WEDDING AT JARDINS D'ALFÀBIA, MALLORCA

Rondaia first.

A boutique vineyard hotel in the Tramuntana foothills, where the vines run to the horizon and the light in October sits differently than anywhere else on the island. Flora and Allen had their first look there — just the two of them and the mountains — before the day properly began.

Then Jardins d'Alfàbia. At the foot of the Tramuntana, where the mountain road flattens and the estate appears behind its gates. Moorish foundations, baroque fountains, cobblestone courtyards, centuries-old plane trees. The gerbera daisies, cascading lemons and plumbago that lined the ceremony space were so perfectly matched to the setting I was photographing the details before the guests arrived.

The ceremony was warm, genuine, entirely them. Allen read his vows while Flora watched him the way you watch someone you've chosen completely.

Everything on Kodak Portra 160, medium format. Developed at Carmencita Film Lab in Barcelona.

Rondaia sits above Binissalem, surrounded by its own vines, looking out across the Tramuntana. In October the vineyard is turning — amber and green, the rows running away in every direction.

Flora and Allen had their first look there, in the hotel gardens, before the day moved to Alfàbia. The expression on Allen's face when he turned around is the one I always want and can never fully anticipate. Just them, the vines, the mountains.

Jardins d'Alfàbia sits at the foot of the Tramuntana, where the mountain road flattens and the estate appears behind its gates — Moorish foundations, a cobblestone courtyard, a plane tree whose branches have been spreading overhead for longer than anyone can verify.

For the ceremony the courtyard was dressed in yellow — gerbera daisies, cascading lemons, plumbago arranged around the fountain statue, bentwood chairs set loosely under the tree. The whole space was glowing with October light through the leaves before a single guest had arrived.

Allen read his vows with his glasses slightly crooked and his voice completely steady, while Flora watched him the way you watch someone you've chosen completely. The first kiss happened in front of the fountain with the whole courtyard quiet and the Tramuntana framing everything behind the estate walls.

After the ceremony, we had an hour in the gardens. This is always my favourite part of a wedding day — the guests are at the cocktail hour, the couple has just exhaled, and suddenly we have the whole estate to ourselves.

Alfàbia has layers. The cobbled courtyards give way to formal gardens with long stone paths and irrigation channels dating to the Moorish period. The upper terrace looks out across the vineyard and the valley, with the Tramuntana rising on every side. In October, the vines are still green but beginning to turn, and the mountains behind them go blue in the afternoon light in a way that Kodak Portra holds better than any camera I've ever used.

I took Flora and Allen through the gardens slowly. The path that runs between the lawns and the old irrigation pool — long, formal, flanked by palms — is the one I knew I wanted to shoot from above. The aerial frame shows everything: the geometry of the garden, Flora's train spreading across the gravel, the two of them completely absorbed in each other while the vineyard stretches to the hills. It's the photograph that tells you what kind of place this is.

The reception at Alfàbia takes place on a wooden terrace at the edge of the formal gardens, with the bamboo grove and the tall palms rising behind it and the Tramuntana visible above the treeline. By the time dinner began, the sky had gone the soft grey of a October Mallorcan evening — not dark, just dimmed, and the fairy lights strung between the trees filled in exactly what the natural light left behind.

The table design was all warmth and texture — rattan oval-back chairs, long white tablecloths, and a palette of citrus orange and yellow floristry from Floristeria Brot that picked up the colours of Alfàbia's gardens and extended them into the evening. Orange tulips, white lisianthus, yellow solidago. On film, in that light, the tables looked like something from a different era entirely.

Catering by Grupo Amida. The kind of dinner where people stay at the table long after the plates are cleared, which is always the sign of a wedding done right.

If you're planning a wedding at Jardins d'Alfàbia — or anywhere in Mallorca — I'd love to hear about your day.

I photograph fifteen weddings a year, no more. I'm currently booking  2027. Mallorca Saturdays in summer and autumn go fast.