As our Wedding Planning “Holiday” in La Palma was rapidly drawing to a close there was one rather important element of our wedding day that we hadn’t yet seen. This was the day we were finally going to visit and see if the rather attractive pictures the mother and father of the bride had taken on their last visit matched up to the reality.
Squeezing into the Shaw’s tiny Palmarian car once again we set off up the mountain. Now actually I should correct that statement… it’s not so much a mountain as an active volcano. This being Dom and I we do genuinely believe it will almost certainly erupt on our wedding day, although this may be balanced by the fact that it hasn’t rained on the Island in nearly a year so the monsoon conditions that will naturally set in on that same important date may cool some of the lava… I digress.
As we drove up the winding main road that links one side of the Island with the other, we turned suddenly down a little side street surrounded by houses. “Oh right, so it’s in this little village is it?” I asked. “Well that’s fairly easy for the bus to navigate at least even if the road is a little narrow.” “It’s a little way yet” came the ominous reply.
As we negotiated cobbled roads and 90 degree bends we moved further and further up the mountainside, the roads seeming ever narrower and my sense of direction utterly thrown. Where in gods name were they taking us?! Some time later, the little car chuntering away angrily and its passengers gasping for air we reached the bottom of a long and rather hilly driveway, a sign to our left stating “Iglesia” a word I vaguely recalled from my limited Spanish as meaning church. As we struggled over the peak of the drive a rather amazing sight greeted us, a site that had me, quite literally, jumping for joy!
.jpg "Matt Jumping for Joy (and does himself an injury in the process!)")
Matt Jumps for joy
Cut into the hillside with unbelievable views all around was the solitary figure of a tiny white church. Modern but beautiful it was everything we could have hoped for. It was just the right size that it would feel full despite having relatively few guests attending, it had a natural charm and looked simply idillic – perfectly formed in glorious white surrounded by such natural beauty. It even had it’s own little roundabout for the car to arrive and a picnic area that would be just perfect for a little drinks reception after the ceremony. Most importantly though it brought a happy tear to the eye of my future bride, and I could see she had instantly fallen in love with it.
The next day we made the trip again, this time with the opportunity to sit in on a service and finally see inside the church. Having fallen so in love with the architecture on the outside we could only hope it would be as nice inside. We were not to be disappointed.
Inside the building lost none of its charm. It was certainly far from grandiose, in fact it was every bit the charming, rustic and incredibly friendly church that we had hoped for. In fact not only did the building exude friendliness but the congregation themselves couldn’t have been more lovely, particularly when we went for a drink with them all afterwards! We had been a little worried about attending the service as we didn’t think we’d be able to understand anything, but being the only church of England church on the Island it attracts the ex-pat contingency and they’ve formed quite the community. Sadly due to a bereavement the vicar who would be presiding over the wedding couldn’t be there but whilst there we met Alan, probably the most enthusiastic man in the world who played guitar with such joy on his face we couldn’t help but want to invite him to the reception! Whilst chatting to him he also showed us some pictures of the church during the fiesta which gave us some brilliant ideas!
All in all the church was simply perfect, and we just can’t wait to be married there! However, there were still a few obstacles to overcome on our Destination Wedding journey…
