Need something to brighten your day? We feel you – fully – and with that in mind, we’re honoured to share with you the photos from Meritxell and Paul’s beautiful Liverpool-set wedding day.
With the bride hailing from Barcelona and the groom a musician who counts Liverpool as his hometown – oh, and the date a matter of days before Christmas – you can be assured that this celebration was every bit as filled with warmth and personality as you might imagine.
The day was rich with handmade elements. Meritxell’s friend cooked up their wedding cake, her mum created the favours and Paul’s dad created decorative details. Spanish twists were entwined throughout the celebration – not least via the bride’s beautiful Rosa Clara wedding gown, which she cosied up perfectly with a silky soft stole.
Sparklers against dark night skies, stunning neon light shots (clock that ‘Be An Angel’ image of the bride – divine!) and even the odd Christmas tree or two all added to the seasonal cheer of the celebration, with love, joy and endless big smiles radiating from every photo of the day.
Enjoy!
With photography by Madison Picture.
Proposal
Meritxell says: We got engaged in New York in May 2018: Paul proposed to me at Central Park during a picnic lunch.
I wasn’t expecting it at all. Paul obviously had arranged special plans for that particular day – but didn’t know I still wanted to do some sightseeing! Surprisingly, he agreed on visiting everything I wanted to but I noticed he was getting impatient and was rushing. Eventually, I realised that the reason for that was that because he had arranged for us to meet our closest friends, who live in New York.
We had to go to Central Park and the traffic was horrendous. Paul had already pre-warned them about what was going to happen: as soon as he proposed, they joined us on the Great Lawn in Central Park and we cracked open a bottle of bubbly and enjoyed a lovely picnic. We celebrated, took photos and enjoyed the sunshine!
Later, as the sun went down, he surprised me again. He had booked a one night stay at The Plaza Hotel. The team there were amazing and gave us more Rose champagne and the full ‘newly engaged’ treatment! I was truly floating on cloud nine the whole day.
Setting
Our wedding date was the December 14th 2019. We thought the excitement of having a wedding followed shortly afterwards by Christmas would prolong the celebrations with our family and make it a truly special time of year. Plus, we both love Christmas!
As I am from Barcelona, we first considered a summer wedding in Catalunya, complete with sunshine and the Mediterranean Sea. Ultimately, when we considered our guest-list, we realised the majority of guests invited would be from the UK. With that in mind, we decided to make life easier for us and our guests and get married in Paul’s hometown of Liverpool.
Choosing a venue closer to where we live would make organising the celebration so much easier. Our ceremony was in Liverpool Town Hall and the reception in One Fine Day.
The venues are three minutes apart from each other – and our home is in between them! We always joke that we were ‘so lazy’ when picking our venues but they really represent who we are and our day-to-day lives together. We say ‘good morning’ to the beautiful Town Hall every single day on our way to work, and ‘good evening’ when we’re on our way home again. Apart from being such an iconic venue, the interior is stunning – and it has that ‘Christmas magic’ feeling that we both love.
We also love having brunch in One Fine Day as often as we can. We enjoy their healthy and modern food options and the staff are so welcoming, kind and easy-going. Our little Yorkshire Terrier, Lola, loves it too – it’s her favourite place to go as she always gets so spoilt with cuddles and treats from the team!
In fact, Lola was with us in the evening for the party – One Fine Day were amazing at accommodating her. Her name was first on our guest-list – although some people may laugh, it truly meant everything to have her there!
The Town Hall is simply beautiful. As it is run by the Council, they might not be as flexible as other venues in terms of what you can and cannot do. For us, this didn’t matter. We had a simple wedding there and the venue is so beautiful that you don’t have to do much with it anyway. The staff are lovely and really accommodating and you cannot take a bad picture in there. Plus, the venue has so much history that it’s a great place for guests to look around and explore.
One Fine Day is a fairly new venue but the owners operate several other wedding venues too, so it’s safe to say they know what they are doing. All the staff are super easy-going and incredibly accommodating. They helped us to do absolutely everything we wanted and we could not recommend them highly enough.
