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OUR BEACH WEDDING IN CAPE VERDE
*article contains affiliate linksOur beach wedding in Cape Verde was full of excitement, joy, laughter, music, dear people and delicious local food. A beach wedding abroad is certainly a dream of many and for us this was also a natural choice, because our home island Sal offers a truly fairytale-like setting for a beach wedding and several beautiful locations by the turquoise sea.
OUR STORYMy husband and I met in March 2022, when I traveled to Cape Verde for the first time from my previous country of residence, Portugal, to meet my friend who worked in Sal as a tour guide. At first, mostly my husband and I just said hello to each other on the street and exchanged some quick words. After traveling to the island again a few times, in the summer something special happened between us and the pieces just fell into place.
I strongly believe in fate and that everything that is meant to happen will also happen when the time is right. The purpose of my summer month-long trip was to get to know the island more deeply and see if I could enjoy living in Cape Verde even longer, because I wanted a change from Lisbon‘s city life.
In August, it was time to move to Sal and my husband had promised to pick me up from the airport. All the time I was away from the island in Europe, we kept in touch and called each other daily.
When I then stepped out of the airport on an August night in Sal, my husband was waiting for me and from that moment on, we have been an inseparable duo, and I wouldn’t change a day of this time.
DREAM WEDDING ABROADIt all started when one December evening in our home in Santa Maria, my husband asked if I really wanted to marry him. We had spent the day with work and a normal day at the beach, and in the evening, while watching a movie on the couch, he brought it up for the first time and asked the question. Without a moment’s hesitation, of course I answered “yes“.
We had talked about marriage things before, but only as a thought. Now it was real and no longer just a possibility or a thought.
On the anniversary of our relationship in December, we went to celebrate us at a restaurant owned by our friends, and there was a table decorated with candles and red roses waiting for us. After a few encouraging sips of drink, my husband grabbed the microphone, got down on one knee and proposed in the sweetest way, while being more nervous than I’ve ever seen him, he was literally shaking!
ORGANIZING A WEDDING IN CAPE VERDEFor me it was obvious that I would at least want my mother to attend our wedding. I knew that from my side hardly any family or friends would make it, because the flights are long and expensive. However, my mother had already booked a trip to visit us in March 2023, so we decided to organize the wedding while she was here.
The wedding venue was clear, because my dream wedding has always been a beautiful and intimate beach wedding, and we live on an island full of beautiful beachline so this made it pretty easy. Neither of us belong to a church, and a church wedding has never even been in our thoughts so for us that was never an option.
The first thing to do when getting married abroad is to get all the necessary information about the required documents and how to organize the wedding in your desired country. Of course, it is also important to take into account whether your partner is local or whether both halves come to the destination country from elsewhere just for the wedding celebration. The first thing to do here in Cape Verde is to get a list of the necessary papers from the local registry office, which must be taken care of in order to get married. These required papers certainly vary a bit from country to country and things may also change over time, so when organizing your own wedding, you should primarily seek up-to-date information from the authorities of both your own and the destination country and follow the instructions received there, for this reason I will not list the necessary documents here.
Cape Verde has some companies offering wedding planning services and many hotels and restaurants also offer good wedding packages. The price level varies a lot depending on the place, the content of the wedding and the number of guests. Our wedding venue was the beach restaurant Funana Casa da Cultura, where the lovely owner took over everything and organized our wedding.Our wedding venue was a restaurant, so of course the food and drinks were automatically taken care of through this. The owner of the place, with the help of her contacts, also took care of the wedding cake, decorations, wedding car and music for us. The marriage ceremony took place on the beach in front of the restaurant, so we didn’t need separate permits or people to decorate the ceremony place. If you want an official ceremony at the location of your choice, and not at the registry office, you have to pay a little extra for this. It is also possible to do the official part at the registry office without additional costs, after which you just do a blessing ceremony at the desired ceremony location, for example on the beach. We ourselves wanted everything to happen from the beginning to the end in our beach ceremony, including the official parts.
WEDDING DAY FULL OF LOVE AND JOYOur wedding was exactly like us. After entering the wedding venue, I saw for the first time our cute little white convertible decorated with blue and white ribbons and balloons, I saw our friends and the owner of the wedding venue and it all felt so real. Inside, our magnificent three-tiered, blue-white, beach-style wedding cake was in the center of the hall, and for the first time I got to see how all the decorations had been made. Everything looked really beautiful.
