Wedding: Nicole and Filipe, Portugal | Destination Wedding Photography by Zorz Studios

I had several opportunities to travel for work abroad last year. One of the trips was to a pristine Portuguese village of Penedos do Alenquer 60 km away from Lisbon to photograph a wedding of Nicole and Filipe.

In fact, I was fortunate to shoot two receptions of their wedding. The first took place at the Valley Forge Military Academy and College (PA) which Filipe graduated from. Many of his Portuguese family members were not able to attend so a natural decision was to double the fun and visit the village where he spent his childhood. It was a dream old World setting for a destination wedding, starting from my guest house overlooking a field, local farmers cruising in their tractors, poppy flowers everywhere (I brought one for my daughter between the book pages!) , a somewhat laid-back preparation, enough time for a relaxed morning photography walk in the hills and country roads, a ceremony in a historic XIII century Nossa Sra. Das Neves church on top of a hill overlooking the valley and villages below, a horse carriage ride from the church to Quinta do Castro, the wonderful local catering hall, and of course, the fun, vibrant, warm, and friendly crowd at the reception… where everyone knows each other. I was the only stranger who also didn’t speak Portuguese…

As you can tell, we had fun all over, as it is usually the case with destination weddings. A windmill, bath ruins, church ruins, picturesque hills and vineyards–a dream for a wedding photographer! I truly enjoyed leaving my NYC studio for the authentic food, smiles, and the wind. Oh, the wind… as in my long-gone past, I went to the hills all non-wedding days I was there and just sat there, listening and feeling.

Thank you Nicole and Filipe for such a marvelous experience! My best wishes of love and sun to you!

P.S. And here I am, not working for hours…