Alvaro and Julio

2019

This was one for the ages. It’s a once-in-a-career experience receiving an enquiry from a couple who have been engaged for over two decades, who have waited to get married until their faith accepted their love as equal. In 2017 the Scottish Episcopal Church voted to allow gay marriage, and so Alvaro and Julio could finally begin their journey to the alter. They knew they wanted a ceremony later in the day (typical in Spain, their home) with a full choir, a 4-course dinner at an imperial table, and ending in a ball. A candle-lit Old St. Paul’s in the centre of Edinburgh hosted the ceremony, with 40 guests wrapped in furs and 20 choir members with an organ accompaniment. A stream of taxi’s then took them to the Royal College of Physicians where they were piped into dinner, a white glove service on speciality china delivered from London. From the welcome gift given in canvas totes embroidered with the crest designed for the couple (featuring their last and current dogs, and Alvaro’s signature Gucci belt), to the hand made porcelain quaichs given at the wedding, there was not a detail overlooked. Finally, the two made it to their ball, 20 years in the making, in pearl-adorned Jimmy Choo slippers.