Carlota Grande married on 31 July in the church of Santa Eulalia in Ponte Caldelas, Galicia - the same church where her grandparents married, and her parents too. That's a sentence that needs no explanation here. There are churches a single family walks into three times in one century, and every time it means something.

She and Francisco met in August 2019, at a meteor shower viewing event, through a mutual friend from Vigo. Then came the long-distance years - first Madrid and Vigo, three years, then Germany and Madrid, another two and a half. He proposed after six years together, during a trip to Provence.

The dress that already existed

The first dress, for the ceremony, was sewn from the fabric of her mother's wedding dress - ivory wild silk. Not inspired by it. From it. A boat neckline that emphasises the shoulders, vertical seams at the waist and a skirt with a long drop. On the left sleeve, the couple's initials are embroidered in the same typography as the invitations.

That's a decision worth looking at longer than any price tag. Macedonian chests are full of fabrics waiting for somebody to remember they exist. The difference between those chests and this wedding dress is one seamstress and one decision.

The tiara was made by Rocío de Garanza in three weeks, which in that craft counts as a record. The central brooch was found in the designer's shop and set among older pieces. The tiara was a gift from her sister Marta.

The earrings were her great-grandmother's. The pendant was a gift from her parents-in-law at the engagement. And the ring she wore - gold with turquoise - she received on her eighteenth birthday, after her grandmother gave it to her mother, and her mother to her. That was the "something blue". The shoes were Dior J'Adior, bought before the dress had even been designed, which anyone who has organised a wedding will recognise as a perfectly logical order of events.

What cost the least and meant the most

The priest was a family friend - her great-uncle was a priest. The bouquet was orchids, calla lilies and amaranth, with ribbons embroidered with the names, the date and her grandparents' initials. After the ceremony they left in a cream 1926 Chrysler Six, because Francisco loves old cars.

The celebration was held at the Pazo de Pegullal in Salceda de Caselas. The bride herself gave the reason for the choice: the large gardens, the meeting of the pazo's Galician style with Italian Renaissance design, and the vineyards that reminded them of Provence, where they got engaged.

But the best detail comes at the cutting of the cake - a tiramisu. Instead of speeches, they read each other letters. "Fran and I didn't want to miss reading each other a letter, because for seven years of a long-distance relationship we wrote letters."

Seven years of letters. Not messages, letters. That's what remained of an entire wedding that also had a second dress from Victoria Colección, garnet-coloured velvet, a summer restaurant under candlelight and fireworks with a live violinist. The most expensive things show up in the photographs. The most important one was read out loud.