Marina and Fábio’s story began in an unexpected way. They were already part of the same group of friends and had known each other for a while, but never saw each other that way until 2023, when a group trip to Fernando de Noronha changed everything. They met there for the first time, and from that moment, things unfolded naturally, with no games, no doubts, and no back-and-forth. “Everything happened very quickly, but at the same time, it felt incredibly easy,” Marina says. Soon came the plans, the trips, the projects, and a life slowly built together. Fábio asked her to be his girlfriend in the Maldives, but the marriage proposal was far more unexpected, and it has become a joke between them: it happened on Marginal Pinheiros, one of São Paulo’s busiest expressways.
Location: Preá, Ceará, Brazil
Style: Tropical, Authentic, Relaxed
Number of guests: 300
Time of planning: 1 year
Setting: Carnaúba Wind House
Season: Winter
They are very different in many ways, and that may be exactly why they found their own balance. Fábio is intense, always full of plans, and deeply connected to family, sports, and the people around him, while Marina has always been independent and used to building her life her own way. “With him, I learned one of the most important things about our relationship: I didn’t need someone competing for space with me. We could simply play on the same team.”
When they started thinking about their wedding, that was what they wanted it to represent. It would be less about following a formula and more about bringing together everything that feels like them, with guests who travelled to truly experience the days with them. After a year of planning, it became almost like a festival, with several moments, experiences, and gatherings to celebrate not only their “I do” but all the people in their lives.
Welcome Day & Photography
“From the very beginning, we didn’t want a wedding that simply looked like a beautiful wedding,” Marina and Fábio say. “We wanted it to feel like us.” Choosing Preá was an essential part of that vision, a destination that brings together freedom, nature, wind, and the beach in an atmosphere completely different from a traditional wedding in a big city. They wanted to turn the wedding into a complete experience for everyone who traveled all the way to Ceará to celebrate with them, and it began with a lively, vibrant welcome day by the beach.
The wedding was designed to feel sophisticated without losing the easy spirit of the destination. “Preá already has so much personality through its landscape and atmosphere, so we never wanted to compete with the surroundings,” the couple says. “Instead, we wanted to create something that complemented the setting while still carrying our own identity.”
Naira Spolidorio captured the whole wedding on film, following the weekend from the first welcome moments to the last dance and keeping the wind, the light, and the easy energy of the days just as they were.
Fashion
Marina’s wedding dress turned out to be nothing like what she had imagined. In 2025, she traveled to New York just to look at dresses and gather inspiration, fully expecting to have a custom dress made in Brazil. “That was practically decided,” she says. But at the very first store, something unexpected happened: the second dress she tried on was the dress. It was also the first time she truly saw herself as a bride.
“It is difficult to explain exactly what happens in that moment,” Marina says. “I’m not even sure I could perfectly define the style of the dress or rationally explain why it felt so right for me. I just remember looking at myself and thinking: this is how I want to feel on my wedding day.” A trip meant only for inspiration ended with her finding her wedding dress, which made it even more special. “I didn’t find what I had been looking for. I found something I didn’t even know I was looking for.”
Her gown was by Lana Marinenko, with shoes by Santa Lolla, jewelry and accessories by Baron Joias, and Lovers as her perfume. Lucas Vieira did her hair and makeup.
Fábio’s look followed the same spirit as the wedding itself: elegant, and right at home on the coast of Ceará. His suit and shoes were by Dom Valtin, finished with accessories and special details from Caterina Milano.
Ceremony
The ceremony took place at Carnaúba Wind House and was, without a doubt, one of the most emotional moments of the whole wedding. Marina and Fábio had twenty couples as bridesmaids and groomsmen, along with entrances for their families, page boys, and flower girls. “We wanted the people who had been part of our story to also be very close to us during that moment,” Marina says.
That is also why they chose two close friends to officiate: Maria Eugênia, who lived with Marina for six years and knows her story deeply, and Bruno Coen, Fábio’s best friend. Having two people so close to them in that role made the ceremony feel far less formal and far more personal. They also wrote and exchanged their own vows.
