On the 28th July 2018 me and my long term Menorcan man tied the Knot in our Menorcan wedding of dreams surrounded by my English family and his Spanish-Menorcan family mix. The previous year we had had a beautiful and intimate ceremony in Leigh on Sea In England to make things official which was very special because my lovely nan who was very elderly and not in the best health was able to see us get married and it is something I will always treasure. We always knew we wanted to have a big Menorcan wedding also in the height of the summer with a party under the stars until the early hours and that we did!!
I had my hair done by a hairdresser from a shop in Mercadal. She came to the villa on the morning of the wedding.
My dress was from Pronovias https://www.pronovias.com/gb/I loved the Spanish vibe of the dress with the huge ruffles! My shoes were from LK Bennet https://www.lkbennett.com/
David's whole outfit was from Hugo Boss, we went in store in Westfield and they just sorted him out, they were brilliant! They also made alterations to his suit. https://www.hugoboss.com/uk/sale/?ef_id=:G:s&targetid=kwd-77103422110749:loc-188
All my beautiful flower girls in Monsoon dresses https://www.monsoon.co.uk/womens/dresses/ and bespoke Palmairas of course!! Shop our Mini collection here:https://palmairasandals.com/collections/mini
The beautiful bridesmaids in dresses from Revolve https://www.revolve.com/
I get quite a few message from people planning weddings abroad so I thought I would write a little blog about our day in hope that it will help and inspire others who are thinking about a Menorcan wedding or wedding abroad.
My first tip would be hire a wedding planner!!
The flower girls make their entrance...Perla wasn't even 1 so she got carried by our biggest Niece Candy.
Daddy walking me down the Aisle to Michael Buble's version of Ave Maria
We had the most amazing wedding planner called Noemi who worked alongside the catering team. We used caterers based in Ciutadella called Moli des Comte https://www.molidescomte.com/en/ You could either use the catering service alone or hire the planner on top for a fee (I cant remember how much exactly but I think she was around 1000 euros) That was seriously the best money we ever spent for the wedding, she organised EVERYTHING from the flowers to the table plans, order of service to lighting. She was a constant calm presence and nothing was too much trouble for her. The only thing to bear in mind is to check your wedding planner/caterers speak English if you don't speak Spanish as all of the team we used were Spanish speaking only.
Tracey (my sis) and David's best friend Jose led the ceremony and they did a great job!
With our babies! Make sure you have a designated baby sitter at the wedding who will take care of the kids for you. My sister in law Liv sorted them out and even got them to sleep for us.
We had a very clear idea of how we wanted everything to look like and run throughout the day so make sure you have done all your research and have all your Pinterest boards ready so the planner understands exactly what you want.
The venue we used had a pool that could be completely shut off which was perfect as we had young children at the time and did not want to be worrying about them near the water.
Venue wise, the planner took us to a number of Venues that they use on a regular basis but we didn't end of going for any of those choices as we luckily have a friend in Menorca who deals with property and he rented us the most beautiful Villa called Ses Quartarades http://finca-ses-cuarterades.hotels-in-menorca-island.com/en/ just outside of Alyior in the countryside. We rented the property for a week which I would so recommend if you can as it means you can get ready there, have the wedding and then just chill for the rest of the week with close family. I think the Villa we used has now been sold but there are some beautiful villas all over Menorca to rent you just need to check they are happy to use it as a wedding venue. Also if you are thinking of having a wedding in the summer holidays be prepared to pay! Menorca is quite expensive and only getting more so the more popular it become and property during high season is quite pricey. May/June time can be beautiful in Menorca and would definitely be cheaper at that time rather than July and especially August.
For our photographer we used the company called L'atelier https://lateliermenorca.com/en/ a small company based in Mahon. We were so happy with the photos, she really captured our day. We also used a videographer from a company called Dime Que Si http://solodimequesi.com/#:~:text=Videos%20de%20boda%20en%20Menorca%20-%20Solo%20dime,olvidarte%20nunca%20de%20lo%20que%20ser%C3%A1%20tu%20boda. who was amazing. I would so recommend having a videographer. I think a lot of people skip it as they think its an extra cost that can be avoided but to have a film of your wedding day is such a special thing, it captures those memories so much more than photos can.
All ready for the dinner! Lighting is so important, we spent quite a bit on lighting as its such an important factor to give the right atmosphere.
We made a big entrance to the dinner to one of our favourite Gypsy Kings songs!! Don't be afraid to go OTT at your own wedding, its the only day when it is all about you and your husband, make the most of it!!
Let the speeches commence...
Mum and dad looking absolutely gorgeous.
Entertainment wise, we had one of David's friends bands play after the ceremony at the cocktail/nibbles part which was really nice, laid back guitar and singer type thing. I would highly recommend having a singer/band at this part of the wedding and also a a good stream of drinks/nibbles on hand as it tends to be the part when people have had enough of sitting and are hungry etc! If you have a wedding planner they will be able to give you a list of performers to choose from. After dinner we then had a DJ from a company called Ritmo Menorca https://www.ritmomenorca.com/ who played until 5am!! We had a huge party after the dinner with everyone dancing under the stars and it was the best and most memorable part of the day.
Let's get this party started..!
I got changed in the evening into something short and sparkly from River Island https://www.riverisland.com/women
Party people!!!
All in all, our Menorcan wedding was the best day of our lives, everything ran to plan, all our loved ones were there and we had the best day ever!! It definitely was pretty stressful to plan and you have to be willing to put in the time and effort. We tend to be in Menorca every couple of months anyway due to family and work commitments so we had plenty of opportunities to meet up with the planner and organise everything in advance. I don't know how easy it would be to do everything over email/skype etc so be prepared to fly back and forth if you want everything to be perfect.
To sum up my top tips for a wedding abroad would be:
- Hire a wedding planner
- Make sure you give your guests plenty of notice ( at least a year if not more) a wedding abroad is a big ask and the more notice you give the more likely they will be able to come.
- Make sure you speak the language of the country you are getting married in or know someone that does!
- Hire a videographer
- Make sure you are completely happy with the venue and that its 100% SAFE if you have young children running around (we had a 1 and a 3 year old at the time!)
- Sort out transport for your guests to get to and from the venue (we used the local coach firm) after your guests have paid out on flights and accommodation they aren't going to want to spend on taxis!
- Have a clear idea on what you want your wedding to look like and how the day will pan out-Pinterest is great to gather ideas.
