Soraia and Hugo’s dark and spooky wedding was held on Friday 13th in Oliveira de Azeméis, Portugal. Although they didn’t have really specific inspiration or references they went back to when pulling together the theme, they wanted it to be dark, yet meaningful to them. The bride wore her mother’s wedding dress, for example, which she had altered into her own style including adding a hooded cape!

“Every little detail was meaningful,” the bride told us, “like my dress, the date we chose (Friday 13th) and the dark but beautiful decorations,. We used a coffin to put the beverages at the reception and a little coffin to put the rings in. Our first dance was inspired by the demon dance from Eyes Wide Shut.”

After a cocktail hour outside, the ceremony was held at Quinta da Costeira Church. It was dark when they exited (lit by lanterns held by their guests) and then they went straight into the dinner and party. “Our dog was there for the all ceremony so they witnessed our wedding vows and delivered the rings. To finish, we exit the church
to The Cure’s Friday I’m in Love song. You could only see the light of the candles and the guests waving their lanterns.”

“We loved every moment of our wedding, but the hardest part was selling the theme
idea to the owners of the wedding venue! We didn’t always see eye to eye, our the theme was very different from the usual and traditional weddings they are comfortable with”