My Wedding in Portugal

It’s no surprise that my love story revolves around travel. After all, travel is the love of my life (next to my husband)! It first started with “I love you” in Hawaii on June 2, 2016, followed by “Will you marry me?” in Switzerland on May 20, 2018, and ending with “I do” in Portugal on June 2, 2022 - exactly 6 years later. Here is the story of my fairy tale dream wedding in Portugal.

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Transcript

[00:00:00] Hello, jet setters and welcome to the jet set life podcast. I'm your hostess, Brittany Ryan child free travel content, creator, and blogger. I'm a curator of authentic and cultural travel experiences. And I want to help you be the same. Create a jet set life full of adventure and learn how to live life to the fullest with me as your travel.

Tune in each week for solo episodes and conversations with travel leaders, all about child free travel adults, only getaways travel guides, itineraries, and more. I am all about sharing, actionable, detailed tips and tricks for creating the jet set life of your dreams. So get ready to learn. Are you ready for takeoff?

Let's jump into today's. Hello, beautiful jet [00:01:00] setters. How are you doing this week? As you may know, if you've been listening to previous podcast episodes back in June, I had my second wedding to my first husband. We got married twice and This second round was in Portugal. It was in Sintra, Portugal, and I, it was the final culmination of all of the things that I had wanted, but had been postponed. 

Today I just wanna share with you about my wedding about the experience. And share with you some maybe inspiration, if you ever want to do an elopement or a celebration, or even just a trip to Sintra. First I have to give you some background. I first got engaged in may of 2018. We wanted to have a long engagement.

So I really didn't start looking at a wedding until 2020. In fact, I didn't [00:02:00] even know that he was going to propose I in 2018, I thought he was going to propose in like 2020. It was a complete surprise and a very happy one. And he actually proposed to me in Switzerland, which was incredible. So I had to follow that with something equally as epic in my wedding.

 In early 2020, I had landed on a wedding in Portugal, specifically in Sintra. It is a genuine fairy tale of a place I could move and live there for sure. I researched wedding planners and I found Olivia with newlyweds. She is an incredible wedding planner and I would highly recommend her, but she's actually planning on exiting the business in.

I think by now, after the wedding season is starting to come to a close she's pretty much wrapped up and done and moving [00:03:00] on to other projects. I, we had set a date for June 20, 21 with Olivia, but of course, everything changed when COVID hit and I lost my job. I was laid off. And after we thought about it, we realized that it would be four years until I could get married from the time that we were engaged.

And that just didn't sound fun to me. We originally were saying, okay we'll just get legally married and enjoy some of those benefits from being married from a legal perspective, but then. As. We started learning more. I decided that it needed to be a mini COVID wedding and not just a simple courthouse run.

In fact, at the time they weren't even allowing people to go to the courthouse. It was just a zoom meeting and that just didn't didn't work for me. [00:04:00] I wanted to at least make some sort of celebration out of it. So we did that with a mini wedding or a micro wedding in 2020 with just our immediate family.

In hindsight, I'm extremely glad that we did this and we had a Dallas wedding because. We were able to have our family members there, especially Jordan's grandparents who probably wouldn't have been able to make a trip overseas to Portugal later. For this particular mini wedding, I rented the penthouse suite in the west in Dallas, downtown for the.

And we got married in a super private ceremony inside of the penthouse with just our immediate family. There was a dozen people total, including us, and we followed this ceremony in that room with a family dinner that got catered up to the penthouse suite. It was safe in terms of COVID, but it was also very intimate and special.

 I'm really glad that we had this [00:05:00] opportunity for the family to witness us because get married because like I said, it would've been really difficult for Jordan's grandparents and also my parents were probably not prepared to, well, they still aren't really prepared to go to Portugal. I think my dad just got a passport renewal, like in August.

 Everything worked out for the best. We had considered just leaving it at that wedding and not doing anything in Portugal, but I just couldn't let go of my dream to have that wedding in Portugal. I also, after the first mini wedding realized that there were a few things that I kind of regretted, which was an interesting.

