Wedding | Cecilia & Chad

Tell us a little about yourselves! 

We’re Cecilia and Chad. I (Ceci) was born in Mexico, and spent the first half of my life there and the other half in Barcelona, so I’m both Mexican and Spanish. Chad was born in Ohio, U.S. and as a military kid has lived everywhere from California to Japan. He was living in Germany when we met in Barcelona at a bar while I was living there and Chad was visiting for the weekend. At first we never thought that weekend would change the rest of our lives for the absolute best!

Why did you decide to get married where you did? 

For a number of reasons, being the most important that we met there. Barcelona is our favorite city, Chad would come visit all the time when we first started officially dating, so it witnessed our story from the beginning. We wanted to get married away from the city though and visited a few venues, but when we visited La Baronía it took our breath away. It felt like right out of a fairy tale, with gorgeous architecture, full of history, personality and art, a beautiful castle in the middle of the mountains so you could feel secluded but grounded.

How many guests did you have? 

We both didn’t want a huge wedding so we had 72 of our favorite people from all over the world: Spain, Mexico, the U.S., Japan and Germany.

What was your budget? 

We started planning small, but we really wanted this day to be more special than it would already be, when else were we going to have that group of people reunited again to celebrate with us? Friends and family from all over the world, it had to be special. I’d say our budget was around 40,000€

Tell us about your outfits. 

Once we decided that this day was going to be be the most special ever, I decided to wear three dresses: one just for the ceremony with a mantilla-like veil, a second one for the appetizer and banquet, and the third one (a more fun design but still with a little drama as an over skirt) for the party. The first two ones were by Pronovias and the third one by Kyha Bride. Chad wore a European style tailored suit by Enzo Romano.

What was the most important aspect for you, in terms of planning your wedding? 

We didn’t want to stress, even though we knew it was going to be more difficult because at that point we were both living in Germany and the wedding was going to take place in Barcelona. I contacted Laura, our wedding planner, because we needed some guidance on decoration, florals, transportation and it was the best decision we made! Having someone with experience to sort the different situations was key. I have to say that the vendors we hired are true artists and made us feel comfortable and safe from the beginning. 

Were there any elements that were important for you to incorporate? 

It was very important to us to have the touch of our families in different details. Both my parents passed away and my mother in law surprised me with a hand sewn piece of cloth with my mom’s handwriting from a letter she wrote to me when I was a kid, and then she added her own message on her handwriting, which was absolutely adorable. One of my sisters designed our invitations and she hand painted each of them, she hand wrote the name on each place card and made all the stationery on handmade paper. My other sister handmade from scratch our wedding favors which were painted ceramic tiles as a replica of the first street we walked together the night we met, and they are a design of Antoni Gaudí. My brother is a guitar player/singer and he sang a cover of our first dance song: “Can’t help falling in love” by Elvis. Chad’s father even officiated the ceremony! It was very important for us to be surrounded by our families, love, beauty and art.

Any tips for couples getting married? 

We would say to listen to each other with an open heart and mind and communicate with kindness. Be a team. 

And for wedding planning the same, plus this: it’s always worth the effort to live a day to remember surrounded by your most loved ones and live your day with all the mindfulness possible, it goes by fast.

Are there any vendors that you would like to tell us a little more about? 

Yes! I don’t know if it’s the common experience but we nailed it with our main vendors. I’ll try to keep it short but sweet: 

La Baronía made it very easy to accommodate our needs and on our wedding day I always say I’ve never been treated that well, we felt like celebrities, the service was amazing. 

Our wedding planner was a dream, Laura and the ByLau Events & Decor team took great care of everything during the entire process and on the day of, from vendors and decor, to people and situations and made sure we didn’t stress and enjoy our day. 

The band was top tier, really good professionals with a great energy that kept us all singing and dancing. 

What can I say about the florals? David from Maitemach listened to our ideas and the vibe that we were going for and he practically read our minds for the rest, so easy to work with people like these. 

Last but not least at all, Aída our photographer at AK Studio Wedding. I feel like words could never do justice to what she is, as a professional and on top of that, as a person. We instantly felt super comfortable the moment we video called, her work is out of this world and she was the first person we hired - that should tell you a lot about how convinced we were! She is a true artist, I feel like I can tell because I come from a family of artists myself, and you can completely trust her in her process because she knows what she’s doing. You just have to see her work to know that I’m speaking the truth, but on top of that she is an angel as a person, which was something that was also very important to us, as we were sharing the most special day of our lives with the people we would hire too. I can say she’s a friend now, we’re still in touch.

Photographer: AK Studio Wedding @akstudiowedding | Planning: ByLau Events & Decor @eventsbylau | Flora: Maitemach @maitemach | Ceremony & Reception Location: La Baronía @la_baronia | Celebrant: 

Kevin Collins | Hire/ Rentals: Nuovi Piatti @nuovipiatti | Makeup: Laia Martín Makeup Artist 

@laiamartinmakeup | Hair: Adriana Arteaga @tresse_ | Catering & Beverages: Caravan Made

 @caravan_made | Cake: Dolce Witte @dolcewittebcn | Stationery: Maru Robles @maruoaks | Entertainment: Double Chick @doublechick & Los Amigos Del Novio @losamigosddelnovio | Dresses: 

Pronovias @pronovias from Boutique de novias @boutiquedenovias | Suit: Enzo Romano

@enzoromano.ceremonia | Engagement & Wedding Rings: Teresa Q @teresaq_joyeria | Shoes:

Mascaró @mascaro_official | Photo Booth: Esfering @esfering | Wedding Party Attire: Kyha @kyhabride from Bridal Avenue @bridalavenuebarcelona