Real Weddings: Sarah and Luke’s romantic Spanish vineyard wedding

THE CEREMONY 
I started the day with a face mask and a quiet cup of tea in the garden of Masia Cabellut with my mom and sister. Hair and make-up then started with the very talented Roy Leigh and Imanol Fuentes. The two fathers were put to work preparing breakfast for the group. The bridal suite was my perfect vibe, the ladies laughed, danced, cried, had the chats and were actually very relaxed. Meanwhile, Luke and his groomsmen started their day poolside, taking full advantage of the 4pm ceremony time.

You need to see a photo of the church, or better yet see it in person, to understand how spectacular it really is. Santuari de la Mare de Déu de Montserrat has architecture reminiscent of the Sagrada Familia and was apparently designed by Gaudi’s protege, Josep Maria Jujol. When we first saw it, it reminded us of a wedding cake! The ceremony was a traditional Catholic wedding mass and our programs doubled as fans to help keep guests cool. The planning of a Catholic ceremony abroad is tricky and we had to start the process nine months in advance.

The florist, Natalia kept things very simple inside of the church. You really don’t need to do much, the space is so beautiful. On the outside of the church, we had large flower arches flanking the doors and our guests threw organic petals as they exited to BACH.

THE RECEPTION
We would describe our reception as a “gastronomical” experience. After the wedding, we invited guests for a poolside “aperitivo” for approximately two hours. Our signature cocktail was a Hugo (my favourite drink) and plenty of Masia Cabellut Cava was flowing. We had 13 passed appetisers that included, wild sea bass tartare, smoked rum pineapple, stuffed cannelloni, patatas bravas, chicken croquettes and on-the-spot smoked salmon. We had a chef slicing Iberico ham and a paella station, serving an outstanding Norwegian lobster and mushroom paella.

Guests then moved to the covered amphitheatre to take their seats. We entered to Cher’s Believe and can only describe it as electric. We opted to do our speeches first and all at once, this gave people time to digest the aperitivo and relax before dinner. The MC Sean Lacey introduced the father of the bride, Gerard Kenny, who brought us to tears with emotion and witty one-liners.

The father of the groom, Seamus Briody, spoke next and welcomed Sarah into the Briody family with open arms. Megan Kenny, the maid of honour and Sarah’s older sister brought the room to tears with a beautiful speech that commented on how closely intertwined both families already are. Luke was next and opened his speech with lyrics from his favourite Zach Bryan song, an artist that both Luke and Sarah love and recently saw live in Brooklyn, NY. One of the best men, Conor Toolan, closed out the speeches by appropriately roasting Luke, the other groomsmen and some guests.

The dinner menu started with marinated salmon and king prawns and was followed up with tender beef or wild sea bass in a coconut sauce. The dessert was a showstopper with each guest getting an alternate of the Sacher Bean (chocolate cake with raspberry mousse disguised as a cocoa bean) or Happy Egg (passionfruit and white chocolate custard on a filo “nest” that looked like a giant egg with a yellow centre and everything!). They decided against a wedding cake and opted for a cava tower instead.

THE ENTERTAINMENT
We built a stellar playlist (Wedding Weekend Vibezz on Spotify) that we shared with the band and DJ. The band Truly Medley Deeply were excellent and we had seen them at a friend’s wedding the year before and knew they were the best choice. For the aperitivo and during dinner we had Josep DJ. His team also coordinated the sound and lighting requirements, including beautiful hanging bulbs in the main tent.

THE DECOR
I worked closely with her wedding planner, Betsaida to nail down the “vision” of the weekend. I wanted it to be glamorous, chic and fun!  Early in the planning phases, I made the decision to have my bridesmaids pick their own dresses. The “brief” was pink but they could choose any style, length and texture. I loved how the variations in dresses turned out and it is slightly more sustainable as hopefully the dresses will be worn again. Because the dresses were different I wanted their flowers to be simple and uniform, so I chose yellow sweet peas for them all.

The graphic designer Sarah and Betsaida worked with, Xiana, who was excellent. The wedding invites had three elements, an invitation, a timeline of events, and a little “keepsake” – a cloth-printed map of the key places from the wedding weekend. We incorporated a “wavy” design and pops of pink and lemon yellow across all of the decor elements to tie everything together. There was a lot of effort put into the details, and for me, it was so worth it. @reveries.atelier produced Xiana’s stunning designs.