Kelly and Stuart’s Music Themed Portugal Wedding. By Matt and Lena Photography

Happy Friday everyone! We got there in the end, are you as glad that it’s Friday as I am? To finish off the week in style I have this fabulous wedding all the way from Portugal to shine some summer sunshine on you ready for the weekend. The wedding is just beautiful set in the stunning location of Lagos, the outdoor ceremony and beach side portrait shots really take advantage of the beautiful surroundings and that wonderful sunshine. Kelly and Stuart put together a wonderful day with a music theme running throughout. Big thanks to Matt and Lena Photography for the gorgeous images.

‘It was a day filled with a plethora of emotions, but mostly feeling very loved by our wonderful friends and family. We made a special commitment to each other and celebrated in true style with a brilliant all day and night party.’

Kelly and Stuart were married on 21 June 2014 at Vivenda Miranda Hotel the reception at Duna Beach Club – both Lagos,Portugal. ‘Stuart is Scottish and I am Irish so travel was always on the cards. We wanted an extended party so going to the sun was a great option and Lagos is beautiful (we searched most of the Algarve for our venue). We had about 70 guests in total and it took about 14 months to plan.

The Proposal
I had just come back from New York where I was supposed to run the NYC Marathon – it had been cancelled due to bad weather. Stuart wanted to cheer me up and suggested going for dinner to one of our favourite restaurants, The Kings Wark in Leith, Edinburgh. He was very cool, calmly placing the ring box on the table after out meal. I was really surprised as whilst we had talked generally about getting married we didn’t have any realplans. We checked into Malmaison and celebrated with champagne for the rest of the night, it was brilliant.

How did you allocate your budget
We prioritised the things that were important and didn’t scrimp on them. You would be surprised the small things that can cost a lot

How did you choose your photographer
We reviewed many, many websites and took some recommendations. In the end we found Matt & Lena online and their style was so fresh and young feeling, they were perfect.

The Dress
The dress and headpiece is by Lilliana Dabic for La Novia in Edinburgh. (They are both for sale even though I love them dearly!).

The Suit and Bridesmaids
The suit from Slanj, Edinburgh and bridesmaids Damsel in a dress (Nicola’s royal blue dress).

Theme or Colour Scheme
We wanted to keep it simple, so white linen and flowers. We both love music and it’s a big part of our lives so our invites, favours, table plan and centrepieces surrounded this theme.

Flowers
Simple baby’s breath and white roses.

Food
We had a starter of crispy scallops and mashed peas, followed by caipirhinasorbet, for main it was a choice of monkfish or steak and desert was passion fruit cheesecake with white chocolate. It was all mouth-watering.

Wedding Cake
A cake of cheese, made up of various Portuguese goat, sheep and cow cheeses served with beautiful figs, fruit and crackers.

Entertainment
A number of sing songs between each venue and a DJ.Katie also serenaded everyone.

Buy or DIY your Stationery
We bought them on Etsy and got so many compliments

Personal or Handmade Touches
We worked with Algarve Wedding Planners who gave us good support in working with local suppliers. As music was really important to us we spent a lot of time preparing playlists for the various parts of the day. We made our own table plans and centrepieces by buying old 7” records and covering them in the middle with a the name of one of our favourite locations such as Melbourne, Glastonbury and of course, our table Lagos.Boththe Irish and Scottish contingent learned new songs over the course of the ‘wedding week’.

Special Moments
Our friend Woody sang us down the aisle to The Proclaimers song ‘Let’s Get Married’ which was really special. Seeing each other atthe top of the aisle was fantastic. The speeches were very emotional and fun. My sister had us in tears, my mother got away with murder during her speech! There is too many to list we felt so special and so loved by everyone.

Advice to other couples
Don’t compromise on something you are really passionate about. You can’t control everything on the day so you’ve got to relax once it arrives; having a planner is great because someone you can rely will be there keeping things moving. Try to film it, it doesn’t have to be professional, our videos are the best to look back on and laugh. Go abroad, it was the best decision we ever made!

Biggest surprise
How quickly the day went, I’d love to do it all again. How emotional and funny the speeches would be. Oh and lots of people ended up in the pool, but we thought that might happen!

Supplier Shout Outs

• Venue – www.vivendamiranda.com
• After-party – www.en-gb.facebook.com/dunabeachlagos
• Photographer – www.mattandlenaphotography.com
• Wedding Planners – www.algarveweddingplanners.com
• Invitations – www.etsy.com/transaction/190972102?
• Music – www.jukebox.com

For more information on Matt and Lena’s work please go to:

www.mattandlenaphotography.com
www.mattandlenaphotography.com/blog
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Matt and I are a husband and wife wedding photography team based in the south of Portugal. Our photography style is artful and documentary. We love our images to tell a beautiful story. We are passionate about traveling and are happy to go wherever a love story takes us.