Theme
We wanted to create an atmosphere that was calm, peaceful and full of warmth. We used a colour palette of white, green and gold.
Both the Town Hall and One Fine Day are gorgeous venues, with their own distinct personalities. One is draped in history and has an impressive grandeur about it, the other is contemporary; relaxed yet cosy. We wanted something that would inspire calm and peace, feeling classy yet informal. I believe the balance of the two really complemented each other.
Dress
When we decided that we would be married in the UK, I instantly knew I wanted to wear a dress by a Catalan designer from Barcelona. This streamlined the process a lot and in the end, I wore a Rosa Clara wedding dress.
I went to the boutique in Barcelona with my mum and tried on three dresses. When I tried on the final dress, I knew it was the one for me! I really wanted a dress that would reflect my personality, and I also felt it was important that people would see me as ‘me’ on my wedding day – I didn’t want a Cinderella moment where everyone would be looking at the dress and not me!]
My wedding gown was simple yet elegant; it wasn’t overpowering or show-offy. I felt so comfortable in it and loved how it was tailored to my shape.
Bridesmaids
All of the bridesmaids’ dresses were ordered online from JJ’s House. I had already decided I wanted them to wear dark teal (or ‘peacock’, as it was called on the website). All the bridesmaids wore the same dress, individually tailored; my Maid of Honour, who picked her own dress.
Lucia, my flower girl wore a lovely white dress, also from JJ’s House, and looked so beautiful in it!
I bought personalised gowns made up for the bridesmaids, which they wore when they were having their hair and make-up done.
Beauty
Our hair was styled by White Haus in Liverpool City Centre. My make-up artist was Makeup by Hanuska – I found her through Instagram and loved her style.
Groomswear
My husband tried several suit-hire options but he really didn’t like the Peaky Blinders inspired suits that were so popular at the time! He saw David Beckham in a longtail, three-piece suit and decided he wanted to go for something similar.
Of all the places we tried across Liverpool and Manchester, Groom Hire at The Wedding House in Liverpool were fantastic with us from the beginning and made Paul feel like he could try as many options as possible.
Paul decided on an Italian black three-piece suit with long tails, complemented with a white shirt, ivory tie and dove grey double-breasted waistcoat. He finished the look with a silver pocket watch and patent leather black shoes.
Paul gifted his groomsmen personalised whisky hip flasks, which they drank from all day!
Transport
We were able to walk from our apartment to and from the venues, which made life easy. The walk between venues is two minutes, so it was no problem even for elderly guests.
Paul’s best man, knowing Paul is a big Beatles fan, arranged for a 1967 Mini, painted exactly like George Harrison’s, to pick us up and take us to the evening venue, which was a great touch.
Photography
We hired Madison Picture for both our photography and videography. Paul has actually known them for years – they’re also talented local musicians but a few years ago, we found out they had started doing wedding photography too.
We have been following them online for some time and their standard of images – both in terms of creativity and quality – had developed to such a level that every shot they post looks like it’s fresh from the pages of a magazine! We met with them a few weeks before the wedding and they eased all our nerves and together we did a mental walkthrough of the day ensuring we would get all the photos we wanted of family members and locations.
They were so easy-going from the very start and the fact we knew them a little bit made us feel very comfortable when it came to taking photos throughout the day. We also saw some images they had taken of venues around Liverpool and their style was exactly what we wanted. They don’t tend to ‘stage’ too many photos – indeed, some of our favourites from the day are the spontaneous ones of all our friends and family.
Styling
My bridal bouquet consisted of white roses, eucalyptus and mixed foliage. We didn’t use a lot of flowers for the wedding reception as the room didn’t really need them. We had two large runners across the fireplaces, candles in lanterns down the aisle and we also utilised some of the venue’s tall green plants and trees.
We had a mezzanine at the venue, which we had setup with a roulette table that had ‘fun money’ with mine and Paul’s faces on it!
Paul’s dad being a bit of a handyman, he made made us a white rustic signpost, decorated with all places that mean something to us: where we met, our hometowns, the holidays we have taken and so on.
As we had a mix of both Spanish and English guests, we had a reading in our ceremony in Catalan, and we also translated the food menu and running order of the day in to both Catalan and English.
