Guests gathered on the balustraded balcony of Palácio do Freixo, the fountain below and the Douro valley in the distance

Private Clients

Celebrations without borders.

The work

Designed for clients who live across cultures and continents.

Our private clients rarely have one home city. They celebrate in Porto, host in London, gather family from Freetown, Lagos, New York and Dubai, and expect the experience to hold all of it without strain.

We plan at a senior level: destination strategy first, then the room, the table and the detail. Discretion is assumed, access is the advantage, and cultural intelligence is what keeps every guest feeling considered.

Founder of MWP Collective in a sculptural gold dress and red heels at Palácio do Freixo, Porto

Destination celebrations

Multi-day arcs in palaces, private houses and coastlines, planned around the place and the people travelling to it.

Milestones & family gatherings

Landmark birthdays, anniversaries and reunions held with the same rigour as a state occasion, at whatever scale suits the family.

Multi-heritage celebrations

Two, three or four traditions woven into one coherent experience. Fluency in ceremony, menu, music and welcome.

Weddings, when they are the chapter

Exceptional wedding expertise remains part of the practice, delivered as one part of a longer relationship rather than the whole of it.

Private travel & retreats

Villas, vineyard houses and island hideaways for families and small groups, with staffing, chefs and guides arranged discreetly.

Access & concierge

Rooms that rarely open, tables at short notice, and trusted local hands briefed to one standard of service.

Lead experience · Porto

A private celebration on the Douro.

Pestana Palácio do Freixo, taken privately for one family and the people who travelled for them. Arrival drinks on the balustraded terrace as the fountain runs, black-tie dinner in the frescoed salon beneath a single chandelier, a saxophonist between courses, and a scalloped burgundy-and-ivory cake cut late. Porto does the rest.

40, 120 guests · 2, 3 days · Baroque palace, private hire

Guests gathered on the balustraded balcony of Pestana Palácio do Freixo above a fountain

Frescoed palace salon with a crystal chandelier above candlelit banquet tables and a two-tier cake — The salon at Freixo: stucco ceiling, one chandelier, candles the length of the table.

Guests in evening dress on a palace garden path in golden hour light — Golden hour on the garden path, guests arriving in their own register.

Guests gathered in full evening dress before the baroque facade of Palácio do Freixo — The full party, assembled on the palace steps before the night begins.

Saxophonist in a velvet jacket playing beside the dinner table — A saxophonist working the length of the table between courses.

Two-tier ivory cake with burgundy piped scallops and bows on a linen-draped table — Scalloped burgundy on ivory, piped by hand, cut late.

A sommelier presenting two bottles at the top table beneath a carved plaster frieze — Two bottles offered at the top table, beneath the plaster frieze.

Guests in gold and teal evening dress laughing at the dinner table as a course is served — Service in motion, and the table finding its own rhythm.

Rack of lamb on risotto plated on porcelain beside crystal glassware and candlelight — Lamb on risotto, plated to candlelight rather than to a clock.

A candlelit place setting with polished silver, ivory linen and a printed Pestana menu card — Ivory linen, silver laid to the millimetre, the menu printed for the house.

White hydrangeas, roses and lisianthus in a low green arrangement beside pillar candles on a long table — White on green, low enough that nobody talks around it.

A white celebration cake with red piped scallops, fresh berries, figs and tall candles on a mirrored plinth — Red piped by hand, berries and figs on top, candles lit late.

The baroque facade of Palácio do Freixo uplit at night, warm windows glowing against a deep blue sky — The palace after midnight, still holding the room's warmth in its windows.

The Douro river at sunset with moored boats and a bridge above — The Douro at the end of it, boats moored, the light doing the work.

Anglo African fusion · London

Celebrations without borders.

One family, three continents, one room. The brief was never just a wedding. It was a live logistics operation spanning New York, South Africa, Zimbabwe and London, with family arriving from every direction and a ceremony that had to hold two cultures without either one playing second to the other.

