Andrea & Andrei’s Wedding

After landing back in Spain and catching up with friends around Madrid, it was time for me to head out for one of my first adventures outside my home city. This took me up to Gijón in the north, where I’d very important business to attend to in the form of Andrea and Andrei’s wedding!

I hopped in the carshare after work on the Friday and had a very pleasant trip up with my driver, Ana, who I’d travelled with on my trip up to Gijón for my birthday weekend back in April. We had a good laugh during the trip, which concluded when she left me in a petrol station in Asturias. Cami came to pick me up from there and we headed towards her place, where she’d kindly agreed to put me up for the weekend.

As I’d arrived relatively early, we’d time to head straight to the seafront and have a meal out in the city centre together. This we did, and I was happy to catch the gorgeous pink sunset over one of Gijón’s lovely beaches before heading off for a delicious sushi meal.

We also ran into some celebrations on the street, as the local festival was in full swing. We followed the sound of a marching band with some huge drums to the main square of the historical centre of the city, where we encountered a photo opportunity that we simply couldn’t miss…

Me and Cami are secretly a couple of century-old Asturian children.

The next day was the day of the big event. We grabbed a taxi with David, who was to be one of the best men, and headed down to the hotel where the bride and groom were getting ready. I infiltrated the room where Andrea was getting prepared, where we all had a drink and I met the rest of the bridesmaids: Cami had been invited to do the honour of being one of them too!

Once everyone was ready, we then taxied our way up to the venue to celebrate the ceremony itself. We had a quick drink before sitting down for the ceremony to begin, which was a lovely and unique affair fitting of the couple. There were some pretty good wise cracks in speeches from the bride and groom’s family and friends, after which we all dispersed and the eating and drinking began.

Cami looked absolutely stunning as one of the bridesmaids!

Things kicked off with some drinks and nibbles in the gardens of the venue, where I tried some delicious local cheese, meats, and seafood. We were then sat down for lunch, which being Spain was a huge five-course affair with all sorts of tasty dishes.

The long lunch over, we gathered round to see the newlyweds’ first dance, after which the bar was officially open and the DJ began playing some tunes. We had a boogie, sat outside for a good chat, and eventually wound up munching on even more food as some food truck offerings were laid out for us to graze on.

The night then drew to a close in the early hours of the morning with the traditional rendition of Asturias, a song that lives in the hearts of all who are from the region. We weren’t ready for the night to be over, though, so we all hopped in a a car and headed into the centre of Oviedo to keep on partying!

After some singing and dancing in the parties that I mentioned earlier, me and Cami struggled to flag down a taxi but eventually managed to get ourselves back to Gijón ready for a good night of sleep. This actually worked out quite well, because despite the unlimited gin and tonics on offer, I’d been pretty well behaved and drank plenty of water along the way.

This meant that we could make the most of our Sunday, and so we pottered down to the beach once again for a wander around and some lunch. That we did, ending my trip with some lovely ramen and beer in another Japanese restaurant that Cami knew before heading back to the train bound to Madrid.

The seafront in Gijón is always a lovely place to go for a walk.

It was an absolute honour to be invited to join Andrea and Andrei for their special day, so I’ve to extend my thanks to them for allowing me to form part of the celebrations. A big shout out to Cami for also letting me crash at her lovely flat in Gijón – it’s a lovely place to escape from the madness of Madrid for a while!