Shanar and Nader’s Malaga wedding in Spain

Sun, Spain’s cuisine, superb wines, impressive monuments, magnificent churches, the enormous artistic heritage, beautiful beaches, beautiful palaces, Egyptian temples – that’s Spain! Shanar and Nader are a handsome, charming and loving couple that invited us to be their Malaga wedding photographer and videographer. We have sincerely enjoyed following them around and witnessing their happiness and excitement of having their wedding in Spain and this is what we have captured and saw through our lenses. Today, we’re bringing you a beautiful  destination wedding in Malaga, Spain.

To bring all your loved ones from all around the world into beautiful Spain, sunny Andalusia, on the unique estate of Huerta del Conde could be a bit tough job to do but is surely a really great achievement and worth every bit of your precious time. Very often, when couples decide to have a wedding and have family scattered all over the world, they usually decide to have a wedding “somewhere in the middle” so that everyone could attend and witness their love. That was also the case for Shanar and Nader as well. They decided to choose Spain, a place between America and Iran. They opted for Malaga in Spain as this is one of the oldest cities in Europe and they wanted to have a big, luxurious Persian wedding under the Malaga’s sky.

If you head east from the Malaga city you will come across the towns of Rincón de la Victoria and Velez Malaga, but if you go slightly west from Malaga you’ll find Ronda, Antequera, and many more elegant, charming villages. This area is also wealthy with a plethora of venues open for accommodating wedding events and offers many opportunities to organize something really special for your big day. Such a wide variety of exclusive venues in this area offers you a really great chance to pinpoint that perfect venue for the wedding of your dreams! Many people generally see Malaga as a simple city with a very active airport, but in reality, Malaga offers so much more to see and discover. Both, the city and its surrounding areas. On top of that, magical beaches of Malaga province provide the most amazing landscapes and still hide countless fascinating remains of the times gone by, along with charming villages located just between the mountains and wonderful azure sea.

Huerta del Conde – a spectacular Spain wedding venue

Huerta del Conde wedding venue is run exclusively by Dani García Eventos for the celebrations of high-class events. You can find it in a preferential enclave with magnificent panoramas all over the Malaga bays. Under the leading hand of one of the best Spain chefs, Dani García – who’s restaurant in Marbella Hotel Puente Romano Beach Resort & Spa has earned two Michelin stars. So, you can see that there’s no doubt why Dani García has the reputation as one of the best Andalusian chefs with the most promising worldwide recognition. With almost twenty years of the experience under his belt, his creativity in the kitchen has no limits. Nature of his craft is certainly modern, drawing inspiration from a multitude of sources: anything from his Andalusian roots, over the experiences which he gathered while traveling across the globe, from various cultures he is still discovering, as well as from his personal experience and many years of training.

Destination weddings in Spain

Tying the knot at the local courthouse is perfect for some couples. Yet, those more adventurous will most likely be interested in a destination wedding and saying their “I do’s” somewhere internationally. By now, Spain, along with Croatia, is known as a favorite holiday destination among many visitors around the world so it’s no wonder couples choose these countries often for their weddings.  It offers a certain comfort and ambiance that can’t be matched anywhere in the world, plus, nice weather is pretty much guaranteed, so it’s no doubt why it is a number one choice for those who plan on having an outdoor wedding celebration. Exquisite food, graceful historic temples and cathedrals, endless vineyards and citadel venues, as well as already mentioned Mediterranean climate, are a perfect combination for outdoor weddings. Spain offers numerous outdoor venues for wedding celebrations. Enriched with amazing scenery in a combination with the pleasant Spanish climate will make sure that your guests can feast and dance long into the night. As far as locations for your wedding destination go one thing is certain, – Spain is quite diverse in this area – you can choose between citadels, cortijos, haciendas, small, yet stylish hotels, grand high-class hotels, or modern and comfortable beach restaurants. With such a wide variety of Spain venues, you can easily find that special one which caters to your ideas and needs.  No matter if you plan on having a more casual wedding party, or maybe something traditional or modern, you can be assured that you’ll find it there. For example, if you are looking for a place in which you can incorporate your beach wedding theme, or mountains and all traditional, then Malaga and Seville are the perfect locations for you.  On the other hand, Barcelona, as a vibrant city, offers venues centered around the amazing architecture with a pleasant beach backdrop. For those even more adventurous, Mallorca just might be the place for you. Its crystal clear, turquoise sea will make any wedding beautiful, relaxed, and most of all romantic.

Persian weddings

Not many of us are familiar with Persian tradition. Wedding, as one of the most important events in the Persian tradition, is a special gathering where everyone is invited, expenses are high, and as expected, feasting and partying is certainly over the top. According to Massoume Price’s statement: “Marriage is the big event for us Iranians and as such it must be celebrated highly and loudly – not quietly – although with brilliance and prominence. Marriage is the most important of all the occasions and we celebrate it in the presence of quite a large number of people.” Interestingly, the majority of the traditions of Persian weddings have their origins in Zoroastrianism – an old Iranian religion and the very first monotheistic religion in the world, dating all the way back to the second millennium BCE. These traditions are practiced even today and haven’t changed much as well as being adapted to modern times.  This is quite an achievement when we take into consideration how much the world has changed since then – the empires have risen and fallen, the Islamic Republic has injected their own rules on the Iranian people, and since then they have scattered and spread all over the world. Somehow, despite all that, their traditions have remained strong and preserved up to this day.  One of the patterns I have noticed over the time is that even if one of the newlyweds is Iranian, chances are quite high that their wedding will have some elements of the traditional Iranian wedding. In my opinion, the reason for that lies in the fact that these traditions have high symbolic value for the Iranian people, and on top of that, they are fairly easy to adapt the modern times and tastes of western cultures. Besides, enjoyment, fun, and love should never go out of fashion, and these wonderful Iranian traditions really help us to deliver these elements through our lenses.

