Suites Alba Resort & Spa

Our fabulous wedding planner (Sandra at Sohno a Dois) recommend ded the Suites Alba Resort and Spa in Albandeira (on a gorgeous, secluded little beach with a beautiful arching cliff). The hotel's website doesn't do it justice in fact and I turned it down initially - but in quite a brave move Sandra asked me to reconsider, reassuring me that Suites Alba had everything I wanted - superb staff and mouthwatering food as well as the beautiful natural surroundings, and a feeling of privacy and exclusivity. I looked at every single option and read all the reviews on Tripadvisor and dozens of other sites. Eventually I was persuaded to trust Sandra - and she was absolutely right, it was a superb venue with just the right ambience - really great for Irish families, so friendly and all the staff acted as if nothing was too much trouble.

The hotel has its own dedicated wedding coordinator, Tania, who is the most amazing lady. Young and energetic, she seemed to be everywhere at once. Yet at the ceremony she was demure in the background just checking everything was perfect - which it was. The new marquee is stunning with glass walls and the outdoor area is so comfortable with white sofas and a tropical style thatched bar. White baskets held our favours (port, pashminas and flip flops). The most stunning pink white and peach arrangements of peony, freesia, bougainvillea and garden roses were everywhere. The gazebo was a perfect spot to say "I do", fluttering with white muslin pinned back with more peonies. Oh and the dinner tables? Overflowing with even more blossoms bursting from eclectic glass vases. I had said I didn't want too uniform and Sandra had made sure each table was just unique... yet all held together in style. Each table had a Portuguese town as it's name and the guests found their table plan hanging on a delicate almond blossom tree.

The venue is so amazing by night, the photos you might see online show coloured dance lights, which is fair enough. But our night was a different style and worked just beautifully. We had bistro style lighting (which Tania arranged) in the marquee, lovely flowing balls of light in the marquee area. Then in the sandy area were a hundred white lanterns with tea lights - flickering beautifully and creating a magical and romantic area. And at that gorgeous bar, fairy lights twisted up the palm tree, creating a glamorous tropical vibe. Together with endless sparklers bursting into flame it was a really cost effective way to achieve that Style Me Pretty photo look.

The hotel was great for the days before and after the wedding too. All our guests LOVED it - age 1 to 81. The restaurant was gorgeous, overlooking the sea and right beside the infinity pool. The food was so tasty, so much choice, and extremely reasonably priced. We got vouchers for 10 and 15 percent off food because of being wedding guests which actually made it incredibly cheap to eat. There is also a fab little pizza place on the way down the beach (3 minutes from the wedding spot!) which is totally different and makes delicious thin base crispy pizza - just the thing for a shorts and t shirts day after lunch!

The rooms are lovely too by the way. They are big rooms with big beds and lots of wardrobe space, big bathrooms and even kitchenettes. Everywhere is close by so you can pop into friends or nip to reception within moments. Oh and did I mention that I left my gorgeous diamond necklace on the bathroom shelf and forgot about it for a day? The maids cleaned the room perfectly and replaced the towels, but didn't touch the necklace which was, obviously, very valuable.

The staff also give you lots of help whe you need it. My dad has Parkinson's and they went many extra miles to make him comfortable and help him feel at home. On more than a few occasions I noticed staff members fetching and carrying for him and even holding his hand to help him if he was feeling unsteady on his feet. They were as patient and kind as I would have been myself. It gave me such peace of mind to know my guests were happy and looked after.

And the staff are fun too. They brought me and my four bridesmaids to the wedding area in little golf carts and on the way we started singing "going to the chapel" and all the staff waved and sang along. It was a fantastic, completely unpremediated moment of pure fun and had me in stitches laughing. It was such a relaxed moment.

In short, I cannot recommend the venue enough if you are thinking of a great value for money, laid back luxury option in the sunshine. I cannot wait to return (even though the wedding was only 21 days ago!) and have already been pricing a trip back to Suites Alba for our family. I can't even wait for the anniversary!!

I wish you the best of luck planning your wedding, I hope yours is as utterly perfect as mine was!!!