A Bold Tangerine Barcelona Wedding Inspired by Sunsets, Surrealism & Summer Nights

On Spain’s sun-drenched Costa Brava, Cara and Sam brought a fresh, playful energy to their celebration, turning the historic venue into the setting for a wedding that felt more like an unforgettable summer night than a formal affair. Every detail had a point of view: a vivid orange palette inspired by sunsets, sculptural arrangements, warm light, and thoughtful design moments that gave each space its own character while keeping the party moving. The atmosphere was effortlessly cool, with a little romance, a lot of personality, and just the right amount of mischief. From the intimate dinner setting to the music-filled celebrations that followed, the whole day felt considered but never overworked: vibrant, personal, and full of life. Captured in a movie by Slowl, a THE WED member, it’s a celebration with a distinctive sense of place and a style all its own.

Our Love Story

The Day We Met

We met online, and the first thing I learned about Sam was that he didn’t drink coffee or like Espresso Martinis. Naturally, I told him he’d be having one on our first date—and he did, with regrets the next morning. A few days before the end of 2022, we braved an unusually rainy Los Angeles night to meet at Bar Chloe in Santa Monica. What was meant to be a quick first date turned into over five hours of conversation, a first kiss, and the feeling that we’d known each other forever. When the night finally came to an end, we walked back to my place, making out in a public garage between rain showers and passing strangers, so Sam could meet Murphy, my curious little dog and his soon-to-be best friend. An unlikely start to a relationship that has been inseparable ever since.

The Proposal

Our first winter back in New York was brutal: cold, dark, icy, and long. Cara was desperate for some sunshine, completely unaware that I was planning to propose in Sag Harbor. When she announced, “I’m going to the beach, with or without you,” and booked a long weekend in Tulum—the same weekend I’d planned to take her out East—I had to think fast. A quick Google Maps search led me to something even better than I’d imagined: a swing set overlooking the ocean, a childhood favorite of hers and her happy place.

Knowing how much Cara loves documenting the little moments of our lives, I bought us a GoPro under the guise of capturing our future adventures. On our first evening in Tulum, I suggested an early start so we could catch the sunset and try it out. In true Cara fashion, she immediately launched into our imaginary vlogging career, narrating the beach and interviewing me all the way to the swings. We captured everything on camera: the jokes, my fumbling for the ring, the moment she realized what was happening, and, of course, the yes.

The Engagement Ring

For Cara’s 32nd birthday, I surprised her with a day of ring shopping, taking her to two showrooms she never saw coming. After a few more visits, she had a clear idea of what she wanted: something low-profile that would sit comfortably alongside her everyday jewelry, unique without being trendy, and featuring a particular twist on a split shank that she kept coming back to. She then made one thing very clear: she wanted to have a say in the design but leave the stone, size, and everything else entirely up to me. No updates, no involvement—she wanted to be surprised. So I took inspiration from the rings we’d seen to a family-friend jeweler, added a few personal touches of my own, and she didn’t hear another word about it until it was on her hand.

Our Wedding

The Vision

We wanted something bold and intentional—two things we consider ourselves and wanted reflected in the day. Our vision was simple: a wedding that felt like one of those perfect summer nights you already know, while living it, will become a core memory. Romantic and a little magical, but relaxed, effortless, and centered on celebrating with the people we love. We wanted the evening to unfold in chapters, with each new space revealing another part of the story. No space at El Molí was used twice, and nobody saw a room before walking into it: the ceremony under the mulberry trees, the garden for cocktail hour, the courtyard for dinner, and finally inside for the party. Every reveal was deliberate, with anticipation as much a part of the design as the details themselves.

Orange became the thread running through the day, inspired by our shared love of sunsets, sunrises, and the moon. Orange tied everything together, from the marigolds lining the aisle and ceremony fabric to the napkins and the light washing the courtyard walls at midnight. Organic drapery appeared throughout, while our motif, inspired by the mulberry trees we were married under and designed by one of our best friends, featured on almost every piece of paper. Most importantly, we wanted the day to feel like us. We're not a serious couple; our relationship is built on inside jokes, spontaneity, new experiences, and being slightly ridiculous. We never wanted a wedding that required us to behave. You can see it in the photos: we're not posing at each other; we're messing around, and that's genuinely who we are.

