CIGARRAL DE LAS MERCEDES WEDDING & ELOPEMENT PHOTOGRAPHER

Are you searching for a Wedding or Event photographer in Cigarral de las Mercedes?

I have been covering over 170 Weddings since July 2014, I can say that I am full of advice and help for your big day.

My couples are similar and so different at the same time. I would say that they have certain similar characteristics, they prefer to spend time with their families and friends rather than spending an hour taking the couple photos, they are usually shy, they don’t feel at ease to be the center of the attention, they have a certain knowledge about art, sometimes photography and painting.

Do you want to have an intimate wedding in Cigarral de las Mercedes that reflects your journey as a couple, your passions, and your spirit of adventure?  

This is elopement photography for couples who want to ignore tradition and get married in a way that feels authentic to them. As a photographer, my purpose is to discreetly capture the story of your day in an honest and heartfelt way, without posing or intruding. I will record every aspect, from the raw emotions and poignant moments as they unfold, to the details you won’t want to forget.

I care deeply about creating meaningful connections with every couple who invites me to be a part of their journey. My approach is to innovate, not to conform to conventions. Your elopement experience should be as personal, genuine, and unique as you are.

Emotional Photographer documenting emotional Weddings.

Since July 2014, I document your intimate wedding, your Minimony, Sequel Wedding, Micro wedding or Adventurous Elopement, proposal, and engagement and I have seen a lot of love stories, full of joy and emotions. It has a lot of different names but only the story matters. I am moved by telling the story of your day in the most natural and genuine way possible. No need to spend one hour behind the church with me to take the couple photographs, I will always value letting you spend time with family and friends. This is your day, not mine.

Most of my couples define themselves as shy in front of the camera, I believe simply they don’t know how easy it is to spend a few simple moments with their partner in front of my camera. I will follow you from getting ready to the dance floor in the most natural way possible. To deliver a poetic and unique vision of the most important day of your life.
I have a lot of experience and expertise in traveling around Europe mostly. For the last 6 years, I have covered most of my weddings abroad and overseas.

I believe I can help you with my experience and advice for a perfect wedding day. I have prepared some articles to help you to find the right place to get married or to be inspired in some places like Spain, The Balearic Islands such as Ibiza, Mallorca,… Mexico, Morocco and of course Portugal. I have also written an article about the most underrated locations in Europe to have your small and intimate wedding with friends.

• Where to get married in the Balearic Islands? HERE

• Where to get married in Morocco? HERE

• Where to get married in Mexico? HERE

• Where to get married in Spain? HERE

• Where to get married in Portugal? HERE

• More articles to come … HERE

Specialised in Wedding and Elopement Coverage since 2014.

My Philosophy in Few Words :

Real Stories - Intimate - Journalistic - Real Stories - Poetic - Cinematic - Discreet - Non Traditional - Simplicity.

Photography Service for all kind of Intimate Weddings and Elopements

Barn Wedding - Church Wedding - Religious Wedding - Hacienda Wedding - Finca Wedding - Lake Wedding - Rooftop Wedding - Rainy Wedding - Sunset Wedding - Winter Wedding - Backyard Wedding - Beach Wedding - Forest Wedding - Island Wedding -Outdoor Wedding - Ranch Wedding - Mexican Wedding - Vineyard Wedding - Circus Wedding - Indian Wedding - Chinese Wedding - Asian Wedding - Japanese Wedding - Punjabi Wedding - Korean Wedding - Same-Sex Wedding - Vietnamese Wedding - Greek Wedding - Lebanese Wedding - Scottish Wedding - British Wedding - Urban Wedding - Country Side Wedding - Jewish Wedding - Orthodox Wedding - New Orleans Wedding - Russian Wedding - Moroccan Wedding - Interfaith Wedding - Civil Wedding - African Wedding.

