Wedding of Janika & Rafal

Madrid, the city of love. Or at least it is for Janika and Rafal, a couple who met while studying in Madrid and who, for that very reason, chose to say their “I do” in this city. She is from California, and he is from Poland; they got engaged while living in Munich and needed help organising their big day in Spain from start to finish, so they contacted us to help with all the preparations through our full wedding planning service, so they could relax knowing everything would be perfect on their big day — and it was.

One thing Janika and Rafal were clear about from the start was that they wanted to get married in the Basílica de Nuestra Señora de Atocha, since when they lived in Madrid as a couple, they had attended a wedding there and fell in love with this iconic Madrid church.

The ceremony turned out beautifully. We hired a huge white limousine so the bride could arrive at the church with her bridesmaids, and afterwards a horse-drawn carriage picked up the newlyweds at the church door and took them for a ride through the most central and iconic streets of downtown Madrid.

Also, since the wedding had foreign guests, we found a priest who could officiate the ceremony in English, as well as an interpreter to translate the most important parts of the mass into Polish.

For the reception, the couple wanted a garden very close to central Madrid where they could have privacy and hold a big party after dinner. we scouted and proposed a series of charming venues in Madrid and accompanied the couple on all the visits until we found the perfect place. In the end, Restaurante El Latigazo was chosen for the occasion.

We decorated the banquet space with white lanterns over a large U-shaped table, since with a small guest list it seemed like a good idea to gather everyone around the couple, so that the table layout invited guests to enjoy dinner very close to the stars of the day.

We also set up a guestbook corner in the garden, decorating it with a suitcase full of flowers and old postcards of Spain. Guests arrived and, besides writing a nice message for the couple, had to assemble a map of Spain from antique pieces. Super cute. And finally we set up a piñata with the couple’s initials, a fun Polish tradition we discovered. All in all, original, personal touches that guests loved.

Here are some photos of the garden decor, taken by Ruth Roldán, showing the decoration details we prepared for the couple, in which you can also see the flowers by La Galería de Doña Urraca and the lovely cake and cupcakes prepared by Acaramelada for the couple, which added an even more special touch to the celebration.