Los Monteros Opens but is it safe?

I called by La Cabane beach club at the Los Monteros hotel in Marbella two weeks ago after hearing the good news that they have re-opened after a long battle and strike which saw the workers without pay for 19 months.

Last year I was responsible for planning the very last wedding there on May 29th. As a wedding planner I like to be organised and check all details as many times as possible to make sure nothing has been overlooked. When things go wrong, we are usually equipped with a plan B and nothing really impacts on the couples day.

The week in the lead up to the wedding in Los Monteros which was due to take place on Friday May 29th was probably the most horrific of my life and I hope that I never have to experience anything like it again. I was made aware a whole month beforehand that the hotel had been sold to a new Russian owner and that although the staff had been striking due to non payment of wages that everything was now sorted out and a meeting with their new food and beverage manager set my mind at ease.

On Monday the 25th, I called to the hotel to drop off a cheque of €11000 in full and final payment for the wedding. I received a call the following day to say that I should take the cheque back as there might not be a wedding. I jumped in the car and with the foot to the floor drove like a maniac to the hotel.I couldnt find the manager but his assistant explained that the Russian owner`, who felt like he was being held to ransom due to local employment law which was preventing him from sacking long term staff who he considered "lazy and slow", had simply decided to close the hotel and this would happen within the next few days.

I went back to my office to absorb the enormity of the situation when I got a call from the manager to say that he would personally ensure that the wedding would go ahead on Friday, but that I needed to bring the cheque back which I did on Wednesday morning. At this stage I had not said anything to the bride and her preparations were in full swing. On arrival to the hotel that Wednesday I met with the manager and his assistant who were by now ashen faced. They told be that the Russian owner had refused the cheque and that we were to pay €11,000 in cash or there would be no wedding.

At this point I had to go to the brides parents who had been quite involved in the planning process. They were of course shocked, then very angry. I arranged a meeting in the hotel the following morning. Our dilemma was simple, if we paid over €11,000 in cash how could we believe that they would not shut the hotel anyway. We offered to pay by credit card but the owner refused. On the Thursday night we continued with our plans and proceeded with a rehearsal in the church. The tension was incredible but only shared with the brides parents and I. At this point the poor father of the bride shouted at me saying that I should pay the money as it was probably all my fault anyway. I knew he was only venting his anger and asked that he stay calm so that we could all work through the situation together.

I got a call late that night to say that we were allowed to pay by credit card after all and with a personal guarantee from the manager that the wedding would go ahead we got up on the Friday morning and it was all systems go.

That sounds like the end of the story, but it got worse. The staff who had been striking at regular intervals over the past few weeks, went out in force blocking the entrance to the receptin area banging drums and blowing whistles. I then got a call from my chocolate fountain lady to say that the police had now shown up and were checking peoples work permits, and if my suppliers didnt have the right papers on them they wouldn´t let them in. I was at the church at this point so I sent my brave girl Lizzy down to keep an eye on things. The church all went fine and we had a champagne reception at the church. I was in attendance smiling at everyone while I received regular updates from the hotel. When I got there, the drumers and the police had left, but everyone was frantic trying to make up for lost time. I phoned the photographer to delay the bride on the beach and we made it with minutes to spare.

The night went off brilliantly and the bride and groom were only told the day after of all that had gone on, they were suitably shocked!The Russian turned up when the party was in full swing approached me to shake his hand as he had a tv crew there for some reason and was happy that such a fabulous party was underway so he could show off. I maintained a dignified silence but there was definitely no hand shaking.

I have huge admiration for the hotel manager Salvador, and all of the staff of Los Monteros who never gave up. WHen we visited two weeks ago, they were all there with their shirts off, mopping and cleaning to restore the hotel to it´s former glory. Salvador has worked there for thirty five years and I hope he never has to go through anything like that again. I think that if I ever had to go through that again I might just hang up my wedding planner shoes. I hope to bring them some more weddings and help to restore faith in the hotel, but I think that I may just wait a while.

Villa Padierna receives Michelle Obama and Del Boy

Villa Padierna is located in the middle of the stunning Los Flamingos golf course in the area of Cancelada west of Marbella. It´s palatial setting and unique ampitheatre makes it a popular choice of venue, and with a minimum price tag of €20,000 per wedding,the venue truly lives up to its five star status.

