Wow, it really doesn't feel like 10 years ago that I started this blog but it is all in blue and white, if you head over to past years you can see what has happened since 2013. There are comments on every wedding done since then and up until mid last year there were pictures too but I have been told by the blog hosts that I can't add any more so you will have to go to my instagram account @tobyweddings where I add them after each wedding.

So far 2023 is looking busy busy busy with about 50 weddings already confirmed and the year has just begun ... watch this space.  

Just 22 days in to '23 and we have started! This was special because I married Ester's brother and sister in law, Nacho and Alba, back in 2017 (they are still happily married and, I discovered today, expecting their first child). If, after having done a wedding, you are called by other family members to do their's too ... you know you are doing something right. Very cold, a bit windy, but bright and sunny today was a joy. Ester met Will while throwing a Frisbee in Green Park, London 5 years or so ago and today they married. No Frisbee ... too windy ... but a joy nonetheless!!!! They married in a new venue for me: Mas Rosset, lovely ... really lovely!

The second wedding of the year and all went perfectly ... lots of input in Chinese (though not from me). Sakura & Hao were delighted! All organised without a hitch by Harel from Luxury Weddings in a new venue to me: Castell de Santa Florentina.

It finally happened, we first met back in 2019 to organise this wedding 3 years ago and then something changed! Since then there have been many many changes except Milissa and Aaron's wish to get married. The biggest is undoubtably the arrive of Rafftery, their son. He made his presence felt during the ceremony, to the extent that a good part of it all happened while he was breast feeding, very much a first for me ... but all brilliant. Held in the Castell d'Empordà all went just as well it could. 

Wow ... what a beautiful day ... James looked like he was going to loose it but Robyn kept him on the straight and narrow! It really was lovely, a great crowd, lots of greens and beige ... lots of sun and a fair few smiles ... what more can you ask for?

So May has started and wedding season is very much on. The day was glorious, the Almiral de la Font, as usual, also. Today I had my son, Biel, on piano which is always so much of an added bonus. Charly and Adam were fabulous with lots of input from their almost 5 year old son. They have been through lots to get to where we were today and you could feel that, lovely couple and great wedding! Once again ... see instagram for photos and even a quick video of Biel on the piano.

What fun ... surrounded by friends and family Charlotte and Nima tied the knot, I started the ceremony in Farsi and actually had one of the guest compliment me. Many years ago my father lived in Tehran and in 1976 I learnt how to count up to 10 in Farsi ... which I also did ... I was on a roll. C and N met in Australia and the ceremony was full of their time there as was the crowd gathered. All pretty much: "as good as it gets". Once again back in the Almiral de la Font!

Germany meets Mexico somewhere near San Francisco in 2019 and in 2023 it all ends up in a wedding. Lots of languages, lots of friends and family, altogether lots of fun. Held in a new part of Mas Torroella which I have been asked not to post of until it is all finished but it is lovely. The ceremony was moved forward for fear of rain but it held off ... as I write, a few hours later at home, it has started but I am sure it won't dampen their party!

In the fabulous This Must be the Place, made even better by being close to where I live (finally there is a venue close to me) Charlie beamed throughout and Michaela too. After a week of much needed rain here the day was perfect, warm but with a cool breeze and it really was great, once again, and just as a reminder, you will find their pic on my instagram (#tobyweddings), you will notice it was taken from a way away, I was in a bit of a rush ... had to head up to the other side of Catalunya, see next wedding ... 

... and I made it with time to spare. Germany meets Brazil, this is a couple who have travelled soooooooo much that their wedding was truly peppered with people from all 4 corners and if there is another corner they would be from there too. A lovely wedding and, for the first time ever, the father of the groom sang a song, in German, and had the entire audience on their feet and marking time/clapping, was a wonder to see, as was everything else. Held in the Castell d'Empordà and at a great time, we finished at 7.45pm, highly recommended ... heat gone from the day and ready for a fabulous night.

Today really felt like the first day of summer ... twas hot hot hot. Emmelie and Jack seemed very pleased with everything, as was I, though more importantly was the reaction of Cici, their 1.5 year old ... a happy lassie. The best men, Barry and Oliver asked me to write their speech for them and that is always a good sign. It is a bit of a hike to where they wanted the ceremony up behind Mas Terrats but the perfect place for a wooded wedding! 