Our Team of Vendors

We planned the whole thing from Brooklyn Heights, which meant the people on the ground had to be people we trusted completely. Anna and Uma from Just Married Barcelona ran it, and they are the reason a wedding four thousand miles away never once felt out of our hands. Jordi from Dalmare and Alexis from Slowl captured the day, Teresa Snowball did hair and makeup, Flors Amelia handled the florals, and Mona Studio built our paper suite. Every one of them understood what we were going for almost immediately, which is not a small thing when you’re describing a feeling over a video call in two languages.

The Location

We were married at El Molí, an old mill on a wine estate in the Costa Brava, about two hours north of Barcelona. We fell for its rawness—weathered stone, exposed brick, an almost industrial character—set against lush greenery, which gave us exactly the contrast we wanted: something soft and airy and romantic against something that has stood the test of time. Our guests stayed at Hotel Peralada nearby, so the whole weekend had a home base, and everyone kept colliding with each other at the pool.

On the way in, we stopped the buses at La Roca Village for a shopping detour, which, for those who know Cara, is very on-brand. This part of Spain is also Dalí country. He spent most of his life in this corner of Catalonia, and it’s said he visited the grounds of El Molí over the years. Once we knew that, we wanted a thread of surrealism running through the day and a quiet ode to him woven in wherever it fit—which is how a Catalan phrase and a set of very old Dalí photographs ended up in our guests’ hands.

The Ceremony

We were married under the mulberry trees at El Molí—the tree became the motif that ran through our entire paper suite and wedding merch. Sam walked in with both of his parents to “Let’s Get Married” by Bleachers, and I came down the stone stairs with mine to “Dreams” by The Cranberries and met him at the front row. We greeted each other, our parents sat, and then the two of us walked our seven circles together before turning to the front. Our best friend Lindsay officiated, and Luke held both rings. There was no chuppah and no petals—instead, we hung orange fabric between the trees against a single orange panel, with marigolds spilling down both sides of the aisle. It softened the whole frame and gave us shade in the July heat.

We wrote our own vows. Mine came back to a word tattooed on Sam’s arm: timshel, from East of Eden—thou mayest. The power is yours, and the choice is yours. I told him that I watch him choose, every single day, to be good, to be in service to others, to be present, and to be mine—and that with that word written on his arm and everyone we love as our witnesses, I was choosing him back. Then Sam broke the glass, and we recessed out through the pool area.

The Cocktail Hour

Cocktail hour moved everyone into the garden, which none of them had seen—the same organic drapery as the ceremony, but in white this time, strung between the trees over the lawn. Javier Nylon played solo guitar, opening with modern flamenco and Spanish songs while people settled in and easing into familiar songs in guitar renditions as the energy built. It was mid-July in Spain, so shade was essential: we used the stone seating by the house, the drapery, the trees, and a run of parasols, and every guest had a handheld fan waiting in their welcome bag. Sam and I slipped away for touch-ups and photos, and walking back into it—everyone we love in one place, already loose and laughing—is a moment I would love to relive.

The Dinner

Dinner took place in the center courtyard, at two long, curved tables, and we were relentless about the seating. We wanted the feeling of a big dinner party, with old and new friends mingling, nobody stranded at the far end, and plenty of energy throughout. So we invented drink captains, recruiting our most outgoing friends and family to walk the tables, make introductions, get everyone drinking, and keep the shots coming. They took the assignment very seriously, and before long, everyone was moving between the tables—and it may or may not have resulted in both of us being given “haircuts.” We also shared a montage of the small, in-between moments from my private archive, projected silently onto the exposed brick once the sun had set and our oversized orange sun was glowing on the courtyard wall.

