Hanadi and Ryan flew in from Canada to marry on the Costa del Sol, and they did not come alone: the whole family travelled with them, along with a group of friends who had crossed the Atlantic to be at the bride's side. It was the kind of destination wedding that moves an entire family. They chose Torre de Tramores, a very private villa tucked into the hills above Benahavís, a few minutes inland from Marbella, and it was my first time working there. In all my years I have rarely worked anywhere so beautiful: a cobbled courtyard with its fountain, vines shading the house, the old stone tower that gives the estate its name, and the mountains behind.
This time I did not do the bride's hair. I looked after the hair of the people closest to Hanadi: her family and the friends who had come with her from Canada. There was a great deal of wedding guest hair to do, so the morning started very early, and from the first hairstyle it was clear what kind of day it would be: joyful, fun, and full of an energy that never dropped. Hanadi's family were lovely, and her friends filled the house with laughter long before the wedding began.
For Hanadi's mother, her sisters and most of her friends, the choice was soft, organic waves, elegant and with the natural movement of hair worn down. The grandmother of the bride wanted something more classic, a blow-dry set with brush and dryer, and the photographs show her styled that way, in her pink dress, clapping along in the middle of the dancing.
The bride's heritage is South Asian and Middle Eastern, and you could feel it most at the start of the day, with several traditional rituals. The photographs show incense passed from hand to hand, the family's jewellery, and the women dancing on the terrace in pink, fuchsia and red. It was an intercultural wedding from beginning to end: the traditions of the bride's family, an Andalusian house in the hills and guests who had flown in from Canada, all in one celebration.
That festive energy showed in the colours too. The styling by Gaia Events Spain, who planned the wedding, was done with real taste: one long table on the lawn, festoon lights strung through the trees, ceramic plates with green borders and lemons on the tablecloth. The flowers by Kiki Silvarum followed the same idea, with loose, wild-looking arrangements in yellow, lilac, pink and orange, and a garland of red flowers running down the tables. Nothing looked placed for the camera, and everything matched the guests' clothes and the family's joy.
And then there was the cake. I don't think I have ever seen one so original or so beautiful: white, several tiers high, with the buttercream worked into folds and ripples like fabric, and fresh flowers that seemed to grow out of it.
The ceremony took place in the garden, under parasols, with the mountains behind, and the wedding meal at that long table, where one toast followed another. The photographs by M2 Visual Studio capture the day beautifully: the colour, the family, and a group of friends who had travelled from Canada to celebrate with Hanadi.
Looking back through them, I recognise the whole morning: the same pinks and reds from the terrace, now out in the garden, and the same women who had danced between one hairstyle and the next, raising a glass at the long table.