So, May done and dusted and what a great way to end the month. Lovely wedding in Can Rosset, perfectly organised by the good folk of Barcelona Luxury Weddings. Had great feedback from Sophie and James, in fact James wouldn't let me leave without having a beer, so, ever the meek and mild, I did. While I drank that I had lots of funs chats with guests a fair few comments. I think what I came away with was how surprised everyone was, nobody expects the weddings that I do. The ceremony is seen simply as a way to get the party, a rite of passage if you will, but here all were happily surprised that they had fun, were moved, and enjoyed the ceremony as much as they did. 

This was a special day, OK so all days/wedding days are special ... but. I had been able to get to know this couple well, they decided to move to Catalunya a few years back and made that dream come true for them just over a year ago. So we have had meetings, chats, mails and so much more ... they threw themselves in to the ceremony, writing vows, readings shared by different friends and family popping up, others bilingual and finished with a song! The singers, Tina & Joe, are fabulous and all was perfectly organised by my longest serving wedding planner Val. All held in Masia Campau! Oh yes, and the rain kept off!

What a couple, and what a baby ... Elsie, this was all perfect ... just look at Instagram and you will see, Mas Jofre is wonderful and so were they. Charlie playing it cool but under pressure, Sara ... cool and beautiful. What more can I say, it was lovely, mother's witnessed, lots of family and friends and ... the hunk Dan, but that is another story!

Not a fan of two weddings in one day but this was fun. Suzie and Rob have seen some of the world as have her kids ... very grown. I really feel that we made a perfect wedding for them, a reflection of them both, mad crazy messages to Rob to send me info a week before but we made it! Suzie fulfilled her only demand from me when we met in BCN a few months ago ... "I want to be a princess for a day" ... and she was ... and her frog wasn't half bad either.

This wedding turned up about 10 days ago but it just shows what you can do with a great couple prepared to do their homework and share some fun moments. All held at This Must be the Place, aka Duncan and Jane's fabulous place, and organised by Meritxell from The Gathering. This venue is about the closest one that I often visit to my home, a mere 40 minutes away, so when it started hailing and then raining with huge claps of thunder around 1pm I thought we were in for a plan B wedding but the rain stopped, on command, at 4.30pm and we did the ceremony exactly where they wanted it. All very good. 

I think we will all admit that, after months of praying for rain with a very very dry winter and spring here, we are all now crossing everything for some dry days. Today was in the perfect Xalet del Nin, overlooking the beach at Vilanova i la Geltru, and it didn't rain. So just when you get happy the humidity starts ... but let's not complain anymore. All was lovely, I had had to implore Billy to send me info but he finally did and all were very very happy, as was Val (Weddings Via Val) who, once again, did a truly grand job.

This was one of the last remaining wedding that started being planned pre-pandemic and in the meantime along came their daughter Addie. She played a big part throughout and at only 2! Very hot and humid though to be expected, we are only a day away from the summer solstice. Great time had by all and lots more to come, you can just tell.

My first wedding in Andorra, lots of travelling but well worth it. The wind nearly blew the flower arch away but Priscila, the fabulous wedding planner, spent the entire ceremony behind, out of sight, holding it up. Bea and Ben were fabulous, as were their families and all looked just as good as it could. La Borda del Pi was the venue in Canillo, lovely. Bit of a crazy day altogether, not to mention Ben's much travelled hair.

So each wedding holds something new and today held two thing. For the first time I welcomed guests in a Nigerian Language along with the Catalan, Spanish and English, and I married my first ever influencer. Milena has a million followers and is ready to unbox almost anything, David is a Swedish Nigerian and was happy to be unboxed. All was perfect though the temperatures are going through the roof at the moment. Held in Mas Cabanyes and beautifully planned by Sonia from Barcelona Wedding.

This was a lovely occasion, just the family (Juliet, Ben and Landon) and a mate (Steven) and of course the couple: Angela and Scott. It all happened on the terrace of their hotel room in The Hotel Colon, just in front of Barcelona's Cathedral. It might have been intimate but had all of the weight you look for in a wedding ... I suppose the long and short of it is that ... it was real, felt and enjoyed!

So Brittany and Corey chose the hottest day of the year to marry, in plus 40º heat we dripped our way through the wedding but nonetheless it was a blast. As soon as Corey arrived there were cheers and a fair bit of crowd participation. Throughout the ceremony they helped each other along, Brittany's hair held away from her neck by Corey, some boob adjustments, some vows and some rings ... just about what you would expect from a wedding. As I said on the picture I posted on  Instagram, can't post here anymore, they were "on  fire" which might explain the heat. Wonderfully organised by Mireia and in the perfect Castell de Sant Marçal.

