This sun-kissed wedding in Portugal will make your heart flutter endlessly. Orlaith and Claire said yes to forever with an autumn celebration at Quinta De Sant’Ana which is nestled in rolling vineyards in Mafra. Orlaith is a One Fab Day alum who covered oodles of fabulous real weddings, so we are so excited for you to see all the magical details of their special day. We can confirm their destination celebration was off-the-charts dreamy!
The couple dreamt of a fun fete that was full of colour and fabulous music and they wanted to embrace Portuguese culture with their food and drink. 136 of their loved ones joined them for their October fete which included breathtaking bright blooms, squiggle stationery, a phenomenal custom wedding dress by Bespoke Bridal, a scrumptious retro-style wedding cake, and a musical surprise that had their guests ready to dance until dawn. Mitt Photography captured every single moment of magic, get ready to swoon!
Let's get to know our fabulous couple first. Orlaith and Claire are originally from Cork and they live in Dublin. Orlaith tell us the story of how they met, "We matched on Tinder in 2019, and met a week later at P Macs for our first date. The funny thing was that a month previously I had viewed a room for rent in Claire’s houseshare—a viewing Claire was not in attendance for—so we could have been roommates if Claire hadn’t promised the room to someone else. Guess I got in there in the end."
Claire picked a breathtaking location to pop the question in 2022. She proposed while they were on a road trip in Norway and they were staying in a cabin on the fjords of the Lofoten Islands hoping to catch the Northern Lights, how dreamy! Orlaith reminisces, "After a day of stressful travel in a snowstorm to get to our cabin, Claire got down on one knee to turn the mood around. After many tears and obviously a 'yes!', we spent the night dancing around the kitchen to Taylor Swift and toasting to the future. It was super low key and, even though it was in our future plans, was the best surprise."
The celebrations kicked off with a BBQ welcome party the evening before. "Having our closest family and friends on site with us the night before for the BBQ and the morning of the wedding was incredibly special. Seeing them all mingling, getting to know one another and, by the end of the weekend, sharing many a pint together, was incredibly special."
Claire was a vision of timeless grace wearing a Studio Levana off the shoulder gown with a semi-sheer bodice and a flowing skirt. Her glorious gown exuded modern romance boasting a stunning floral lace motif. She accessorised her ethereal dress with delicate jewellery including a pearl drop necklace and elegant satin bow heels by Rainbow Club.
The couple wanted their wedding to be full on fun and to be an all-out celebration that reflected their personalities and them as a couple. Given that they were travelling to Portugal, it was so important to them that their guests were comfortable throughout the wedding weekend. "We knew having our wedding in Portugal would require extra effort and investment from our guests so we really wanted to make sure that everyone had a great weekend both at our wedding and on the days before and after while they explored Lisbon."
Orlaith was absolutely breathtaking in a short wedding dress which was custom made by award-winning Irish bridal designer Bespoke Bridal. Boasting a corset with a draped neckline, her bridal gown also included dreamy diaphanous details such as sheer sleeves and a flowing Watteau-style train. She accessorised with a floral headpiece by RJ Studio AB and heels by Lulus. Her wedding ring was stunningly sentimental as it belonged to her grandmother.
They wanted to create an inviting party environment for their guests by incorporating joyous colour in their stationery, flowers and table settings.
The couple tied the knot in a sun-soaked garden ceremony with serene vineyard views. Their bright and bold floral displays were created by the owner of Quinta De Sant’Ana who is a florist and she prepares all of the flowers on site. The presentation included meadow-like clusters at the entrance and they exchanged vows in front of a jaw-dropping floral arch.
For her processional song Claire chose Malibu by Miley Cyrus who she has adored all her life while Orlaith made her entrance to Lover by Taylor Swift. "We wanted to feel like we celebrated it with them and it was one big party—doing things like facing them during our ceremony and hiding our rings under one of their seats for them to find," she adds.
Their ceremony was officiated by Ruth Scott who is a dear friend of Orlaith’s. "We were very excited to have Ruth marry us. She was exceptional at bringing the personal elements to the ceremony and had married us legally at home in Cork the month before, so we had already spent time together. We got legally married at Jacobs on the Mall in Cork with our immediate families over dinner. It was low key and exactly what we wanted."
Amongst the many highlights of the ceremony was when they great friend Katie read a heartwarming poem all about friendship. "It meant so much to both of us coming from Claire’s oldest friend and someone I now count as one of my closest. My eldest brother Brian also shared a reading about the importance of family and the new one we were building which was such a lovely way to welcome Claire to ours."
They got the party off to a thrilling start as a four-piece moving brass band played during their drinks reception, wearing red sequinned blazers no less! "Simply Hybrid Syncopators did a stellar job of getting people on their feet," the bride shares.
