Today’s pretty-as-a-picture styled engagement shoot comes from Portuguese wedding photographer Marta José of Dreamaker Photography.  The place Marta, and her couple Cátia & Emmanual call home is in the Azores, a cluster of islands in the middle of the Atlantic off the coast of Portugal.  Being so remote, there is little in the way of wedding suppliers, so they called upon their histories to create a very special, and meaningful styled shoot to celebrate their engagement in one of the most stunning landscapes I’ve ever seen.

 

Photographer Marta tells the story ~

So, this is how a photo session occurs on my island called Pico, in the Azores. There, the world of weddings is really different and simple… there isn’t a single wedding planner, no designer for your invitation, not even a cool decorator or even a luxury place for the reception… Everything is so simple and natural, made with care and with the help of the whole family. Usually, the invitations and souvenirs are made by the bride and groom, so with this styled shot I wanted to show that reality, is a real DIY paradise!!… everything was hand made, with simplicity and with objects in honour of our ancestors.  Over 50 years ago the Azorean people lived mostly from whale hunting and agriculture.  These days tourism is very important because of whale watching and all the natural beauty of the island that stays intact. We wanted to show some of that elements on the decoration.

The couple in the session are a real couple and are getting married in August 2014. They began as friends and started talking a little more when they both got their hearts broken. Then, one day Emanuel invited Cátia for a diving lesson (he’s a professional diver). The attention and care that he showed on that day melt Cátia’s heart. Three years later he proposed to her at that same place on her birthday. The wedding theme is the sea and this photo shoot is a little preview of some of the things that they are planning for their day. They are going to use traditional flowers, like the hydrangeas (the symbol of the Azores) and catch shells, sea urchins, and basalt for the decoration. The main colour will be blue.

This photo session was a race against time. We only had one day to do this, and in the Azores the weather is always a little bit crazy. In just a few hours we went to our parents’, grandparents’, aunts’ and uncles’ houses, searching for traditional elements for the decoration.  The plates are from my Aunt’s wedding, the flowers from the garden, the harpoon on the table belongs to the groom’s father and was used in the past for whale hunting, the invitations were hand made, and the dress was borrowed. The only thing made that we asked for a professional was the lovely cake, with exquisite sugar flowers from T Bakes.

 

The Azorean people are very proud of the beautiful place that they live in… The proof of that is that on their honeymoon the couple is going backpacking on all of the 9 islands of the Azores.