This is a guide for anyone who wants to know How to Plan a Wedding in Portugal !
We are Nathalia and Pedro, we photograph love in the most spontaneous and true way possible since 2012.
Words like: warm, modern, candid, spontaneous, intuitive, imperfect, free, creative, intimate, true, magic, romantic, expressive, enthusiast, earthy, genuine, emotional describe our photography.
We want you to feel free on your wedding day to be yourself and experience all the emotions you feel. So that when you receive the photos, you can see and remember the feelings experienced on your big day! And so that years later these records are proudly shown to your children and these show to your grandchildren. These will be part of your legacy!
We got married in 2018 and built our wedding from scratch, we had many doubts and many decisions to make, at the time we were looking for some guides on the internet but it was hard to find something that we could identify ourselves into. In addition, we were not looking for anything conventional, classic and most of the references were. So we decided to create a Guide for those who are in this phase, building the history of the wedding. Here is a practical guide that explains how to plan a wedding in Portugal. Enjoy!
When to get married in Portugal?
Summer/Spring
It is the main choice of most brides. Weddings between July and the end of September are the most disputed dates. This is because the days are longer at this time of year and the sunset is close to 9pm. The probability of rain is very low, so especially if you are thinking of getting married in the North of Portugal and don’t like rainy days, the best choice is summer. Get ready to plan your wedding as soon as possible. Days like Saturday or Sunday are very disputed with the suppliers and Venues.
Autumn/winter
Autumn is one of the most beautiful seasons in Portugal, the country really lives an incredible color palette, the fall of the leaves is amazing and it is the season with the best light of the entire year and the sunny days are wonderful to shoot. What weights negatively is the rain, it is one of the rainiest seasons.
Winter is still an unexplored season, just a few weddings happens at this time of year, much because of the fear of rain and the colder days. But here’s a tip: for sure you can count on good light, more dates available with the suppliers and maybe special prices. And if you’re thinking about snow, Portugal has it too! Serra da Estrela is one of the most beautiful places in Portugal and this time of year we can see a lot of snow!
Getting married in the South or North of Portugal?
Portugal is a wonderful and very complete country, in 10 hours we manage to get to and from Portugal and we had contact with beautiful landscapes: Beautiful beaches from North to South, wonderful rivers, snow in Serra da Estrela, an abundant nature in Geres. Desert vegetation in the Alentejo, castles in Sintra, historic centers from north to south. Good food, wineries, a lot of beautiful things and we even have the Azores and Madeira Islands that are cinematographic scenarios.
South of Portugal – How to Plan a Wedding in Portugal
The South is one of the most chosen destinations by tourists because it is the best climate in Portugal. The Capital of Portugal, Lisbon, is in the South, the probability of rainy days is lower, and has other two incredible regions, still little explored, the Algarve and the Alentejo.
Here are some amazing venues to get married in the south of Portugal:
North of Portugal - How to Plan a Wedding in Portugal
The north of Portugal is very well known for the production of Port Wine, this area has as main river the Douro and on the banks of this river that flows into Porto, some places produces wine, has it’s vineyards and do ceremonies and beautiful wedding parties. It is also an area marked by the strong presence of the city of Porto, with the Dom Luiz Bridge, and many historic and charming places that you could look for.
Here are some amazing venues to get married in the north of Portugal:
How to find Wedding Suppliers in Portugal?
Us as wedding suppliers in Portugal and mainly: being a married couple, we can give you this advice: choose good suppliers for your big day. People who are aligned with the responsibility of being part of the structure of a wedding and especially people who are open to hearing what you want, without wanting to impose or replicate an idea that has been used before.
This is the moment that we are the main activists at the end of “It has to be like this, because it has always been like this” – You only get married once in your life and that day has to be as you believe it should be, your way, each aspect should be the extension of your personality and your story.
Here we bring together suppliers that we trust, or that we already worked with or know in person and admire the work. Entrepreneurs who are passionate about weddings and being part of making a dream come true. This team is amazing!