Last month Michelle Obama stopped by for a visit, with her daughter Sasha and stayed as personal guests of the hotel owners. During the five day visit the very elegant first lady went for a casual wander in Marbella Old Town where she stopped by a gift shop outside our most popular Marbella church, Nuestra Señora de la Encarnacion near Orange Square. Sadly I couldn´t make it that day.

On a more positive note, we had the pleasure of welcoming another A Lister at one of our May weddings in Villa Padierna, as pictured above, the one and only Del Boy.

Del Boy burst into the room and in true style tried to flog some sovereign rings and fake watches much to the amusement of the wedding guests.

This was a special surprise organised by the best man for the couple who knew nothing about it until his entrance into the room as they sat for dinner. I was informed only the day before that he would be flying in from London at 3pm, just as we were due to arrive at the church. I had to arrange a changing area for him and keep him under wraps until his entrance. Worse still, he had to leave the hotel at 6.30 that evening to fly back to London, so I had to be really pushy with the couple to keep to the schedule during their welcome cocktail.


We had the welcome cocktail in the front of the hotel which overlooks the golf course and the lakes. It was so beautiful there and the photographer was getting some great shots. With Spanish music playing in the background, everyone was really enjoying themselves. This of course meant that nobody wanted to move inside for dinner.

As I smiled at the guests I was concious of the best man following me around tapping his watch. When I announced the bride and groom into dinner, and made sure that they were comfortably seated, the bride commented that I was very bossy! It all became clear when Del Boy burst through the door carrying a host of funny props. As we had provided Del Boy with a detailed seating plan he knew which guests were at what table and proceeded with a super, and personalised comedy half hour which set the guests rocking with laughter.

The atmosphere continued throughout the evening and as a really good tip, I suggest that an act either during your welcome cocktail or just before dinner is a great idea to liven up the day.

If you would like Del Boy or any other celebrity at your wedding, let us know and we will see what we can do!

I love love love The Marbella Club

There is no better place to be than in the Villa del Mar, a private villa within the grounds of the Marbella Club which overlooks the main Marbella promenade. Located on the exclusive Golden Mile, the Marbella Club has welecome celebrities such as Grace Kelly and Jackie O, and weddings here place our brides in the same location where time has almost stood still.

This wedding was very entertaining. A tough gig for Irish comedien Dave Young who was a little out of his comfort zone. Usually playing to crowds in Benalmadena clubs, this couple were great fans and hired him for their wedding. However after a huge meal and many hours of drink poor Dave had to work overtime to get them going. In true style he did in the end, and even had their priest up as part of a mock boy band tribute.

I have learned at this stage to be prepared for anything and always carry extra shoes and clothes in the car. This day I had scheduled a quick stop to the hotel´s staff changing room to prepare as it is not good to turn up at a five star wedding looking like a sweaty two star planner. All going to schedule and dressed in black leggings and t shirt for the set up part of the day, all I had to wait for now was the delivery of the bridal flowers then off for a quick change. The bride had provided us with a picture of dark pink calla lillies which our florist reproduced perfectly. Unfortunately the shade was slightly darker than the bride wanted (warning, we never know what shade pink callas will be until delivery that day!!), and with a cry of "They´re plum, not fuschia", she threw the bouquet back at the poor florist who nearly died on the spot. Of course the customer is always right and with only one and half hours left till the ceremony, the florist had to rush back to the shop and re-make the bridesmaids bouquet. The bride was, thankfully, happy with her own flowers! With no time left I found a changing room in a beach club next door and like wonderwoman, I whipped on the pink dress in the picture above, threw in a few curls with my 1980´s little gas operated tongs and re-appeared looking slightly more five star.

Returning with enough time to check that the specially ordered barrells of Guinness and Budweiser were in place, I got the bride and her exceptionally large dress into the back of a white vintage rolls royce and raced ahead of them to the church. The dress was so big that the father of the bride had to sit in the front of the car!

The day went off well and as night fell, the pink mood lighting hit the palm trees as they swayed in a light breeze and the bride relaxed and smiled for the rest of the evening. There were more funny stories from this wedding, I couldnt possible write them but if you happen to be in the back of my car on a viewing trip, ask me and I just might spill!

Gillian & Donal Marbella September 2009

When I first met Gillian and Donal we discovered they lived in an area in Dublin where I used to live and that we shared some mutual friends which is always good if they want to check me out! On first impressions I knew that Gillian would be a stunning bride. As a hairdresser herself, the idea of somebody else doing her hair for her wedding day was a particularly scary idea.

