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.