Nadine and Andreas are a German couple, living in Switzerland, who were married in Spain. With an English coordinator and American photographers. Listening to the German and Swiss-German being spoken, and trying to speak a little Spanish with the staff of the hotel, it was easy to keep forgetting what country we were actually in.
Nadine and Andreas chose Marbella because Nadine’s family has vacationed there since she was a child. The gorgeous Villa Padierna provided the setting for their small wedding of about 50 guests.
The preparation time, ceremony and dinner were quiet, traditional and elegant. Lovely, long evening gowns. Nice, respectful speeches. Sophisticated sipping of champagne and wine from formal glassware.
For the after-party at a club in downtown Marbella, however, the dresses got shorter, the voices got louder, and any kind of drinking was done straight from the bottle. For us, since there wasn’t much dancing at their formal dinner, this was the real “reception.”
Nadine and Andreas reserved a private section for all of us, and the bottles were delivered with live sparklers and fanfare, which set the perfect tone for the night. Naturally, things got crazier and crazier as the night wore on. We don’t remember when we left the club, but we were happy and exhausted after having shot some of the wildest photos in our entire careers as wedding photographers.
Nadine and Andreas saw their entire gallery of photos yesterday for the first time. And as we Skyped with them last night, Andreas asked “Is this normal to have wedding photos like this?”
We had to think about it for a second. I mean, we definitely saw some things we’d never seen before. But then again, we were in Spain, with beautiful young people from all over the world, celebrating love, in a club that the prince of Dubai parties in whenever he’s in Marbella, where the go-go dancers are transvestites. There’s a first time for everything.
And really, if you have to ask “was that normal?” it was probably a pretty incredible night.