Inside: An Alfresco Wedding In Alicante

Jenny works as a Senior Brand & Communications Manager within the fashion industry in London and Steven is a Sports Manager. The couple tied the knot in a lavish affair in Spain, August 2022.

The couple met on the dancefloor at Infernos nightclub in Clapham nearly 10 years ago (21/09/2013) – it’s a running joke that (as Rihanna puts it) “we found love in a hopeless place”.

They were in Alicante for a couple of weeks visiting Jenny’s parents in August 2021 at her family home where she grew up, when Steve surprised her with a long weekend trip away to Ibiza. Which is one of their favourite places to visit in the Summer together.

They had had a relaxing day by the sea, then went for dinner at the local tapas restaurant La Bodega Talamanca, located on Talamanca beach where they usually stay. Then, as they walked down the beach to one of the bars to grab a drink, Steve paused and got down on one knee and proposed with her grandmother’s engagement ring that he’d been carrying around in his pocket all day. Jenny’s grandmother had given her mum her engagement ring from the 1950s, which her mum would eventually pass down to Jenny. When Steve told my parents he wanted to propose, Jenny’s mum gave Steve the ring to propose with and he had planned for them to go to choose a ring together when they got back to London. However, her grandmother’s ring held so much sentimental value that she decided nothing else could match it. Jenny’s grandmother sadly passed away just after they got engaged, so having her ring as the engagement ring means she got to have a part of her with her on their wedding day and beyond.

The best part of our day was…

Rather than throw the bridal bouquet, we decided to divide it up into four and give it to our friends who were getting married within the year after us. It felt like a great way to pass on the love and luck to them – it was a beautiful moment!

We chose to get married at…

Casa Santonja, a historic venue in the small town of Beniarbeig in Alicante, Spain. Having grown up nearby (Jenny, the bride), it meant a lot to be able to get married there. It also meant our guests could have a lovely holiday and good weather was guaranteed!

Our ceremony was held in the gardens. One of my closest friend’s who I met in high school, Joe (@Jcubed_), had flown from Australia to officiate the wedding. His officiant speech was so personal, it made us both laugh and cry. I (Jenny) lived with Joe in London when I met Steve, so he had seen our relationship from the very beginning.

While officiating and explaining how we met, Joe announced that he had got in touch with Infernos and arranged as a wedding present from the bridal party for Infernos to have a plaque placed on the ceiling where we met. Infernos ended up turning our meet story & plaque into a TikTok that went a bit viral.

I knew I found ‘The One’ when….

My ceremony dress was @PeterLangner from @BrownsBride. I always thought I would wear a slinky contemporary silk dress, but after trying on lots of different styles I went with something completely opposite. I loved it because the neckline, skirt shape and hand embroidered guipure lace flowers reminded me of Audrey Hepburn’s black and white floral lace Givenchy dress in Funny Face. I mimicked Audrey’s look from the film with natural dewy make up and my hair pulled back into a sleek bun.

My evening dress was a structured contemporary dress with a large black bow on one shoulder and a slit by Australian brand @Rasario from @TheOutnet. I loved that it wasn’t purely white. It also fitted like a glove – I felt amazing in it!

I paired my dresses with earrings from @OreliaJewellery and white @Prada heels from @farfetch. I’ve worn all of these so many times since the wedding!

For my civil ceremony before the wedding I chose a white silk halter dress by @galvanlondon from the (Re)Cycle collection at @thefallbride and paired it with 80s vintage statement earrings from a vintage store in Milan, and a white @Jacquemus bag I rented from @Hurr. I wore the same white Prada shoes, I wore for my wedding day.

The most enjoyable moments of planning were…

All the creative parts – choosing the photographers, the decor, the music…

From the moment we found @Norwud_on Instagram, we loved them! Jaume and Loren are a husband & wife couple who shoot on both film and digital. I’ve (Jenny) always loved film photography, there’s something so timeless and nostalgic about it. They have a talent for capturing beautiful moments in a reportage style. They made us feel super comfortable and were so easy to work with.

