It’s been a long time I have writing anything here, and oh, how much I missed it. But life has got in the way, with lots of projects, a new startup brand and school at the same time.

But now I have something really exciting to write about and since it’s July and time is plenty, I thought of sharing the story of the hardest decision I had to make in my entire life.

Ever since last year, when in July, during our Positano trip, J and I engaged, we’ve been thinking how and where to plan our wedding. We established that we’ll be doing a destination wedding since all my family is in Romania, and his in Sweden. It felt like the right decision, a natural one. But which destination? My dream has always been to have an outdoor wedding with a view. If possible, a view over the sea. So Amalfi felt like the natural choice, since that’s where we engaged.

But after asking for offers from Swedish wedding planners, googling around for the best location, we noticed that if we wanted a wedding in a dreamy location we had to wait tooooo long for a free spot during the oh so tight wedding schedule in Amalfi’s best locations.

So after thinking a few more months about where to say YES, we felt why not doing it in Spain, where the weather is always nice, food is also amazing, wine is at its best and people always happy? And since our family vacation house is located in the South of Spain, we’d had access to plan our wedding closely at all times.

We’ve once visited this little village called Altea, near Alicante, a romantic and genuine pearl on the Costa del Sol of Spain, with fabulous views from the top of the hills. So we thought, that’s the place!

It has been a long trip from that decision to the actual decision. First I googled for wedding planners and amazing locations in Altea and surroundings and I found NOTHING on my taste. So I went to my dear Instagram and looked for hashtags and locations, and through a deep Insta-trip, I managed to find the most amazing and talented wedding planners.

I never really knew the value of having professional event planners like I know now. So grateful!

So after closing the contract with them, and choosing a few locations they recommended us to look at, we booked a flight to Alicante. Paloma and Eugenio, our wedding planners, joined us in visiting 4 perfect locations and that’s when the crazy brainstorming started!

All the places had their charm and beauty.

One was an absolutely fabulous authentic (but luxury) villa where we could sleep, enjoy and have the wedding at. It didn’t work out because everyone wouldn’t fit in, and we didn’t want to leave anyone behind.

Another was a cute hotel complex where all guests could have their rooms and the wedding could be at the same place. Fabulous views for the ceremony but…it didn’t click with us.

We’ve also visited a fabulous finca with garden in San Juan (close to Alicante), Jardines d’Abril which was omg!!! but we felt the place was a bit too big for our number of guests and could look a bit empty.

And last but not least, we’ve visited our final choice! Actually, it was the place we found on Instagram before we even decided to marry in Spain. And it was the first visit of the day. So our heart might have been already stolen by it, so not really fairplay to the other locations, but oh well..

We had made our decision in one week after we visited all places. Not an easy one. On one hand, we wanted to have a slow wedding at a villa, kind of like a real destination wedding. To wake up with my friends and family and hang at the pool for a few days including the wedding morning, before we all prepare…

On the other hand, the thought of having both families together didn’t really make us feel…relaxed. Some family members don’t have a common language, like English, some have kids, some don’t, some want to have their own vacation (we love the fact that everyone gets vacation at our wedding!!!). It just felt like it wouldn’t work in our case with a solution like that.

And also, Marques de Montemolar, our choice, is just too amazing not to dream yourself up there on the top, saying yes to the man you love.

See the photos in my latest Instagram post:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BlbGn8WHQjg/?taken-by=bylorellay