Stunning photos of this Portugal pool party destination wedding

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With pool party weddings on the rise, we thought we’d share this steamy heat-of-the-summer wedding in Algarve, Portugal.

A few weeks ago, we shared a very regal palace wedding by Portugal Wedding Photographer, and with our obsession (and seemingly all of yours too!) of Anastasia Ivanichkina’s beautiful images, we couldn’t resist sharing Carol & Sultan’s intimate poolside wedding featuring a traditional Chinese Tea Ceremony & stunning greenery-filled outdoor ceremony.

Wanting to keep the wedding intimate, the couple found the perfect private venue Casa Rupi (which is available for booking on Airbnb, no less!) to ensure that no extraneous hotel guests or onlookers would be imparting on their celebration. Love this idea? We’ve rounded up a number of gorgeous, private Airbnb villas & homes you can rent for your wedding day.

The Proposal

We decided to go for a nice dinner by the riverside to celebrate some good news followed by a sunset evening walk through Richmond park (this is where we very often used to go when we first started dating). And as we sat there watching the sunset Sultan proposed!

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The Wedding Style

We wanted a very intimate wedding abroad so we could celebrate it outdoors. Our vision was to keep it rustic but classic with lots of nature surrounding us. Our colour theme was white, green (nature), accents of gold and light grey. We went for the Private Villa as we did not want to have other guests and weddings happening in the same venue which is usually the case in destination weddings in larger hotels.

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The Dress & Attire

My wedding dress was quite “light” as the wedding took place in August in Portugal where the temperature can rise to 40 degrees Celcius! I wanted a fishtail style dress with a lace style bodice and for it to be backless. All the bridesmaids wore the same Vera Wang chiffon one-shouldered grey dress which kept with the airy and abroad theme.

The groom wore a stone linen blazer with navy blue trousers and the groomsmen wore royal blue blazers and stone chinos. we did not want a full suit as it was going to be hot and we did not want it to have a formal feel. we wanted it to feel relaxed as it was our nearest and dearest.

For the Chinese tea ceremony, I wore a traditional Chinese red dress that I borrowed from my sister as my something borrowed! The groom wore a light grey suit.

The Flowers

We had a floral arch and my bouquet was blush pink roses with accents of white smaller flowers and lots of foliage. I wanted more foliage than flowers.

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Favorite Moments

We both agree that our favourite part of the wedding was the ceremony where Sultan got to see me the first time in my white dress and also when we exchanged vows. They were very personal and touching and we’re really glad to have written our own vows.

The after-party was also a lot of fun and we really got to let our hair down and party the night away!

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Advice to Other Couples

Enjoy the day – really take it in as it goes VERY quickly! don’t get worked up if things don’t quite go to plan and focus on spending money to make the wedding enjoyable for the guests not on decorations as no one will remember the small details.