The First, The Last, My Everything.

Anna and Nick married in a little church in Madrid in April 2012. The reception was at the Club Financiero Génova which is in the heart of the city.

Photography for this Delicious Destination city shindig was undertaken by the hugely talented by Pen and Cam at McKinley-Rodgers Photography.

Prepare to get super stylish in the city peeps…

I Was Made To Feel Like a Bride

My dress was from Rosa Clara and even though it is a Spanish designer I actually purchased my dress in the beautiful bridal boutique Mamfii Bridal here in the UK. I had planned to buy the dress in Madrid however once I stepped into Mamfii Bridal I just fell in love with the place and I was made to feel like a bride. In Spain I felt like cattle in a meat market when I stepped into the bridal shop. It made things simpler when it came to dress fittings having the dress in the UK. Also the staff at Mamfii seem to be trained in the art of wedding dress origami, they expertly gave me the dress in a hand luggage box!

The dress chose me. It’s incredible how different your shape can look in each dress. All I knew was that I wanted a matted material in a natural white. As soon as I tried this dress on it just felt…right.

Lace And Bling

I wore a lace bolero for the ceremony and a long cathedral veil with lace trim, both from Rosa Clara. I am glad I made the choice to have a bolero, I did feel quite exposed without it and for the church it just seemed a little bit more respectful. It also offered a different ‘look’ in the evening once I took it off.

I searched for weeks, much to my colleagues amusement, for the ‘perfect’ hair comb. I wanted something quite blingy (in contrast with my plain dress). I eventually found the comb from Donna Crain. It was blingy without being garish, well…I think so

Dance The Night Away

Nick and I are the same height so I chose some kitten heels from Dune. This also meant I could dance the night away. I think I would have been worried if I had worn higher shoes.

Crazy Curls

I am half Spanish and I inherited the crazy curls from my Spanish side. I chose to have my hair up in case of rain (thank goodness I did). I just knew that no amount of hairspray would control the frizz if it was humid. I chose two French braids on the side and an elaborate bun. Once it was in place I could forget about it and it was comfortable. The veil was also quite heavy and it needed the bun so it had something to support it.

Strong Colours

I chose pink Peonies for the bouquets which were pretty voluptuous flowers however they do bruise very easily. I chose pastel hydrangeas for the church and brighter hydrangeas for the centerpiece. The venue was quite modern so we needed brighter stronger colours.

Let Go And Relax

We had a very loose colour scheme. I always felt that when everything matches exactly it does not feel organic. We tried keeping everything towards blues and pinks. This also made things easier because I could not be in Madrid for most of the planning and trying to describe the perfect colour blue down the phone or through email was not easy. Learning to let go and relax about specific concepts was the hardest part about planning a wedding abroad.

Traditional

The Groom wore a traditional morning suit along with the wedding party with a blue tie to pull the colour scheme a little bit.

Beautifully Composed

We met Pen and Cam from McKinley-Rodgers Photography a year before our wedding at one of our best friends weddings. Not only were they genuinely lovely people who clearly love each other and believed in love but their work is just stunning. They capture the story and emotion in a beautifully composed space. We felt relaxed with them and trusted them to do a great job. We also needed photographers that could handle our intense Spanish and English combination.

Lost The Plot

The cake is a funny story… after getting quite frustrated with Spanish cake makers (over charging) I decided to purchase an M&S fruit cake and drive it to Spain. Nicks first reaction was to think that I had finally lost the plot. But the more I thought about it the more I realised the sanity in my magnificent plan.

So a week before the wedding I picked up our M&S fruit cake, 4 tiers in separate boxes. We loaded it into my car in a large plastic container, along with Bridesmaid dresses, wedding dress and luggage and embarked on a 2 day journey. The cake survived just fine and I put it together in Madrid adding two little birds and ribbon and it tasted great!

No Waiting Around

For our entertianment he hired a DJ. Everyone danced for hours. The wedding was quite short 6pm – 2:30am so no one really waited around at any point and the evening flowed really well. I cannot imagine now having an all-day wedding. I loved being able to have a slow start to the day.

A Bit Of Barry

We didn’t plan to have a first dance but we ended up on the dance floor in the middle of everyone dancing to Barry White (You’re the First, the Last, My Everything).

Sweet Charity

We thought long and hard about wedding favours and in the end after calling quite a few places we decided to make a donation to Doctors without borders. An organisation that offers medical help to those in need. We also bought boxes of mints where the proceeds go to Doctors without borders and placed them on the tables. There are so many Charities that will give you a little something for your guests.

Minor Hiccups

On the actual day we had a few little things that went wrong. My sister was sewn into her dress before we left to go to the church because her zip broke. The car broke down on the way to pick us up from the church (Rolce-Royce Phantom), luckily we had a backup car just in case.

But on the actual day all that mattered was that we were getting married with all our family and friends there to support us. Honestly this is what I really take away: How lucky we are to be so much in love and to have found each other. How blessed we are to have such a passionate and incredible family. Our friends are just outstanding people, many traveling from all over the world to be with us.

Thank you.

Venue – Club Financiero Génova

Dress – Rosa Clara

Boutique – Mamfii Bridal

Hair Comb – Donna Crain

Shoes – Dune

Photographer – McKinley-Rodgers Photography

Cake – M&S

City slick, with Spanish flair and some fantastic touches of tradition thrown in too.

I love those roof top shots. I know we often say that such-and-such an image should be blown up super-massive and put on a wall… but if those ones with the words CENTRO and COLON don’t end up printed on an oversize canvas then a major W-day mis-justice has occurred!

Just sensational.

Adam.