Nulyweds wedding planner Olivia De Santos is from London but moved to Portugal and now focuses on destination weddings there. Before she relocated (and before Covid-19), Olivia wanted to bring a little bit of Portugal to her home borough of Walthamstow, so she designed this wedding shoot at Walthamstow Wetlands with Marni V Photography and a team of trusted vendors from the U.K.

“In this particular part of East London, we have a 211 hectare nature reserve and a historic water pumping house that had been closed to the public,” Olivia explains. “The Engine House, dating back to the 19th century, was transformed into a café and learning center. The modern, industrial couple would love this spot.”

Olivia specializes in colorful wedding design, so for this editorial shoot, she used a palette of canary yellow, teal blue, and tomato red, interspersed with lots of olive leaves for a Mediterranean touch. And for the ceremony, Anthology Vintage Hire brought reclaimed wooden benches and mixed apothecary bottles and mason lemonade jars to line the aisle with greenery.

Catherine Short Floral Design included the olive leaves in her floral arrangements on the table brilliantly. “Using color in your wedding design is not frightening when you use lots of greenery,” Olivia says. “It disperses the color and makes it much easier on the eyes.”

Also on the table were the menus and name cards, with a Portuguese-inspired pattern, by Jennifer’s Paper, who did the invitation suite as well. Malarkey Cakes even made classic pasteis de nata, which were used as favors and name card holders. And the cake was a custom, square design, with a bright, 19th century Portuguese tile pattern on the base tier.

As for the bride’s styling, Dani Moseley wore a Rish Bridal dress for the ceremony with an orange flower crown and Addy’s Vintage zicorn and sapphire rings. She then changed into a Claire Pettibone design for the second look—both gowns were from Blackburn Bridal Couture. Joyce Connor Makeup gave her a teal eye with a nude pink lip that switched to plum red later in the day. The groom, Tashinga Nyatsanga, wore a Kwame Koranteng Bespoke Tailoring suit.

From this project—shot, as luck would have it, on the hottest two days of the year—Olivia hopes that people learn to lean into colorful decor and lively design for their weddings . . . and if you’re thinking of saying, “I do,” in Portugal, we hope you’ll consider Nulyweds for all your planning needs.