The flowers hand-embroidered on my wedding dress reminded me of daisies – one of my favourite flowers. My bouquet and floral décor throughout the venue were all built around this daisy theme. We wanted the decor for dinner to be simple and elegant since the venue itself was so beautiful. We chose long tables and dressed them with white linen, natural woven placemats, blue/green glasses, gold cutlery, different size white candles and eclectic small vases of different types of daisies mixed with other wild white flowers.

Our menu design was created by my friend Mia who owns stationary company @theresapaperie. She drew a never-ending flowing imperfect line as the border in a green which complemented the venue’s green surroundings on grainy paper stock.

As the evening grew darker, strings of bulb lighting illuminated the dinner and candles were lit, creating an intimate atmosphere during the speeches.

We had a pianist and violinist duo play pop songs with a classic twist, while guests arrived at the venue before the ceremony and during appetisers. Everyone said they felt like they’d been transported to one of the scenes in Bridgerton. For the evening we had a DJ play everything from Disco & Motown to Pop & RnB.

Our first dance was…

A mix of ‘You’re All I Need To Get By’ by Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terell, followed by ‘September’ by Earth Wind & Fire (since we actually met on “the 21^st night of September”).

The hardest part of planning was…

Decision paralysis! We didn’t have a wedding planner, we planned it all ourselves. There are so many decisions to make and things to choose for the big day, that if you look at them all at once it can be a little overwhelming. We’re both quite visual people, so to help us make decisions we created a collaborative Pinterest board, adding things we liked as we went along. Then we set some time aside each Sunday to do wedmin, whether responding to suppliers or making any big decisions.

The best accounts to follow on Instagram for big-day inspo are…

@theweddingedition_ (of course!), @overthemoon, @rileyandgrey, @_anti_bride, @vogueweddings, @norwud_, @benjaminwheeler @thebridaljourney @bash_studios @flurlondon @fluoresse__ @gableandgrain @fourteen_forty @aliceandletters @natalie.spencer @empaper.co @studioalissia @studiowrenco.

Wedding menu highlights…

Our guests were welcomed with homemade lemonade on arrival before the ceremony to keep them cool in the August heat.

Following the ceremony, drinks & appetisers were flowing. Including a leg of Iberian Spanish Ham cut on-site by an expert, Spanish cheeses and a wide selection of other appetisers.

For dinner, guests enjoyed a three-course meal with the main being locally sourced fish or braised beef.

In the evening there was an open bar, which also featured each of our two favourite cocktails – Espresso Martini and Mojito.

@mantelliskitchen made our two-tier wedding cake, which they decorated with daisy style flowers completely handmade from icing. The cake’s top layer was prosecco & raspberry, and the bottom layer was chocolate & salted caramel. It was so delicious!

For our honeymoon we chose…

St. Lucia! We’ve both always been dying to go and since one of my (Jenny) friend’s is from there, she gave us lots of recommendations. Since we held our wedding abroad in Spain, where I (Jenny) grew up, we decided to spend some time at my home in La Nucia for final planning before the wedding and afterwards to unwind. Especially since we were driving to Spain and back, so we could bring our dog Peggy with us (and my wedding dresses & Steve’s suit). We’re doing a delayed honeymoon early 2024, which we will be booking imminently.

My top three tips for any couple would be…

Be present! The day will go so quickly, so make sure you live in the moment and soak it all in – otherwise blink, and you’ll miss it.

Chances are everything might not go 100% to plan. If something unexpected happens, don’t dwell on it, as it’s a waste of precious moments. Just take a breath, move on and continue to enjoy the day!

You’ll find yourselves each trying to make your way round all your guests throughout the day. Take some time just the two of you to catch up and be together, even if just for a few minutes. We took 5 mins together just the two of us after we had our photos taken.

If I was able to do it all over again, the one thing I would change is…

That anyone who couldn’t make it to Spain for the wedding could have been there.

We did, however, get the best of both worlds – we also had a civil ceremony just before our wedding in Wandsworth town hall in London. We had just our parents & siblings present, plus a few of our family members who weren’t able to travel to Spain for the wedding.