No music, no explanation, just years of us in a place Dalí used to wander. Then we brought things back to where it all started: the espresso martini, the drink we’d toasted with on our first date three and a half years earlier. We raised a tower of them to our guests as the projected sun moved across to the balcony window, a violinist appeared, and Suit & Music launched into the first of several live sets. Soon, everyone was dancing between the tables to “I Gotta Feeling.” We snuck out while the party was still going so I could change into my second look.

The Special Touches

Instead of a guest book, we collected postcards in an orange mailbox in the courtyard. I designed them myself, pairing old photographs of Dalí with ¡Molt Bé!—the Catalan phrase we’d also used on the welcome bags, which simply means “very good.” The sign read: “Write us a note, a wish, or even a bad joke and pop it in the box.” We also put a QR code in the welcome booklet asking everyone to be our disposable cameras, so we could see the day through their eyes. The one we’d do again in a heartbeat was the night before. We deliberately had no speeches beyond those from our parents on the wedding day, and instead ran a “roast and toast” at the welcome dinner—two MCs, five groups of friends from each side, and roughly an hour of gently roasting us through old stories, past fashion faux pas, and personality quirks. It helped set the tone for the wedding while introducing our story together.

Our Favorite Moment

The very end of the night. We were up on a packed stage, dancing and jumping, and at some point we both looked out and realized we were surrounded by our favorite people from every different chapter of our lives—friends who hadn’t met each other before that week, singing back at us, connected in that moment and connected through us. Every relationship is its own world; ours runs on joy, humor, surprise, and a deep streak of earnest sentimentality, and for a few days we got to build that world bigger and let everyone we love inside it. That was the climax we’d been quietly building toward all evening, and it landed exactly the way we’d hoped.

Our Style

The Bridal Looks

My gown was the Zendaya gown from Lana Marinenko, custom-made with a few variations on the original design. We wanted the wedding to feel like one long, beautiful summer evening—romantic and a little magical, but relaxed and effortless—and the dress captured that perfectly. Its light silk, soft draping, and ruching gave it an airy, almost fairy-like quality that contrasted beautifully with El Molí’s weathered stone and industrial character. 

For my second look, I wanted to carry that story through rather than change into another white dress, so I chose Retrofête’s Dorothy Sequin Dress, featuring reflective paillettes and embroidered fish and starfish. Its vibrant orange tones tied back to the wedding palette, while the marine details offered a playful nod to the Costa Brava—and made it the perfect dress to drop it low on the dance floor. I completed both looks with my mom’s diamond tennis necklace and bracelet—the bracelet, a gift for my 30th birthday, is something I wear every day, while the necklace was lent to me for the evening—and diamond stud earrings borrowed from my mom’s best friend.

The Groom Looks

Mine was less involved: I wanted to capture the relaxed but elegant style of the Mediterranean, so I wore a Milano suit from Suitsupply with suede tassel loafers from Baudoin & Lange. I wanted a fuller shape I could play with—dressed up or dressed down as the night went on—and the more classic tailoring and fuller fit turned out to be a perfect complement to El Molí and to Cara’s dress, though I didn’t realize that at the time. By the time we got to the disco, I was in a white T-shirt.

Our Advice

For the Planning Process

Dividing and conquering was really important, far more than we realized. Being able to decide who was going to be responsible for what allowed us to cover a lot of ground and work independently, which mattered as we juggled jobs and time zones. We were also lucky to have wedding planners—Anna and Uma—who were constantly communicating and structuring what we needed to pay attention to. Very practically, build more flexibility into your budget so that you can intentionally invest and splurge on what matters, whether it’s an extra hour of drinks or an espresso martini tower.

For On The Day

Think about your guests’ experience as a sequence and a journey rather than a schedule. Almost everything we’re proudest of came from asking what the night should feel like at that hour and then designing backward—moving people into a room they hadn’t seen, letting the night unravel in front of them. We also made sure to take a moment to ourselves before each transition—a little hype-up moment just for us, some stillness in what will always remain the happiest, blurriest memory of our lives.