Real Wedding – Charmaine and Sergio

Wow! This wedding is absolutely breath taking. It is set in Portugal and is just a sight to behold.

Sergio (the romantic) proposed on a Gondola in Venice! Charmaine explains that he was so nervous that he almost fell off the gondola and in to the water! Passers by were very entertained at this wonderful engagement and proceeded to snap pictures like the paparazzi.

When you start to plan a wedding abroad, you have to be a bit more organised as you have a short window to see everything. Luckily for Charmaine, she is a wedding planner for Couture Weddings Portugal. She was well prepared for the road ahead. Even for a pro it can be hard to find what you want. It took Charmaine and Sergio 4 trips and 1.5 years to find their perfect venue. After that lengthy search, they found their perfect venue.

Charmaine explains that the venue very simply, ‘took my breath away‘. They didn’t choose any old venue, they only chose the last king of Portugal’s summer palace. Yes you read correctly, the kings summer palace! It is called Bussaco Palace. If it’s good enough for the king, then it’s good enough for me!

Charmaine and her wedding planning partner in Lisbon, Maria, worked on creating a stunning wedding day. They brought over the key pieces of decor that would be suitable for the venue. It took roughly 3 trips to get everything in place. Next on the list was to confirm the music and they found Troccopasso a string quartet band and invitations from Embellishments based in California.

Maria coordinated the key items on the ground which included the church, carpet ,chairs,  flowers, children’s entertainment and celebrant.  All was relatively stress free apart from working the rooming list which you would get in Ireland too!

The guests had a lovely time away. The arrived on the Friday and Charmaine organised for all the ladies to have a personalised hanger. What a lovely touch! A bus was organised to bring everyone out for dinner and drinks to Quinta de Conchada which over-looked a river. The first night ended with a good oul sing song!

The following morning the wedding took place and during the ceremony they incorporated a rose ceremony where a rose was given to each woman in the family as a sign of love and respect. Such a lovely thought. After the ceremony, Charmaine and Sergio hosted a Champagne cocktail and canapés reception. They did a signature cocktail called ‘Royal Blush’  and left cigars for the men on the piano. The kids were taken to a huge room filled with bouncy castles, face painting and a puppet show. A 6 course meal was enjoyed by all. They provided some light music between courses but the guests got up and did a train all around the venue (must have been those signature cocktails!)

They did a choreographed dance to “Can I have this dance” from High School Musical . They gave sparklers to each guest while they cut their cake.

The guests were armed with bags going to bed, which included chocolate ,water and Panadol.

After an amazing wedding they jetted off to Disneyland and Dominican Republic from Lisbon.

Some parting advice from the bride:

“Plan, plan, plan! Decide what you want the day to be like from start to finish, write it down and start gathering your props an special touches early. Research all you can and don’t just buy the first thing you see.  The more organised you are, the less stress you will feel”

And now for the pictures!! BTW Dress by Maggie Sottero from Cameo in Kilkenny and bridesmaids dresses are Coast.