Ali & Jon

Sun drenched and incredibly romantic this black tie wedding at The Quinta Manor House in Portugal is going to knock your socks off. Beautiful styled by Peony and Blush Weddings with greenery and white florals, elegant gold accents and festoon lights. Have you seen the table scape yet? Just WOW! Rory Lindsay's photography really makes you feel like you are there with the couple, enjoying every moment of their vintage, destination wedding, which is more than fine by me.

Our Story

Ali the Bride: After 4 years, together, Jonathan proposed in the charming fairy tale town of Sintra, Portugal – a place close to my heart as I grew up near Lisbon in my younger years. We knew from that very moment that we also wanted to get married there and so the search for the perfect venue began.

Venue

We got married at “The Quinta” an old farmhouse style venue in the Sintra Hills. We fell head over heels for this place the moment we set eyes on it. Steeped in history, this venue is set in enchanting gardens and overlooks stunning views of the Atlantic Ocean. Most importantly, the chapel was everything I had ever dreamt of, I walked in and my wedding vision came to life!

The Dress

I was a bride who knew what I wanted when it came to my wedding dress. I tried on all different styles just to make sure that I was happy with my decision and then I found Lyn Ashworth by Sarah Barrett who had the most perfect dress to inspire me. I decided on a bespoke dress, and was involved every step of the way. I knew I wanted a classical look but I chose to have a low neckline corset to give the dress more of a modern feel. I never wanted to take the dress off, and will still find excuses to wear it around the house!

Bridal Accessories

I had a gold sparkly belt made with an organza bow for the back of my dress, I am a huge lover of bows and that was one aspect of my dress that everyone guessed right! Jewellery I kept simple, I wore a pair of diamond studs that my mother and father had bought me years before. I am a huge shoe lover and considered some blue “sex and the city” Manolos for my big day. However, when it came to it, I just wanted to wear the pair of Louboutin’s that my mum had bought for me years earlier. They had so much sentiment to me; I wore them the night I met my now-husband, so I had the love from my mum and my husband connected to them. Wedding Dress shopping was a mix of emotions for me, having lost my beautiful Mum 2 years earlier. Sarah Barrett was not only incredibly talented; she has become a dear friend to me. I couldn’t have done it without her, she made everything possible and kept my father and I full of love and laughter throughout the whole process.

Grooms Attire

Jonathan shopped everywhere in London to find a nice black tie suit. In the end, he chose a navy blue black-tie Charles Tyrwhitt suit with black silk lapel’s. He wore a black velvet bow tie from Mrs BowTie in a larger size with a black pocket square with white dots, which was one of his fathers.

Colour Scheme/Décor

Being a girl who loves all things pink, I remember my mum saying to me “darling, please don’t ever have a wedding covered in pink and butterflies” so staying true to this I decided to go for a white and green colour scheme. I wanted a very classical, elegant feel. The overall decoration was mainly foliage and white flowers and then I had white and black striped bows for the table place names and a few gold accents around the venue, such as “A&J” lettering.

Stationery

Our stunning stationery was made by the incredible Judy Broad Calligraphy. I wanted gold calligraphy on black place name cards, tied with the black and white striped ribbon and a focal table plan to match. Judy and I worked extremely hard together to design our table plan as I wanted something bespoke. The day before the wedding, myself, husband-to-be and amazing bridesmaid Adele, put it all together with the help of the venue who sourced us an incredible frame to put it in. I was SO pleased with our stationery as it reflected our wedding theme perfectly.

Flowers

I wanted an enchanted forest feel with a touch of white. The ladies at My Wedding Flowers Portugal, did exactly that. My bouquet, I wanted a wild style with mainly greenery, I love eucalyptus! My bridesmaids and groomsmen had the same flowers but smaller versions. We had one long banqueting table as we only had 60 guests. To decorate I chose to have a beautiful table garland made of eucalyptus, fern and white flowers to line the entire table and for a touch of opulence, gold candelabras, charger plates and cutlery.

The Wedding Party Fashion

Our dress code was black tie for all our guests and wedding party. The groomsmen wore their own black tie suits and were gifted bow ties from us. I struggled to find bridesmaids dresses I liked, I decided to have the dresses bespoke made by my wedding dress designer and with much surprise to all my close friends, I decided on black with a hint of sparkle. The girls looked stunning, the dresses had similarities to mine such as the lace and the belt and I was so happy with them! I found Manolo-esque shoes from Dune, black suede with a diamante buckle on a pointed toe. My father, a lover of all things sartorial, decided on a bespoke suit made by the talented Adrian Barrows and everyone loved his suit! He wanted to look different from the rest of the bridal party, so decided against black, and I loved it!

Ceremony

We had a candle lit ceremony in an intimate chapel scattered with white rose petals. I wanted the entrance to the chapel to feel magical and the floral arch over the entrance was gorgeous. We had a harpist play my favourite composer, Ludovico Einaudi. It created a romantic atmosphere and there wasn’t a dry eye in the room. We chose two readings, I wanted spiritual readings and decided upon one ancient Sanskrit reading and an American Indian Reading read by my old boss who is a dear friend and one of Jonathans close friends.

Entertainment

Harpist for the ceremony We put together playlists for the cocktail reception and the dinner. We had a DJ for the evening, who played a playlist we carefully put together. Photo booth

Food

We were so lucky with the food! We had amazing canapes of camembert to share and lots of other Portuguese delicacies which went down an absolute treat with our guests. Accompanied by cocktails, a speciality was the white port cocktail with pink peppercorns. We chose the dinner menu, and everyone commented that it was the most incredible food they had eaten. We had starters of goat cheese pastries on rucola salad, followed by a fish course of monkfish and prawns in a Portuguese sauce on a bed of courgetti. This was then followed by a steak course, which was incredible. Lastly we had a chocolate and passionfruit pudding – who doesn’t love chocolate?!

Cake

We wanted a simple cake, so we opted for white icing decorated with foliage and white flowers. We had red velvet sponge for the inside of the cake and it was delicious!

Photographer

Capturing the day through photography and videography were the most important aspects of the wedding to me. It is what we will always look over and remember our day by. I have known our photographer Rory Lindsay for several years; his work is incredible and I knew I always wanted him to capture our wedding day. We didn’t want traditional photographs, we wanted natural shots that captured the raw feelings on the day and he did just that and more!

Videographer

We chose our videographers because they shot in an arty way and told a story. When we were looking at their portfolio, their work was just so beautiful and on the day, they were so discreet, being unobtrusive was very important to us. We are yet to see the finished film but we cannot wait to sit down with a glass of red and relive our special day.