Well where to start with this one! To be honest when a bride first contacts you and tells you she is getting married in Gaucin in the morning, going to La Herriza for the wedding breakfast and then to the beach for the disco you tend to think she might be a bit bonkers or bad at reading maps.

Well Natali had a vision ( literally you will read later ) and it turns out is was not bonkers at all but it had all the elements everyone wants from their Spanish wedding day, countryside, picture postcard church and the beach.

A lot of weddings I cover will have some connection to the venue or area and occasionally a church but never have I heard a story as cool this so read on, and find out exactly why Natali ended up in the little church on the hill.

“Over 8 years ago (a few months before I met Pete) I was backpacking around Australia and doing lots of hippy stuff like meditation. One day I had a ‘vision’ from a man who looked like Jesus telling me his name was John Cidade and that he was my spiritual master. He also showed me images of crosses, churches and a big round bell tower. I am half Spanish and brought up a Catholic but not all that religious, I had never heard of him. Later found out there was a Spanish Saint by that name called John of God with that name. |

7 years later Pete and I had moved to Spain and chosen Gaucin as our venue for the wedding when we heard about a little chapel you could marry in in the village. I thought it was too far and hard for the guests to access but we researched it. When I went inside the first thing I saw was a statue of the very man I had had a vision of, and behind the chapel the ruins of an old castle that had had the very same bell tower I had seen 8 years previously. I found out Gaucin mountain was where Saint John of God has seen a vision of Christ and dedicated his life to the church, and that the chapel we thought of marrying in was where he had 500 years previously left an effigy of christ. It is the only place in the world that every Sept (the month we had chosen to marry in) celebrates his life.

Then, as if that were not enough of a sign, on speaking of this to my Mum she told me that the hospital that had saved my life when I was 5 was called John of God Hospital in Spain!! I took the hint and one year later we got married there.”

A big thanks to Natali and Pete for being so great to work with and hope you enjoy a few of my faves.

Thanks to the following:

 

 

 

Ruth

La Herriza

Virginia florista

Rachel makeup