This was my first destination wedding in Spain, but after being there for a week, I can’t wait to go back and I am already looking for more. Miriam’s brother was a guest at a wedding I photographed in the UK last year and got in touch to see if this would be a wedding I would be interested in. I love travelling to new places and jumped at the chance to go. With discussed a few things and a Skype call with Miriam was arranged to see if I was someone she would like to have at her wedding. I do think it’s important to have that talk with a client before booking to make sure we are a good fit, and thankfully I was.

I took the opportunity to go to Madrid several days before the wedding so I could take some time to wander around the city and see what the place has to offer. I have been before, but it was just for New Years Eve, so this time I was going to make sure I took in some of the sights – The Royal Palace, the Prado Museum, and countless hours wandering the city getting totally lost. I loved every minute – and Madrid has some pretty awesome places to eat – especially the food markets located all around the city. I was in heaven as a foodie.

Anyway, on to the wedding itself. Mariam and Rodrigo had planned their wedding over two days. The official, formal wedding at a Mayors office late on the Friday afternoon, followed by the main event and celebrations on Saturday at Aldea Tejera Negra. Which is by far, a beautiful location for your wedding in Spain (if you are thinking about it).

The setting is perfect – plenty of rooms and lodges for guests to stay, a gorgeous setting for a wedding outside, a swimming pool for cooling off in the midday heat (before the wedding starts) – just the perfect backdrop.

The wedding started at 18:00 in the evening which left the whole day for friends and family to arrive and enjoy the setting over lunch in the garden. Having already met some of them the day before at the official ceremony, it was great to mingle with people I recognised. With such a relaxed approach to a wedding, I would certainly recommend it to other couples.

It’s a slightly different type of ceremony to your English style wedding. A master of ceremonies conducts the day, with many friends and family taking moment to give blessings (or words of wisdom) to the happy couple. At several points, there was hardly a dry eye in the garden, such was the sentiment of the words.

With the official parts out of the way, the celebrations really started to take off, and they sure know how to party. Food was served at around 21:30 and it was mouth-wateringly amazing, and in such huge quantities that I could no finish what I was given – which is so very rare.

Now, I have been to some wedding parties that blew the roof off, but this group of people – wow, what can I say… I was still taking photos at 5am and they continued to party even after that. The whole experience left me wanting to photograph more weddings in Spain.

I cannot thank Miriam and Rodrigo for such an amazing experience, and the biggest of thanks go to Jorge for thinking of me. To you all, your friends and family, I thank you so much for everything. I do hope I get to see you all again soon.

Below are just a small selection of the 1,000+ images from the wedding, and I hope you enjoy looking through them.