Dina and Stacy ... aka meathead and airhead ... a fabulous wedding with children in toe and lots of fun and laughter ... and even Bruno Maars. Quite something else, this was a Weddings via Val wedding at the unbelievable Masia Cabellut, I would visit the page just to see what it looks like ... run by Roberto, parents from Birmingham and the Canary Islands and an accent that does them both proud. Just when you thought it couldn't get any better you try their wine!

Well that was fun. Jess and Kieran walked to the top of the aisle and down it to George Michael's "Faith" ... nice one and set the tone for everything to come. Once again back in Masia Cabellut but this time organised by Linda. It was a blast and the reaction afterwards was off the charts ... suppose I must be doing something right.  

A great little wedding in Bell Recó, organised by Alba from Your Wished Wedding with Nicole Alcala snapping it and Tu Music Events playing me down the aisle. Yes, you heard right, the bride had them play me down the aisle at the start of the ceremony. Never happened before but greatly enjoyed. All fabulous, even wore a brand new suit for the occasion.  

We had a Quaich, we had hand fasting and the couple was played down the aisle by the bagpipes! No idea where they were from! Bloody hot but really great, in Casa Felix, an old haunt down in Olivella with Music by Tu Music Events and sound by Suit and Music ... 

My heart aches for those who have planned so much and imagined their big day only for it to coincide with the end of summer rainfall, we have come out of a week long heatwave today and been inundated. However both Ryan and Lydia seemed very very happy as did their friends and family. My third weeding in August and Tu Music Events were at all of them ... always a joy. 

And so September arrived, the days got shorter but cooler and the figs fell from the trees.

Today I was back in the Castell de Sant Marçal though without the rain we had last Saturday. However it seems this venue has a jinx at the moment, the bride arrived 1hour and 30 minutes late, she was stuck in a traffic jam between Barcelona and the Castell. She made it in the end and Ian could finally relax. They had a fabulous wedding and all was great. Organised on the day by Africa who I married a few years back and is now juggling wedding planning and a baby ... did she look stressed ... yes! But happy.

The lighthouse at Tossa, or Far de Tossa, is a good 15 minute walk up from the village, at 30 degree I needed time to cool down! Eve and Chris are a smashing couple and sooooo organised. We actually started the ceremony early so didn't get much cooling down time. Great family and all very well received. 

So Savannah and Alex (and their daughter Alba very much present) tied the knot. The Almiral de la Font was beautiful and the weather perfect. The wedding had to be quick because I had another very shorty after though very close. This is one of those days when you feel sorry that couples don't take advantage of what you offer them. I had no contact with Alex before the wedding and sparse lines from Savannah too so did the best I could. They were happy but then I went to wedding number two ... 

... this one. Samantha and Albert had written to me, his sister wrote a lovely reading, the parents took part. There was so much joy and fun and they gave their all to make something to remember. It is the difference between and fine ceremony and a really memorable one.

It's always fun when you arrive at a wedding and there is a crisis ... especially if you can solve it. Richard got stuck on his self tied bow tie ... thanks to my sister who gave me a bow tie soooo many years ago, I have always know how to tie one. So up to the groom's suit I went and  ... problem solved. It was a lovely, intimate wedding ... childhood sweethearts who made it though all the thicks and the thins to Mas Vives, in Cabrils, and a lovely, much felt little wedding. 

So they married in the glorious Xalet del Nin in Vilanova ... the place is perfect but the weather decided to throw a spanner in the works and it was torrential. Both Kevin and Jill were great though and a very happy day was had by all.

So this wedding was all about children. On the one hand I conducted the ceremony whilst my son played them down the aisle. Especially important for me since the following day he was on a plane to start his 2 year Master's at Basel University (Switzerland) in piano jazz and composition. It was also the day of Hannah and Matthew's little girl, 19 month old Nelly, who was in her father's arms while she slowly but surely pulled apart the rose he was wearing. It simply made the whole thing lovely and real. All very very good.

Russia meets Canada ... what a lovely, fun couple. They had great family and friends making it all what it was. The weather mean that everything was put back an hour but Mas Rosset is a perfect setting for an intimate wedding ... 30 odd guests, not that they were odd.  