My Visual Experience :

With years of experience photographing my couples in beautiful locations across the world, I have brought together some valuable ideas and tips to help with elopement planning as well as for those planning larger weddings.I have covered over 150 Weddings on the last 5 years and they are all different. I have prepared a Succession of Articles dedicated to you. Please click on the article of your choice to learn more about it:

• Top Outfit Ideas for your Intimate Couple Session HERE

• Top 10 Tips to Plan your Intimate Wedding. HERE

• What is an Elopement? HERE

• Top 8 Tips to plan your Elopement. HERE

• Top 5 Reasons to Elope. HERE

• Eloping : With or Without guests and family? HERE

• Top 10 Activities to do on your Elopement Day. HERE

• What is the difference between an Elopement, a Minimony and a Microwedding? How to choose what is the best for you? HERE

• What is a Virtual / Online Wedding? HERE

Where to organize your Wedding or Elopement in Cigarral de las Mercedes?

If you have always dreamed of traveling within Cigarral de las Mercedes, Spain is one of the top destinations you should consider for your elopement, due to its magnificent countryside and coastline. As an experienced elopement photographer, I have photographed many beautiful elopements here for couples forgoing traditional weddings and embracing their spirit of adventure.

Cigarral de las Mercedes is one of the top elopement destinations in Spain, a country with a lot of history, great weather/cuisine, and amazing traditions. You’ll be overwhelmed with choice for beautiful places to elope in this place, from the big cities full of character and atmosphere to the magical forests.   The possibilities for breath-taking locations are endless.

You can find some of the best wedding venues for your Wedding Or Elopement.

Looking for more Inspiration and Locations for your Wedding or Elopement?

If you are still considering other options in Europe, check out [link to the article ‘the top underrated wedding locations in Europe you should definitely consider.

• Where to Elope (30+ Best European Locations for your Elopement & Top Underrated Wedding Locations in Europe you should consider. HERE

What About COVID 19?

Learn about how the Covid 19 Corona Virus have changed the face of the wedding industry but not only HERE

What is next? Simply contact me to create a simple but deep connection

At ericrenepenoy@gmail.com

Awards and announcements : 

RANGEFINDER RISING STAR OF THE WEDDING INDUSTRY 2019 WORLDWIDE
BODAF NEW TALENT EUROPE WINNER 2017.
JUNEBUG BEST OF THE BEST 2016 & 2017.
TOP 50 BEST UK PHOTOGRAPHER 2019 GOHEN.
BEST ELOPEMENT OF THE YEAR (SECOND PLACE).
MEMBER OF THE WEDDING COLLECTIVE FROM 2015 TO 2018 (BEFORE MOVING TO PORTUGAL).
WRITER AT BACKSTAGE MAGAZINE
CREATOR OF RESONANCE INSPIRATION
CREATOR OF MY BIG WORKSHOP

Published on :

JUNEBUG. RANGEFINDER. VSCO. RESONANCE. DEVIANT ART. MY WED. LE BLOG DE MADAME C. LA MARIEE AUX PIEDS NUS. WAY OUT WEDDING. QUEEN FOR A DAY. FEMME ACTUELLE. ELLE. LE JOURNAL DU MARIE. BIPPITY MAG. MINHA FILHA VAI. TRIBE RED LEAF. BRAW BRIDES. WELLWED. MAGAZINE NEW YORK. PORTRAIT OU PAYSAGE. WE FELL IN LOVE. PRISMPHOTOGRAPHY. WELLWED USA. LOOKS LIKE FILM. WHIMSICAL WONDERLAND WEDDINGS. WEDDBOOK. 20MINUTOS. THE KNOT. PINTEREST.

A bit of History about Cigarral de las Mercedes.

Toledo (UK: /tɒˈleɪdoʊ/, US: /toʊˈleɪðoʊ, -ˈlɛð-, təˈliːdoʊ/, Spanish: [toˈleðo] ) is a city and municipality of Spain, capital of the province of Toledo and the de jure seat of the government and parliament of the autonomous community of Castilla–La Mancha. Toledo was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986 for its extensive monumental and cultural heritage.

