In Lisbon’s layered gardens, Como Branco Event Services shaped a wedding that felt more like a story unfolding than a day on the calendar. Lindsay and Akash wanted something intimate yet heightened, where a dusty-raspberry veil could set the tone of an entire aesthetic and where music wasn’t background but narrative. Casa do Presidente became the stage for their Lisbon Love Club, a weekend of soft pastels, bold details, and emotional clarity wrapped in September light.
Location: Lisbon, Portugal
Style: Whimsical, Romantic, Colourful
Time of planning: 5 months
Number of guests: 25
Setting: Garden Estate
Season: Fall
Lindsay and Akash met at Grade 10 orientation and began dating the following year. Their relationship grew through university summers spent running a house-painting business, early career years, travel, and building a home with their dog Alfie.
Akash proposed at a local botanical garden under the guise of a work event. A photographer posing as a staff member waited among the trees. After “yes”, they lifted off in a helicopter, shared champagne, and ended the night with dinner under the stars in a glass dome. Portugal had been their dream destination for years, which made the idea of turning their next trip into a wedding adventure feel exactly right. The day was filmed by Storytelling Films.
Vision of the Day
From the beginning, Lindsay and Akash approached their wedding as a weekend experience. They named it Lisbon Love Club and built a full three-day narrative around it. The entire concept started with one detail: the date, September twenty-first, and the song “September” by Earth, Wind and Fire. It shaped a playful, nostalgic mood that carried through curated playlists, two choreographed dance numbers, and a weekend designed like a concert with its own merchandise.
Lindsay created the entire visual identity herself: icons, signage, logotypes, and day-of pieces. When early planning became overwhelming, friends connected her with Como Branco, a women-led team known for destination weddings across Portugal. They joined seven months before the wedding and, within five months, found the perfect venue and built a celebration that the couple now describes simply as “a miracle”.
Bride's Morning & Fashion
The visual world started even earlier. Lindsay found a dusty-raspberry cathedral veil by Jane Rhyan The Collection long before she chose her dress. The veil became the anchor of the entire aesthetic. Its shade and texture guided the dress selection, Akash’s suit, the floral palette, the stationery, and even the venue. Another detail was her “something blue”: turquoise-pearled earrings from Mejuri, purchased long before the proposal.
Her first gown, a pearl-toned silhouette from Essense of Australia, carried a balance of clean lines and quiet eccentricity that matched the garden setting. She paired it with pearl-embellished heels by Dolce Vita, a wildflower-style bouquet that felt freshly gathered, and Angels’ Share by Kilian Paris, a warm, smoky-sweet scent that settled beautifully into the evening air. Her beauty team kept everything recognisable and effortless: makeup by Ana Neves of Fresh Faced and soft, sculptural waves styled by Wagner Santos.
For the evening, Lindsay had a short corseted dress by Roselia Couture ready, a playful mini with a structured bodice and a soft tulle tutu skirt designed for movement and late-night energy.
Groom’s Fashion
Akash chose a custom Harry Rosen suit in deep green with a cream pinstripe. It felt bold and classic at the same time. The lining featured a delicate Taj Mahal illustration as a nod to his heritage. “L&A” was embroidered on his shirt cuffs. He kept everything else discreet: San Martin watch, Florsheim shoes, and Dior Sauvage.
First Look
The first look unfolded in the garden’s hedge corridors and stone terraces. When Lindsay walked toward Akash and the veil came into frame, his reaction combined laughter, disbelief, and emotion. They describe it as the moment when a decade of anticipation suddenly took form.
Ceremony
The ceremony took place in Casa do Presidente’s garden during golden hour, framed by a circular pastel arch. Soft clusters of blooms by Atelier Decorelle rose from the ground in layered, color-rich pockets, creating the impression that flowers were quite literally growing up around the guests’ chairs. Guests arrived in bright dresses, prints, and saturated tones, no enforced palette, just a joyful spectrum that added to the sense of a family gathering in the open air. Visually, the scene read as a contemporary take on English pastoral: structured yet whimsical, refined yet full of life.
The wedding officiant, university friend Thom, opened with a grounding moment and shared his first impressions of the couple. In the weeks prior, he asked each of them privately to list five reasons why they love the other. He read these lists aloud during the ceremony. No one had heard them before. Lindsay had asked Thom to adjust the final line. He pronounced them “wife and husband” and invited her to “kiss the groom.”
Instead of sand or unity knots, they chose a Polaroid ritual. During an instrumental of Ed Sheeran’s “Photograph”, they took portraits of one another. The first sheet that came out of the camera was a blank test frame, which made them laugh in front of everyone.
The rings were hidden under one of the guest chairs. At a certain moment Thom announced that someone was sitting above something important. The guest who found them passed the rings through every pair of hands in the semicircle, a symbolic blessing. The final guest became the surprise ring bearer.
