pink weddings magazine » 25
PWM’s own Rochelle and her
partner Rachel chose beautiful
Barcelona as the backdrop to
their laid-back, intimate wedding.
Rachel
tells their story
Rochelle and Rachel
W
e met online on a dating website.We
were about to cancel our subscriptions,
as it seemed to lack genuine feminine
women. I had one last search on there
before I hit the cancellation button, and
then I saw Rochelle and sent her a message.
I got a message straight back, and we connected
straightaway on Facebook, which is something neither of us
would usually do.We swapped telephone numbers and
chatted on the phone a couple of times. On the second call,
Rochelle told me she was off to work in Kuala Lumpur the
following week as she’d been offered a job out there, so we
didn’t actually get to meet up before she went.
She started working and we began messaging each other
on Facebook, which turned into three-hour daily calls on Skype.
Rochelle decided after six weeks to come back to the UK, and
our relationship then started.We moved in together quite
quickly, and three months later, we started a business.
We’d booked to go to Barcelona in October 2014 for
three weeks as it’s our favourite city – we’d like to live there
one day. In May 2014, a close friend of ours passed away
suddenly at the age of 46, which was devastating for her
partner of 15 years. This made us evaluate what was
important to us and we decided that while we were in
Barcelona, we would get married – so there was no official
proposal as we were both thinking the same thing!
We wanted a small wedding, but something totally out
of the ordinary, with close friends and family.We came
across the most amazing venue – a panoramic penthouse in
the middle of Barcelona, which had a 360-degree view of the
city, including La Sagrada Família in the backdrop. The
penthouse was listed in the
New York Times
as one of the
best penthouses in Barcelona. It had a huge roof terrace that
could accommodate 100 plus people, with a swimming pool,
kitchen facilities, jacuzzi, bar and more.
We went to see the venue and instantly knew it was
perfect for our occasion. Owners Rab and Gabbi were
brilliant from day one – they hosted the day and organised a
sit-down dinner and reception for us on the roof terrace.
We didn’t want traditional outfits, so we hired a personal
shopper from Selfridges.Within a few hours we had the
perfect outfits for us.We hadn’t organised any hair or make-
up before going to Barcelona, but when we arrived we went
to the hairdressers across the road from the penthouse.
Another moment of fate, as when we walked in the salon,
the owner Stephan recognised us from Gay Pride in Sitges –
a coastal resort approximately 30 minutes’ train ride from
Barcelona, where we had been a few months earlier. Stephan
is also a make-up artist, so he did hair and make-up for us
and some of our guests.
N
