If there is anything more romantic than strolling through the Gothic Quarter of Barcelona hand in hand with your love while enjoying the last sunny rays of the day, I really, really don’t know what it is. In fact, I’m absolutely convinced by these pictures from Veronica Hansen Wedding Photography, it doesn’t exist!
From the lovely couple… When people ask us how we met, they’re often surprised when I tell them that Ollie was my 8th grade crush. Being from a small town in Texas, it is not uncommon for love stories to begin in high school. I know that this is the part where most hopeful romantics are expecting that to be our story as well… however, our love story had a bit of a sense of humor and decided to make us wait nearly thirteen years to actually get passed the opening credits. After graduating high school we went separate ways for College and experienced different journeys, until one fateful day in 2011 when the magic of technology brought our worlds back together. A simple catching up message opened the door for what would become the love of our lives. By the time our paths came back as one, Ollie was stationed overseas and our relationship became rooted around traveling to see one another. Therefore it seemed only natural to have our photos, capturing our overwhelming love towards each other, taken while traveling.
For our anniversary we were delighted to take a cruise through Europe, which would land us in Barcelona, Spain for one day. I ardently admired Barcelona based wedding photographer, Veronica Hansen’s brilliantly talented work and had previously mentioned to Ollie that it would be my dream to have her as our wedding photographer and to do our engagement photos. I worried that the odds of her being available on the one quick day that we would have in Barcelona were slim, but we knew that we had to at least try. When I told Veronica our story, she went above and beyond to make our dream come true for us while we were in Barcelona. Because we were all three in different countries during the planning of our photo session, we used Skype to arrange the logistics. Veronica and I Skyped one blissful afternoon and I was blown away at how deeply she cared about not only our story but also telling it through her photos, she took every little detail to heart and what came out of that is nothing short of perfection.
The day of our photo session was nearly effortless, with the exception of my less than stellar choice of wearing very high-heeled shoes on the centuries-old cobblestoned sidewalks, in the middle of the summer at that. Ollie and I are somewhat old souls and have a great appreciation for gothic architecture, churches, and little cafés, so when we learned of the Gothic Quarter in Barcelona it could not have been more perfect. What we could not have expected was that Veronica had taken every single detail that I had mentioned in our Skype meeting and had spent many hours working to make the day truly unforgettable and to bring all of the details of our dream photo session into reality.
Our day began by meeting Veronica at pre-determined location near the docks where our cruise ship was docked; she had even taken the liberty of creating a map equipped with pictures for us to easily locate her. We spent some time in the city just enjoying the beautiful scenery. Once it was time for our photo session, Veronica led the way as we walked into the Quarter, which was set aglow by the picturesque beams of the sunset, all the while teaching us all about the city of Barcelona; it was as though we had an amazing photographer and tour guide all in one! Our photo session went seamlessly, except for us having to stop every so often for me to change shoes—ladies, bring a pair of flats when walking in Barcelona! We ended our day with a cup of gelato, a new and growing friendship with Veronica, and photos that still to this day take my breath away.
I’ve often heard that true love is like fine wine, it gets better with time…as history has shown in our story, every passing day only gets better and these pictures capture that sentiment flawlessly. I could not have asked for anything more.
Photography: Veronica Hansen Wedding Photography | Location: Gothic Quarter