We absolutely LOVED this postcard-perfect real wedding abroad in the Algarve, Portugal – the blue water blending with the sky, the white beach, the dazzling sun… plus Kirsten and Jordi having the most beautiful wedding day they could ask for! Garrett Walsh of Algarve Wedding Photography caught the memories with his camera – wish we were there!
Bride and Groom… Kirsten & Jordi, both Dutch, both entrepreneurs
Wedding date… 2 June 2013
We met… On a dating website, which we both joined for just a few days. After looking at each other’s profile we were surprised about the things we had in common, like our passion for the beach, travelling around the world etc. After a couple of e-mails we had a drink on the beach and it was love at first sight!
We knew it was ‘the one’… After our first date we immediately had this ‘sparkle’ and knew we had a very special connection.
The proposal… Jordi planned to propose during our camper holiday in Australia. At several locations it was neither the right timing nor place… With the wedding ring kept safely in the camera bag the whole trip it was finally the right moment when we arrived on the Whitsunday Islands. On Daydream Island we rented a private boat and Jordi asked the question on an isolated beach! Very romantic!
Length of engagement… Because we decided on getting married in the Algarve (Portugal) and wanted to invite 35 of our family and closest friends, we took our time to travel to Portugal to find our perfect wedding location. We had been engaged for 1 year and 8 months.
Wedding photographer… Garrett Walsh of Algarve Wedding Photography. We immediately had a ‘click’ and he made us feel very comfortable and we had the best wedding pictures we could have wished for!
Our bridesmaids/groomsmen… We had none, in Holland this is not a tradition. We did have our witnesses, which for Kirsten was her best friend and for Jordi his two sisters.
Did anything funny or unusual happen at your wedding? At the end of the wedding we had Thai Air Balloons for all our guests, they were a bit difficult to light, which was very funny. But the end result was a dark sky with a lot of lights flying over the ocean…a very romantic moment for everyone.
Our advice to other brides… Portugal is such a perfect wedding destination, with amazing beaches, beautiful venues, still affordable and having the best climate in Europe. For this reason I started a business together with my existing business partner Priscilla in offering wedding planning services to Portugal.
For our honeymoon we went… Our honeymoon was Portugal. After the wedding the stayed in the wedding venue villa for one week.
My wedding dress was… Searching for the perfect dress was one of the nicest things to do! I looked at hundreds of dresses online and magazines and collected pictures of dressed I loved. Because of our beach wedding I was looking for a romantic lace wedding dress with a lot of volume, still easy to wear on a hot day. I found out that this was quite a challenge, because a lot of beach dresses are very simplistic. I went to a wedding store together with my mum, aunt and nice and the second dress I tried was THE dress! The designer was Cymbeline from Paris, who creates beautiful wedding dresses for young modern fashionable brides.
Where was your wedding ceremony? On the beach at Praia Balbina in Portugal, a secluded beach next to our wedding venue, a beautiful villa.
Our wedding was unique and special because… Having all of our loved ones from The Netherlands in Portugal and experience this amazing atmosphere together on this day. It shows that dreams do come true as long as you go for it!
Our ceremony was… On the beach with our bare feet in the sand looking over the clear blue ocean. We arranged a lovely bamboo gazebo with pink and white flowers. Our civil servant was a good friend of our family, which made the ceremony very personal. There were 35 guests, family members and close friends. The most memorable moment was the moment I walked down from the Villa to the beach together with my dad and arrived on the beach and saw Jordi for the first time. It was like walking into a fairy tale…
Our reception was… We had the reception at the patio of our villa and had local Portuguese Rose champagne with strawberries and a ‘beach surf theme’ wedding cake.
We chose our reception venue because… We were looking for the perfect private beach wedding venue, to create an informal and relaxed atmosphere for our wedding day. After a lot of research back home and research in Portugal we met our photographer Garrett Walsh, who told us about some private villas which he saw while kayaking. We immediately did our research and found the locations, visited the properties and made our choice! Because we wanted to offer our guests a fantastic stay in Portugal we decided to use the property of famous football player Luís Figo in Carvoeiro as the hotel for our guests.
Our favourite part of the wedding… The ceremony, but the whole wedding day was an unbelievable fairytale, an unforgettable experience for all of us. All our trips to Portugal, our research, the wedding day, it all was all a wonderful time. We definitely can say our wedding day was the most beautiful and loving atmosphere we have ever experienced and the best day of our lives so far! The location, the weather, the food, the music, the boat trip, everything was just perfect. We truly advise everyone to get married this way if you enjoy a relaxed beach wedding and want feel like a celebrity or princess for one day.
What was your first dance song? 60 Segundos by Gusttavo Lima.