On her second trip we took her to Halo Hair Design in Marbella where Kiko did a fabulous job and put her completely at ease. On the wedding day we booked Kiko to go to the bridal suite in the hotel to do the hair and we find that although this usually costs a bit more, the brides are generally more relaxed.

When it came to choosing the flowers, Gillian was a dream. Donal like many of my grooms left us to it and went to have a pint as the florist was cleverly situated next door to a bar!She chose a very light pink rose, tightly hand tied with diamonte studs which was subtle and suited her dress very well.

On their second trip to Spain we arranged for them to go and see some bands and this meant that they were very happy with the choice they made. In the hotel, the band were allowed to play in the restaurant where the meal took place and later they went downstairs to the nightclub where the DJ played until 4am.

The bridal car was the only let down on the day. We booked a beautiful vintage convertable car. On wedding days we usually keep the top up until the final approach to the church to protect the brides hair and then put the top down upon entry to the street so the photographer can get good shots. This particular day, I waited at the hotel until the bride came down before doing my final dash to the church. To my horror, when I asked the driver to put the roof up he said it was broken. "Fix it now" I said to which he simply put his hands up with a "Whatever" attitude. With no time to spare, Gillian had to climb into the car and put a plastic bag on her head to protect her hair. She arrived late as a result and I was at the other end at this stage fielding lots of lecturing from the parish wedding coordinator as the bride was late.

My final dash was to go upstairs to the mezzanine where I was also in charge of operating 2 CDs on a PA system which included the brides entrance music. I hate when I am responsible for this as it is such a big one if it goes wrong. The ceremony was beautiful and the rest of the day thoroughly enjoyable.

Luckily I dont pay anyone cash until the day and the couple received a full cash refund as they ate their dessert. Gillian didnt let it spoil her day and there are some things that simply cant be controled. Needless to say we have never booked this car again!¨

If you see the smile on Gillians face, she was a model bride and a shining example of how to enjoy your wedding day.

Thank you to Gillian and Donal for choosing our company and we enjoyed every minute.

Leanne and Daragh Malaga City

Leanne and Daragh contacted us early last year and had already started their planning process. They had visited Malaga city and were trying to settle on their venue but couldn´t communicate sufficiently with the hotel due to language difficulties, and had visited three churches but had no idea how to check availability or reserve the church.

On the face of it, we were asked for a part package which happens a lot when people want to do some of the arrangements themseleves. Where we offer decoration services separately, we never offer tailor made planning packages as after years of experience we know that this never works. As it turned out, they needed flowers, a make up artist, a photohrapher, wedding cars, guest coaches, church music and entertainment, and also an event manager on the wedding day.

They came to visit our Marbella office where we had a meeting and phoned churches and the hotel there and then. They left with all the information they were missing from the venue, and with the church booking secured provisionally.

Our next step was to visit the church in Malaga. This can be very difficult as office hours in churches can change from one month to the other and we were only guessing. Three visits to Malaga later we found the person we needed and secured the church once and for all. That wasnt before we sat through a long lecture from the parish office about the particular rules for that church which must be followed at all times. They also insisted on giving us a history lesson about the church which houses the patron saint of Malaga in the most amazing hand crafted plaster worked dome situated behind the altar. Then they showed us the "hell" part which was the scariest tomb like dungeon which housed the bodies of the old heads of the parish and was decorated in white and black plaster with images of skulls, bones and skeletons throughout. We didnt mention this bit to Leanne and Daragh!

The next step was for us to decide on timetables, suppliers and organise the church paperwork. We also scheduled in a second trip for Leanne and Daragh in Feburary where we set up their menu tasting, meeting with their photographer Kris, and oranised a make up trial which all went well.

There was no time to visit the florist so we worked with images from magazines provided by the bride which our florist interpreted wonderfully and the pinks and purples worked very well against the castle background.

In the lead up to the wedding we helped them to arrange a get together in a nearby restaurant, and put together their final budget and we handled all payments on the day so the bride simply had to get up and look pretty.

On the day the church gave us a heartattack, opening only fifteen minutes before the ceremony was due to start. Two candles for the altar had melted in the heat but we had back ups so all was well in the end.
Leanne and Daragh were a pleasure to work with and we wish them and their families all the best in the future.

Menutasting

Last week we attended two menu tastings for two of our June 2010 weddings. On both occassions we were delighted with the results and the quality of the food and service was indeed five star.