Realization, just little things. I I wished that we had a different photographer, a more experienced photographer. I also realized that I loved my dress. I still loved the dress that I wore that day, but I didn't necessarily feel [00:06:00] bridal. It didn't check the bridal box for me. At that point.

I wouldn't have chosen a different dress for this particular wedding, because it was a beautiful wa white, modern dress. And it was, it felt very urban chic, which is exactly where the wedding was in downtown Dallas. it felt a appropriate for the occasion, but it didn't make me feel necessarily bridal.

I really wanted that moment and have a dress with a flowing train. And luckily I was able to find that for my second wedding , which I had fallen in love with a stunning simplistic off the shoulder wedding gown by Jenny Yoo it It is called the Louise gown and it's made of chiffon fabric and it's just super romantic.

I love the details of the dress, like the square net line. It had a structured [00:07:00] bodice and it had a line of buttons down the back. I paired it with a gold floral belt and a gold teardrop halo from sit BCA in lieu of a veil. And I loved my head piece. It actually was a piece that I fell in love with, from watching a TV show that I'm fond of the TV show is called Reign.

R E I G N. So reign. Royalty and reigning over things, not rain like that comes from the sky . But in this show, there are these beautiful outfits that are sort of Renaissance takes on what the fashion was back then. They're completely not accurate historically, but they're just, they were gorgeous. And one of the pieces worn.

Character named Kenna in that TV [00:08:00] show was this teardrop halo. And I researched who made it for the show and I contacted them and asked if they could make it a one off because it was not sold regularly in the store. And she gladly accepted. And so it was a really special piece that or accessory that I loved having for the wedding.

 The tailoring made my dress quite form fitting much more that I'm used to. I, but that being said, I really loved the silhouette that it gave me. I wouldn't wanna walk around in this dress all day, every day after the alterations, but altogether it was a very comfortable dress considering. I mean, aside from just the corset being tied around my, my bodice, which I'm just not used to.

Everything else was just super comfortable and it felt great when you're standing in it. It's just, when [00:09:00] you're sitting and having dinner, it was a little bit more difficult, but either way I truly felt like a queen bride and that was exactly how I wanted to feel. And it was what I had always envisioned.

Okay. Let's jump ahead to the wedding in Portugal. We originally planned to have an elopement with just the two of us, but I'm really happy that changed. We eventually ended up being accompanied by two of our dear couples that are friends of ours. And two of our married friends joined us from Switzerland.

They actually were present for our engagement, so that was very fitting that they joined us. And then the other couple joined from Texas and celebrated our wedding in addition to celebrating their own anniversary. The ceremony was held at the site of Monserrate palace. It's an absolutely dreamy 17th century Moorish style palatial Villa in Sintra.

That used to be a summer resort for the Portuguese court. And it's [00:10:00] just, I personally, I love Moorish architecture. And the setting of it was just perfection. Legend says that the Villa lies where an old chapel used to sit within the Luna Mons, which means mountains of the moon. It's said that the area symbolizes a mythological hiding place for the goddess of the hunt nature and the moon, which is Diana.

Now in Roman times, she was known as Cynthia, which has come to be known as present day Sintra. I mean, it can't get better than that. Like I loved Roman and Greek history growing or the myth mythology growing up and I loved the mysticism associated with this particular destination. It felt, it really did feel like you were in a fairytale enchanted.

With these magical properties. and so the Villa. Or the [00:11:00] palace lies inside of a large park with a lake, several Springs and fountains grottos and lush greenery. And within the forestry lies chapel ruins. So this was the site of our ceremony. And if you know me, you, I love ruins for some reason. I just there's something so cool to me about preserved history.

To think about the stories that used to be held in those type of places. And I just think there's something beautiful too, to like having these exposed brick type of structures in the midst of forests and all this greenery. This was where we physically got married. The chapel ruins was actually left in ruins because of the 1755 great Lisbon earthquake.

