The Bride Wore a Lace Gown and Bolero for Her Spanish Wedding at the Grand Former Home of King Philip II

On Saturday, they held their ceremony at the Basílica de San Lorenzo de El Escorial, a 16th-century UNESCO World Heritage Site that is the largest Renaissance building in the world. The bride met the groom at the altar wearing a Monique Lhuillier dress and bolero. “It was all I wanted: feminine, romantic, elegant, and, most importantly, comfortable,” she says of her dress.

Corina and Andres admit they have a hard time describing exactly how they felt when they locked eyes in the church. “What we felt at that moment was something we can’t explain. I couldn’t stop smiling; I think I’ve never smiled so hard in my life before,” she says. Meanwhile, Andres—who teared up at the sight of Corina—says he had “a sort of tunnel vision.”

For the couple, the ceremony hit an emotional pinnacle during the priest’s sermon. He compared marriage to building a house—an apt metaphor, as Andres is a civil engineer and Corina is an interior designer. “It was the perfect way to start our lives as a married couple,” the bride says.

As the couple walked back down the aisle out of the church—while guests showered them in bubbles—a vintage Morgan car awaited. Corina and Andres hopped in to drive to their reception site of Finca El Campillo, eager for a moment of newlywed bliss alone.

Set upon 500 acres, the grand Finca El Campillo was once the summer hunting lodge of King Philip II. They were drawn to the property’s grand surroundings—and the venue also allowed the couple, who are Venezuelan, to throw a Venezuelan-style wedding. “Different cultures have different customs,” Corina explains. “Weddings in Venezuela are completely different from those in the US and Spain. We don’t have assigned seating, and we don’t have dinner then the party. In our weddings, once the cocktail hour is over, we have a buffet-style dinner at the same time as the party, giving guests the choice to eat when they want with whom they want as well as to dance when they want. For us, this was very important.”

After cocktails, Corina and Andres had their first dance. Once they started, they barely stopped—only briefly pausing at 11 p.m. to finally eat some dinner. (“Venezuelan weddings revolve around the music and dancing,” Corina says. “That’s why the dance floor is always active.”) At midnight, they had a surprise: the hora loca. “It’s a Latin American tradition where we put on fun costumes, glasses, hats, lights, et cetera, and dance. We came out all dressed up, inviting guests to take what they wanted from those accessories and dance with us. At the same time, we hired dancers dressed up in masks to help us spread around the fun. After the dancers finished, a trumpeter started playing to the beat of the music. From then on, we danced and jumped for the rest of the night until the music stopped,” she says.

“We are unbelievably happy,” Carina says when asked to reflect on her Spanish nuptials. “We had our doubts about whether we should just elope—In the end, we both agreed; we would do it again if given the choice. It was the most amazing day of our lives."