Wedding Planner in Portugal
Wedding Cake in Portugal
Wedding Flowers in Portugal
Portugal Wedding Dress
Wedding Film Portugal
Wedding Photography Portugal
of course we couldn’t be out of our guide – we love what we do and would be so happy to eternalise your memories!
The Timeline Of The Day - How to Plan a Wedding in Portugal
Planning the day is of paramount importance, it allows you to have complete peace of mind to do what is most interesting on your wedding day: be happy, enjoy and not worry.
Before you get desperate, we have as one of the services included in our package an exclusive meeting to set up this schedule, everything so that your dream photos have the best light in every moment and so that your guests are comfortable.
First of all you need to know that a wedding in Portugal has an average duration of more than 12 hours, our coverage has that minimum duration. And in many cases the party runs until five in the morning, so get ready for a big party!
In other words, think first about the pillars of your day: Preparation, Ceremony, Love Session, Dinner and Party!
The preparation must be aligned with the suppliers of Hair, Makeup, closest family and closest friends. The bride must be ready one hour before the ceremony, depending on the distance between the preparation place and the ceremony venue. We cover this preparation and we love this part of the day! We think it is a very important moment for both, the groom and the bride.
Then think of the ceremony in a way with open space, where neither your guests or you are facing the sun, so that the ceremony is enjoyable for your guests and for you as well. The schedule is difficult to say because the sunset varies according to the time of year. If you are going to have your wedding in the summer do not be afraid to think about your ceremony later than usual.
Following the ceremony, guests will be welcomed. The moment when a long line is formed. Everyone is very excited to hug you and share what they are feeling to you. You need to make a choice!
Option 1: Take advantage of this moment to take the standard photos, we can choose a beautiful place with space to photograph you and each family that will greets you.
Option 2: You can say: “I don’t like protocol photos, static photos make me angry, I want spontaneous photos.” We also manage to make that moment beautiful records and will also save you more time than the first option.
Option 3: Again, you can say: “I don’t like protocol photos, static photos make me angry, but I know that my mother, and certainly my grandmother will ask me for a photo, I’ll have to take it, there’s no way.” Okay, we have a solution and here it goes: Let someone you trust warned that as soon as you leave the ceremony, we will go to a place separate from the guests and that person should take the closest family members. So we take these photos in 10 minutes and you can have the best of both worlds: spontaneity with the guests and the protocol photos with your closest family.
The other moment to think about is the Love Session. It is the first moment when you are alone, just the two of you, enjoying together this new feeling of being officially married. A lot of contained emotion and it is time to put that love out, to explore the most beautiful corners of the venue that you chose for your wedding and the best daylight: the sunset! We recommend to reserve 20 to 30 minutes for this moment and of course it is optional, it must always make sense to you.
After that you can rest assured, align the times for Dinner, First Dance, Cut the Cake, Play the Bouquet, etc with your venue, whatever you think makes sense to you. After all this day is yours!
With that, you already know How to plan a wedding in Portugal!
Enjoy Your Big Day! - How To Plan a Wedding in Portugal
As we said before, above of the photos, video, decoration, dress, cake, venue, etc, is a day to have fun, to enjoy every second, savour all the emotions that flows from you.
That day will remain forever in your memory. Every time you look at a photo from that day it will connect directly with the feeling of joy. Not to mention that there will be people with whom you feel most comfortable, who have a lot of affection, people you haven’t seen in a long time, family and friends, all together celebrating your love!
The purpose of having created this publication “How to plan a wedding in Portugal?” is to help you to have a light and assertive process in choosing suppliers, time of year, planning a schedul and all that matters! So that on the day you are completely sure that all the choices were the best you could have made and your big day was the way you always dreamed of!
Thank you for getting here!
If you have any questions, send us a message! We will be happy to help you 🙂
With love,
Nathalia and Pedro
Lovati Photography