The feeling that I felt when I started to walk towards the beach and the ceremony was something I had never experienced before. When I saw my husband on the beach, handsome in his blue suit, waiting, I cried and I have never smiled more than in that moment and that day.
bag: Ideal of Sweden* 
The ceremony was wonderful and exciting, there were only dear people that are most close to us. My mother walked me down the aisle and my husband’s niece was our ring girl.The wedding was also filmed for the local television and after the ceremonial part it was time to take photos on the beach and move to the party venue. The party was full of great moments, fun, talking, delicious local food and drinks and good music. We didn’t want a lot of special activities, but of course the bouquet throwing and garter tradition had to be a part of our wedding too. The garter throwing is not a part of the local traditions here, and my husband was also a bit uncertain about this at first, but he managed to do it in good style and it was so much fun. Here the local tradition is to go for a drive with the whole wedding party, driving around the city and at the same time honking the horn so much that everyone will definitely hear and pay attention to the wedding party and the ongoing wedding, and above all the wedding couple. This was fun!
I couldn’t have wished for a better wedding and I am forever grateful for all the help and all the arrangements and all the people who were involved in this day (also remotely).
GETTING MARRIED ABROAD – CHECKLIST- Find out the country’s required official documents for marriage
- Find out about your country’s required official documents for marriage abroad
- Get all necessary documents and official translations required for them
- Wedding arrangements: Place, time, wedding ceremony, decorations, food and drink, cake, activities, wedding car, guest list, invitations, flowers…
- Wedding dresses and suits (for example, Cape Verde does not offer a very rich and high-quality selection of dresses, so if possible get the dresses in advance elsewhere)
- Patience and a positive attitude, because everything abroad doesn’t always work as you might be used to in your country
- Be prepared for curious wedding crashers..
CAPE VERDE BEST TOURS AND ACTIVITIES:
ARE YOU DREAMING ABOUT A BEACH WEDDING ABROAD? ARE YOU PLANNING TO GET MARRIED IN CAPE VERDE? WHAT IS YOUR DREAM WEDDING LIKE? SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS AND DREAMS IN THE COMMENTS BELOW! 🙂<3: Tiina Johanna
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Santo Antão – The green paradise of Cape Verde
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Santo Antão is the green paradise of Cape Verde, whose rugged mountain landscapes and picturesque little villages charm with their beauty time and time again. Both tourists and Cape Verdeans always answer “Santo Antão” when asked what is the most beautiful island in Cape Verde. I guess it has to be true then, especially after we saw this ourselves in October 2022 during our own trip to Sao Vicente.
Santo Antao HIKER’S GREEN PARADISE
Santo Antão is located in the northern part of Cape Verde and its green mountains offer a true hiker’s paradise. You don’t go to Santo Antão for a beach vacation, but to enjoy nature, outdoor activities, fresh air and nature’s own tropical swimming pools. Santo Antão is the second largest island in all of Cape Verde and its highest peaks are Topo de Coroa (1,979 m) and Pico da Cruz (1,585 m).
Due to its challenging terrain, the island no longer has its own airport and the nearest airport is on the island of Sao Vicente, from where you can take a ferry to Santo Antão. The ferry ride takes a little less than an hour, and on the way you can enjoy a cup of coffee while admiring the sea views. After spending a few days in Sao Vicente, we caught the morning ferry to Santo Antão and for me this was the first ferry trip in Cape Verde, so we spent the whole trip on deck in the morning sun. I was expecting to see dolphins and turtles, but they didn’t hit our route this time.
Santo Antao
PORTO NOVO – THE HARBOUR CITY OF THE ISLANDPorto Novo is the harbour city of the island and the core of all services, if you can say that on this island. All ships arrive here and so did ours. Outside the port, there are a lot of local island tour providers waiting, from which you can either grab your own right away or rent your own car from one of the Porto Novo’s car rental companies. We did neither, because we hopped on an aluguer, (minibus), and headed to the other side of the island towards Ribeira Grande, where our first accommodation was located. Our trip went through the most beautiful mountain and coastal landscapes of the whole island and this was only 4 euros per person.
Porto Novo 
Porto Novo
RIBEIRA GRANDEWe stayed at the small apartment hotel called La Menor* in the Ribeira Grande valley. The accommodation was comfortable and our apartment was a penthouse with a large roof terrace. For a small additional fee, the lodge served a really rich and delicious breakfast according to your wishes, as well as a laundry service. Upon separate request, the lodge’s restaurant also prepares dinner for hungry adventurers, and since the island is not a place for night owls, this dinner really came in handy a couple of times.
Ribeira Grande also offers a number of services, from restaurants to small boutiques, and from here it’s easy to grab an aluguer and explore the island’s other villages and natural attractions. Santo Antão is not a place for international card payments, so prepare enough local currency in cash for your trip. Escudos can be easily obtained from every machine on the Cape Verde islands with your own card, but in Santo Antão there are limited machines only in the bigger villages.
CHECK OUT THE BEST ACCOMMODATIONS OF SANTO ANTAO ON BOOKING.COM*!
La Menor aparthotel 
Ribeira Grande 
Ribeira Grande
PONTA DO SOL – THE NORTHERNMOST VILLAGEPonta do Sol is located 4km from Ribeira Grande and is the northernmost village on the island. Ponta do Sol was once only a small fishing village, but in the 1880s the place began to be developed and more residential buildings were built.