They brought their dream day to life with the help of the venue's wedding planner Paula Duarte and they designed their stationery together with a lot of Pinterest sleuthing to uncover their desired style. The reception stationery incorporated sweet squiggle motifs with soft pops of baby blue and cream introduced through the taper candles.
Their reception space was gently rustic and it was transformed into a floral fantasy with the star of the show being the flower cloud that hung above their sweetheart table which was bursting with colours and disco balls. Absolute magic!
They really wanted to be present with their guests for the entire weekend and soak up every magical moment possible. "Our hope is that they all went home but wished they were still having a laugh in Portugal."
The countryside estate is a lush haven, a romantic world away from the bustling capital of Lisbon. With everything from the ivy-covered manor house to exotic palms and eucalyptus forests in the distance, it is a cinematically beautiful location for a once-in-a-lifetime celebration, that's for sure.
Orlaith shed more light on the process of finding their dream wedding venue. "As a first step, I had made a shortlist of venues in Ireland and abroad. We first narrowed it down and agreed to go abroad as we decided we wanted a wedding in the sun where we could stay on afterwards for some R&R. We then decided on Portugal as Claire had some family members marry there over the years and always had great experiences. When making the shortlist, this venue was my absolute favourite—I loved it from the first Instagram post I saw."
While the viewed numerous wedding venues throughout the Algarve and in Lisbon, they knew they had found 'the one' when they arrived at Quinta De Sant’Ana. "When we stepped through the front gates for the first time, I couldn’t believe it entirely lived up to what I had seen online and gladly, Claire loved it too. It ticked all our boxes—the space had a really nice flow, with many different areas for the guests to explore throughout the day—including wine tasting in the cellar. The on-site accommodations provided ample space for our closest family and friends to stay with us and enjoy some pre-celebrations the night before. The team at the venue were wonderful to deal with from the beginning and they backed that up with all the incredible floral arrangements, the wonderful food throughout the day, and, of course, many a great bottle of wine. We knew from the beginning the backdrop would do the work for us when it came to styling and photography and when we finally got our full wedding album back, it was exactly as we’d hoped!"
Music was another top priority and they delighted in curating the music from the ceremony right through to the afterparty. "We knew to expect all the nostalgic musical moments that were going to get our friends and family on the dancefloor."
When it came to curating their wedding aesthetic, the bride says, "Attending lots of weddings in recent years helped guide our discussion about likes and dislikes, and I knew we both wanted something less traditional and more fun. The venue was the perfect starting point and we really wanted to play off the vibrant yellow villas and the rolling green hills of the vineyard. From there, we developed a colour palette we both loved and then chose a couple of visual elements to add interest and some personal touches. We took inspiration from everywhere—Pinterest, TikTok and, of course, many a top tip here on One Fab Day. Our planner, Paula, understood the assignment from day one and was always happy to suggest options and explore the possibilities. The aesthetic ultimately matched us as a couple perfectly and it was such a reward to see it all come together on the day."
It was their loved ones who made the celebration so wonderful. There were subtle and oh-so sweet touches throughout their decor and stationery to honour family members who unfortunately couldn’t be with them on the day.
Having seen all the downright dreamy details of their celebration, we were curious to know what tips the brides had for their planning a destination wedding. "Try not to get obsessed with weather forecasts. We had downloaded six weather apps as we were trying to find one to tell us what we wanted to hear. Rain was due but against all odds, we had clear blue skies for the whole wedding, so there was a lot of unnecessary stressing. We’d also say, you can make wedding planning as stressful or stress-free as you want (within reason)—we spoke early on about the stuff we actually truly cared about and when everything else came our way, we reminded ourselves not to get bogged down in the stuff we already agreed didn’t really matter. In the end, if something went wrong on our big day, we didn’t notice it. Our guests had a wonderful time, we got the wedding weekend we wanted and it all worked out perfectly."
Orlaith and Claire's sensationally stylish celebration included a Lambeth buttercream wedding cake which is one of the hottest wedding cake styles right now and a first dance to I’m Gonna Getcha Good by Shania Twain.
They kept the festivities doing with a day two at Cheers Irish pub in Lisbon. "So it really was a great party for the whole weekend - which is exactly what we wanted! We had so much fun and really felt like we got to enjoy all the elements we had worked so hard to put together. The same owner owns several Irish pubs in the one area, and we found them great to deal with to organise food etc."
The newlyweds spent a week in the Algarve detoxing and continuing the celebrations with their loved ones guests who extended their stay. "We stayed at the Anantara in Vilamoura and Vilalara Grand Hotel Algarve. We headed on our honeymoon six months later, and will be spending three weeks in Japan and Okinawa after."
Orlaith and Claire, we were blown away by your Portugal wedding, a huge congratulations from all of us at One Fab Day! A very special thank you to Mitt Photography for the joy-filled imagery, you can see even more in the gallery below.
Dreaming of tying the knot abroad? Check out our Destination Wedding section!
