Ceremonies by Nikki Kulin, Costa Celebrant - Real Life Wedding Ceremonies
Glen & Hayley, from Blackburn in Lancashire, contacted me through my Facebook page www.facebook.com/costacelebrant
They had booked the beautiful Palacete de Cazulas in the mountains of Granada province for their June 2018 Wedding Blessing.
The Palacete de Cazulas is a stunning example of Andalucian architecture dating back to 1492. It is set approximately 30 minutes inland in the Costa Tropical and an hour’s drive to Granada.
Spectacularly located at the end of a tropical valley, the Palace is set in a completely private and peaceful setting. It has been beautifully restored and is able to accommodate up to 18 guests.
It has many magnificent features including its own private chapel which was constructed around 1890 by the De Castro family who owned the estate since the 16th century. It is steeped in history and has, over the last few years, been painstakingly restored to its former glory by its present owners.
It truly is the most beautiful setting for an intimate ceremony
Glen & Hayley shared their most wonderful love story with me which I incorporated into their ceremony.
Glen & Hayley had met in an R&B club in Preston over 11 years ago. Glen was most persistent in pursuing Hayley – having spotted her on the dance floor, he would not let her out of his sight – holding his hand, as a microphone, making her sing to Joe Budden’s ‘Pump It Up’. Having insisted she hold his hand (I’m told he wouldn’t let it go!), he jumped into the same taxi at the end of the night telling her he lived around the corner. His persistence continued when, having got out of the taxi at her house, he sat her on top of a car in her street and refused to let her down until she gave him her number!
However, a few weeks went by and he didn’t get in touch – when he eventually did, he told Hayley he was drunk and had forgotten her number. After a few weeks dating, Glen dumped Hayley – she went away to America with her friends for spring break and when she returned, received a text message from Glen. She was glad and slowly they began to see each other again.
He had been in hospital with a fractured wrist and was taking a combination of painkillers and morphine and claims not to have remembered getting back in touch. Hayley always jokes that, had he not been drugged, she may never have heard from him again. However, he did and on Christmas Day 2014, Glen, in front on the Christmas Tree with their son Jude on his knee, asked her to marry him so that, in Jude’s words, ‘they shared the same last name’. The rest is history and what a wonderful love story they share!
Their beautiful sons, Jude & Gabriel were very much a part of their parent’s special day. Jude did a magnificent job as ring bearer and added some of his own amazing and humorous additions to the ceremony!
Glen & Hayley chose to undertake the beautiful Spanish tradition of ‘Las Arras’. The exchange of 13 coins between the bride and groom is thought to date back to Jesus and his 12 disciples. Others say that it relates to 13 core family values. Today it is used to symbolise their love and commitment to each other. The Bride and Groom, in exchanging the coins between hands symbolise love and dedication to each other as the true prosperity of their marriage. In doing so, they promise that they will love and support each other for all eternity.
Spanish traditional Las Arras ritual
The resulting ceremony was truly beautiful: full of laughter, special moments and fabulous memories for all the guests to share.
Glen & Hayley said:
Nikki created a wedding ceremony for the two of us two days ago and our friends are still talking about how lovely and personal our ceremony was. Nikki lead the ceremony with a mix of our personal stories, music choices, traditions, wit and sentiment to make it relevant and interesting for all of our guests. We appreciate everything Nikki did from the rehearsal she drove so long to do, our ceremony, our gifts and all the hard work you put into making our ceremony so special to ourselves and our guests
Celebrant: Nikki Kulin www.costacelebrant.co.uk Venue: http://www.cazulas.com/wedding-venue-in-spain_en.html
Caterers: http://www.foodforthought.es/
Florist: www.facebook.com/bouquetspain
Cheese Tower: http://www.foodforthought.es/
