Inside: A Beachfront Wedding In Ibiza The Wedding Edition

The Story

Before our Ibiza wedding, we met at work over seven years ago. We worked together at Paul Smith within the same team for around one year as friends as we were both in relationships. Our relationships then came to an end, and we started to go out as friends with the wider team and would regularly go out for ‘Thirsty Thursday’s’ with our team and became slightly closer. We eventually started dating around 9 months after our relationships ended and kept this a secret from our team and the business…for around two years. We worked together every day, went on holiday together but didn’t tell anyone and didn’t feature anything about our relationship on social media to keep it under wraps. I then left Paul Smith and one year after this when Tom left Paul Smith, we told our friends who said they knew all along, we don’t believe them!

We got engaged in May 2022 in Ibiza. Tom books all our holidays and is basically my travel agent. We were originally planned to go to Mallorca for 8 days but then we arrived at the airport, and he told me we were going to Ibiza first then flying to Mallorca later in the week. On our second day Tom drove us to Es Vedra spot which is known on the island for having cosmic energy and we hiked the adjacent mountain to it, which we have done many times before. He told me to dress nice which I ignored and showed up in gym wear. On the way up a family followed us the whole way so on the way back down he asked to take pictures of the view which is very unlike him since he hates getting photos. It was at the point of the self-timed camera that he got down on one knee and asked to marry him. We then celebrated at a beach side restaurant called Cala Gracioneta and then all week in Ibiza and Mallorca. Tom designed the ring himself with a local jeweller who lives near us in Stratford, London. It is a yellow diamond with two triangle white diamonds either side. I always wanted a yellow diamond, and he definitely got it right! He sourced and shipped the diamonds himself with the yellow one coming from LA and the white diamonds coming from Israel. He picked the ring up on the Monday night and we flew on the Wednesday. He loves a last-minute job!

When we decided to have a wedding, we thought it was only right to have it in Ibiza as I’m Scottish and Tom’s English. I didn’t want the full wedding in either of these locations as they didn’t feel very us and feared the rain and cold. We then booked our legal ceremony for Edinburgh and our party wedding for Ibiza the following year. I had followed Leo for years and knew I wanted him to shoot our wedding no matter what. I messaged him when I was engaged as I was so excited, and he had to reply saying only let me know when you have a wedding date. We then booked him for both Edinburgh and Ibiza as we loved his images.

Venue

We visited at least 10 venues with my parents and decided we didn’t think they worked for our guests. We wanted all our family and friends to be in one location with access to a town and beach. A lot of the venues in Ibiza are in Agrotourism resorts and only have around 12 / 15 rooms so you won’t have everyone on the same site. We originally chose a different venue when we went to visit the island in October 2022. We chose a beach bar called Babylon Beach Bar and then we booked a pre-event location, post event location and hotel for all the guests. We met with Hotel Riomar and it’s amazing events time to secure rates for the guests and have the post wedding event within the hotel.

In March of 2023 we then received not one but two calls to tell us that Babylon Beach Bar had closed down and our original pre-event venue wasn’t opening for the season. We then contacted Hotel Riomar and asked if they also did weddings as we were so impressed with there planning skills so far. We flew out in April to stay at the hotel for 6 days and had such an amazing experience with all the staff that we decided to have the wedding there. We feel in love with the hotel setting and it didn’t feel like it would be a typical hotel wedding which I was very worried about. There was then a brand-new beach club opening 5 minute walk away from the hotel which we booked (without viewing, as it wasn’t finished yet) for the night before event called UM Beach House. So we had the night before event at UM Beach House on the Thursday, our Wedding at Hotel Riomar on Friday 13^th (not unlucky for us) and our post wedding BBQ at Hotel Riomar on the Saturday.

The previous week we also had multiple events with a rooftop tasting menu, a hike around the island and a boat day for our guests who came for the full week.

Fashion

I started ordering white dresses from every website the minute we booked the location. Luckily, we’ve both worked in fashion for multiple years so had a lot of contacts to buy a lot of items. I originally thought I would just get a low-key dress from Reformation or NET-A-PORTER but realised this wasn’t going to be the one. I booked multiple appointments in London and made my mum come down from Edinburgh. I got my main dress from Made with Love which was called Lola, it’s not discontinued but I knew it was perfect for Ibiza. I then took my dress to the recommended alterations lead and cut a slit up the thigh, so it was bit more me and less structure for the sun. I wore a glittery pair of shoes with the dress and a Bottega Jodie bag. My something blue on the day was Skims silk dressing gown set that my friend purchased for me as she works for the brand.

