Charlotte Griffin (30) is a TV Producer and Tyler Griffin (30) a Forex Broker. The couple met 10 years ago on the dance floor in Cardiff where they both studied at university. Since the moment they met, they have pretty much been inseparable, through their university days, traveling, moving to London and now settled in Hertfordshire. Tyler proposed at their favourite place in Spain, on the beach watching the sunset and having a braii (South African BBQ). The couple tied the knot a spectacular wedding in Seville, Spain.
The best part of our day was….
The whole day was truly magical, a few of my favourite moments,
Myself, my dad and my bridesmaids traveled to the wedding reception via horse and carriage. We traveled through the center of Seville, the sun was beating down, and the smell of the famous Seville oranges ripe on the trees. Everyone was clapping and cheering. This really was one of those pinch-yourself moments.
Our wedding reception was in the center of Seville at Hotel Alfonso and our wedding breakfast at Casa Guardiola, a beautiful palace hidden behind a wooden door only a stone’s throw from Alfonso. A Spanish band known as “La Tuna’s” guided us and our guests from Alfonso to Casa Guardiola. There was such a beautiful buzz as we walked/danced our way from one venue to another.
We made our entrance as Mr and Mrs Griffin to “The Sun Don’t Shine without you” by Klangkarussell. The atmosphere was just amazing, everyone had their napkins in the air, singing along, the room was electric. Ty and I got to our seats, sat down and we were straight back up again, fan and napkin high in the air!
We choose to get married at…
With Tyler being South African and living in his flip flops 99% of the time we knew we had to get married under the sun.
Spain is a place we both adore and have visited together on many occasions. I visited Seville for a weekend away and remember saying to my sister whilst cycling around the gardens that I would get married there one day, and somehow we made it happen.
We visited Seville in March 2019 to do a venue recce. We met our wedding planners in Seville city centre and of we went for a day of wedding venue hunting. We had a packed itinerary which mostly consisted of visiting venues which were in the Spanish countryside, they are known as Haciendas. To be honest we really didn’t know what we wanted, we didn’t know if we wanted a wedding in the Spanish countryside or in the hustle and bustle of Seville city centre.
We concluded, if people were traveling to Seville for our wedding, we wanted them to see Seville and that’s how we settled on getting married in the city. The haciendas were beautiful, but huge and sometimes felt a little cold. Casa Guardiola (our venue) was in the centre of the city, it was a venue I had seen when searching online and one that I added to the list to visit very last minute and I’m so glad I did! It really is the most beautiful hidden treasure. It gave of so much warmth and had so much charm and character. We were very lucky with both venues, they were naturally so beautiful that we really didn’t need to do too much in terms of decoration.
I knew I found ‘The One’ when….
I tried on a lot of dresses and simply could not find “the one”. I must have tried on around 60 – 70 dresses and all completely different dresses as well. The struggle was deciding what version of myself I wanted to be. I was so torn between the fitted silk dress or the princess gown.
There was always something I wanted to change about every dress I tried on. That’s why I was keen to try Halfpenny as you had the opportunity to put different pieces together. I spotted the Ruffle Rose Skirt hanging up when I entered Halfpenny and I just knew that was going to be part of my dress. It was so unique and felt perfect with the Oliver Corset. It was everything I had visioned.
The most enjoyable moments of planning were…
I love all things planning and all things weddings so I was very excited to get stuck in, however, covid and lockdown hit as we were at the airport about to fly home from Seville after doing the wedding recce, so we knew the wedding planning was going to be a bumpy ride.
The planning was hard work as we were planning a wedding with no guarantee that we would actually be able to travel let alone have a wedding. However, with that aside, we really did proceed with the mindset that there would be no issues and our wedding would happen when scheduled to do so.
We planned a 3 day event, starting with roof top welcome drinks the night before the wedding. I would 100% recommend this as it’s a great way for people to get together and meet the day before the wedding. Everyone is also so excited! The day after the wedding, we had very casual drinks at a tapas bar for a few hours, this was perfect as people could come and go as they pleased. We didn’t want to do anything “planned” as we knew everyone would be tired and have sore heads from the day before. We also wanted to give people time to explore Seville.
I loved almost everything about the planning. I feel like I know Seville better than London due to the amount of time spent on google maps.
All our communication with our wedding planners was done via email so our vision was achieved via mood boards and a lot of them. I felt this was really the only way we could get our vision across, so I had to put everything into them and try to be as clear as possible. The venues spoke for themselves so we didn’t want to drown them in decoration, our colour palate was white and orange, the orange being oranges placed on the tables as part of the decoration and incorporated into our stationary.
The hardest part of planning was…
One of the hardest parts was not being able to visit Seville throughout the planning process due to travel restrictions. Our concern was the catering as we were choosing the food and wine without tasting it (we were very lucky that it was extremely delicious and there so much of it!!) I also had my hair trial the day before the wedding which was slightly nerve racking.
Due to arranging our wedding throughout covid we had the issue of rules / restrictions changing constantly and flights getting cancelled constantly also. I think the flights for our entertainment got cancelled 3 times and in the end he had to fly in and out of to a completely different part of Spain.
The best accounts to follow on Instagram for big-day inspo are…
I followed @brides, @vogueweddings and @thebridaljourney.
My top three tips for any couple would be…
Wedding planners coordinating the day of the wedding. The day really did run like clockwork, and this certainly wouldn’t have been the case without them.
We allocated and stuck to 30 minutes for our photos, we didn’t want to spend hours away from our guests. I’m so glad we did this!
I think about our wedding celebrations every single day, it really was the happiest day of our lives. So, enjoy every second of the day because it really does fly by. Also make sure the day is exactly what you want the day to be, make sure it reflects you as a couple. Make your own traditions!
If I was able to do it all over again, the one thing I would change is…
We would have had a videographer. Lots of our guests sent us videos of the day which was brilliant and yes, I watch them daily but we would have loved a video of the whole day to look back on.
List of Suppliers..
Venue: Hotel Alfonso @hotelalfonsoxiii and Casa Guardiola @casapalacioguardiola
Caterer: Campuzano @cateringcampuzano
Dress: Halfpenny @halfpennylondon
Groom outfit: Moss Bros @mossbros
Groom Hat: Christy’s London @christyhats
Florist: La Galeria Jesus Fuertes @lagaleriajesusfuertes
Stationery: Francesca Norton Designs @francescaweddings
Photographer: AHR Photos @ahr_photos
Hair: Marieta Nogueras @marietanogueras
Wedding Planners: Love A Tope @loveatope