Marina and Fábio chose not to have a first look, saving the first time they saw each other that day for the ceremony itself, and for her entrance. “I think it made everything even more emotional,” she says. “There had been no private meeting beforehand and no preview of that feeling. Our reactions were entirely genuine to that exact moment.” The moments that stayed with her were the walk toward the ceremony, the anticipation of finally reaching it, and above all seeing Fábio for the first time that day. “Reading my vows to him, listening to his vows to me, and looking around at everything we had built was incredibly emotional.”
Planning & Reception
“At some point during the planning process, we realized we were practically organizing a festival, and that became one of the best ways to describe what we were creating,” Marina and Fábio say. They didn’t want guests to arrive, watch a ceremony, and leave a few hours later. “We wanted to create memories throughout several different moments and allow everyone to truly immerse themselves in those days.”
If the ceremony was the intimate, emotional side of the wedding, the reception was the other side: a celebration. Dan Sendas created the décor, with florals by Gil Santos, keeping the look tropical and sophisticated while staying close to the natural setting of Preá. Rancho do Caio created the signature drinks.
Celebration
“More than simply throwing a traditional wedding, we wanted to create an experience,” Marina and Fábio say. From the start, they imagined a celebration that would begin before the ceremony and continue long after it. The same thinking shaped the music. They wanted the party to move through different moods and atmospheres as the night went on, so Esther, from Preá, performed Brazilian music first, followed by a lineup of DJs: Lauro Malloy, DJ Locos, Johnny Frazão, and Flávio Castro. Their first dance was to “Sunlight.”
There was no wedding cake, no speeches, and no traditional performances. “We didn’t want to include things simply because they are traditionally expected at weddings,” the couple says. “We preferred to build the night around what genuinely made sense to us.” It made for one of the most beautiful contrasts of the wedding: a huge event, almost a festival, with a ceremony that stayed, above all, about the two of them and the people closest to their story.
For Marina, the strongest feeling of all was knowing that everything had worked out. “After a year of planning the wedding, everything it took to get there, and all the expectations surrounding that day, there was suddenly nothing left to organize or wait for,” she says. “We were there, surrounded by the people we love, saying yes to each other. That was the moment when I could finally think: we made it. We’re here.”
Advice from the couple:
• After organizing a destination wedding and practically turning it into a festival, perhaps the biggest lesson is understanding that it is impossible to control absolutely everything.
For an entire year, you make hundreds of decisions while trying to create the perfect day. You choose every detail, think about your guests, the décor, the outfits, the music, and the schedule.
But when the wedding finally arrives, the most important thing is knowing when to stop organizing it and start living it.
Some things may happen differently from what you planned — and often, those are exactly the things that become the best stories afterward.
In the end, no one will remember whether absolutely everything happened at the exact scheduled minute.
People will remember how they felt.
And so will you.
FILM PHOTOGRAPHY Naira Spolidorio | MAIN PHOTOGRAPHY Ale Bigliazzi | VENUE Carnaúba Windhouse | WEDDING PLANNING Céu de Tule | PRODUCER Flauber Guimarães | VIDEOGRAPHY Blue Films | STORIES Boardiini | REAL-TIME CONTENT Castro Filmes | DÉCOR Dansendas Eventos | FLORALS Gil Santos | VISUAL IDENTITY Aragem Rio | INVITATIONS & STATIONERY Olive Company | BRIDE’S DRESS Lana Marinenko | BRIDE’S WELCOME PARTY LOOK Noor Atelier | BRIDE’S PARTY DRESS Eduarda Galvani | BRIDE’S SHOES Santa Lolla | BRIDE’S JEWELRY & ACCESSORIES Baron Joias | BRIDE’S PERFUME Lovers | HAIR & MAKEUP Lucas Vieira | GROOM’S SUIT & SHOES Dom Valtin | GROOM’S ACCESSORIES Caterina Milano | CATERING Rancho do Kite | BAR & DRINKS Rancho do Caio | LIVE MUSIC Esther, from Preá | DJS Lauro Malloy, Locos DJs, Johnny Frazão & Flávio Castro | LIGHTING & SOUND New Light Eventos | BRIDE Marina Pumar
