Codie & Scott

The plan

Codie and Scott wanted two things that are often hard to combine on Ibiza: vows in a traditional village church and an evening on the cliffs facing Es Vedrà. Planned by Bliss Ibiza Weddings, the day began in Es Cubells and ended at 7Pines Resort Ibiza, styled throughout in a quiet, old-money look.

The ceremony

The church of Es Cubells is small and whitewashed, set high above the sea in the south-west of the island. After the ceremony, guests stepped straight out into the sun for an aperitif behind the church, where a champagne tower was waiting. Opening the celebrations there, rather than waiting for the hotel, gave the afternoon a festive start in the open air. Practical guidance on marrying in a parish church is in church and religious ceremonies.

Dinner and party

The evening moved to the Cone Club, the larger of the resort's two wedding spaces, where dinner is served outdoors and Es Vedrà sits on the horizon. The couple walked in through a cloud of smoke from smoke bombs. Dinner was set under chandeliers hung outside, with a violinist playing and speeches between courses. The cake was a large pavlova.

As it grew dark, a DJ and live singers took over, fireworks went up over the sea, and guests could queue for a real tattoo at a tattoo station, the detail people remembered most. The look shifted with the hours: elegant and pale at dinner, then colourful lighting once the dancing started.

The details

• A champagne tower outside the church instead of waiting for the reception
• Chandeliers suspended over an open-air dinner on the clifftop
• Pavlova in place of a tiered cake
• A live violinist at dinner, then DJ and singers for the party
• A tattoo station as the late-night surprise

Good to know

7Pines has two settings for weddings. The Cliff Terraces suit smaller weddings of around 70 to 80 guests, with ceremony, dinner and an indoor after-party until 2am. The Cone Club, used here, is for larger groups or bigger budgets, with dinner under the sky and the party continuing indoors, or in the Nela restaurant if you pay to take it over. Each space has its own minimum spend, and the resort asks for a block of at least 20 rooms. Bring in your own chairs and tables to avoid conference furniture, use heavier bases for candles and flowers because the terraces catch the wind, and remember that the in-house coordinator is not a wedding planner. The resort sits on the west coast, facing the sunset.