Both weddings are scheduled to take place in the beach club, but as it is not open yet they prepared the tastings in the main restaurant in the hotel. I particularly enjoyed last Monday´s as it was the first warm sunny day we have had here for quite a while and we were served in the outdoors by the pool and really, I can´t complain about my job!

On both occassions I had warned the couples not to eat beforehand as the Don Carlos menu tastings are notorious for providing a huge amount of food. People often think that a menu tasting is a pared down version of the real thing, and that small taster portions will arrive. At the Don Carlos DO NOT EAT BEFORE YOUR TASTING!

We were first served a selection of their hot and cold canapes which will be served on the day on trays with waiters walking around for one hour before dinner. This is usually held in their lush gardens and often accompanied by music with a fiesta atmosphere. The selection was to die for, small toasts with melted brie and blackcurrant, chicken satay and pineapple skewers, tuna carpaccio, fois gras with apple. They made sure that there was enough so that each person attending could taste everything.

With a small amount of room left, we were then presented with three different salads as options for the starter. My favourite was the Duck and Mango salad, although duck is not to everyone´s taste so the general decision was to serve the Tuna Takaki Salad, which had the most amazing subtle tastes with a hint of ginger and fruit.

Full at this stage we were handed a small version of their sorbets in flavours of champagne with lemon, mandarin and also cranberry. They are presented in champagne glasses with straws and although the cranberry looked the nicest, we settled on the lemon sorbet as we felt that it would appeal to all guests.

My clients who were then only expecting a taste of everything, were presented with a full size main course each. They were laughing at this stage as there really wasnt any room left! Again all food was to die for. We tried fillet of beef with a truffle sauce, slow cooked olive crusted lamb cutlets and fillet of sea bass. The choice was difficult but again to appeal to the larger audience, we settled on the beef. The only let down with this and most other venues in Spain, is that they dont offer a choice of dish, only one starter and one main course may be selected. There is of course always a vegetarian option available to those who dont like the main menu.

Throughout the tasting we were topped up with wine and their house selection which is included in the menu price was light and perfect for drinking in warm weather.

We were all in great form at this stage, full of food and wine when they wheeled out a trolley containing not one, but two wedding cakes. Then they popped open the cava and we had all forgotten it was a menu tasting and felt like it was our birthdays instead. I attend so many tastings that I have to be careful not to eat everything, but at the Don Carlos I always keep some room for the cake. My favourite is the strawberries and cream sponge, finished with white chocolate on the outside. It is perfectly complemented by the semi sec (semi dry) cava and this is definitely the most popular choice.

Throughout we had a head waiter looking after us, with the banqueting manager on hand to answer any questions we might have. I was truly impressed again, and I have no hesitation in recommending this venue as a great choice for this year. For €100 plus 7% per person you can get a one hour welcome cocktail including drinks and hot and cold canapes, a three course meal including wine and cava for the toast, and a wedding cake.

Pink Wedding at the Beach Club

We met the girliest bride ever about three years ago now, who had an idea for a fairytale pink wedding. She has always loved pink and the more the better. We visited about four specially chosen venues for her viewing trip. The brides favourite at the time was the villa at the Marbella Club, but as her guest numbers continued to rise, it became apparent that we would have to cover the pool in the villa to accommodate her numbers which would ruin the overall look, and at this point she decided on the trendy beach club at the Hotel Don Carlos.

It is only possible to enter the beach club from 9pm onwards as it is open until 7pm to sunbathers. This set us a huge challenge as we had so much setting up to do, and the earliest they would allow us to begin was 6pm! We decided to hold the welcome cocktail in the gardens from 7pm to 9pm, and then kept the beach club hidden away for the dramatic entrance of the bride and groom. In addition to working with different areas, we were also catering for daytime to nightime and we contracted an amazing lighting company to provide pink lighting throught and even a monogram projected onto a large wall of the couples personal logo.

Every wedding is different, we work with a broad range of suppliers. In this case we decided to use the hotel´s own florist as the sample they prepared for us at the menu tasting was beautiful, and the bride and her mum loved it; (the groom didn´t really care too much for the flowers). We contract Reviva Weddings with a team of 6 people to prepare the extras such as the chair ties and additions such as table mirrors, table plans etc. We contracted the lighting company and also a sound engineer as the beach club is a large place and we wanted the sound projected throughout all areas.