My pre-event dress was from Safiyaa London via NET which was a short, fun dress to start the weekend off! My post event dress again was from NET which was a bit more relaxed for the BBQ day with a pair of Jimmy Choos. If you haven’t guess my friend works at NET so I got all the discount here again!

As we both met at Paul Smith, we still have one friend who works there who very kindly offered her discount for Tom to use. Tom’s suit was from Paul Smith which was from the catwalk show for SS22. He also wore a pair of Paul Smith shoes. He didn’t wear a shirt under the blazer for the ceremony and then changed into a shirt and Birkenstocks for the party section of the wedding.

Jewellery

A lot of my jewellery comes from my mum and my gran, and I wore this on the day as I regularly do. I have my Grandads wedding ring that the jeweller also altered for me who made my engagement ring and my wedding ring.

Bridal Party

We didn’t have any bridesmaids, groomsmen or flower girls as we wanted to have a super laid-back vibe to the wedding. We didn’t have a lot of the main events such as first dance, cake or father of the bride speech.

Tablescape

We left this all the hands of Hotel Riomar team, I told them I wanted some olive branches and was happy for them to lead here. We didn’t have wedding favours but on Thursday everyone had a bag of essentials for the weekend in their room which included Cava, San Miguel, Hangover kit, Weekend agenda and Sal de Ibiza crisps.

Food & Drink

We absolutely love food so made to ensure this was a focus on the day. Our wedding started at 3:30pm and guests were welcomed by a band, Cava Sangria and two canapes each.

During the ceremony guests where then given a shot to toast the couple at the end which was a classic Ibizan shot called hierbas. After the ceremony we had another 6 canapes each per guest.

For the dinner our toast drink was a margarita which people toasted Toms speech too. We love margaritas from travelling around Mexico.

The dinner was very authentic Ibizan and included a favourite dish of which was sobsrasado, honey and bread. We also had classics such as calamari, croquettes, beef and turbot.

Entertainment

We had a welcome band who was Jodie Kean that played before and after the ceremony and then we had a DJ throughout the night @marsplusonemusicc.

We didn’t have a first dance, but we did dance on the bar together at the end of the night.

Our ceremony songs were:

Entrance Song: You’re Not Alone Olive

Exit Song: Love Story (vs Finally) – Paul Woolford 2023 Remix

Beauty Regime & Wellness

Marta Lula did my hair and make-up and I found her on Instagram. I didn’t have a trial with her, but she also did my hair and make-up on the Thursday night too.

Pre the wedding I had Invisalign, composite bonding, 3 Facegym sessions, Botox and micro needling. I think I was must happy with the results of my teeth. My teeth and facial treatments were from Dr Karen Doherty.

Favourite Wedding Gifts

As we have already been in our house for over two years, we asked for a contribution towards our honey moon which we are planning on going to Sri Lanka in February.

Honeymoon

We stayed in Ibiza for a week after our wedding and had a mini moon with 3 days in Formentera and 4 days in Six Senses. It was 100% giving White Lotus vibes. We had a great time and the weather was around 24 degrees every day in October!

We plan to go to Sri Lanka in February for our full honeymoon.

Advice

Everyone says but honestly don’t sweat the small things, I didn’t worry about stationary, flowers, table settings etc and went with the flow and everything turned out perfectly. Trust your source and your venue as they’ll know what’s best. I have never left a wedding saying, ‘I loved that fork’ so you don’t need to worry about that.
Trust your decisions and stick with them and if it doesn’t feel right then don’t do it. You don’t need to do anything that you don’t want to do.
Enjoy every single minute of it as you worked so hard for it. I honestly loved my whole weekend from start to finish and didn’t worry about anything. It was the best time of my life and I never thought I’d be one of those brides to say that.
Find a photographer who makes you feel so welcome and at ease that you enjoy having your picture taken and don’t feel like anyone is just shooting you. We had an incredible time with Leo and can’t recommend him enough for everyone’s events. I wish he could take all our pictures forever!