Allie and Patrick's Intimate and Relaxed Micro Wedding in Portugal by Matt and Lena Photography

There are no rules when it comes to weddings, you can have them as big or as small as you want them. Micro weddings are becoming more and more popular, while others choose HUGE affairs with hundreds of guests. Allie and Patrick chose an intimae relaxed day for their destination wedding in Portugal, which suited them perfectly. They opted for close friends and family, a great location and delicious food, and let Patricks grandma act as officiant, the rest was pure wedding magic. It was all captured perfectly by Matt and Lena Photography.

Relaxed, intimate, family-oriented with incredible food!

Allie and Patrick were married on 21st September 2023 at Hortas do Rio, Carapeteira, Algarve, Portugal. ‘We traveled to Portugal to hike along the Algarve coast with Allie’s family for a week. Little did Allie know that Patrick also intended to propose somewhere along the trek. Patrick ended up finding a deserted beach with a small cave that was perfect for an intimate and private proposal. Afterwards, we celebrated with Allie’s family at Hortas do Rio (which inspired us for our ultimate dream wedding location). After just spending one night at Hortas do Rio after getting engaged, we knew it would be the perfect place to have an intimate wedding ceremony. It had the perfect amount of rooms for 12 people, gorgeous grounds, and incredible food. We had 10 guests and it took about a year to plan. Filipe, the owner of Hortas do Rio was our defacto wedding planner, and he was fabulous!’

How they met
We are childhood family friends. Allie grew up across the street from Patrick’s grandparents and was friends with them before she ever met Patrick. When we were both home for the summer and Patrick was staying with his grandparents we reconnected.
How did you choose your photographer?
Searching on the web and Instagram we came across Matt & Lena’s work and loved how they captured the emotion of the day, so many wonderful, fun, silly, and heart-warming moments in beautiful light.

The dress
My dress was Derrick by Maggie Sottero. This was a dream dress – I felt like such a bride and princess in it! It was the perfect mix of classic and sexy.
Flowers
All the floral arrangements were done by the venue, they created beautiful bouquets from their garden.

Food
It was a family style dinner, we feasted on wonderful fresh seafood and BBQ from the grill.
Wedding cake
It was a simple cake that was part of the desert table, made at the venue by Filipe’s Mom and Aunt.

Did you have any personal touches?
The day before the wedding we all went down to the beach where we got engaged, upon returning to the venue we had a watercolour class and each guest painted the scenery from the beach. It was a fun activity for everyone to do and bond over, and it’s an amazing keepsake for us. On the wedding day we displayed everyone’s paintings around the venue.
Advice for other couples
Do what YOU want and make it your special day – we followed our hearts and it led us to create an incredibly special day that we will remember forever.

Special moments
We incorporated our version of a Jewish Sand Ceremony and had our guests collect sand from the beach where we got engaged and then compile all the sand into one vessel during the ceremony. We also each wrote our own vows and our officiant was Patrick’s grandmother. Our ceremony was so special, intimate and personal – being with our favourite people in our favourite place sharing what we love about each other was the absolute best.

Supplier Shout Outs
Photography: Matt + Lena Photography
Wedding Dress: Derrick by Maggie Sottero
Brides shoes: Naturalizer
Grooms Suit: Suit Supply
Groom Shoes: Tecova shoes
Maid of honor dress: Reformation
Rings: Greenlake Jeweler
Invitations: Etsy
Venue, Caterers & Cake: Hortas do Rio

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