Beautiful, Bohemian Sea View Wedding at La Palma, Canary Islands
Whilst I absolutely love shooting weddings all over Wales and over the border into England, it’s also pretty lush to have the opportunity to travel away from the grey(ish) weather of the place I call home and soak up some beautiful rays of sunshine in southern Spain. Which is exactly what I did for Alicia and Daniel’s AH-mazing, super relaxed wedding at Finca la Principal on the Canary Island of La Palma.
La Palma, which is where Alicia is from and where her family home is still located, is a small but breath-takingly gorgeous island, a truly unique location that’s off the beaten track and home to awesome mountains, lush forests and incredible volcanic beaches. Considering Alicia and Daniel had guests and kids coming from all over Europe to help them celebrate their big day in style it made total sense for them to do this at a location that was both special but also familiar to them. Not to mention the big ol’ bonus of increds weather and Spanish food and wine on tap…the dream, no?!
I can’t talk about this day without mentioning the fact that Alicia is a mind-blowingly brilliant ceramicist who creates these insanely beautiful, large-scale sculptures of the female form which were dotted around the house and gardens of the family home. It gave the wedding morning setting an artistic, laid-back vibe which set the tone for the rest of the day. Believe me when I say if I could have taken one of her stunning creations home in my hand luggage, I would have done, in a heartbeat! They are quite simply, a bit of me!
Relaxed, family-friendly wedding at Finca La Principal
As they are both huge music fanatics, Alicia and Daniel managed to incorporate this passion into their day with ease. In fact, it’s one of my strongest memories of the day; the subtle but consistent nods to their love of music, from the music notes hanging in the trees as Alicia walked to the ceremony, to the music-themed tables (ABBA, Queen and Guns N’ Roses to name a few!) and the amazing variety of music that was played throughout the day. Although wedding days are often full of chatter, lols and things going on, I still think having music, even just in the background, can really help to amplify the already joyful mood of the day, which is what they managed to do - it was cool, party vibes from sunrise to sunset!
In typical Spanish style, everything happened much later in the day than it would in the UK with their wedding ceremony taking place at 18.30pm. Firstly, it meant they missed the blistering (and sweaty!) heat of the midday summer sun but siestas in Spain also typically happen between 2pm - 4pm so the majority of traditional weddings here don’t start proceedings until after this time anyway, plus the Spanish don’t eat their evening meal until very late so it’s all just part of the local culture. A different style of wedding timeline for me but one that I was super happy to embrace!
Because of this it meant they had the WHOLE day to just hang out and actually enjoy the build up of the festivities without any crazy rushing or strict time restrictions. Cue a leisurely breakfast together and a lot of laughter before they went their separate ways to slowly get ready for the main event. Alicia got ready in her mother’s home and Daniel had the family’s AirBnb all to himself until it was time to head to Finca La Principal for the wedding ceremony.
Their celebrant-led ceremony took place outdoors in the early evening sunshine, surrounded by exotic flowers and palm trees and with far-reaching views of the sea. If you were to draw a typical Spanish sea view wedding setting with palms trees and mountains in the backdrop - this would be it! Sooo dreamy!!
Following the emotional, intimate ceremony it was time for drinks and photos, culminating in an authentic Spanish wedding breakfast which was served al fresco (obvs) just as the sun went down. Followed by hilarious speeches and free flowing jugs of red wine, which just so happened to coincide with their guests letting loose on the dance floor - the best kind of wedding reception fun, right?!
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“Vix was the photographer for our wedding in July this year on the Canary Islands. It was a pleasure to have her with us on this special day! She was very organised and had great advice and ideas!
When we got our photos, I started to cry because the pictures are so beautiful and made me recognize how wonderful our wedding and our day was. Thanks to her! She really catched the soul of this day! Thx a lot <3”
