Magdalena — Jorge is from Angola, I’m from Germany, and we live together in Cape Town, where we met a few years ago. We both share a love for the city we chose as our home, and spend our weekends at the beach, wine tasting, hiking and eating out.
Cape Town has a huge culinary scene and we love to explore new restaurants. We share three different languages between the two of us, and our families are split over more than four countries, so we spend a lot of time travelling between Africa and Europe. We met through mutual friends at a festival in Cape Town and saw each other again a few weeks later at a bar.
South Africa had one of the strictest lockdowns in the world. We spent months on end in a small apartment together 24/7, without even being able to go for a walk. As cheesy as it sounds, we both realised if we could make it through the pandemic together, we were bound for life! We got engaged in November 2020.Jorge surprised me with a weekend getaway to our favourite hotel in a coastal town up the westcoast of South Africa.
On our first evening, we took a stroll along the secluded beach to watch the sunset—and he got down on one knee. It could not have been more beautiful. Since we went all out and traditional with a big wedding in Italy, we wanted to keep our civil wedding in Lisbon small and more casual. We had a ceremony at our lawyer’s office in the morning, then lunch in a private room at Palácio Chiado. Everyone gave a speech and there was a lot of dancing between courses. It was only supposed to be lunch, but we had so much fun, we moved to another bar for drinks and another restaurant for dinner later. We got home at 11pm!
We can’t laugh about it just yet, but our wedding was during the peak travel crisis in Europe last summer. My bestfriend and maid of honour (who was also supposed to be our wedding photographer) got stuck in Germany and couldn’t make it to Lisbon for the ceremony. We booked her multiple flights andone after the other was cancelled. We realised she wouldn’t be able to make it and we had to find a new photographer the night before the wedding.
Thank goodness we found Adriana! When Kaviar Gauche reached out to see if I’d like to work with them on my bridal looks, I was ecstatic. Kaviar Gauche is Germany’s leading bridal couture brand and to wear a German designer for my wedding was incredibly special and meaningful to me. I’m a pants girl more than a dress girl, so I knew I wanted to wear a cool suit for the civil wedding. Because I had designed my gown for the big wedding in Italy, I didn’t want to wear another white dress. I ended up flying to Berlin twice for fittings with the Kaviar Gauche team and I couldn’t be happier with how my look turned out.
CEREMONY LOCATION: Couple’s lawyer’s office / PHOTOGRAPHER Adriana Morais Photography, @adrianamoraisphotography / GROOM’S OUTFIT: Md Rumel, @tailormen_specialist / BRIDE’S OUTFIT, EARRINGS & BIRDCAGE Kaviar Gauche, @kaviargauche_official / BRIDE’S SHOES Manolo Blahnik, @manoloblahnik / GROOM’S SHOES: Loro Piana, @loropiana / PLANNER: Bride and sister-in-law / RINGS: Made by local jeweller in Cape Town using Bride’s Grandmother’s jewellery / GROOM’S WATCH: Cartier, @cartier / HAIR & MAKEUP: Bride / FRAGRANCE: Le Labo, @lelabofragrances / RECEPTION, CATERING & BEVERAGES: Palácio Chiado, @palaciochiado
See more of Magdalena & Jorge’s wedding in our latest issue! Get your hands on Issue 30, available in both Print and Digital formats.