Held in Bell Recó and beautiful. This was a bilingual wedding ... nothing translated apart from the explanation about not translating anything! The idea is to give each side half of the story and then for them to get together and compare notes and what's more it is fun for the other bilinguals there too. Alberto and Iana were quite a couple and the place quite a place and the crowd ... quiet a crowd. All great as the first autumn wedding of the year. Still a few more to go in 2023 so watch this space.

The very last day of September, now in autumn, but today felt like July. Harvie and his groomsmen were all in black tie and feeling it. Harvie and Helena are a lovely couple, I remember Helena calling me at home one morning and us trying all we could to fit in their wedding since, as you will see from the dates of this and the next, I already had a wedding on the day. They were great from start to finish and what's more they did it all themselves with, as I saw, lots of help on the day from the fabulous Roberto who runs Masia Cabellut. We managed to stick to the timing even though when I arrived Harvie was still in shorts and a T-shirt rushing about organising things. A lovely couple, a great place and altogether a happy time had by all!

I met up with Karissa and Erik just a few days ago in Barcelona, we had already chatted online and exchanged many mails but it was great to have been with them just a few of days before their wedding. If I can I will ... always, but sometimes I simply can't, things are busy. A smashing couple and a moving ceremony with all the ingredients ... laughs, tears, moving vows, more laughs and more tears ... one day I will stay for the party!

How different this time in the stunning Xalet del Nin from the last, it rained last time. All perfectly organised by Harel and Carolina from Barcelona Luxury Weddings and whats more I learnt a new word "bougie", it's how Dolores, Karissa's mother, described her to Erik when they first met ... for those who don't know, it means "high maintenance". 

What a lovely couple ... very tall ... quite German though with lots and lots of input from around the world. They married in the Xalet del Nin, everything was perfect, possibly too hot. Now I am going to shoot myself in the foot ... I work hard on my weddings to make them perfect and seldom do I walk away thinking I could have done it better but today was one of those days and for something very silly, Robert's grandfather is called Richard and he appeared a couple of times in the script of the ceremony and I got wires crossed and called Robert Richard about 4 times during the ceremony and still feel awful about it. He was very galant and said he loved the ceremony nonetheless BUT! Ah well ... it will never happen again and I just hope I didn't dampen their day ... didn't look like it.

What a fab couple, Abby had everything planned to the last detail ... I was given a printed reminder of what went where by Mikey as I arrived but had it all worked out before so all good. It was a joy, just 30 people ... friends and family, this was going to be something to remember with old friends "Swite Duo" playing them in and out ... all as good as it gets in Servais' (who I married now 9 years ago) beautiful place: Villa Catalina.

Ok so it rained, but very little and didn't dampen anything. Caroline and John were very happy with everything, as were their families and  friends. They married in Masia Victoria, just on the edge of Sant Pere de Ribes, and what a place it is. One of the guest said it was more of a masion than a farmhouse and I know what they mean. Their little chapel has fabulous paintings all over the wall and is something to be seen. Only one drawback today and that was the name of their dog and they wanted me to mention him in the ceremony: Franco! John assured me that the dog came with the name and he preferred Churchill. The dog was mentioned but all in the best possible taste.   

Yesterday the clocks went back an hour and nows it's 6pm and dark so you need something great to lighten your day and that is exactly what happened today with Shauna and Richie. Perfectly organised by Harel and Carolina in the glorious setting of the Xalet del Nin ... rain on the way there and on the way back but none during the wedding. We even had a song by Richie's mother Rosie ... perfect and all seemed very very happy.

The penultimate wedding of the year done and dusted. A perfect autumn day at La Centenaria in their glorious gardens. Rose and Sebastian seemed on cloud nine and had great input from their friends and family with lots of speeches and lots of tears. Fortunately a last minute change meant that their dog was no longer in charge of the rings, I am sure he is totally trustworthy but always worrying! All perfectly organised by Bodas de Cuento. 

All good things have to come to an end ... that sounds strange on a web like this but fortunately I am talking about 2023, not Eva and Eric! Eva and Eric are set for one hell of a ride, a fabulous couple. This was a special wedding because Eva and Eric are friends, we see each other all over the place. She is the daughter of the owners of Sibaris (https://sibariscatering.com/) and they do lots of catering for lots of weddings. We have been bumping in to one another for years, all over the place. It was even more special because the wedding was in Catalan from start to finish and it is always a joy whenever I am asked to do that, doesn't happen often. The wedding was very much enjoyed by all ... and the day was crisp and clear and cool ... and great!