In this blog I want to talk to you about our wedding in the Algarve because for my husband and I this day, the 7th of April 2018, was the most beautiful day of our life. Always do what you want, so that in the end you don’t regret a thing! Wish it, dream it, do it. So, we just did it and married in Portugal, because why not?
The following things will be discussed in this blog:
Before our wedding day
When my husband asked me to marry him (if you didn’t know, he asked me in December 2016 in Surinam), I immediately knew we would marry in another country. In the beginning we thought about elopement because we didn’t want to ‘force’ people to come to our wedding and we just wanted to be together. Some friends insisted that they wanted to come, that’s when we started to make invitations for our closest family and friends. We asked a wedding planner for help because we were students and we didn’t know where to start.
Marrying in Portugal was a dream of mine because I just love that country. I mean come on, have you ever been there, what is not to love about that country? Portugal is so divers and at that point I never even went to the beautiful Algarve. If you hear people talk about the Algarve, everybody says it’s stunning. So, we decided to marry in the Algarve. We never saw the place before our wedding (beside a few pictures) because we wanted to be surprised in the moment. I love to just go with the flow.
Our wedding planner was the best! She’s from the Netherlands and she was so helpful. When we talked about our day, she immediately understood us, and she helped us to find the perfect venue. It was hard to choose because there are so many beautiful venues in the Algarve but in the end, we chose for ‘Suites Alba resort & spa’.
Legal marriage
On the 3th of March 2018 we got legally married in Bruges (our birth town in Belgium) and it was literally freezing outside, there was even snow on the ground. We couldn’t wait until Portugal, it would be amazing. We must admit that we were a little stressed out.
I was too late at my legal wedding because I had a tear in my dress. Imagine if that would happen in Portugal with the real dress and with all our friends around. We had a little bit of stress. If you know us, then that’s not normal because we didn’t know what stress meant before all of this happened, just kidding. But hey, practice makes perfect!
Wedding day Portugal
The day before our wedding day, on the 6th of April, we went for a drink at Caniço in Portugal with everybody. It was already an amazing start before our wedding day. If you’re in the Algarve, you should really go to this place, it’s stunning. It’s a bar/restaurant between rocks and you get there with an elevator. We had a nice evening with all our friends and family. After the drinks in Caniço, everybody went to their place because the next day was the day.
Our photographer made a short slideshow of our wedding day, you can watch it if you click on this link.
After months of preparations it was finally our day, the 7th of April. We woke up in Suites Alba Resort. Of course, the bride and groom slept separately after which the day could begin.
Unfortunately, it was raining and that gave us a little bit of worries, but you know what? A little bit of rain never killed anyone. We were told that rain on your wedding day brings you good luck, so that’s nice. Nothing could break our day!
Like I said earlier, we’ve never been to the Algarve so that was our first time and even in the rain it was stunning. Early in the morning we were walking around the venue because it is so beautiful. The location was breathtaking, we couldn’t believe our eyes, it was like in the movies. The day went by so fast and everything about the day is indescribable. Luckily, we have a lot of pictures so that we can relive the moments. Everything was like we wanted, we wouldn’t change a thing, it was our day.
Our day went like this:
- 1:00 pm first look only with bridesmaids
- 3:30 pm everybody’s gathering
- 4:00 pm ceremony (bride comes with the father)
- 4:45 pm toast with married couple
- 5:00 pm reception
- 6:00 pm pictures with the family and friends
- 7:00 pm dinner
- 9:00 pm party
- 10:00 pm cutting pie
The decoration was just like we wanted.
Now our day could start.
My husband went to his mother to go change. My bridesmaids (and sister, brother, mother, father and aunt) came to my room. I had so many nerves as did my husband. It’s indescribable what feelings I had at that moment. It’s amazing, making yourself ready only for your man! It doesn’t matter what other people think, only my man has to like it. I was so nervous.
The first look took place on the cliffs, suddenly it stopped raining, wow that was unexpected because we thought it would rain all day. My man was so nervously waiting on the cliffs. He had a pretty view over the sea while he was waiting on me, so he couldn’t complain.
I arrived at the place where my husband was standing and I placed my hand on his shoulder. He turned around and WOW what a wave of emotions. We can still feel that moment, it was pure happiness. It was…
After the first look the ceremony started and again there were a lot of emotions everywhere. It was beautiful, all the people (only close family and a few friends) were feeling the love. It was such a cozy, lovely group of people that came all the way to Portugal for our wedding, how amazing. After the ceremony we had a small reception and took some photos with everyone, we were talking and relaxing and afterwards we went to eat.
Eventually it was time to party and wow what a party (of course there was Tequila and a lot of dancing). The drinks went down quickly and everybody had a great time.
What a day.
Some of our guests called it a fairytale and that’s exactly how it felt for us. Others said it was the most beautiful wedding they had been to. It’s so nice to hear that from people.
We got every type of weather on our wedding literally from freezing and snow in Bruges to sunshine and rain, even a little bit thunder (from far away) in Portugal. It was just amazing because we’re obsessed by nature. Nature is something magical just like our wedding day in Portugal. It was pure magic. For us magic does exist, our wedding day is the proof of it!
Suppliers list
| Service | Supplier | Contact numbers |
|---|---|---|
| Wedding planner | Rixt Barendsma | (+31) 625032656 |
| Photographer | Jesús Caballero | (+351) 963440750 |
| Venue | Suites Alba Resort | (+351) 282380700 |
| Celebrant | Greonne Bomius | (+351) 919220156 |
| DJ | Algarve DJ Hire | (+351) 910064680/910534514 |
| Guitar player | Charley Waite | (+351) 916112856 |
| Hair and make-up | Judith van de Loo | (+351) 934277560 |
| Flowers | Ely Flores | (+351) 914544415 |
| Wedding cake | Helen Walker | (+351) 961384033 |
Outfit
| Wedding rings | Tiffany & Co. |
| Wedding dress | Morilee by Madeline Gardner
Dress: Mina |
| Wedding shoes | Linea Raffaelli |
| Scarf | Poirier |
| Costume | Benvenuto |
| Shoes groom | Clarks |
We also wanted to thank our amazing wedding planner, Rixt Barendsma, for making our dream come true. She showed us that everything is possible and there are no limits for your wedding day. Our wedding planner arranged the venue (after showing a lot of places), our suppliers and helped with our decoration. She took care of our day, to make sure that it went like it should. If you want to read the review we wrote, you can look on her facebook page or on this website.
A special thanks to the photographer for making the most beautiful pictures. When we saw the pictures afterwards we couldn’t stop looking. Every moment of that day, he recorded in photos. All our guests loved him and said that he was the best. He’s such an amazing person and photographer! You can read our review on his facebook page or on his google page.
A big thanks to our celebrant, hair and make-up stylist, the guitar player, the DJ and the venue for helping to make our dream come true. We also wanted to thank all the other suppliers for making our day complete!
Of course we wanted to thank all our friends (and some family) to come to the best day of our life!! We wouldn’t change a thing! It was PERFECT for us!
If you have any questions or you want to marry in another country and want some extra information, just ask! If you want to know how to plan your wedding, read my blog about How to plan your dream wedding?
Extra pictures
