Epic Party Boho-Chic Ibiza Destination Wedding

When a chapter of a love story starts with a proposal on the sun drenched shores of Lake Como, you know the wedding day is going to be just as filled with light and love – and so it was for WWW readers Amy and Nick.

The couple wanted their celebration to be, most importantly, about family and friends – and so chose Ibiza, an archipelago of Spain in the Mediterranean Sea, to encourage their loved ones to share in some relaxed quality time in the sun. The two white 500-year old villas (finca) on the private estate, with its scent of fruit and poolside reflections, needed only minimal décor to complement the natural beauty of the venue, most of which was crafted by the couple themselves. The result, as you’ll see in every one of the contemporary and beautifully creative captures by Amy Faith Photography, is a stylish and rustic echo of the environment itself – from the bridesmaids’ flowing floral dresses, the white market flowers lovingly arranged by the bride’s grandmother, and the tiered watermelon cake, glistening as the light danced through the palm trees. As the sky darkened, the night was made young with tropical cocktails at the free bar, tantalising local food, live music, and – my favourite – an unplanned pool party at 2am, with the bride and groom kicking off their first few hours of marriage with laughter, fun, and true spontaneity.

Amy and Nick wanted their guests to be left with a feeling of adventure and togetherness, and so they did. We absolutely adore all the personal details through which they chose to tell their story, and how emotive a reflection their day was of their own personality as a couple.

Sit back, relax, and take in the magic of the gallery below!

THE PROPOSAL

The proposal took place whilst on a weekend trip to Milan in June 2016. Nick suggested taking a day trip to nearby Lake Como, so we spent the day exploring the different towns along the lake. Nick, with having the ring in his short pocket all day, was desperately trying to find the perfect spot to propose! He finally found it in Como on a secluded bench overlooking the lake when, all of a sudden, a little old lady also decided it was the perfect spot to do some sunbathing further along the bench to us! About 30 mins later the lady left, which I didn’t notice as I was half asleep sunbathing too! Nick asked a couple of times if he could get a photo of us and, when I finally opened my eyes, he was down on one knee. I was so shocked I nearly lost my top, but I immediately said yes; which was followed by a round of applause by a fleet of tourists passing by on pedalos taking pictures!

THE VISION

From the very beginning I was really keen to have a wedding that really reflected me and Nick and where all our guests could relax and have a good time. Having been together for 11 years we have a lot of mutual friends who don’t often have the opportunity to spend time together. So having a wedding that allowed everyone to let their hair down and spend some serious quality time together was a must.

Nick was desperate to get married abroad so that no-one needed to worry about being back in work the next day and (ironically!) so there was a better chance of having a lovely sunny day. So the planning process began with us looking for destination wedding locations abroad that were easy to fly to. After having been to Ibiza before we knew not only how easily accessible it was, but also how magical the island was, which made it the perfect place for our wedding.

THE PLANNING PROCESS

We started off the planning process by making a list of the things that were important to have as part of our wedding and we put them in priority order. Top of the list was a free bar, amazing food, live music, amazing villa for all our closest friends to stay in and a really cool photographer! These all being things that would pretty much guarantee us all having a great time that we could then remember by the amazing photography. By doing this we knew how we were going to spend most of our budget which meant I couldn’t get easily distracted by expensive wedding venues, cakes etc…

The planning went fairly well in the months and weeks before the wedding; with the wedding being held in Ibiza it was the perfect excuse to have a few pre-wedding trips to sort everything out. Although this proved to be harder than imagined because there was always so much going on and the weather was sooo nice!

A lot of the final preparations had to wait until we were in Ibiza just before the wedding, which was a little bit stressful! Particularly because the boys thought it was a good opportunity to have the stag do in Ibiza 3 days before the wedding!!! As we had opted to have a free bar at the wedding, we thought the best way to keep costs down was to pay for a bar and bar staff, but for the groom, best man and groomsman to do the booze run… the morning after the stag do. This, of course, didn’t happen and was left to the bride and bridesmaid to sort out due to some sore heads from the boys’ side…

As for major disasters… the weather instantly comes to mind. In the few days before the wedding the weather in Ibiza was glorious, making us worry it might actually be too hot! However, the night before the wedding, at around 5pm just after our pre-shoot with Amy Faith and just as the pre-wedding drinks at a hotel bar overlooking the beach started, it began torrentially raining and did not stop until around midday the next day. This caused parts of the wedding villa to flood and water to gather on the tables, meaning the wedding had to be pushed back by an hour. The groom and groomsman swept away the puddles and by 3pm the sun was shining again; there wasn’t a cloud in the sky and the villa was a completely different place. To be honest I don’t think I would take this back – seeing how much effort the boys went to turn things around and how happy everyone was for us and when the sun did come out. It was amazing!

THE VENUE

After looking at approximately 11 different venues in one crazy weekend in Ibiza with my Mum and Nick, we finally settled on a location that boasted two gorgeous 500 year old Finca’s (white villa) in their own grounds that had a fruit garden, tennis court, gorgeous pool and water fountain.

THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES

My mum and I had very different ideas when it came to the dress budget! I, of course, wanted something that I felt great in, but as “the dress” did not appear at the top of the priority list I really didn’t want to spend more than £1,000 on it. Mum had other ideas and even offered to buy me the dress herself, so I could spend more on it. We looked in the designer wedding dress shops in and around Manchester as well as the sample sales and cheaper places. However, I actually found my dress on the Wed2b Instagram over Christmas. Mum was surprised at how nice it was for so little money, so despite the extra Christmas weight, I pushed her in the car and went to try it on. We both loved it and the fact it was under my original budget was a bonus. I loved my dress so much and because it didn’t cost a fortune (meaning I didn’t need to sell it on afterwards) gave me so much freedom. So when Amy, our photographer, asked me to wade through the freshly rained on mud to get under a fruit tree for some amazing sunset shots, I didn’t think twice about hoisting it up and stomping through the grounds! Even when everyone was jumping in the pool at 2am I did too IN MY DRESS and I loved it even more for that!

GROOM’S ATTIRE

Nick’s very fussy and being tall, broad shouldered, but lean, meant that finding a suit in the usual places was not much fun. In the end he knew Zara suits fit him perfectly so kept an eye out until he found the perfect one.

THE READINGS & MUSIC

We flew the amazing Jess Kemp over from Manchester to sing me down the aisle and entertain the guests during canapés and the party later. We saw her in the Botanist in Manchester – she was singing ‘Not Nineteen Forever’ by The Courteeners (one of our favourite bands) and we both looked at each other. We knew we had to have her at the wedding! Luckily she was up for flying over to Ibiza with us!

During the ceremony my mum read a “Lovely Love Story” by Edward Monkton which is such a gorgeous reading and brought a tear to a few eyes.

BEAUTIFUL BRIDESMAIDS

I gave the girls free reign with their outfits – colour, style, everything! All I said was it had to be “Ibiza and sexy”! In the end they deliberated between two styles of dresses, but the one they settled on was a gorgeous, flowery, floaty number from Silk Fred.

THE FLOWERS

My Grandma is amazing at making flower arrangements so she made all the button holes, bridesmaids posies and my bouquet. We wanted a relaxed look for the tables, so I went to the market in Ibiza town the day before the wedding and bought a collection of white and green flowers that we arranged in various jam jars and bottles.

THE CAKE

I love cake, but in the heat it is the last thing you want, so I got an idea from one of my friends to have a watermelon cake. My mum’s boyfriend bought the biggest watermelons he could from the local fruit market and carved us a three tier watermelon cake. After the cake cutting he whizzed it up with a couple of litres of vodka to make the best cocktail I have ever had!

YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER

We first saw Amy’s work in a blog online and loved the style of her photography, it was really natural, relaxed and felt really special. After meeting her we knew she was the perfect match! We loved working with Amy as our photographer, we felt really comfortable; she made all the shoots really fun and relaxing. Despite the threat of rain the night before the wedding, just as Nick and I set out to our pre-shoot with her, she was still so positive and saw the opportunity to have a dark and stormy shoot instead. One of my favourite pictures resulted from her perseverance and reassurance! We literally didn’t worry for one second about our photos on the big day. We placed all of our trust in Amy.

THE DETAILS & DÉCOR

I did all of the creation and printing of table plans, place settings, little fun signs, etc, before we went to Ibiza. We wanted a relaxed wedding and, because the venue was so naturally beautiful, I didn’t really worry too much about the details and décor. Putting it all together required a couple of hours of production line, lead by my sister, after which it was ready to be set out by our wedding planner, Emma, on the morning of the wedding (who did an amazing job!)

MEMORABLE MOMENTS

When I decided it would be a good idea to iron my silk dressing gown on the morning of the wedding, only to burn a hole through it right near the personalised Mrs Davies embroidery!

When my mum, bridesmaids and I arrived at the villa not quite knowing what to expect given the possibility of extreme weather damage… but it was just perfect. We all burst into floods of tears and had to have a good 30 mins with a glass of prosecco to pull ourselves back together again!

Nick and I wrote each others vows, so making those promises to each other in front of our close friends and family was really special.

Our portrait time together with Amy Faith was an amazingly special time – we had quiet moments to take it all in and just be with each other.

The unplanned pool party at 2am (which saw all 40 of the remaining guests jump in the pool) was incredible!

ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES

Take time to enjoy your engagement because the planning easily and quickly takes over! Everyone will have an opinion on how the day should go and will state it as if it is fact, but just remember: you can’t please everyone and no one really cares other than you, so please yourselves!

Nick says don’t worry about your speech! Once you get started and realise everyone wants to listen to what you have to say, you will be fine.

Credit Where Credit Is Due

Thank you so much to Amy and Nick for sharing their beautiful wedding story with us! Val Xx