Located on the banks of the Tagus in central Iberia, Toledo is known as the "Imperial City" because it was the main venue of the court of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor in Spain, and as the "City of the Three Cultures" for the cultural influences of Christians, Muslims, and Jews reflected in its history. It was the capital from 542 to 725 AD of the Visigothic kingdom, which followed the fall of the Roman Empire, and the location of historic events such as the Councils of Toledo. The city, seat of a powerful archdiocese for much of its history, has a Gothic Cathedral, the Catedral Primada de España ("The Primate Cathedral of Spain"), and a long history in the production of bladed weapons, which are now common souvenirs of the city.

People who were born or have lived in Toledo include Brunhilda of Austrasia, Al-Zarqali, Garcilaso de la Vega, Eleanor of Toledo, Alfonso X, Israeli ben Joseph, Halevi, and El Greco. As of 2015, the city had a population of 83,22. and an area of 232.1 km2 (89.6 sq mi).

Toledo (Latin: Toletum) is mentioned by the Roman historian Livy (ca. 59 BC – 17 AD) as urbs parva, sed loco munita ("a small city, but fortified by location"). Roman general Marcus Fulvius Nobilior fought a battle near the city in 193 BC against a confederation of Celtic tribes including the Vaccaei, Vettones, and Celtiberi, defeating them and capturing a king called Hilermu. At that time, Toletum was a city of the Carpetani tribe, and part of the region of Carpetania.[8] It was incorporated into the Roman Empire as a civitas stipendiaria, that is, a tributary city of non-citizens, and by Flavian times it had achieved the status of a municipium. With this status, city officials, even of Carpetani origin, obtained Roman citizenship for public service, and the forms of Roman law and politics were increasingly adopted.[10] At approximately this time, a Roman circus, city walls, public baths, and a municipal water supply and storage system were constructed in Toletum.

The Roman circus in Toledo was one of the largest in Hispania, at 423 metres (1,388 feet) long and 100 metres (330 feet) wide, with a track dimension of 408 metres (1,339 feet) long and 86 metres (282 feet) wide. Chariot races were only on held roman holidays and were also commissioned by private citizens to celebrate career achievements. A fragmentary stone inscription records circus games paid for by a citizen of unknown name to celebrate his achieving the sevirate, a kind of priesthood conferring high status. Archaeologists have also identified portions of a special seat of the sort used by the city elites to attend circus games, called a sella curulis. The circus could hold up to 15000 spectators.[11]

During Roman times, Toledo was never a provincial capital nor a conventus iuridicus, but it started to gain importance in late antiquity. There are indications that large private houses (domus) within the city walls were enlarged, while several large villas were built north of the city through the third and fourth centuries. Games were held in the circus into the late fourth and early fifth centuries C.E., also an indication of active city life and ongoing patronage by wealthy elites. A church council was held in Toledo in the year 400 to discuss the conflict with Priscillianism. A second council of Toledo was held in 527. The Visigothic king Theudis was in Toledo in 546, where he promulgated a law. This is strong though not certain evidence that Toledo was the chief residence for Theudis. King Athanagild died in Toledo, probably in 568. Although Theudis and Athangild based themselves in Toledo, Toledo was not yet the capital city of the Iberian peninsula, as Theudis and Athangild's power was limited in extent, the Suevi ruling Galicia and local elites dominating Lusitania, Betica, and Cantabria. This changed with Liuvigild (Leovigild), who brought the peninsula under his control. The Visigoths ruled from Toledo until the Moors conquered the Iberian peninsula in the early years of 8th century (711–719).

Today in the historic center basements, passages, wells, baths and ancient water pipes are preserved that since Roman times have been used in the city.