The wedding was a huge success and finished at 5am (so I am told as I was sleeping soundly at that stage). Here are some pictures taken that day:

Bridal Januaryitis!!!

My poor brides. I switched computer back on last Thursday and one by one the emails arrived from brides who had just woken up in 2010, panicked to bits that they were now in the year of their wedding, rather than thinking it was a year away.

We made sure that before Christmas that we carried out as much preparation as possible so that they could relax and enjoy the holidays without worrying about the wedding plans. And they did, and we switched off too, but it is amazing what a difference a number makes in the subconscious of a bride to be. 2010 has set off alarm bells all over the place. Once I named the condition, and let them know that all of my 2010 brides had woken up suffering the same symptoms, the light went on again and they started to relax.

I am the greatest list writer in the world, I couldn't live without my lists. I find that things you need to do can go round and round in your head without actually getting anything done if you don't write it down. This is exactly what happens to my brides, and all brides I am sure. I am so bad with lists that I scare my poor husband to death. A few weeks before Christmas between wedding planning and arranging to transport the family to Ireland for two weeks, there was a lot to organise. Add Santa shopping online with delivery to my sisters house in Ireland, there were a few sleepless nights and a bit of panic. I woke up at 5.30 am one morning and decided "no more", I am taking back control. I sat at my laptop and wrote down everything that was flying around my brain. As I wrote I could feel myself starting to relax. When I looked at the list, I realised that I didn't have to do it all myself and started to re-assign tasks to my husband. The list was now two lists and I relaxed some more. Then I broke these down into tasks to be carried out each day, and what was formerly a foggy brain was now a structured time managed to do list. Imagine the shock my husband got when he logged onto his email to find the list of instructions I had emailed him for the next week. He is not a list maker and called me a "scary cow!". Scary or not, lists are my thing and I find that they are a great way for brides to be to keep themselves calm.

This is why we work with an event summary. All of our brides should by now have received a draft of their event summary. This is in a list of all items for their wedding day which generally begins the day before the wedding with the rehearsal. It shows the order of the day, broken down by time of day and what will happen, where they should be, who the supplier is and what the detail is for that particular item. With every new supplier or change that we make along the way, we update the event summary and send a copy to our brides. It helps them to visualise the wedding day from start to finish and it is also a great method of finding out if anything has been overlooked. It might be as simple as a button hole not counted or an incorrect meeting point for guest transport, but when we send the final draft and our couples have approved them, it means that on the wedding day, even if they can't see us, the couple knows where we are and what is being carried out in the various locations.

When a wedding is in another country, the feeling of not being in control is very strong for most couples. We advise that they write a regular list, weekly, fortnightly, depending on how much time they are giving to their wedding plans, and send us regular emails with the questions that are playing on their minds.

I hope that this post will provide enough advise to cure the symptoms of bridal Januaryitis. If in doubt, give me a call.

Welcome to my new spanish wedding blog!

Hello there and welcome to my new wedding blog. Up until now I have been intermittently writing a newsletter to keep my existing and future customers informed as I experience this wonderful journey working as a wedding planner here on the Costa del Sol. Moving slowly into this new decade, I am finally attempting to master the art of blogging. I will keep writing a bi-monthly newsletter, but I am hoping that this blog will reach more people.

Having now completed over 100 weddings since we set up in September 2007, I am bursting with information that I hope will bring readers some useful hints for their own weddings that will make their wedding preparations easier.

Our clients to date have come from Ireland, the UK and Spain. We have dealt with so many different scenarios I keep saying that I will write a book, but that will never happen while I am working as a wedding planner as it is very time consuming. What I will say is that while starting out with wedding plans is a daunting affair, we never worry as we can plan a wedding with our eyes closed and we never panic on the day as after all, it is not us that is getting married!

I promise to write regularly, and I will let you know all the information I find out as I visit wedding venues in areas such as Nerja, Mijas, Marbella and Benalmadena. I hope to hear lots of useful feedback from readers and I will bring you some live crazy wedding stories hot off the press.

On another note, I am just back from Ireland after spending Christmas there with the family. I had a total ball but I have never experienced cold like it. As I am a sucker for punishment, I am going back to the cold to exhibit at the Bride of the Year Show in the RDS Dublin on January 30th and 31st. As this is a busy exhibition, if you would like to meet with me privately, simply call in advance to arrange a private appointment.