Our wedding day

I don't think I actually need to say an awful lot about our wedding day, cause I think the photos say enough. Our day was beautiful and perfect from start to finish. The morning of the wedding, both families had breakfast & got scrubbed up in their respective abodes. My parents had an amazing house up on the cliffs in Ericeira and our amazing hair & make-up guys, Rui & Miguel came and made it all seem like so much fun!

Meanwhile down in Vila Galé, the Porter family, breakfasted in their suite (pure posh!!) and then had to run for cover when the heavens opened.

Then we all headed for Gradil! We had arranged for some very refreshing lemonades to be served outside the church when everybody arrived, so no doubt some people were topping these up with a traditional pre-wedding tipple.

I was very lucky to travel in a beautiful old Citroen with my Dad and arrived 10 minutes early so had to skulk around the outskirts of the village until we got the call to say that everybody was in the church. And then we were outside the church and I was leaning on my Dad waiting for the processional song to begin. I took a deep breath and drank in the moment and it was very beautiful to walk in to that amazing church and feel the love from everybody smiling as we walked down the aisle.

And there he was. Smiling. My fella.

Lots of newly-weds comment on it, but I definitely agree that the ceremony was one the most special part of the day. We were so luck to be in such a beautiful church, resplendent with the most amazing flowers and surrounded by friends & family. Our musicians were sitting up on the altar beside us and we got such a kick from hearing them play the music we had planned in our sitting room one Saturday afternoon a few weeks previously, including Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol and Imagine by John Lennon.

My Uncle John got everybody's goosebumps going with a very special rendition of 'She moved through the fair' and all of our readers & singers were our friends & family which made it so personal. To then be married by my uncle, who is like my second father, made it such a familiar event that there was no nerves or at least I didn't think there was, though I do remember trembling trying to light the candle together.

There were lots of other details in the church that some people may not have even seen; Mum had made two beautiful ring pillows and included material from her own wedding hat. The wedding programs, which I had printed on my Gocco, included a little story about the Galo de Barcelos, the Portuguese emblem for good vs. evil we had included in our wedding invitations.

Then we get to walk out of the church to the beautiful harmony of the Verve's Bittersweet Symphony. Outside everybody got a cone of petals to throw, which were printed on music sheets of Queen songs including 'We are the Champions' and then we walked through the village to the wedding reception. This was definitely one of my favourite parts of the day. Our violinist serenaded us all the way through the village and the locals peeked from windows & doors to wish us well. It did feel surreal-ly like a fairy-tale.

As we walked in to the venue we had a surprise for guests with two stilt walkers to meet & greet us, which immediately added to the festival atmosphere and then people wandered around the Quinta, ooh-ing & aah-ing at the food, the location, the drinks, the fun...it was amazing. We wandered off for a few photos and then the heavens opened.

Apparently it's good luck in Portugal if it rains on your wedding day so we just rolled with it and enjoyed the games of trying to drag my dress through the puddles.

Another very special moment was when Dave & I were announced in to the dinner hall, walking together through that crowd with everybody applauding and smiling, was very beautiful and I know that anybody who has made that walk will vouch for how special it is. The dining room in the Quinta looked amazing with stunning flowers, table settings & beautiful music playing the background arranged by one of our musical consultant extraordinaires, Karl.

The tables were named after some of our favourite places and each table had one of our photos from that location, which looked beautiful framed and sitting on an easel. I had used the Gocco again to print the menus and they looked so cute tied up with the napkins.

The speeches were personal, touching & very funny on all sides. The necessary thank-you's were said and both Dave & I got to thank those people who have made our lives so wonderful; our parents, families & friends.

One of the areas we put alot of effort in to in planning the wedding, was the party after dinner. We really wanted the tempo to change and people to feel that they could kick back and enjoy themselves. We had bought lots of decorations in Ikea on our last trip to Portugal and had strung 70 paper lanterns outside, lit by LED light bulbs on magnets. Ann in the Quinta had added a fire-pit and lots of candles and the place looked amazing. We added a photo-booth with lots of costume options for people to unleash their inner performer and after the cake cutting the music started. Definitely one of my highlights. Most people didn't know that we had the King ready & waiting on the wings, so we got everybody to fill the dance-floor and had such fun at the amazement on people's faces as Elvis entered the building! Portuguese Elvis was incredible, we danced & danced and absolutely loved every minute of it.

Another spread of food was laid out and everybody was amazed with the food; fresh shrimp, cheeses, meats & ridiculous amounts of amazing desserts. I could spend hours just talking about the food, the presentation, the standard and the extra pounds people added to their waist-lines, because people just couldn't leave the food behind.

A few hours of disco fun followed and the jackets came off. Our friends Steve & Bob donned their disco hats and hit the decks and we danced & danced and then it was time for home. We couldn't believe it but the night was still young and many more hours of debauchery followed in Ericeira!!