Her parents arrived from Zimbabwe only days before the wedding, in the middle of a move into retirement, with neither the time nor, after years abroad, the working knowledge the day's symbolism required. The bride, born in Pakistan and raised travelling the world with her family, had no close relative in the UK to carry that culture forward for her. Most of her family were not based in the UK at all, nor were the international friends flying in from across the world.

The considerations went beyond the guest list. The wedding fell on a weekday, so timings had to work around school run traffic through rush hour. Venue and hotel had to sit close enough that a full day of ceremony did not fracture the group across London traffic.

A flying kitchen was brought in whole to run alongside the venue's own, so two culinary traditions could be served at the standard each deserved, not blended down to something safer. Drummers were sourced for the processional. A bilingual MC carried the room through both languages without either guest group feeling spoken past. Dietary requirements were treated as a menu design problem from day one, not a late addition.

For many of the groom's family and international friends, it was their first taste of Sierra Leonean cuisine, presented to international hospitality standards. The reaction in the room said as much about the day's success as the ceremony itself.

The result: a day that moved as one continuous celebration rather than two events sharing a room.

120 guests · Courtyard hire · Two ceremonies, one arc

A guest in red lace beneath a purple aso-oke veil walking the length of the banquet table

A gele being tied for a guest before the ceremony, in black and white — The gele tied first, upstairs, before anyone else sees the day.

Drummers in patterned cloth playing talking drums in a brick courtyard — Drummers in the courtyard, announcing the entrance the old way.

Guest in red lace dancing between seated family in a London courtyard — Red lace and purple gele, the family answering in rhythm.

Guests dancing together at the reception, black and white — Two families on one floor by the end of the night.

Long banquet tables in linen under a skylit London brick courtyard — Three long tables under the skylight, brick on every side.

Place setting with a woven charger, fluted plate and gold-printed napkin beside garden florals — Woven charger, fluted plate, a printed napkin folded once.

Server carrying a tray of suya canapes with red onion and tomato in palm-leaf dishes — Suya passed as a canape, plated properly, spiced properly.

Station of citrus punch glasses with mint alongside champagne flutes — Punch and champagne on the same station, both taken seriously.

Guests in wax print, purple gele and silk dancing together in a London brick courtyard — Wax print, gele and silk, one circle in a London courtyard.

Guest in an agbada and cap watching the ceremony in a brick atrium, black and white — Agbada and cap, standing at the edge of the room, watching.

Guests seated along a long courtyard table with candles and garden florals under a brick atrium — Long tables, tapers and garden florals, brick rising on all sides.

Buttercream celebration cake with dried citrus, berries and cornflowers on a linen table — One cake, dried citrus and cornflower, no tiers required.

Zanzibar · Stone Town to the resorts

The island has two registers. We use both.

Stone Town gives the culture: the spice routes, the Taarab players, the food cooked the way families cook it. The north coast gives the comfort: five-star resorts, private beach houses, long tables under makuti thatch and a team who never let a glass sit empty. A week here should hold both, and the movement between them should be invisible.

6, 20 guests · 5, 7 nights · Stone Town to the north coast

Infinity pool at dusk in Zanzibar with a row of makuti parasols silhouetted against the ocean

Turquoise water and an over-water pavilion on the Zanzibar coast — The north coast: water first, everything else arranged around it.

Bride in a lace gown holding a bouquet beside an infinity pool above the Zanzibar coast — A quiet moment above the water, before the guests arrive.

Taarab musicians playing accordion, oud, qanun and violin on a deck over the ocean at sunset in Zanzibar — Taarab players brought from Stone Town, not a resort playlist.

Long dining table set beneath a makuti thatch roof, candlelit against violet uplighting — One long table under thatch, laid for a whole party.

Private estate · Virginia

A private estate weekend, two traditions, one standard.