Ponta do Sol 
Ponta do Sol 
Ponta do Sol
FONTAINHASFontainhas is a popular attraction and definitely a place worth experiencing. Fontainhas is a beautiful little village in the middle of steep mountains in a valley leading down to the sea, just 2km from Ponta do Sol. Fontainhas is a bit similar to Tenerife’s Masca valley, but in my opinion Fontainhas is even more beautiful.
Fontainhas 
Fontainhas
LOMBO DE SANTAThis place is not mentioned anywhere when searching for information about the best must see places on the island. We also managed to visit here only because my husband’s friend is from here and happened to be on the island visiting his home exactly at the same time as our trip. Lombo de Santa is a tiny village in the middle of the mountains, where there are no tourists and the local houses are small farmhouses on the slopes of the mountain. We sat admiring the scenery next to the road, ate fruit straight from the trees in our yard and just enjoyed the silence. This place stuck in my mind as one of my favorite places on the whole island, in all its simplicity and untouchedness.
Lombo de Santa 
Lombo de Santa 
Fruit and vegetables from the own garden 
VALE DO PAÚLPaul is definitely the most beautiful place on the whole island. Whereas in Porto Novo the hot sun is scorching and you can lie on the dark sandy beaches of the island, in Ribeira Grande and Ponta do Sol the sun also shines from time to time and the villages mainly serve as resting places while exploring nature, the tropical environment of the Paul Valley is like its own world.
In Paul Valley, the climate is more humid and the valley bursts with greenery and tropical fruit trees more than any other place on the island. Paul valley is a popular attraction and place to stay for many travelers precisely for these reasons, and the valley’s several natural swimming pools are like a wet and wonderful cherry on top of this tropical cake. In Paul, you can find a variety of accommodation from luxury to budget, as well as good restaurants, and my favorite restaurant is definitely Casa Maracuja, where you can definitely find something for every taste without being disappointed.
Vale do Paul 
Vale do Paul 
Banana trees 
Donkeys everywhere 
Fruit trees 
XOXOXoxo is also like the Paul valley, a tropically green and nice area, where you should definitely visit and enjoy your daily swim by taking a dip either in a flowing river or in a nice natural swimming pool.
Xoxo 
Xoxo 
Sugar cane juice 
HIKING IN SANTO ANTãOThere are plenty of different hiking trails on the island, each of which is worth exploring. The difficulty level of the routes varies, and you certainly won’t have time to do them all during one vacation trip. Popular routes include, for example, Cova de Paúl – Vale do Paúl, Ribeira Grande – Ponta do Sol – Fontainhas, Chã da Igreja route, Corda – Coculi. We traveled most of the sights, viewpoints and most wonderful routes with a private rental car, but the Paúl’s route was a must-do for us as well and this route I can definetely recommend from personal experience.
Our day of hiking the Paúl route happened to be rainy and humid, so the view of the crater (Cova) and the valley to our was totally covered in clouds, and the wet cobbles on the steep route didn’t really help me with my fear of high places, while my local husband just casually trudged down the winding serpentine route with only flip flops on his feet. Maybe next time we can enjoy the view with the sun.
Cova do Paul 
Foggy and wet 
Valley under the foggy clouds
I also recommend exploring many other routes and even just aimlessly driving and going from one place to another. I will never forget the feeling when we drove up the Corda road so far up high that the cloud covers remained below and the sun was shining from a clear sky above, with nature flowing green and untouched in front of us. The landscape above the clouds reminded me of the eternal Finnish summer.
Corda 
LOCAL TREATS FOR SOUVENIERCape Verde is known for its local drink grogue, which is a strong alcoholic drink made from sugar cane in Santo Antão. In Santo Antão, you should definitely visit the grogue factory and grab a bottle or two of this strong treat, as well as my personal favorite, Ponche, which is a slightly sweeter local drink.
A local grogue factory
In Santo Antão, the people are friendly and hospitable, and here you should bravely visit, for example, the local farms to ask for products to buy. Many times the farmers are happy to sell some of their products to interesting visitors. We grabbed for ourselves goat cheese, goat milk, corn, different fruits straight from the trees and many other delights for both snacks and souvenirs. The island is a world of its own, offering a local atmosphere, untouched nature, wonderful scenery and affordable prices. Santo Antão is a perfect counterbalance to Sal’s flat sandy terrain and even though Sal’s beaches are the home of this beach girl, Santo Antão’s greenery is always tempting to relax again and again.
This goat cheese never made it until home.. 
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Have you already travelled to Santo Antao? Or are you planning a trip to Cape Verde in the near future? Share your thoughts and questions in the comments below! 🙂<3: Tiina Johanna
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