Kathryn + Pedro | A Surreal Spanish Celebration

A long-distance love story seemingly lifted from a Hollywood film culminates in a romantic wedding abroad. A nuptial Mass in an ornate Spanish church followed by a starlit reception overlooking historic Granada.

Kathryn was living with a family in Madrid, working as an au pair while learning Spanish. After three months in Spain, she met Pedro, and they became good friends instantly.

Pedro’s English was better than Kathryn’s Spanish, so he would sometimes help her with errands around town. He also introduced her to some of his friends to help her practice her language skills.

Kathryn and Pedro continued to grow in friendship for months before beginning a dating relationship spanning countries and continents.

From the Bride:

The reality is, I went to Spain without any thought of finding my life partner. Really, I just wanted the cultural experience of living in another country and to truly learn how to speak Spanish once and for all.

I left the rest up to God and His plan for me.

Pedro and I remained close friends for months before we actually started dating. Our courtship began right before I headed back to the United States.

Despite the distance, we continued our courtship for a full year following my return. We video chatted daily, but only saw each other once when Pedro visited me during Christmas.

At that time, he met my entire family. My mother is one of 13 and my father is one of eight, so you can imagine how big my family gets!

During his visit, we even made a trip to Niagara Falls and saw its beauty in mid-winter. It was cold, but amazing! We attended midnight Mass with my family and truly enjoyed the holiday together.

After Pedro's visit, I knew I would marry him. It was just a matter of when.

The entire time I kept thinking about how surreal our entire courtship felt. It seemed like something straight out of a movie.

Six months after his Christmas visit, Pedro came back to Michigan and ended up staying. He proposed three months later, and we started planning our wedding.

We had a long engagement and ended up getting married in Granada, Spain—Pedro's hometown and a popular tourist destination. We did our Catholic marriage preparation in the U.S. and had everything sent over to the church he grew up in, Iglesia de san Pedro y san Pablo.

During our marriage preparation, Pedro and I prayed together and spoke about our future plans to have children and the importance our marriage would be as the foundation to build our family.

Due to VISA requirements in the United States, and to make it easier to get married out of the country, we completed the civil marriage license and paperwork in the U.S. long before our actual wedding.

However, it was important for us to get married in the Church with God as our witness because that is the marital foundation we wanted to build our family on.

On our wedding day, Pedro wore a pin showing he is a costalero with the Iglesia de san Pedro y san Pablo. A costalero is one of the boys/men who carry the statue of the Virgin of that church during Semana Santa (Holy Week).

The traditional processions of Semana Santa in Andalusia, Spain date back to the fithteeth century and are still very important today. People from all over Spain, and the world, visit the south of Spain during Semana Santa to witness the elaborate displays of the holy figures.

Taking part in the processions is considered to be a big honor in representing the Catholic faith and the Church.

Many other Spanish traditions were incorporated into the wedding ceremony. My suegra (mother-in-law) wore the traditional black peineta and mantilla in her hair. This is something formally worn during special occasions such as bullfights, during Holy Week, and at weddings.

The peineta and mantilla are used as a sign of respect and to cover a woman's shoulders. The mantilla is a way to emulate Mary, our mother, who is archetypically pure and humble, a symbol of modesty. It also veils a woman's beauty so the beauty of God can be venerated instead.

We also had a traditional Spanish choir at the church called a Rociero Choir.

Finally, once Mass had finished, all the Spaniards ran outside with bags of rice to throw at the new bride and groom as we exited from the church. This custom represents abundance and symbolizes fertility and prosperity for the new couple.

Of course, all the Americans remained in the church, as they did not get the memo and are accustomed to allowing the bride and groom to exit first as a sign of respect. This was just one of many cultural differences we discovered.

The service at the church was exquisite. I still feel truly blessed to have had the opportunity to participate in the sacrament of marriage with the love of my life in such a beautiful setting. Some tourists even came into the church to witness our commitment to God and to one another.

After the Mass, everyone gathered in the courtyard outside the front of the church and began a nice walk along the Carrera del Darro up to the Carmen de los Chapiteles for the reception.

The Carmen de los Chapiteles dates back to the fourteenth century and was given by the Catholic Monarchs to the General who commanded their armies when they won back Spain. It sits up on a hill under the gardens of La Alhambra overlooking one of the oldest parts of the city, Albaicín and El Sacromonte.

Jamon Serrano (a Spanish dry cured ham) was served during the cocktail hour on the terrace while guests visited with one another. Dinner and entertainment followed.

As is Spanish tradition for the bride and groom, we passed out small gifts and visited with all the guests during dinner. We also cut our wedding cake using a sword, another Spanish tradition. We had around 80 guests total, 23 of whom traveled from the United States for the occasion.

To say our wedding was from a dream would be an understatement. Just like our entire relationship, our wedding was well beyond anything I could have imagined.

Finding the person who was right for me and for my future family was something I prayed for.

The fact that I met the man I would later marry thousands of miles from home, in another country, makes me think there was truly divine intervention.