the villa, it required large flower arrangements and leaf garlands to be visible and lots of efforts to design and decorate them. My glorious bouquet included peonies, astilbe, dahlia, blush roses, baby eucalyptus and was wrapped in Mokuba and Froufrou Chic long ribbons.

The Ceremony

Even though Ali is not Catholic, we both wanted a traditional religious ceremony and Parroquia Sant Vicenc de Montalt in the uphill to the old town of Sant Vicenc de Montalt provided the most beautiful setting with a magnificent view of the sea. Father Juan Ramon conducted the service in Spanish and English to integrare all the guests that not only were from different nationalities, but also from different religions. He gave heartfelt, personal views creating a welcoming ambience and lovely ceremony. In absence of my father, I held my lovely brother’s hand and walked down the aisle with live music playing Gabriel’s Oboe of Ennio Morricone in the background. One of my bridesmaids and her gorgeous little daughter were the ring bearer. My old-time friends did the readings and brought tears to everyone’s eyes. Imperial Concert chamber orchestra composed by a violin, viola, cello, flute and acoustic guitar played a list of music that meant a lot to us. Once after the declaration of consent and exchange of the rings we had to hold our breath and tears when the soprano sang a cappella the latin version of Schubert’s “Ave Maria” - truly an unforgettable moment. 

The Entertainment

We started the night arriving to Villa Blanca in an absolutely fantastic classic Morgan owned by friendly Joan Leon of Barcelonasyoulike, who made us laugh and feel relaxed at all times. “Get Lucky” was playing in the background accompanied by string instruments live. The Catalan flamenco group composed by a Spanish couple, Meri and Carles, and musicians performed exquisitely and made us dance on the tablao under a starry night. The flamenco show was a highlight and we can’t imagine beginning the dance party by DJ Josep in a more magical way than surrounded by a circle of family and friends all amazed by the live performance. The magical out-door dance area surrounded by candles and silver fountain fireworks under the stars with our first-dance favourite song “Dance Me to the End of Love” by Leonard Cohen playing in the back marked a sublime and an intimate moment for us. It was the time to enjoy ourselves and felt like a fairytale! Right after our first-dance ended we joined our guests and fireworks were sent off. Hard to describe how happy we felt by making our dreams come true that night!

The Food

The catering was provided by chef Guillem of Fusio Catering. During the reception we served cold and warm aperitifs. We included flavors from our countries, including some Argentinean, Iranian and Spanish ones. First course consisted of Avocado timbal salad with king prawns and crunchy corn and as main course we served “Farcellet” of rack of lamb in it’s juice with pumpkin ganache, sautéed asparagus with ham and do fin potatoes. Passion fruit sorbet with crunchy chocolate and the cake was four textures of chocolate with white chocolate coulis. Everything was absolutely delicious and fantastically presented.

The Photography

Photography being the reason how we met and most importantly stayed connected while we were apart, we wanted a photographer that could portrait us faithfully and could be able to capture spontaneous moments that could convey emotions without forcing them. We did a comparison list and Sara Lazaro was among our favourite photographers.

The Videography

We are very thankful to AnkerProd by lovely couple, Lucia and Jose, for going one step further and creating such an incredible story that was able to accommodate so much love and happiness into a short video.

Final Thoughts

11 nationalities form different continents and countries travelled to be with us and witness our wedding celebration. We are so thankful to all of them without whom we couldn’t have done this. We really wanted our family members and friends to feel that they were not just guests, but rather a very important part of our day. Being a super detail-oriented couple, made this entire experience to happen as planned, at least most of it! But we realised no matter how hard you plan your wedding; you can never be the actor and actress as well as the director of your event. Fortunately, those bloopers were only noticed by us as our guests were too busy having fun. People told us that wedding day would pass so fast and we couldn’t agree anymore! Make sure to have some time alone together. The best moments come and disappear with a blink of an eye. It’s a once in a life-time day and it belongs to you!