And it. It's literally part of the nature now, like plants and roots were growing all around the structure. [00:12:00] which I just thought was perfect. Our officiant Joanna, she did a wonderful job. We both managed to get through our ceremony and our vows without making any mistakes , which I always get nervous on.

And I also didn't cry too much. I was really trying not to cry, but I sometimes get emotional with romantic stuff. And I really tried to stay as present as possible so that I could. Put those moments into my memory forever. On another note, our photographers which was atmosphere of photograph and our videographer they're called, we love film.

They were dynamite. They, I could not have been more pleased with how both of our photos and our video turned out. It. A real pleasure working with both of those vendors. And they do photography and videography across Portugal. If you're looking for something like atmosphere, photograph, and we love film.

Are really good [00:13:00] solid choices. So after the ceremony, we headed to our hotel, which was Casa Holstein, which is also known as Quinta Sao Sebastio. And this was where our reception took place. Quinta Sao Sebastio is conveniently located in Centra, just 700 meters from Quint LAR Regal. Oh, regalia. I have so much trouble with that one word.

Well, actually several Portuguese words. So forgive me, but it is in it's 700 meters from the city center and from the main castle, let's just say that. The main house of Casa Holstein is this beautiful pastel pistachio, huge color. It's the house is private and actually inaccessible by guests.

This is something I didn't realize when we booked it, but Basically there is, are these 13 guest houses that have been built next to the main house that are built to [00:14:00] mimic the main house and they're decorated with antiques. It is made to look like all one property, but you actually don't stay in the main house.

You can stay in the suites or in the Villa, down the hill, which I'll get into it in a second. There's also a swimming pool on site, as well as a yoga studio, which was very nice amenities. As you proceed down the hill of the property, you can reach this two bedroom, private Villa known as the garden Villa.

And this is where we stayed for our wedding night. And this is also where our reception was. I loved this spot because it was super private. There was literally no issue of noise constraints or time limits or anything like that. It felt like we had just had our own little private party in a cottage surrounded by nature.

And next to this Villa was this beautiful opening for a former garden. It had a little fountain feature [00:15:00] and it was the perfect place to put our dinner table, our dance area. The cake area and a three piece band. Super intimate, very relaxed environment and just super scenic. Now I will say there are like a kid, you not over a hundred stairs to get there.

So going down was fine, but going up was a real challenge even for all of us younger folks, imagining my parents and my grand and Jordan's grandparents trying to get up and down. It would've been a nightmare. In a way it was good that we, again, it was reaffirming that it was good that we had our mini COVID wedding in 2020, and then.

Our friend wedding in Sintra in 2022. Okay. We've made it down the hill and we were greeted by glasses of champagne as we arrived. And I loved the work of Olivia and our florist, which was [00:16:00] happy day events. This was the first time I got to see our table decor and it was just beautiful there. Soft hues of blue with gold accents and the table setting was very refined and romantic.

I wanted it to show some of the typical blue that you find the blue and white that you find in Portuguese tiles. But I also wanted there to be like a romantic garden element to it. And so that was brought in by some of the gold accents and the lighter blue hues. And what took the tablescape to the next level were the hand painted place cards and menus that were placed on our plates.

And this was, this work was done by Michela of the Dandelion art out of London and her calligraphy skills are just incredible. I really loved how it turned out. We had crystal glasses on the table a as [00:17:00] well, and then a floral center piece, three members from the band 24 robbers swing band actually played music while we enjoyed cocktail hour and dinner.

Now we didn't really do any. Dancing as a group because there was just six of us. And it just felt a little odd, but I really loved the ambient ambiance that this band created this, the main singer's voice, her voice is so silky smooth. I could have listened to them play for hours. They were playing vintage jazz music, and it just, it felt really light and happy.

