An Elegant Seville Wedding Beneath the Orange Trees

For Ashley and Manuel, choosing Seville for their wedding meant celebrating in the very place their story began. MONICA ORTEGA photographed their beautiful Spanish celebration, which began with a Catholic ceremony at IGLESIA COLEGIAL DEL DIVINO SALVADOR before moving to historic HACIENDA LA SOLEDAD for an evening amongst olive groves, courtyards and orange trees. MIRKA EVENTOS brought the couple’s vision to life through abundant florals and elegant styling.

Seven years earlier, Ashley had arrived in Seville from the United States for a six-month study abroad programme. Just two weeks later, she met Manuel. After Ashley approached him one evening, he asked for her number, only to discover her phone had recently been stolen. Instead, she gave him her email address, and the pair spent their first weeks exchanging emails while arranging dates and getting to know one another.

What they assumed would be a wonderful six-month romance became something much bigger. When Ashley returned to Hawaii to finish university, Manuel called just two days later to tell her he was booking his first-ever trip to the United States. After a year of long distance, Ashley moved to Spain, where they have since built their life together.

For the proposal, Manuel brought their story back to Ashley’s home in California. Towards the end of a month spent in the United States, what Ashley thought was simply a Friday sunset date in Carlsbad became something much more significant.

On a beach filled with memories from their relationship, Manuel proposed with a ring he had designed alongside a Barcelona jeweller. He had already quietly asked both of Ashley’s parents for their blessing and arranged for a photographer to document the moment. Even transporting the ring across their travels required some ingenuity: tucked inside a sock in his carry-on, Manuel carried an old boarding pass with a handwritten note explaining to airport security that it was an engagement ring and asking them not to spoil the surprise.

Ashley and Manuel wanted their wedding to feel timeless, but equally important was creating a celebration that genuinely represented the two of them. Their stationery offered an early glimpse of that approach. Working with CRISTINA QUIDIELLO, they created a bilingual suite with a hand-painted map featuring both the church and hacienda, an embossed A&M monogram and delicate lace detailing on the envelopes.

Most distinctive was the blue-and-white pattern incorporated into the suite, inspired by Seville’s traditional Cartuja china. The design held personal meaning for Ashley, whose grandmothers also loved the pattern, and it later reappeared on the reception tables. Ashley and Manuel designed their seating plan and menus themselves, adding another personal layer to the paper details.

Fashion was particularly important to Ashley, whose style has evolved considerably since making Spain her home. For the wedding itself, she wanted to feel elegant and classic without taking attention away from who she was. Her wedding gown by MADE WITH LOVE was followed later by a custom second look from Seville designer DHER BRIDAL while a series of outfits from Meshki, Bimani Spain and Third Form carried her wardrobe through the surrounding celebrations.

The wedding morning was intentionally unhurried. With a 6:30pm ceremony ahead, Ashley woke in her Airbnb with two of her closest friends, one from childhood in San Diego and another she had met since moving to Spain. Coffee, a walk and a relaxed morning together were followed by hair and makeup, sentimental gifts for her mother and a first look with her father before leaving for the church.

Inside the extraordinary IGLESIA COLEGIAL DEL DIVINO SALVADOR in central Seville, the couple celebrated a full Catholic Mass that reflected both sides of their story.

Manuel entered with his mother and Ashley with her father, while two priests conducted the service in Spanish and English. A pianist and violinist accompanied the ceremony, and Manuel’s sister, a professional opera singer, performed Hallelujah in English and Ave Maria in Spanish.

Perhaps most meaningful were the vows. Ashley and Manuel each wrote their own and spoke them in their respective native languages, an unusual addition to a traditional Spanish Catholic wedding but one that was deeply important to them. Their closest friends sat alongside them as testigos, with family filling the neighbouring pews.

Following the ceremony, guests travelled by private buses to HACIENDA LA SOLEDAD, a historic former olive estate dating to 1542. Ashley and Manuel arrived separately in a vintage 1963 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III, ready to join their guests for the full two-hour cocktail celebration. Here, their two cultures came together in wonderfully relaxed fashion. A live taco and margarita station nodded to Ashley’s San Diego roots, alongside Spanish jamón carved to order, sushi and an impressive selection of canapés. A guitarist performed songs in English while guests ate, danced and enjoyed the hacienda at sunset.

Mirka Events filled the celebration with the abundant flowers Ashley had always imagined. Hydrangeas and peonies in whites, creams and soft neutrals were paired with greenery and arranged in oversized ceramic vessels, including sculptural face vases that brought an old-world quality to the setting.

Dinner unfolded beneath the orange trees in one of the hacienda’s beautiful courtyards. Twenty-one tables were dressed in the same blue-and-white Cartuja-inspired pattern first introduced through the stationery, then layered with flowers, candles and chandeliers. From the glassware to the silverware, Ashley and Manuel personally considered every detail. Before dinner, Manuel welcomed their guests with a speech that included a special message in English for Ashley’s family and friends. Later, Ashley dedicated her bouquet to her mother before presenting flowers to five more of the people closest to them.

The evening then moved into a third courtyard for dancing, complete with a cigar bar, candy bar and stage. After dances with their parents, Ashley and Manuel shared their first dance to a mix of Coldplay’s Yellow and Melendi’s La Promesa. Behind them played a film Manuel had secretly created from seven years of memories: travels, date nights, buying their first home and, finally, the moment he proposed on the beach in Carlsbad. A five-piece Seville band kicked off the party before the DJ took over for another five hours, with the final buses returning guests to Seville at 6:30 the following morning.

For a couple whose relationship began with a chance meeting during six months abroad, there was something especially fitting about gathering friends and family from both sides of the Atlantic in the city that brought them together. Ashley and Manuel’s wedding was unmistakably Spanish in its setting, yet deeply personal in its details: a celebration of the two places, cultures and families that have become their shared home.