Hannah and Wayne’s Beautiful Sun Drenched Portugal Wedding By Matt and Lena Photography

Today we are saying goodbye to the cold December weather and heading off to sunny Portugal for this beautiful wedding in the Algarve. Hannah and Wayne chose Portugal as their wedding destination as Hannah’s parents have an apartment there and chose the stunning Algarve Villas for their ceremony and reception. With a simple yet stunning pastel green colour scheme with accents of brown and white, the overal effect is chic but with a rustic edge and is totally stunning. I just love the evening beach portraits, the low sunlight is magical. Big thanks to Matt and Lena Photography for these wonderful images.

‘A beautiful day with lots of love and plenty of laughter with close family and friends. It was beautiful (and HOT) but everything we could have wished for and more’

Hannah and Wayne were married on 27 June 2015 at Casa Refugio, Alvor, Algarve, Portugal. ‘We have visited Alvor many times as Hannah’s parents have an apartment there and we totally love the place. Every time we go we fall even more in love with it. We had a total of 60 guests. We started planning the wedding in January 2014 and we had help from lots of friends and family and mainly Sonho A Dois Wedding planners who did a fabulous job.’

How they met
We met 5 years ago through some friends of ours (the best man and one of the bridesmaids) on a sunny afternoon.

The Proposal
We went on a festive trip to London a few days before Christmas in December 2013, we had planned to go to the winter wonderland and Wayne had booked for us to go on the Ferris Wheel. He had booked a private pod and it had a gorgeous view over Hyde Park and when the wheel was up around the top he got down on one knee and asked the question!

How did you choose your photographer
We found Matt and Lena online after some research.  Their work was brilliant!

The Dress
The dress & veil were from a local boutique called Bridal Apparel and the shoes were from Dune. Something old was Hannah’s mums bracelet, New was Hannah’s shoes, borrowed also the bracelet & blue was a small bow under the train of the dress.

Theme or Colour Scheme
We wanted a very neutral and green pastel theme, with vintage brown (tweed) and white.

Flowers
White roses with gypsophila.

Decoration
Rustic/ vintage theme- bird cages with gypsophila, milk bottle and jars with candles in and tweed tied round. Wicker baskets with bunting.

Food
STARTERS: Fried prawns with garlic sauce served with mushroom risotto
SORBET: Lemon sorbet with almond and almond liqueur
MEAT MAIN COURSE: Beef tenderloin with wild mushrooms and balsamic glaze served with gratin potatoes and green beans bouquet roll with bacon
DESSERT: Cheesecake with vanilla sauce streaked with raspberry coulis

Wedding Cake
Simple 3 tier white cake, vanilla and caramel, with gypsophila.

Entertainment
We had a band and a DJ

The Stationery
All name places, table cards and numbers were hand written and made using twine and card from Hobbycraft and other local stores

Personal or Handmade Touches
All the bridesmaid bags were personalised with special gifts, we also made the women favours out of local almond liquor and gave the men Portuguese lottery tickets. Personalised fans were given to guests for the ceremony and the seating plan was made using a wicker basket and brown card with lolly pop sticks! We had various bridesmaid nights tying twine around candles and milk bottles!

Special Moments
The ceremony was very special seeing each other for the first time that day was a moment we will never forget, but our trip to the beach was also an amazing highlight of our day as we managed to escape and have some time just the two of us and have fun splashing around in the sea with such a perfect setting.

Advice to other couples
Have fun and enjoy it all, look into various ideas and make sure it is all about what you both want from that day! We had such a good time and had so much laughter in both the planning and the day its self. Wish we could do it all over again!

Supplier Shout Outs

• Wedding planners – www.sonhoadois.com/weddings/index.php
• Ceremony and reception – www.algarvillas.pt/Casa%20Refugio.html
• Photography – www.mattandlenaphotography.com
• Video – www.vimeo.com/algarveweddingfilms
• Band and Dj – www.doublecocktailband.com
• Flowers – www.floristaouraflores.com
• Dress – www.bridalapparelleeds.co.uk
• Shoes – www.dunelondon.com
• Stationary – www.hobbycraft.co.uk

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

www.mattandlenaphotography.com / FACEBOOK / I:mattandlena / PINTEREST / @Matt_and_Lena

We are a husband and wife wedding photography duo based in Portugal. Two photographers in love with beautiful light, adventure and each other. We love the freedom of creativity wedding photography offers.  Our style is a combination of art and photojournalism. We work with natural light to create images that tell the story of the wedding day, not just how it looked but how it felt