And yeah I couldn't have been more pleased now after our first dance, we all sat down for a three course dinner from, for a Dica. And here were our courses. The first was asparagus and ham quiche with lettuce and rocket salad. So good. Then [00:18:00] you could choose from either stuffed chicken breast filled with smoked sausage, served with stuffed potato, filled with bacon and.

Or you could do roasted pork Tenderloin with sauteed mushrooms and zucchini. Jordan got the pork Tenderloin and I got the stuffed chicken so that we could just share and try each others. And it was wonderful. And then the highlight was petite gateaux with vanilla ice cream and fresh raspberries. It was like this beautiful, like decadent chocolate lava cake.

That had this vanilla ice cream in it. And I don't know what it made it so unique, but we all agreed that it was like so good. Also the caterers, we had two caterers that were with us the entire time from cocktail hour, all the way until very late at night and they were incredibly attentive.

They were so great and, always pay attention to refill glasses and to, bus our table and just kind and very sweet and [00:19:00] professional. As the sun began to set we had a lot of candlelight. I originally thought that I was gonna do like string lighting, which would've been pretty.

Honestly, it didn't, it was gonna be over the top at that point. It just wasn't worth the money because the candlelight was so romantic and more cost effective and it just created a more magical setting in my opinion. Because we already had the chocolate cake, the petite gateaux to As part of our CA catered meal, I didn't want like more dessert.

And I also love cheese if you guys know me. So instead of doing a like dessert cake, I did a cheesecake. I did a, like 2 to three tiers of. Fine cheeses. And they were decorated with figs and grapes and it was really cute. And I just, liked it and preferred that I love a good like cheese import at the end of a meal.

 It was perfect for what I was [00:20:00] going for. I obviously didn't come up with this idea. I've seen it done before, but I don't think it's really commonly done in Portugal or in Sintra. They were, every was getting a kick out of it. I'm happy that people thought that was a unique touch.

So after the dinner ended, we all just sat and enjoyed each other's company. We listened to music, we drank wine. We actually had midnight treats come out which were these traditional Portuguese sandwiches. They were so good. Of course, I was like so full by the end of the night, but I was like, I didn't want the night to end.

We probably wrapped up around midnight and I truly couldn't have asked for a better day, a better evening. And I couldn't have asked for better vendors either. Every piece of the puzzle was perfect. And though it was a long time coming. I finally had my dream wedding in. I am so grateful for the vendors who made it [00:21:00] possible, and I'm grateful for my friends who were able to make the trip and join us.

And I forgot to mention also I had amazing hair and makeup as well. My hair was done by Raquel Reposo and my makeup was done by Claudia AUA. They both were so professional and I loved what they did. I didn't have trials with either of them. So it was a bit of a risky move, but I couldn't have been more pleased.

 If you guys are looking at doing any sort of Sintra, elopement, or getaway or party celebration, and if you wanna check. All of the vendors that I used for everything and check out the videos and the pictures, then you can visit my blog jet setting, blonde.com and you can click on my post wedding in my wedding in Portugal.

 With that, I hope you guys have a great week. Thank you for listening to my more personal story this week versus the [00:22:00] travel. It's all travel related, but definitely more. More of my own life story today. So thank you guys for sticking with me and listening to me and I'll talk to you soon. Bye.

If you enjoyed this episode and you wanna dive even deeper into creating your jet set life, start with upgrading your travel bucket list. You can download my free resource on the top 50 destinations for child free travel. By visiting jet setting, blonde.com/start-here, because the first step to creating your jet set life starts with upgrading your travel goals.

And if something in today's episode really resonated with you, please screenshot and tag me at the jet set blonde on Instagram or Facebook. I wanna know what your biggest takeaway was. I [00:23:00] really wanna hear from. And it means so much to me when I can see your screenshots of you listening to the podcast or reading my posts online, every screenshot and review means the world to me.

I read every single one and I really appreciate your support in listening to this episode and supporting me on this adventure. I look forward to bringing you more awesome and genuinely helpful content that will help you create the jet set life of your.[00:24:00]