Things To Know
Dress Code
Wednesday,
6:30 - 9:30pm
Welcome Rooftop Mixer
Party attire. Women, we know you’ve got this. Sparkles are welcome. Examples for men include a button up or long sleeved shirt with a collar; blazer optional. Chinos, slacks, or dressier jeans.
Thursday,
10am - 4:00pm
Day of Touring
Casual chic. Wear comfortable walking shoes and your best Madrid city look.
Friday,
4:45 - 11:30pm
Ceremony, Dinner,
& Party
Black Tie Optional. The Big Event! Our beautiful venue has a dress code of long dresses or suits at a minimum. Tuxedoes are also welcomed (though not required). We have arranged for convenient tuxedo or suit rentals in Madrid if you’d like to avoid packing one. If you’re interested in this service, please reach out for information.
Ladies, this is your time to shine — glitz and glamor are encouraged! Think Oscars red carpet. There is no bride to upstage here! ✨ Wear your best color or channel the spirit of Spain and go bold. Our photographers have mentioned that the only color they feel washes people out is all black - so if you’re going to stun in black, go bold with some colorful accessories!
Midnight - 2:30am
The After Party
Casual club wear. After the official wedding event ends, the party monsters among us are invited to join us for The After Party at the private discotheque in the basement of the same venue. Think Studio 54 meets modern gay bar, with dancing, disco balls, drag queens, hot shirtless dancers, performances, and more. No tuxedos and high heels are needed here — this is an event for dancing shoes and club attire. We advise you to pack a bag with a change of clothes and check it upon arriving for the ceremony (private bag check provided). We will have changing spaces to change out of your formalwear and slip into something cute (maybe sparkly?) and danceable. Doors will open at midnight!
Saturday,
11am - 1pm
Farewell Brunch
Elevated casual
More things to know
Photographs: The photographers will be with us all four days to capture the special moments we’ll have together. We are also arranging to have time slots for each guest / family with the photographer at a portrait studio being set up in the wedding venue. You will be responsible for showing up at your photo time! It will be a wonderful memento from the event to capture how amazing you look (this is why we’re being a bit dramatic about the dress code 😆💅🏼).
Gifts: It’s an international destination wedding, and your presence is all we could ever ask for. The only thing we need in life is to celebrate with you in Madrid! Plus, how are we supposed to get gifts home?!? And if you aren’t able to make it, a card with your well wishes is something we’ll keep and cherish—please, no gifts.
Weather: October weather in Madrid is usually very nice, though it might get cool in the evenings. The wedding ceremony (Friday) is indoors and will not be affected by any rain. Some of our events will be outdoors, but we have a Plan B in case of rain. It may still be wise to pack an umbrella or poncho, however.
Visa: U.S. citizens will need a visa to enter Europe in the future, but luckily that requirement was just postponed from 2024 to 2025. Therefore, no visa is needed for the wedding.
Passport (IMPORTANT): Your passport must be valid for at least six (6) months after your travel dates. If your passport will expire within six (6) months of our wedding, they won’t let you board the plane. Check your expiration date while you still have time to renew.
Things To Arrange
In Advance
Consider hiring a photographer for a half day. We’ve done this twice now, once just the two of us, and once with Morgan’s entire family (both times in Greece). It’s such a fun experience because a local photographer takes you to interesting, beautiful places that you wouldn’t necessarily have found on your own. And the photos are priceless. It maybe feels a bit silly at first, but we promise you’ll love those photos forever. Here are a couple examples from our previous photoshoots. If you’d like advice on how to do this, let us know!
Hair and makeup: A few friends have asked us about helping to find hair and makeup artists in Spain for the day of the wedding event. We’ve asked our wedding planners to put together a glam squad team for anyone interested, so please let us know and we can share rates, etc. This service will need to be booked in advance.
A few hard-learned
travel tips for Europe
If you’ve traveled in Europe before, feel free to skip this section. But if you haven’t traveled there extensively, you might benefit from knowing some of the following (these are things we learned the hard way from our travels).
General Travel in Europe: Travel within Europe can often mean bumpy roads! We have had lost baggage multiple times and been subject to various airport strikes that disrupted travel. Try to leave a buffer of time before the wedding to arrive into Europe and explore! Avoid checking bags if you can (we know, we’re also asking you to pack suits and fancy dresses, so that may be impossible…). If you do check bags, try to place less essential items in the checked bags and keep any meds you may need in your carry-on. From our own travel experience in the past - avoid the Spanish airline, Vueling - and instead choose the other Spanish airline, Iberia. Within Europe, even if it’s cheaper, try to avoid the budget airlines and stay with something more mainstream. The budget airlines are great for getting you there cheaply, but if bags are lost or cancelations and re-bookings occur, their customer service is basically non-existent (try five days in Paris with no bags and no customer support number! 🙋🏻♂️).
Security lines: They can be a long! If you are traveling in business class, often there are priority lines at the airport, and the security lines are bypassed to some extent - but NOT the passport control lines. We advise arriving at European airports several hours early, as we have occasionally waited in hours-long lines in the past. Sometimes, the lines to check in and check bags for your flights at European airports also can be extremely long. Arrive very early, just to be safe (and this is coming from two guys who, in the U.S., like to arrive to the gate right as boarding starts!). Check in advance for what you can and can’t bring through security, and whether you need a special bag for liquids or other liquids restrictions.
London Heathrow is a very common airport to fly in and out of for connecting to Europe. If you arrive into Heathrow for a connection, they make you go through their own security upon arriving, even though you already went through security in the U.S.!! It’s crazy. For carry-on bags, they have a dumb little plastic bag that you have to fit all your liquids into. If it doesn’t fit in their small bag, it either needs to be checked (aka - go back to the check-in counter and wait in the security line again), or thrown away. We have lost multiple items this way. They are strict on this. Maybe there are exceptions for meds - but it’s Europe - so probably not!
Currency considerations: ATMs are everywhere in Madrid, dispensing Euros. Your hotel can also often change money or break larger bills. Many credit cards have no foreign transaction fees, and we’ve found most places accept credit cards. Cash is primarily needed for tipping, like a valet or room attendant. Tipping culture in Spain is a bit different, and slightly less expected - if you want to leave a tip on a credit card, you have to speak up before they tap your card on their mobile machine by saying something like, “Please add a 10 euro tip to this meal.” There is otherwise no tipping line on receipts. It wouldn’t hurt to do a little research on tipping in Spain before landing, as each country’s tipping culture is different.