Emmy and Max got married at Forte da Cruz, a 17th-century fortress built right on the edge of the Atlantic in Cascais, Portugal, and they flew in 155 of their closest people from all over the world to see it. A Bulgarian bride raised in Toronto, a Haitian-American groom from New York, a beautiful ballgown, and a dance floor run the DJ who tours with Justin Bieber. About Events Portugal planned every piece of the weekend, and they had the confidence to let the fortress lead.
The two of them ended up in the same room because friends set them up at a birthday party in Los Angeles. They almost missed each other completely that night. Their first real date was a sunrise hike that nearly fell through, and the thing that saved it was Max turning up with a pocket full of dog treats for Emmy’s dog Rockie, which won over both of them on the spot. Six years, a pandemic, and a baby boy later, they brought the whole story to Portugal and put everyone who had lived through it with them in one place.
Bride's Morning & Fashion
The travel theme showed up before the dress did. Molde Designs built the stationery suite as a mock passport with a gold plane stamped on the cover, the kind of detail that tells you these two have spent real time in airports together. Emmy wore delicate crystal drop earrings and kept the rest of the jewelry almost nonexistent, so nothing would fight the lace later.
Her perfume was Byredo Rose of No Man’s Land, a Turkish rose scent originally named for the WWI nurses who worked the front line. The makeup stayed soft and warm, a clean defined brow, a glossy nude lip, and a light flush, nothing that would date in the photos a decade from now.
The dress is Galia Lahav, a full ballgown with 3D floral lace across the bodice that sits raised off the fabric. The train is enormous and ran the entire length of the stone aisle. She wore her hair down in loose waves, which was the smart move against a gown this heavy, since anything more done on top would have pushed the whole look into costume territory. Her shoes were Jimmy Choo. She also changed into a short structured white dress for the afterparty, so that makes three full looks across one day.
Groom’s Fashion
Max wore a custom off-white silk double-breasted tuxedo with black trousers, a black bow tie, and black patent slippers. Their little boy showed up in the getting-ready photos in a matching white shirt and a tiny black bow tie, so the family rolled into the day fully styled as a set and stole our hearts!
Ceremony
The ceremony was outside, with the original Gothic stone arches standing in for the altar frame and the Atlantic sitting right behind the couple. Decorelle set tall white arrangements on stone pedestals on either side, blush peonies, ivory dahlias, and white lisianthus, and ran greenery alone down the aisle. They kept the arches open and let the stone do the heavy lifting, and it pays off in every wide shot from the day.
The processional matched the setting. Bridesmaids came down in soft blush, groomsmen stayed in sharp black, and the color split read clean against the grey stone. Emmy’s father walked her in, and Max stood waiting at the front holding their son, which is the kind of moment you cannot plan and cannot fake. The whole front row of guests had a clear line to the sea the entire time.
The biggest moment came when Max’s Alpha fraternity brothers performed a traditional hymn during the ceremony. That single piece turned the day from a gorgeous destination wedding into something that belonged only to them, and it landed with everyone in the seats. The kiss happened against the bare stone with a single urn of white blooms beside them, and the recessional sent them back up the aisle into the rest of the night.
"Walking down the aisle at Forte da Cruz and seeing Max waiting against the castle backdrop was a moment when the world seemed to stand still."
Moments Together
The couple portraits ran all over the fortress grounds, the gardens, the stone walls, the palm trees, and the terraces hanging over the sea, which is basically a dream assignment for Ricardo Catarro. He shoots a wedding the way a cinematographer scouts a location.
Cocktail hour moved out onto the terrace at dusk, with the castle lit behind the crowd and the ocean going pink past the walls. Servers passed tall thin flutes of champagne rather than coupes, which is the more considered call right now. Guests spread across the stone terrace with drinks while the light dropped, and it gave everyone a beat to take in where they actually were before dinner pulled them back inside.
Reception
Dinner moved between the fortress rooms and a clear tent, and the design held the same restraint the whole way through. A clean white palette, textural florals, and long strands of greenery dropping from the tent ceiling until the ceiling read as a garden.
Inside the stone rooms, warm amber uplighting hit the brick and the arched windows, the tables ran in natural wood chiavari chairs and white linen, and candlelight did most of the work. It glowed without tipping into too much.
The entertainment matched the scale of the whole weekend. Tay James, who tours and DJs with Justin Bieber, took the dance floor and kept the fort moving late into the night. String Quartet Solutions handled the live music earlier in the evening, and HiSketch sketched guests in real time all night, which doubled as a favor people actually wanted to take home. The sparkler exit went off against the lit-up fortress stone with the Atlantic out in the dark behind them.
The wedding day was only one piece of it. Emmy and Max built out a full weekend for all 155 guests, most of them seeing Cascais for the first time, with a rooftop welcome party at Rossio Gastrobar and beachside dinners ahead of the main event. They wanted everyone to actually experience Portugal rather than fly in for a single night, and the whole weekend was filmed by Ninho Films.
Advice from the couple:
• Let go of the small details once the day begins, trusting that everything they planned will come together more beautifully than they can imagine. By staying present and embracing each moment, those are the memories that will truly last!
PLANNING & DESIGN About Events Portugal | PHOTOGRAPHER Ricardo Catarro | VIDEOGRAPHER Ninho Films | FLORAL DESIGN Decorelle | VENUE Forte da Cruz | WELCOME PARTY VENUE Rossio Gastrobar | MUAH Marta Sousa Mota da Silva | GOWN Galia Lahav | SHOES Jimmy Choo | STYLING Márcia Fernandes | CATERING Penha Longa Catering | STATIONERY Molde Designs | OFFICIANT Amor & Ponto | DJ DJ Tay James | LIVE MUSIC String Quartet Solutions | MC Your Jukebox | ENTERTAINMENT Rituais Eventos | LIVE SKETCHES HiSketch | PHOTOBOOTH Memory Box | COLD FIRE EFFECTS Deluxe Eventos | TRANSPORTATION Amiroad Luxury Transports | CHILDREN’S ENTERTAINMENT Baby Sisters Portugal
