Ok team, hold on to your hats. This morning we've got a Paloma Cruz wedding, shot by Pablo Laguia, with a Wes Anderson inspired vibe. I know, I know, it really doesn't get much better than that does it?! Well actually it totally does, as we can claim this gorgeous pair as our own - Emily and Joseph are Brits, who chose this Spanish dream team to bring their wedding plans to life. And oh my goodness we're pleased they did. There aren't really any words to describe how epic this wedding is, so I'll let the photographs do the talking, along with the report from the leading lady herself, beautiful Bride Emily... Are you ready to reach Pampas Grass Heaven? I thought so.

Our Story

Emily the Bride: We met through a friend in an East London boozer a little over 5 years ago. It was very instantaneous and we fell for each other very quickly. We’re both proper idiots and make each other laugh loads, a recipe for success. Joe proposed on New Years Eve. We were staying in a gypsy hut in the New Forest, we’d been drinking whiskey cocktails dancing around a fire pit listening to The Doors. It was mega. When we woke up the next morning and opened the door 4 wild horses had gathered outside.

The Venue

We threw about a few options but decided on Spain as we had come across Paloma Cruz and wanted her and Eugenio to bring our wedding plans to life. Our requirement was a large villa we could stay in with 20 of our closest friends for a week, having the wedding in the middle and a big pool party/BBQ the following day. Visually we wanted it to have a faded grandeur, think Wes Anderson. They helped us to find our place.

The Clothes

I had a day trying on dresses in traditional bridal shops with my now mother in law Fruity. She was brilliant, she really understands clothes and fabrics and massively helped me figure out the sort of thing I should go for. Once I had figured out the shape, my friend Giles and I began formulating ideas for the dress he made for me. I think it was finished on the wedding day. The dress had a ballerina feel to it, but the detail was hundreds of stars cascading through the back. Giles surprised me by adding in 2 very subtle pale blue stars to represent my Mum and Grandpa who are no longer with us. I wore gold shoes from By Far, Linda Farrow sunglasses and custom J and E earrings, which were a stunning gift from Becca Jewellery. Joe had a trip down Saville Row with our friend, and most stylish bloke in London, Richie Biedul. After some deliberation he went for an off the peg (he’s blessed with very good proportions) from Richard James, which was then tailored to his specifications. He wore a super skinny tie from YSL and blue half brogues from Paul Smith. The bridesmaids all wore different dresses, 3 of them were from Reformation and 1 was Revolve. I personally think a ‘one size fits all’ bridesmaid dress scenario is a bit dated. We wouldn’t all wear the same dresses on a night out! My flower girl Sophie wore a dress from Tutu du Monde and some fluffy Zara sandals.

The Hair and Makeup

Joe had a wedding morning spruce with the wonderful Ben of Agents Barbering Saloon. He’s a dear friend and incredible talent who very kindly came round and fixed Joe up before a quick outfit change to attend the wedding. In the run up to the day Joe was having regular cuts with the brilliant Jody Taylor. Another legend, my friend Lauren Dunn did all the girls hair. She is the best of the best and also coloured my hair pre wedding, no one does blonde like she does. My matron of honour @lipstick_lille_makeup was a total hero and did all the girls makeup. Being a makeup artist I did my own face and nails. I was super calm on the wedding morning, perhaps being part of those stages for so many clients over the years meant the usual jitters didn’t appear. Feel free to get in touch if you’re planning your own nuptials!

The Photography

I don’t really need to say anything do I? We knew immediately we wanted Pablo Laguia to capture our day, we booked him in the day his diary became available for 2018. Him and his beautiful wife Ana were fun, relaxed, just amazing. Both Joe (a photographer) and I work day to day on photo shoots so were certain we didn’t want traditional wedding photos – NO GROUP SHOTS! He captured the energy of the day perfectly. Also on his recommendation we hired David Rodriguez to video the day, it's a spectacle - his work is stunning. He too was an awesome guy, incredibly friendly and jovial. It’s so important to have the right people to capture the day, if you don’t feel totally comfortable it’ll read in the images.

The Wedding

I was played down the aisle by our friend Myles on the guitar, an acoustic version of ‘Wild Horses’ by the Stones. Our friend Joe officiated, he was BRILLIANT. There were 2 readings and my dear friend John (accompanied by Myles on the guitar) sang ‘Tender’ by Blur. We hid instruments under guests seats so they could join in. It was ace. We were played back down the aisle to Talking Heads ‘This must be the place.’ I was very specific throughout the planning on what vision I had, Paloma grasped it immediately and elevated it to a level I could have never imagined. The flowers were brought in from Amsterdam! My bouquet was so beautiful I made sure to order a ‘stunt bouquet’ for throwing later in the day, I kept my flowers next to our bed and pressed some of the flowers to frame. We had one long banquet table, and Joe and I entered the wedding breakfast with smoke cannons to William Onyeabor’s ‘Fantastic Man.’ I’m music obsessed and spent months perfecting play lists and selections for every part of the day. We’d booked the loveliest DJ, poor guy had absolutely no creative freedom all day! Our cake was brought to life by the fantastic Caperucita Cupcakes. I asked them to make a Ziggy Stardust cake with leopard print inside. We did a balloon release, we used bio-degradable balloons and string which meant a lot of them went pretty limp but it was beautiful nonetheless. Song: ‘What The World Needs Now’ by Burt Bacharach. Our first dance was ‘You & Me’ by Penny & The Quarters, we chose this because it’s a song we adore but it’s quite short, we didn’t want too much mushy romantic stuff. Then we played Chuck Berry’s ‘You Never Can Tell’ to get everyone going again. My matron of honour was black and blue all down her right thigh the next day from bashing a tambourine along to the music all night.

Final Thoughts

Overall we just wanted everyone to get hammered, dance, eat, laugh. There was patonque being played, icons masks, everyone used the table foliage to fashion headpieces, our mate even brought his tattoo gun and a few of us got inked! My niece spent most the day either taking peoples money to reserve Flamingo rides or plotting (and eventually succeeding) to push the best man in the pool. We got loads of pizzas delivered in the evening and shots of coffee patron were going round on trays. BRITS ABROAD.