Wedding | Isabella & Calum

Tell us a little about yourselves!

We have been together for coming up to 12 years (since Dec 2014) we met at school when we were 16 and got together when we were 17/18 years old. Since then we’ve been through life by each other’s side, growing together.

Calum proposed just after our 9 year anniversary on the seafront of my hometown Bournemouth, alongside our dog Lola. I grew up on the coast and Cal in the countryside. Cal is 1/4 Bermudian and we would holiday there when his dad and grandma lived there and have treasured memories on the island.

We are both creatives, living in East London - building our own brands. Cal is a podcast producer and content creator and I am a content creator. We have our own run club and community called Stay In It.

Why did you decide to get married where you did?

We wanted to get married abroad and somewhere a little different, we did a wine tasting in London. The sommelier happened to be Portuguese and sold his country to us!

We did a road trip across Portugal visiting 4 different venues but when we saw Quinta de Sant’Ana we just knew it was the one. Rustic, family run and with so much natural beauty. Not only is it a vineyard, they have their own organic flower fields and alongside the yellow buildings, it felt very whimsical and ethereal and just so us.

How many guests did you have?

Around 100 including nieces and nephews.

What was your budget?

£50-70k.

Tell us about your outfits.

Issy: I went to The Fall Bride in East London, the second dress shop I visited and fell in love with The Juliet by & For Love. It just felt so me. I loved the pleating, the corset and the bow straps, and how I could have them undone and hanging over my shoulders as we relaxed into the evening. The dress is simple and timeless. I knew I was never going to be a lace or slinky dress girl. I used to do Shakespearean acting so the name of the dress felt meant to be. I wanted a short veil and got this from the Fall Bride too by Harriett Gordon, the dress did all the talking. My shoes were yellow, sequinned from Circus NY by Sam Edelman and they look like fairy shoes!

For the Bermudian welcome drinks there could not have been a more perfect dress than the Clio Peppiat, beaded with pink coral and handbag reading “Till death do us part’

Calum: For the welcome party I wore a bespoke from my neighbour’s new business ‘White Label London’ - a really well made clean white shirt that paired perfectly with pink Bermuda shorts, which accidentally created a perfect pairing with Issy - our bottom half was pink, top half was marital white! I also wore Ezra loafers from Duke & Dexter. One of my favourite pairs of versatile loafers.

For the wedding day I was wearing a custom tailored suit from Zebel London. I had the most incredible experience designing my suit with these guys. I knew I wanted a green suit to match the tone of the venue and the overall whimsical theme of the wedding. I went double breasted forest green suit with tangerine accents and tie, contrast stitching on the lapel and a vintage broach instead of a flower. They did an incredible job. They also made my groomsman suits; single breasted beige suits with subtle green accents to match my suit.

The groomsman also had vintage broaches which were sourced by my good friend Anna and had small bits of green painted on to match my suit colour. For shoes on the wedding day I was wearing Ronning brown city loafer, I met Magnus (founder of the brand) earlier this year and absolutely love everything he is making, these shoes can be worn also with less formal attire so they are a perfect diverse shoe.

What was the most important aspect for you, in terms of planning your wedding?

We saw it as planning a big party to celebrate our love with all the people who have helped ti grow and flourish. We wanted the whole process to be relaxed and fun.

Were there any elements that were important for you to incorporate?

It was really important for the wedding day to tell our story. We wanted it to be really personal to us. We wanted us and our guests to feel relaxed, the bridesmaids all did their own hair and makeup as well as me making the morning really intimate and fun.

From my sister-in-law singing me down the aisle, not Cal’s cousin being our officiant. Our mums gave speeches on the Friday evening as we felt we wanted to acknowledge them and our close relationship to them! My best friend was our ring bearer and another wrote a poem to read, called Going the Distance, using our love for running as a theme talking through our relationship together.

The day wasn’t just about us, it was about celebrating and thanking our circle of people. To symbolise us joining together as a couple we double barrelled our last name, honouring us as a team. Our first dance was so fun, rather than doing a slow dance we sung and danced around to Loving is Easy by Rex Orange County, our absolute fave song.

We spread out the fun over three days, the night before to catch up with everyone, wedding day, and the beach day to debrief. We wanted to spend as much time with our friends and family as possible and get moments with everyone.

Any tips for couples getting married?

Take a moment after the ceremony to yourselves. It will be the only time you get together alone on the day. It was so special to catch up on the ceremony and chat about our outfits, and just generally take it all in.

Are there any vendors that you would like to tell us a little more about?

My friend Anna Place sourced vintage broaches for the groomsmen to wear and vintage shirts for the bridesmaids to wear whilst getting ready and I have a mens dinner shirt!

Four Pence designed our wedding bands to match the engagement ring which is a tourmaline stone. Both wedding bands have little stars carved in them with tourmaline stones to match, we designed them together.

Our wedding gifts were the table plan, we had Portuguese tiles personalised with our guests names organised by our wedding planner. Everything was done in house.

We had a handmade banner and seat banners from gaia cirila who I found on Etsy, she embroided our last name and as we entered the dinner we dropped the banner and that is how we announced our last name. We then had “Just Married” and our initials on our chairs.

Last but not least, it was really important for us to have a photographer with an artistic vision that captured all the joy and emotional moments rather than having staged photos of the day. Ricardo and Ana from La Dolce Vita did exactly that. They captured the laughter, the emotion and all the little moments without ever feeling intrusive, allowing us and our guests to simply enjoy the day. Their warmth, dedication and genuine passion for what they do made us feel completely at ease, and the memories they've captured are something we'll treasure forever.

Photographer: La Dolce Vita @ladolcevita.ph | Planning: Alexandra Mengheres / Quinta de Sant’Ana @alex.mengheres | Flora: Quinta De Sant’Ana Flores @quintadesantanaflores | Videographer: Bach Films @bach.films | Ceremony & Reception Location: Quinta De Sant’Ana @quintadesantanamafra | Celebrant: Cousin William | Catering & Beverages: Quinta De Sant’Ana @quintadesantanamafra | Cake: Vegan De Nata | Stationery: Quinta De Sant’Ana @quintadesantanamafra | Entertainment: Sister-in-law Gemima & Andre Galvao | Dress: & For Love @andforlove | Suit: Zebel London @zebelofficial | Veil: Harriette Gordon @harriettegordon | Engagement & Wedding Rings: Four Pence @fourpence | Shoes: Groom: Ronning; Bride: Circus NY by Sam Edelman @sam_edelman