Sofreh Aghd – Persian Wedding Traditions

When it comes to Persian weddings, one of the most important things is Sofreh Aghd. The formal wedding conventions have been preserved and performed for thousands of years and sofreh aghd are normally very common at Persian weddings. Like almost everyone, the religious background of Iranians is very diverse and the sofreh aghd is a cultural ceremony of choice usually held regardless of faith.  There’s a wide variety of symbols and items that make sofreh aghd so easy to spread, and each and every one of them represents one of the fragments of the life of the married couple. Even though most of the couples try to maintain all traditional elements of sofreh the same, behind every sofreh is still a unique approach in the design and style of the bride and groom. Still, each design of sofreh aghd has some traditional elements that must be kept. But depending on the personal taste and the budget of the couple, some sofreh versions are much more complex than the other ones, while on the other hand, some of them may be more simplistic in nature and minimized than the others.  When translated to English, the term Sofreh means tablecloth and Sofreh Aghd represents a certain type of cloth that, on its surface, has included elements with metaphorical implications in a Persian Aghd tradition. Alongside with all the presents that the groom’s family bought for the bride is also placed one set of mirror and candelabra. That very same mirror and candelabra will, later on, become integral items in their future home and represent symbols of their wedding. In Persian culture, a mirror is connected with the idea of immortality. The tradition is for the bride and groom to sit in front of the mirror and calmly look at one another’s reflection.  As for the candles, they are an essential element of the Zoroastrian customs and as such represent light and warmness. Sangak break is a special type of Iranian bread which is traditionally baked in fire furnaces. The bread itself is designed in such a way to be a symbol of prosperity for the newlywed couple. All the way through a traditional Persian wedding ceremony, desserts included in the Sofreh Aghd are a symbol of the sweetness of their new union and a good appetizer for having a sweet life. The groom and bride feed each other with honey (asal) as a part of the ceremony, which serves as a symbolic act of sweetness that they will provide for each other throughout their life.

Andalucia weddings – Malaga & Marbella wedding

It needs to be mentioned, Andalucia is a land rich with natural treasures, plenty of National parks, green woods, majestic beaches, historic cities full of stories and knowledge, lovely small villages… Just picture this setting: the sky is so bright and so perfectly blue and the sun is shining, your friends and family are at one place and are patiently sitting around a flower-adorned aisle, all while the champagne is steadily getting cold as the wedding celebration is about to start. While making the vows to one another, the whole ceremony will be elevated to the even higher level thanks to the beautiful look on the Mediterranean Sea – it’s such an extraordinary day.  If you are considering getting married in Marbella or Malaga, here’s what you can expect – whether you are planning to have your wedding on a beach, Finca, nice restaurant, or one of the many villas or hotels – wedding ceremonies in Marbella can’t be matched by any place on Earth. The selection of wedding venues in Andalucia is really rich, each place certainly has something distinct to offer.  For example, the beach clubs as a wedding venue will offer you a well known sea-side ambiance, which can be both casual and sophisticated; some of the restaurants are simply a perfect choice for smaller weddings and can be easily be converted into a place worthy of a fairy tale weddings; many of the privately owned villas can be used for the purpose of weddings and, as such, are ideal for those who plan to celebrate the wedding for more than a day.

To be Costa del sol wedding photographer and videographer

From the very moment when we were invited to photograph and video shoot Shanar and Nader’s wedding in Malaga, we were overly interested and excited. We had no idea what to look forward the most – the beautiful nature and landscapes of this part of the world, which can almost guarantee the sunny weather to our young Iranian couple – or the wedding ceremony following the Persian tradition which is quite interesting, colorful, and so full of life.  We were also aware that Shanar is organizing a wedding at some of the most exquisite locations, yet, we couldn’t visualize anything in advance. We didn’t know just how magnificent and unique the Huerta del Conde wedding venue and Grand Miramar hotel where Shanar and Nader were getting married are.  Naturally, the location, interior design, as well as exterior are extremely important to us because of their direct influence on the quality of photographs and videos. So it was no wonder why we have completely fallen in love with Costa del Sol, Andalucia, Malaga and Marbella.  We can’t wait to visit these places again and wish to thank our lovely couple for giving us the opportunity to be a part of their special day. In the meantime, hop to our gallery and see for yourself how Shanar and Nader’s wedding was as well as photos of majestic Malaga and nearby places.

Wedding Vendor Credits

Wedding Planner: Tucco weddings and unique affairs

Wedding  photographer: Spain wedding photographer

Wedding  videographer:  Spain wedding videographer

Wedding venue:  Huerta del Conde, Malaga

Ceremony venue: Huerta del Conde, Malaga

Wedding shoes: Christian Louboutin