When choosing where to get married in Portugal you may want to consider a few things.

Here are some basic important issues to think about:

Location: Which area in Portugal would you like to get married at? Which is your favourite region? Portugal has different weather conditions in the north than in the south and of course inland or on the seaside. The prices are also not the same everywhere! The closeness of an International airport might be important to you too.  Lisbon is Portugals only International airport with direct flights from most countries of the world, but there are also many flights to Porto, Faro and some to the Islands of Madeira and the Azores.

In regards to the location you may also think of  pros and contras of town or country side wedding.

Town weddings are easier to reach even if you have no car. Accommodation might be just around the corner and also the option of getting a Taxis in the middle of the night to get home after the wedding reception is not a problem. Portugal is still a fairly rural place even just outside Lisbon it might be difficult to get a Taxi at 2 in the morning. We can always arrange private transport, but it’s just important to consider these things.

A countryside wedding is also great and there are many rural places that are not far from towns but still offer fantastic tranquility and nice accommodations. It is however important to make sure there is transport available for guest to return to the accommodations if they don’t stay at local guesthouses.

And than of course you may have a special vision of a garden reception or a sea view meal, or a mountain region. Maybe you want a sea view but it’s not important if it’s a restaurant or a private event place. Maybe you want it to be in the mountains and it can be a hotel or even a public place for a small ceremony. Maybe you want it to be at the beach.

How many guests and what type of schedule: you may want a simple ceremony with a couple of friends followed by a wedding cake or a weekend program  starting with an evening meal on a friday followed by a full wedding day reception on the saturday and ending with a brunch reception on the sunday.

There are so many options!

The number of guests is quiet important, because it’s good to find a place that is just right and neither to big or to small. Many venues have minimum numbers or an additional cost they charge. We may be able to avoid this. We will be able to advise on ways around it. For example a venue might have a minimum number of 100 guests, but if you have the wedding on a Wednesday it might be no problem to have only 50 guests. You may plan a weekend wedding with arrival on friday, wedding on saturday and guest fly home on sunday, so anyone who wants can come and don’t necessarily needs extra holidays. But how many guest would stay a couple of extra days anyway? So does it really matter if the wedding is on a weekday?

These are questions that are a personal issue.

The type of schedule is relevant to the details of a wedding package that is offered by a venue. Some venues include 6 hours of service, others up to 12 hours or till midnight. Some venues can only have dance music till 11.30PM.

In regards to the schedule and the location is also very important to where the ceremony will be held. Catholic weddings can only take place in a church or chapel. Civil weddings, wedding celebrations and other religious blessing may take place at the venue where the reception will be.

Budget: No matter what your budget is we will only want you to pay for something that has the value you paid and avoid unnecessary costs! And therefore it is so important to work with customized offers. We will gladly advise on any type of budget options. And if you tell us how much you would like to spend we will give you our best advise without stretching to your outer budget limits. Still it helps us lots to advise if we have an idea of your budget. And again here it is important to know priorities: for example if you are looking for a high standard cosine or if the location is of priority ect.

Food and beverage: Depending on where your reception is at a catered venue or a non catered venue you may have to go with the food (cosine that comes with it. This is generally fine and most venues are flexible in regards to changing and adapting menus)

The drinks can be something that raises your bill too much more than imagined. There are various options how to go about drinks. There is the open bar package option which goes by hour and persons and is usually the highest cost. You can buy drinks by the bottle and you will pay for every opened bottle at the end of event or you can buy drinks according to the price list per drink served. In most cases the drinks during dinner are included and sometimes there are restrictions such as ½ bottle of wine pp during the meal, sometimes there are no restrictions on the amounts.

A further option about drinks are buying elsewhere and working with a corking fee. This means the venue charges for the serving of the drinks only. This is not everywhere excepted but may be negotiable. It can be a very good option that will help to reduce costs.

Weather, Prices and other things to know: During the summer month Portugal has lovely weather anywhere. Still there are some differences. Here is a little list, not only considering the weather:

Algarve: most of the year warm and sunny, the prices are higher than elsewhere. The Algarve is holiday destination number 1 in Portugal and not many of the beach locations will serve wedding groups during the summer month. There business is tourism and weddings are a different business!

Lisbon and surroundings: Still very warm and sunny. The coast line west and north of Lisbon is more windy! Many surf championships take place in that area. Sintra region has a unique micro climate that can be very pleasant during the summer month. The prices are medium.

Alentejo: big plane fields and very hot in the summer. There are some gorgeous hidden locations for a paradise wedding. People always joke about the Alentejo as being slow and on the positive side of this is can be said that you wont’ find much stressed people there! Which is a pleasant thing! Evora is a great place, full of interessting things and with a lot of charm.

Central Portugal: Coimbra is the biggest central town and the weather in this area is cooler than in the south. Figueira da Foz, the biggest central beach town has a cool wind all year round and only in August it has hot summer night, still you need your jacket once the sun goes down. Prices are good and reasonable in coastal locations.

North: Porto is the biggest city in the north and it is beautiful and there is enough heat in the summer month. The climate is not that hot than in the rest of the country, but this can be very pleasant, especially if you are not used to the heat. The pricing is good. The inland region is very beautiful and there are some fantastic mountain locations in the Douro valey.

Islands: coming soon