This time I wasn’t getting the bride ready, but the madrina. At a Spanish wedding the madrina walks the groom to the altar, and the role usually goes to his mother; here it went to his sister, María. She was thrilled to take it on, and she knew how much it meant to stand beside her brother that day. What she didn’t want was the classic madrina look, which tends to be designed for an older woman.
So the aim was a balance between the formality the role carries and how young María really is. There was no trial: everything was done on the morning of the wedding, at her home, starting fairly early. The makeup was minimal, clean and never overdone, with skin that still looked like skin, a soft flush on the cheeks and a rosy lip. The finish was completely natural, and yet everything about her looked enhanced.
For her hair, María wanted something organic, with movement and nothing rigid. In the morning, freshly styled and not yet dressed, she wore it swept back in a half-up style. The idea was that it would loosen as the day went on and let a few strands fall around her face, because that was what gave her the youthful air she was after.
Her gown was designed for her by Ángel Palazuelos, an exquisite designer from Málaga and a true master of couture. It was a garnet shade edging into raspberry, in a textured fabric with frayed edges, with a fitted bodice and a long, full skirt. The gown struck the same balance between formality and youth that the hair and makeup were aiming for.
The wedding was held at Cortijo Curiel, in Antequera, one of the loveliest country estates inland from Málaga. The evening photographs were taken on its wide lawn, with olive trees and the pine-covered hill behind.
Those photographs were taken at golden hour, late in the afternoon, many hours after I had finished at her home. The gown, the makeup and the hair were all still perfect, and the half-up style had done exactly what María wanted: it had loosened just enough, with a few strands falling around her face. Between the design, the hair and the makeup, the whole look worked beautifully.