Three days on a private Virginia estate, curated with full oversight and a deliberate focus on privacy. The weekend began at the bride's family residence with a traditional ceremony and cultural rituals, then moved to the estate for a symbolic ceremony on the lawns and a reception inside the manor. Guests travelled internationally, so the work was in the pacing: nothing rushed, nothing improvised, every transition handled before anyone noticed it.

120, 200 guests · 3 days · Full production and guest travel

Bride and groom before the columned brick facade of a Virginia manor house

Bride in a gold and white veil seated beside the groom in an embroidered kaftan during a traditional ceremony — Day one, at the family home. The ceremony that comes first.

Two women in indigo and gold traditional dress seated in a wood-panelled room — Indigo, gold, and the elders in the good chairs.

Detail of a corded lace gown and cathedral veil trailing across estate lawn — Corded lace, cathedral veil, held against open grass.

Blush and white floral ceremony arch standing on estate lawns with the Virginia hills behind — One arch on open lawn. Nothing else needed.

Garden roses and eucalyptus marking the end of an aisle row of white ceremony chairs — The aisle, marked in garden roses rather than ribbon.

String quartet playing beneath a white pergola on the estate grounds — A quartet under the pergola, carrying guests to their seats.

Close detail of a place setting with cobalt glassware, pale florals and taper candles — Cobalt glass, taper candles, and roses cut that morning.

The reception room as evening falls, candlelight and florals reflected in dark manor windows — The room at dusk. Daylight to candlelight, without a beat missed.

Guests in brightly coloured gele head wraps and lace gowns gathered outside the manor — Gele, lace and colour, arriving on a Virginia terrace.

Couple embracing on the estate lawns at golden hour — The ten minutes we always protect.

Ceremony lawn and floral arch seen through a steel framed window from inside the manor — Seen from indoors, an hour before the doors opened.

Ghanaian & Nigerian fusion · The Savoy, London

A fusion wedding weekend, told in three days.

A multi-day celebration shaped by Ghanaian and Nigerian heritage: a private Nikkah and traditional ceremony to open, kente and coral worn in full, then a symbolic ceremony and an evening reception at The Savoy. Woven cloth against oak panelling, a string quartet at the reception and highlife by midnight, guests dressed with the same intent as the room. Nothing was translated down for the venue, and the venue never had to soften for it.

200+ guests · 3 days · Traditional ceremony, symbolic ceremony, reception

Bride in a full kente gown standing before a carved fireplace in a panelled room at The Savoy

Bride seated in kente and a beaded veil during the traditional ceremony — Kente, coral beads and a sheer veil. The first ceremony, held privately.

Bride in a full kente gown standing before a carved fireplace in a panelled room — Woven cloth against oak panelling. Two heritages already in the same frame.

Dancers in Ghanaian kente and headwraps mid-performance — Ghanaian dancers, called in for the entrance and staying for the floor.

Guests in traditional dress descending a stained-glass stairwell — The stairwell descent, watched by both families.

Bride and groom at a tall window, cathedral train spread across the floor, black and white — A held minute at the window before the doors opened.

Couple in ivory dinner jacket and lace gown in a mirrored Savoy salon — Ivory dinner jacket, corded lace, and a room built for it.

String quartet playing in a panelled reception room — A quartet for the reception, highlife for the night.

Six-tier blush and ivory wedding cake with sugar florals — Six tiers, sugar florals worked by hand, cut after midnight.

Guest in a chartreuse headwrap and statement earrings at the dinner table — Guest dressing as its own event. Chartreuse, gold, no hesitation.

Three guests in scarlet, ivory and feathered couture in a hotel corridor — Scarlet, ivory, feathers. The corridor as a runway.

Guest in a gold sequinned one-shoulder gown, close portrait — Gold sequin, one shoulder, caught between courses.

A candlelit dining room at dusk during an estate celebration

A garden courtyard terrace with a central fountain above the Douro

We are here for the whole arc — not simply the day.

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