A series of church councils was held in Toledo under the Visigoths. A synod of Arian bishops was held in 580 to discuss theological reconciliation with Nicene Christianity. Liuvigild's successor, Reccared, hosted the Third Council of Toledo, at which the Visigothic kings abandoned Arianism and reconciled with the existing Hispano-Roman episcopate. A synod held in 610 transferred the metropolitanate of the old province of Carthaginensis from Cartagena to Toledo. At that time, Cartagena was ruled by the Byzantines, and this move ensured a closer relation between the bishops of Spain and the Visigothic kings. King Sisebut forced Jews in the Visigothic kingdom to convert to Christianity; this act was criticized and efforts were made to reverse it at the Fourth Council of Toledo in 633. The Fifth and Sixth Councils of Toledo placed church sanctions on anyone who would challenge the Visigothic kings. The Seventh Council of Toledo instituted a requirement that all bishops in the area of a royal city, that is, of Toledo, must reside for one month per year in Toledo. This was a stage in "the elevation of Toledo as the primatial see of the whole church of the Visgothic kingdom". In addition, the seventh council declared that any clergy fleeing the kingdom, assisting conspirators against the king, or aiding conspirators, would be excommunicated and no one should remove this sentence. The ban on lifting these sentences of excommunication was lifted at the Eighth Council of Toledo in 653, at which, for the first time, decisions were signed by palace officials as well as bishops.

The eighth council of Toledo took measures that enhanced Toledo's significance as the center of royal power in the Iberian peninsula. The council declared that the election of a new king following the death of the old one should only take place in the royal city, or wherever the old king died. In practice this handed the power to choose kings to only such palace officials and military commanders who were in regular attendance on the king. The decision also took king-making power away from the bishops, who would be in their own sees and would not have time to come together to attend the royal election. The decision did allow the bishop of Toledo, alone among bishops, to be involved in decisions concerning the royal Visigothic succession. The ninth and tenth councils were held in rapid succession in 655 and 656.

When Reccesuinth died in 672 at his villa in Gerticos, his successor Wamba was elected on the spot, then went to Toledo to be anointed king by the bishop of Toledo, according to the procedures laid out in prior church councils. In 673, Wamba defeated a rebel duke named Paul, and held his victory parade in Toledo. The parade included ritual humiliation and scalping of the defeated Paul. Wamba carried out renovation works in Toledo in 674–675, marking these with inscriptions above the city gates that are no longer extant but were recorded in the eighth century.[28] The Eleventh Council of Toledo was held in 675 under king Wamba. Wamba weakened the power of the bishop of Toledo by creating a new bishopric outside Toledo at the church of Saints Peter and Paul. This was one of the main churches of Toledo and was the church where Wamba was anointed king, and the church from which Visigothic kings departed for war after special ceremonies in which they were presented with a relic of the True Cross. By creating a new bishopric there, Wamba removed power over royal succession from the bishop of Toledo and granted it to the new bishop. The Twelfth Council of Toledo was held in 681 after Wamba's removal from office. Convinced that he was dying, Wamba had accepted a state of penitence that according to the decision of a previous church council, made him ineligible to remain king. The Twelfth Council, led by newly installed bishop Julian confirmed the validity of Wamba's removal from office and his succession by Ervig. The Twelfth Council eliminated the new bishopric that Wamba had created and returned the powers over succession to the bishop of Toledo.

The Twelfth Council of Toledo approved 28 laws against the Jews. Julian of Toledo, despite a Jewish origin, was strongly anti-Semitic as reflected in his writings and activities. The leading Jews of Toledo were assembled in the church of Saint Mary on January 27, 681, where the new laws were read out to them.

The Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Councils of Toledo were held in 683, 684, and 688. The Thirteenth Council restored property and legal rights to those who had rebelled against King Wamba in 673. The Thirteenth Council also approved laws protecting the king's family after the king's death. In 687, Ervig took the penitent state before dying, and the kingship passed to Egica, who was anointed king in Toledo on November 24.[33] In 688, the Fifteenth Council lifted the ban on taking property from the families of former kings, whereupon Egica was able to plunder Ervig's family properties.

