Relaxed and laid-back Ibiza wedding

As a very laid-back couple, Georgia & Tom didn’t have a set theme when it came to how their wedding would look, they just knew that they wanted a fun, relaxed day with their family and close friends. “We wanted a small wedding and the most important thing for us was that everyone really enjoyed the party, rather than having to go home at 11pm. When we met in Ibiza our villa was near Elixr so we had seen a wedding going on – it obviously seeded a thought in both our heads. We went to Ibiza in January for a weekend to look at venues and ended up having far too much fun on the island – wedding planning went slightly off track! However, we did make it to Can Gall and instantly knew it was for us. We wanted a venue which didn’t need much planning, which was naturally beautiful and where we could stay for a few days with everyone without it feeling like we were part of a production line. Santi was the perfect host, when we arrived we sat in his garden drinking red wine, eating cheese happy we found the perfect spot.” With minimal styling they kept the focus on their guests and the party. The fabulous ANA LUI PHOTOGRAPHY captured their gorgeous day.

HOW DID YOU MEET? A friend organised a holiday to Ibiza for his 30th a couple of years ago. I had so much going on at home I decided I may not go, but my very dear friend Simon drove me to the airport and demanded I get on the plane and forget about work for a week. I arrived at Gatwick and in stood in front of me was Tom looking gorgeous. It took a game of frisbee to break the ice and we have been travelling the world, having fun together ever since.

TELL US ABOUT YOUR PROPOSAL: We love to travel as a couple and one of our favourite weekends away is Amsterdam. We usually rent a houseboat and enjoy strolling around the city exploring the local hangouts. We decided to go away for Christmas to Thailand but went via Amsterdam for a couple of nights to our favourite spot in Jordaan. The night Tom proposed it was freezing cold! We had booked a table at our favourite restaurant and were looking forward to our night. One of Toms old work friends lives in Amsterdam, and I invited to him to dinner without realising what Toms plans were! We had a great evening catching up – we drank, ate and laughed a lot. When we finally got back to our houseboat, we opened some champagne and snuggled on the sofa. All of a sudden Tom was stood in front of me with a ring asking me to marry him! The next day we were on cloud nine, we went to sit in the Andaz hotel with a glass of champagne face timing our parents to tell them the news before flying off to Thailand for two weeks.

TELL US ABOUT FINDING YOUR WEDDING DRESS: We decided instantly that we had to get married in Ibiza, we adore the island and wanted a very small and relaxed wedding with a fun atmosphere. We are not really the big white wedding sort of couple, we wanted it all very laid back so I wanted the dress to match. I love the 1950s style tea dresses and a friend sent me a link to Fairy Gothmother in Shoreditch. My two friends Kirsty and Mike came with me for the initial hunt and I fell in love with the first one I tried on. It was mid length, ivory lace with a stunning scalloped neckline. I bought it there and then. It was simple but gorgeous and so comfy. We decided to get married within six months of getting engaged, so Emma at Fairy Gothmother was a huge help in making sure it all came in on time.

ANY DIY ELEMENTS? All of it! We didn’t want to use wedding planners, it seemed impersonal and a waste as we were so relaxed and didn’t want a lot of fuss. We aren’t very traditional so it meant we didn’t get caught up in the detail a lot of couples seem to. The venue was so stunning it didn’t need any decorating, we wanted to leave it very natural. We did take time to make our tables look lovely. Tom and myself went to Ibiza the week before and collected lots of pine cones and sprayed them all gold, my sister then used them with some foliage from can gall to create the name tags on the tables. My mum has gorgeous writing so she wrote them all out! We knew the island was expensive so we took scented candles from Anthropology for each table, we had a photo from every place we loved in the world as the table names, we used rosemary from the garden to decorate a wire heart with the table plans on it which my mum and sister put together. We made our own photo booth with polaroid cameras, props and wigs – these photos were our guest book and it was a lot of fun. I took some paper lanterns and small LED lights, which our family spent the morning hanging in trees with ribbons and lace. We were not having flowers but the week before decided it would be nice to have a bouquet so we ordered gypsophelia and Rhododendrons from Floral Dreams who were fantastic. My sister then made us bouquets and decorated the tables with the left over flowers. The day before the wedding we decided to have an arch at the top of the aisle and Santis mum decorated it with flowers from the garden. So it was all very do it yourself but both families had a great time doing it!! We also chose to write our own vows, which was so special. We had so much fun doing them and on the day it made it feel like we were the only ones there.

DESCRIBE YOUR WEDDING FLOWERS: My sister created stunning bouquets from Gypsophila and foliage from around Can Gall on the day of the wedding. She then arranged the flowers in the centre of the table, which were pink and white rhododendrons.

FAVOURITE DETAIL OF THE DAY: The photo booth was so much fun and it still makes us laugh looking at all the mad photos of our friends. We ended u
p using a funny photo of me and Tom in a blond wig for our thank you cards!

WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE OUT TO A COUPLE PLANNING THEIR WEDDING? Relax and enjoy! Its so much fun! We were just so focused on having a brilliant day with all our family and friends we let all the detail slip away and it really meant we could enjoy the build up. We really investigated and spent time on the photographer – it was so important to capture the day as it went so quickly. We love looking at our photos and would tell any couple on any budget to spend money and time on getting this right.

MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT? Seeing each other for the first time as I walked down the aisle.

IS THERE ANYTHING YOU WOULD CHANGE OR DO DIFFERENTLY? We would like to have paused time as it went so quickly!!