Cocktail Hour
After the ceremony, the celebration shifted to the poolside, a space transformed into a whimsical garden vignette. Giant floating flowers drifted across the water, echoing the fairy-tale scale of the ceremony florals and setting an almost cinematic transition between the emotional vows and the playful evening ahead. The setting felt intentional: structured hedges, soft September light, and a color story that threaded pinks, lavenders, and citrus pastels through the natural greens of the estate.
Nearby, a graphic checkered stand displayed glassware, grounding all the softness with a bold visual note. The black-and-white pattern wasn’t random, it echoed the whimsical-storybook concept running through their stationery and signage. This interplay between pastel romance and geometric structure kept the design from tipping into saccharine territory. Pastels were present everywhere, but used in dense, confident clusters, so the palette read elevated instead of juvenile.
A Lisbon gelato cart stood under the trees, instantly pulling the mood into nostalgic summer. This detail that blended travel, childhood sweetness, and the couple’s love of lighthearted moments. Those images became some of the most defining visuals of the day, because they captured the carefree energy Lindsay and Akash wanted after such an intimate ceremony.
Florals by Atelier Decorelle continued this balance. Arranged in loose, garden-grown shapes, they mirrored the wildflower bouquet Lindsay carried and reinforced the “perfectly imperfect” aesthetic the couple loved. The compositions added depth to the outdoor space, creating small isles of beauty where guests gathered with their drinks.
These elements turned the cocktail hour into a signature identity of the wedding. It was the purest expression of the theme Lindsay and Akash envisioned: nostalgic whimsy layered over garden elegance, with playful touches that made everything feel personal. This hour felt like a curated, joyful intermission: light, musical, and unmistakably theirs.
Moments Together
The gardens of the estate feel like a series of “green rooms”: the upper terrace, the lower lawn, shaded pathways, and hedge corridors. On the day of the wedding, this became the perfect backdrop for an editorial portraits defined by soft golden light, structured greenery, and the striking contrast of pink tulle against deep green foliage.
The photos carried the same cinematic clarity that shaped the rest of the day. Taiya, the photographer, guided them through the garden’s maze paths, terraces, and shaded walkways, using symmetry and long sightlines to create depth instead of staging.
The mix of colour and black-and-white frames added depth to the narrative, they revealed structure, emotion, and stillness. And in those black-and-white portraits, it became clear that the veil’s impact wasn’t only about colour, but about the shape and character it brought into every composition.
Decor
The decor leaned into a European garden party aesthetic, built from confident pastels and sculptural florals. Arrangements combined ranunculus, delphinium, astilbe, chrysanthemums, and garden roses in loose, garden-grown shapes that felt airy rather than ornamental. Lavender, peach, pale blue, soft lemon stayed refined thanks to the way colors were grouped in intentional, saturated clusters.
The tables carried the same balance of structure and play. Classic ivory linens and black bistro chairs grounded the design, while pink napkins, painted signage, and layered stationery added warmth and personality. Taper candles in tonal pastels echoed the floral palette, catching the glow from the overhead light installation that framed the entire reception terrace. As dusk settled, the hanging lights created a soft, cinematic canopy, pulling the whole scene together into one cohesive composition.
Reception
Their reception entrance opened with a choreographed dance to “September”. The first dance blended “Highs and Lows” by Alexander Jean with “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You”, moving from quiet intimacy to full energy, which mirrors their relationship dynamic. As the night unfolded, the dance floor took over. Sets by Your Jukebox blended seamlessly into live piano moments.
The cake by Oh My Godable was a black-and-white heart-shaped piece, a nod to the nostalgic trend returning to evening celebrations. Confetti erupted later in the night, filling the garden like a snowstorm.
Lindsay and Akash chose honesty over timelessness. The personal details, the choreography, the Alfie Spritz, the “wife and husband” line – every detail reflected who they were at this moment in life. “Maybe it won’t be timeless,” Lindsay says, “but it was true to us, and it will always remind us who we were.”
Advice from the couple:
• Build something that feels like you. It doesn’t have to follow the rules; it just has to reflect your story.
PLANNING & DESIGN Como Branco Event Services | VENUE Casa do Presidente | PHOTOGRAPHER Photography by Taiya | VIDEOGRAPHER Storytelling Films | FLORAL DESIGN Atelier Decorelle by Vera Flenova, Oficina da Flor | MUAH Ana Neves, Fresh Faced, Wagner Santos | BRIDAL GOWN Essense of Australia | BRIDAL VEIL Jane Rhyan The Collection | BRIDAL SHOES Dolce Vita | BRIDAL ACCESSORIES Mejuri | GROOM’S SUIT Harry Rosen | GROOM’S SHOES Florsheim | GROOM’S ACCESSORIES San Martin Watch | RINGS & JEWELLERY Zen Moissanite, Mejuri | RENTALS BC Planning Rentals, Rental Collection PT, Aura Rentals | CATERING BackUP Catering & Rentals | CAKE Oh My Godable | ENTERTAINMENT Miguel Abrunhosa, Your Jukebox, Flashmat Photobooth | CELEBRANT Thom Oguntoyinbo | WELCOME PARTY BOAT TOUR Royal Marine Boat Tours