In the late seventh century, Toledo became a main center of literacy and writing in the Iberian peninsula. Toledo's development as a center of learning was influenced by Isidore of Seville, an author and advocate of literacy who attended several church councils in Toledo.[35] King Chindasuinth had a royal library in Toledo, and at least one count called Laurentius had a private library.[36] Sometime before 651, Chindasuinth sent the bishop of Zaragoza, Taio, to Rome to obtain books that were not available in Toledo. Taio obtained, at least, parts of pope Gregory's Moralia.[37] The library also contained a copy of a Hexameron by Dracontius, which Chindasuinth liked so much that he commissioned Eugenius II to revise it by adding a new part dealing with the seventh day of creation. Chindasuinth issued laws that were gathered together in a book called Liber Iudiciorum by his successor Reccesuinth in 654; this book was revised twice, widely copied, and was an important influence on medieval Spanish law. Three bishops of Toledo wrote works that were widely copied and disseminated in western Europe and parts of which survive to this day: Eugenius II, Ildefonsus, and Julian. "In intellectual terms the leading Spanish churchmen of the seventh century had no equals before the appearance of Bede."

In 693, the Sixteenth Council of Toledo condemned Sisebert, Julian's successor as bishop of Toledo, for having rebelled against King Egica in alliance with Liuvigoto, the widow of king Ervig.[42] A rebel king called Suniefred seized power in Toledo briefly at about this time. Whether or not Sisebert's and Suniefred's rebellions were the same or separate is unknown. Suniefred is known only from having minted coins in Toledo during what should have been Egica's reign. The Seventeenth Council of Toledo was held in 694. The Eighteenth Council of Toledo, the last one, took place shortly after Egica's death around 702 or 703.

By the end of the seventh century the bishop of Toledo was the leader of the Spanish bishops, a situation unusual in Europe: "The metropolitan bishops of Toledo had achieved by the last quarter of the seventh century an authority and a primacy that was unique in Western Europe. Not even the pope could count on such support from neighbouring metropolitans." Toledo "had been matched by no other city in western Europe outside Italy as the governmental and symbolic center of a powerful monarchy". Toledo had "emerged from relative obscurity to become the permanent governmental centre of the Visigothic monarchy; a true capital, whose only equivalent in western Europe was to be Lombard Pavia".When Wittiza died around 710, Ruderic became Visigothic king in Toledo, but the kingdom was split, as a rival king Achila ruled Tarraconensis and Narbonensis. Meanwhile, Arabic and Berber troops under Musa ibn Nusayr had conquered Tangiers and Ceuta between 705 and 710, and commenced raids into the Visigothic kingdom in 711. Ruderic led an army to confront the raiders. He was defeated and killed in battle, apparently after being betrayed by Visigothic nobles who wished to replace him as king and did not consider the Arabs and Berbers a serious threat. The commander of the invading forces was Tariq bin Ziyad, a Luwata Berber freedman in the service of governor Musa. It is possible that a king called Oppa ruled in Toledo between Ruderic's death and the fall of Toledo. Tariq, seizing the opportunity presented by the death of Ruderic and the internal divisions of the Visigothic nobles, captured Toledo, in 711 or 712. Governor Musa disembarked in Cádiz and proceeded to Toledo, where he executed numerous Visigothic nobles, thus destroying much of the Visigothic power structure. Collins suggests that the Visigothic emphasis on Toledo as the center of royal ceremony became a weakness. Since the king was chosen in or around Toledo, by nobles based in Toledo, and had to be anointed king by the bishop of Toledo in a church in Toledo, when Tariq captured Toledo and executed the Visigothic nobles, having already killed the king, there was no way for the Visigoths to select a legitimate king.

 CHOOSING A SIMILAR LOCATION FOR YOUR INTIMATE WEDDING OR ELOPEMENT

Covering an Elopement or Intimate wedding in that location is amazing. I am keen, honored, and humbled to be able to cover your special day. I am always available for you, even on weekdays from Tuesday to Thursday if I have to travel. Just shoot me a message or an email or even a direct message on WhatsApp on the links below.
I can wait to read or hear from you and create a unique story, in a nontraditional way and create a beautiful narrative. Keeping emotion, small gestures, epic portraiture, group shots, and dance floor photographs to create a gallery with at least 1200 pictures for you to create your own story.

When you hired me, you get the entire me, my creativity, my knowledge, my brain, my emotions,
my SOUL, my MIND, my HEART.