We bought 150 sparklers so our guests could go outside and wave them whilst we walked through the arch of sparkles! This was so much fun for everyone – and it made for a great photo, too.
Favours
My mum handmade small circular ceramic ornaments, which were engraved with our names and wedding date. We thought our guests could use them as Christmas tree decorations!
Cake
We decided to have a selection of small desserts, including shortbreads, minced pies and spiced carrot cake to complement our Christmas-inspired theme.
Originally, we were not going to have a cake – but then my friend from university offered to make us one and we were delighted when they made us a double-tier sponge cake.
The top tier was lemon sponge whilst the bottom was a raspberry and vanilla sponge, finished with a light buttercream. On the day we were so busy and distracted that we didn’t actually get to taste it – but all the guests commented how amazing it was!
Catering
As I come from a wine-making family, the wine choice was very important. After all, I come from a town in Spain called Sant Sadurni d’Anoia, and we are the main Cava wine-producing region. The Simón Coll chocolates we handed out are also from my small hometown in Spain.
We had a lovely, elegant rose with light bubbles called Elysia which is produced by Friexenet. We also had cava for the toasts and speeches and then we opted for organic wines for the tables; a French white and a Spanish red. Both were delicious!
Our Cava wine and chocolates (Simon Coll) we handed out where from my small hometown in Spain.
We of course arranged a wine-tasting at One Fine Day, which helped us make our final decision.
Entertainment
As Paul is a musician by profession, music was very important to us and I left it all to him!
We booked Victoria Sharpe for our ceremony. We have been to watch her sing for years and she is truly a hidden gem, perfect for weddings – in fact, Michael Buble booked her for his after-show party when he performed in Liverpool this year! Think Norah Jones with a contemporary twist on modern songs…
We gave Victoria some of our favourite songs and she played them all. She arrived with a lovely white grand piano and the minute she started, the room fell quiet.
In the evening we had booked a local band who Paul knew a few of the members. The Daddy O’s were a perfect lift for the evening. The band gave us their complete repertoire, so we were able to tailor the songs to what we wanted. They covered everything from The Beatles and Fleetwood Mac to Mumford & Sons and Bryan Adams.
Again, they were very professional and lovely people, and were the perfect band to keep the dancefloor full. They’ll happily learn a few of your favourite songs, which I think is a nice personal touch – we asked for some John Mayer as we both love him and we sang our hearts out when they were performed!
As Paul is a musician, he also got up and sang/played Something by The Beatles to me, which was lovely.
Best bit
My favourite part of the day was the actual ceremony. I think what hit me was seeing all my family who had travelled over from Barcelona there to support us. That moment, and the professionalism of the service itself, was everything and more I could have ever hoped. They made me feel so comfortable, calmed and relaxed. Absolutely everyone in the room (myself and Paul included) could not stop smiling. It truly felt like a genuine celebration.
I’d like to add that I started my day with a 7am yoga class with my Maid of Honour, guided by my favourite yoga teacher, Sarah Calvert. Sarah came to the apartment where we were staying and at that time in the morning, it was pitch black. We lit some salt candles and whilst doing our practice, we could see the sunrise. It felt like magic. This was the most perfect start to the day!
Honeymoon
We haven’t actually had our honeymoon yet! We have Dubai booked for four days and will then be going on to Bali for two weeks. I absolutely cannot wait!
Advice
Don’t over-stress. Even though you may feel like you have a million decisions to make, we were so relaxed on our day because we agreed that as long as we both turned up, everything else was just a minor detail!
Remember this is your wedding day – and one of the most meaningful moments in your life. Be open to suggestions but always make your own choices and reflections. Make sure you feel comfortable with all your suppliers; good communication with them (and your bridal party, actually) is crucial so they can understand exactly what you want.
Pinterest is a great tool for inspiration and references for them.
On the day, take five minutes and just step outside, just the two of you. Stop and take in the moment. The day goes so fast it will literally pass you by if you let it!
Trust your suppliers and your bridal team – and relax and celebrate! You deserve it! Everything is going to be okay.
