Nichole and Josh’s wedding took place at The Ancient Spanish Monastery in Miami, Florida. It’s one of the most beautiful weddings I’ve seen. Everything complimented each other. Nichole’s wedding dress is so pretty and the bridesmaids dresses colours are such lovely shades of blush pink. Their cream bouquets of roses match the dresses so well as it highlights both colours. My favourite photo of the groom and the groomsmen is the one where they are all laughing, they look so great in their matching suits, with Josh’s bow tie being the odd one out of course. 

History

This outdoor ceremony looks so effortless but you can tell that Nichole and Josh put thought into every bit of detail from the outdoor decor, the lighting, the centrepieces and location. Oh the location! The Ancient Spanish Monastery is one like no other. What an amazing place to get married. The construction of the building dates back to the year 1133 AD in Sacramenia, near Segovia in northern Spain, where eight years later it was completed and dedicated to the Blessed Mother.

In 1925, William Randolph Hearst purchased the Cloisters and the Monastery’s outbuildings. The structures were dismantled stone by stone, bound with protective hay, packed in more than 11,000 wooden crates, numbered for identification and shipped to the United States. Soon after the shipment arrived, Hearst’s financial problems forced most of his collection to be sold at auction. The massive crates remained in a warehouse in Brooklyn, New York, for 26 years. One year after Hearst’s’ death in 1952, they were purchased by two entrepreneurs for use as a tourist attraction. It took 19 months and the equivalent of nearly $20 million dollars (in today’s currency) to put the Monastery back together. In 1953 Time magazine called it “the biggest jigsaw puzzle in history.”

In 1964, Colonel Robert Pentland, Jr, who was a multimillionaire banker, philanthropist and benefactor of many Episcopal churches, purchased the Cloisters and presented them to the Bishop of Florida. Today the parish Church of St. Bernard de Clairvaux is an active and growing congregation in the Episcopal Diocese of Southeast Florida. Services are held on Sundays and weekdays in both English and Spanish.

The wedding was shot by evanR photography. It truly is something else, Evan likes to create stories with his photography and you can see this in unfold when every part of the day was captured beautifully. Enjoy!

Location - The Ancient Spanish Monastery, Miami, FL

Photography by evanR photography