If you’re currently craving a sunny holiday abroad today’s real wedding is going to make you want it all the more.
Antony and Rhonda left their Liverpool roots behind to wed in a gorgeous villa destination wedding in Cala de Mijas, Spain, surrounded by their nearest and dearest.
The pristine white villa against the flawless blue skies provided the perfect setting for the couple’s romantically themed wedding, with touches of white, silver and pale pink.
Spending a week abroad meant everyone was fully relaxed and ready to party (with great tans) when the big day arrived which made for a chilled out yet highly enjoyable wedding.
So pack your sunnies, flip-flops and swimwear as we
jet off
to southern Spain.With images by Brides Up North Sponsor Jamie Penfold Photography.
rhonda says:
We were visting Puerto Banus for a weekend and while we were there Tony decided that we should go for a long walk then a nice meal. While we were walking along the harbour Tony noticed a lovely lighthouse that was on the other side of the harbour and suggested we go there. It was a really hot day and I was moaning all the way but once we got there it was lovely just sitting looking out to sea and there were a few people resting and enjoying the same view as us. Tony then said let’s ask that lady if she will take our picture so he went over and gave her our phone and then sat down next to me. Suddenly he went down on one knee asking me to marry him but all I could hear was the lady saying ‘Oh my God he’s proposing to her’, which made me laugh and poor Tony was still waiting for my answer – of course I said yes.The people that were there all came over and congratulated us and we went over to the lady who took our picture whose name was Wendy to say thanks. As we started talking I noticed she was a Liverpool girl like me who had lived in Spain for years. She said if you get married here my good friend is a minster, then she told me her name and to my surprise I’d already emailed her before I went away for information on wedding venues abroad (how weird was that?) so after a good chat to Wendy we left, me with a big smile on my face and uncontrollable tears of joy. We went to the nearest bar to celebrate!
We met on the 23rd June 2007 and so wanted had originally wanted to marry on this date but most of our friends could not make that timing so we picked 14th June 2014 instead.
Our wedding took place in Cala de Mijas, Spain. We picked this location because we got engaged in the area and we chose Wendy’s best friend Lizzy as our minister. We looked at local wedding planners FiestaSol Weddings who were fantastic and found us a great venue in Mijas called the Hacienda San Jose and everything just fell into place and felt so right.
We didn’t have a theme really but with having our wedding at the Hacienda San Jose, which is such a beautiful place, we knew we wanted the day to have a really romantic feel to it. In terms of colours we had white, silver and pale pink with diamante touches – I wanted a little bit of bling for my romantic day.
When shopping for me dress I decided on an ivory laced mermaid dress which I found in Brides World, Liverpool. I felt the dress had a little bit of a Spanish look to it.
The men’s suits where from Slaters in Liverpool. Tony wore a midnight blue three piece suit made to measure with white shirt and ivory tie to match my dress.
We had eight bridesmaids who wore pale pink long chiffon dresses with diamante straps and waist bands, which I bought off the internet. Our nine groomsmen meanwhile wore midnight blue three piece suits with white shirts and pink ties to match the bridesmaids, they looked really smart!
Jamie Penfold flew over from Newcastle to shoot our wedding. He was organised and well-rehearsed at what we wanted. He blended into the background and captured things so naturally and perfectly. We would absolutely recommend him to others – he’s fantastic!
For my bouquet I had pink and white roses with little bit of gypsy grass, which were lovely. They were supplied by VG Florists Marbella.
My wedding planner Tara chapman from FiestaSol helped us with the decorations for our wedding villa and VG Florists did our beautiful centre pieces for the tables which were tall glass champagne vases turned upside down with pink and white large gypsy grass sprays with crystal tea lights hanging off them – they looked so colourful and pretty.
As favours we gave all the ladies white fans, which were a God send as it was so hot that day. For the men we did a whisky and cigar bar which surprisingly the ladies liked too!
Our cake, made by the fantastic Fiona from Sweet Things, Gibraltar, was three tiers with a different flavour for each: chocolate vanilla, strawberry and fruit. The cake was ivory with a lace pattern on it and pink flowers on top. It tasted as good as it looked!
For our wedding meal we had lots of lovely canapés to start which included serrano ham on crostini with tomato and a minty pesto, skewers of garlic prawns and crab and coriander tartlets. We then had a buffet menu of more delicious food including pepper sirloin steaks, swordfish steaks marinated with garlic and parsley and skewers of tiger prawns. Desserts were mini lemon tarts with fresh raspberries, raspberry sorbet with berries and chocolate love cake.
To entertain our guests had a great DJ called Ian Preston, who really got the crowd going. I picked him out after seeing him on the internet and the good feedback from my wedding planner Tara. We also had a Spanish guitarist playing through our cocktail hour, a sweet table for the kids and a chill out area with big white cushions, lantern fairy lights, tree raps and chandeliers.
We would definitely recommend our wedding venue to others – it is an amazing place! A private estate that is warm and welcoming and has all the amenities you could ask for. This wasn’t just our wedding venue, it was our home for the week!
As a bride I would have to say my favourite part of the day was seeing Tony as we didn’t get married until 5pm so I had a long wait and wanted him to see me in my dress. Likewise Tony’s favourite part was seeing me.
For our honeymoon we decided to go back to Mijas where we got married. When we were there for our wedding we didn’t have much time to explore as guests were arriving each day and it was a very busy week so our honeymoon was just us two chilling out.
My top tips to other Brides Up North would be try not to get too stressed, enjoy your day, take it all in as well as going around all your guests on the day and spend time with your new husband/wife – the day goes so quick!
Going abroad was perfect for us. We had a lovely week in the sun with our family and friends, great wedding pictures, great food and great memories!
