Every now and then, a wedding comes along that hits you right in the feels—and Jo and Duncan’s cool and colour-filled celebration did just that.
Not only because it’s a blimmin’ gorgeous and vibrant wedding, but because if you’re not already acquainted, Jo and Duncan are the owners of This Must Be The Place, a unique Spanish wedding venue and Coco directory stalwart, whom we love and care about very much.
Before you ask, of course, they sealed the deal at their own pad and they did it in absolute style, in their own brilliant and beautiful way. They shirked the traditions that didn’t feel like them, ensuring that their day was a celebration of love, fun, laughter, music, and dancing.
It is a HUGE honour to share their big day with you, so without further ado, let’s get stuck in—tissues (and disco balls) at the ready!
The Venue
We left London in 2016 with a crazy dream – to buy an old ‘Masia farmhouse near Barcelona and convert it into a wedding venue (and our home). This Must Be The Place (named after the Talking Heads song) was born in 2018 and we have since hosted weddings for 80+ very happy couples.
We had been engaged since an NYE beach proposal in Goa in 2012/13, and the search for a wedding venue eventually inspired us to create one ourselves, but we had missed out on the actually getting married bit until now! And, of course, we chose the venue we had lovingly created… and the day couldn’t have been more perfect!
The Fashion
We had a theme of the ‘colours of the sunset’ to reflect the incredibly beautiful sunsets we are very privileged to enjoy here, and so we encouraged all our guests to adopt these colours and to take a more relaxed approach to their attire, with a reminder that there was going to be a lot of dancing.
We followed these guidelines, too, with Jo sporting pink hair that was wonderfully styled by Laura from Bokeh and topped with an amazing dried flower crown made by the florist Loreak. She wore a fabulous non-traditional shimmering dress and custom-made heels from The Forest Shoes in Barcelona. Duncan wore a pale pink suit with a Loreak-created dried flower pocket, a burnt orange t-shirt by Folk Clothing and sunset-coloured Adidas trainers. Plus, a Panama hat adorned with another of Loreak’s marvellous dried flower creations.
Our daughter Indy and two of her cousins wore pale pink outfits beautifully hand-made by Duncan’s stepmother Linda, and their hair was adorned with yet more of Loreak’s wonderous floral work.
The Styling & Décor
The ‘colours of the sunset’ theme carried through to the other styling of the day, with the flowers by Loreak being bold, fun, and playful. They featured some of our favourites, including Kniphofia and Agapanthus, which also feature prominently in our gardens… and in the tattoos of Jo’s arms!
Other decor included ribbons used to compliment the flowers on the metal gate in the Paddock for the ceremony and inside the Graners (our barns) to decorate the balcony and stairs. Other than that, the decoration was achieved beautifully by our friends and family, who duly arrived resplendent in all the colours of the sunset themselves and with such lovely smiles on their faces.
The Flowers
We chose Cris from Loreak to be our florist. It was perhaps an unusual choice, as she was the only supplier we hadn’t worked with before. But we loved her style, and we wanted to do something a little different. She was fantastic! She followed our brief perfectly, brought her own ideas to the table, and was fun and professional to work with. Loads of our 2025 couples have since booked her based on our wedding photos and videos. Yay!
The Feast
We exclusively work with Caravan Made as our caterer for all weddings hosted here. Their food is incredible, but they are also stylish, professional and amiable, and we work together as a team to ensure every event here is perfect. We are well used to couples and their guests telling us that their food and service are the best they have ever experienced at a wedding, and they excelled at our wedding, too. Our guests were incredibly complimentary. As for the cake, we chose a cheese cake – made of wheels of actual cheese! We only saw it in the photos, though, as by that time, we were away dancing, but it looked fabulous, and the bits of it we ate the following day were delicious, too!
The Photography
Anna Svobodova Photography has photographed many weddings here and is one of our top recommendations. Her style is bright and colourful, which suited our theme perfectly. She has the nickname of the ‘Happy Wedding Photographer’ for good reason – her ever-present smile brings joy and helps people to relax and be their natural photogenic selves.
Best Part of the Day
Too many!! Can we list a few??
We entered our ceremony together to the sounds of ‘Caravan of Love’ by the Housemartins. We had prepped Oscar Marimon, our fave DJ, to ensure there was plenty of sound as we wanted to immerse our guests in it (and the preceding carefully chosen songs). However, we were quite taken aback to see all our friends and family on their feet, singing and swaying along to ‘Caravan of Love’ as we approached. Such a moment!
Then our daughter Indy and her cousin Tomasina sang a song and played the Ukulele – so sweet! Music was a very important part of our day, and so the next big moment came soon after when we walked down a very long confetti aisle with our daughter to the sounds of ‘Swoon’ by The Chemical Brothers… “…just remember to fall in love, there’s nothing else…”
Our ‘dinner’ was a very relaxed food market style. As people started to have their fill of the amazing variety of food on offer, the music was cranked up a little bit more for a super-fun early evening alfresco dance against the backdrop of the most beautiful sunset.
Then came our surprise act – Fake Bush! Yes, a brilliant Kate Bush impersonator that Duncan had seen perform in 2004 (yes, 19 years earlier!) and knew he wanted for his (eventual) wedding. She (Lucy Bundy) was great!
Oh, we could go on and on… it was all THE BEST!!!
From one couple to another
Don’t overcomplicate things. Keep it simple and stress-free—as much as possible. The key elements of your wedding are yourselves, your family and friends, the venue, the food and drink, and the music. These are the things your guests will remember, so get these elements right, and you can’t really go wrong.
