Welcome Dinner

Wedding Day

Can Marial

Ceremony

Reception to Follow

Our Wedding

We met in 2021 through The Society of Barley Engineers, our local homebrew club. At our club's annual holiday party, we bonded over an 18 year vertical tasting of Anchor Brewing's famous Christmas Ales. Shortly after that, we went on our first date, out for tacos and beer, surprise surprise. We both individually love travelling and wanted to share that love together. We started taking frequent ski trips to Big Bear, Mammoth, Utah and Colorado as well as warmer trips to Palm Springs, Sedona, Hawaii, and more. We took our first international trip together in the Spring of 2024 and have since been to 7 countries together. When we aren't travelling we are hanging with our dog, Kiwi, trying new breweries and revisiting old favorites, going to the beach, Padres games and concerts, and spending quality time with good friends. In July of 2025 Matt proposed and Lauren of course said yes! We have had so much fun planning our dream Mediterranean wedding. Which brings us to the biggest part of our storyline. We are fulfilling our dreams of living abroad by moving our little family to Spain in December of 2025. We can't wait to spend the next few years enjoying a slower paced life and travelling around Europe. Lauren will be pursuing a degree in finance while Matt enjoys retirement and furthers his brewing education. And YES, we will have a guest room and we would love for you to visit!

Our Story

Photos

Sunset Beach Gathering

Sunday, June 14th Time and Location TBD

Welcome Party

Monday, June 15th 5:00pm - 9:30pm

Please join us at Bouquet d'Alella Vineyards for a wonderful evening! We are looking forward to seeing all of you and for everyone to meet each other. Bouquet d'Alella is a family owned vineyard that has been passed down generation-to-generation for over 600 years. We will begin the evening with a tour of the vineyard before getting to taste several of their wines. Afterwards, we will all gather on the terrace and socialize while watching a paella show-cooking experience and then enjoy trying the assortment of paellas. Wine, water, and juice will be served throughout the evening and bottles of wine will be available for you to purchase to take if you choose. Dress code - Dressy casual. Wear comfortable shoes for walking around the vineyard. Children are welcome! Anyone with mobility difficulties can hang in the garden and wait for the tasting if they wish to skip the tour.

Tuesday, June 16th 4:30pm - 12:30am

The main event! Please plan on arriving at Can Marial by 4:30pm. You will be greeted with a welcome refreshment with the ceremony starting at 5:00pm. The ceremony will be followed by tapas on the sea-view terrace before we move into the reception hall. We will enjoy a full Spanish dinner and then a great evening of dancing! There is plenty of secure parking at the venue. If you would like to take a taxi, they recommend reserving it ahead of time. We plan on providing transportation from Dynamic Hotels. If we have enough people staying in a central area, we will try to arrange transportation from there as well. The wine will be flowing, so please plan responsibly!

Beach Day

Thursday, June 18th Time and Location TBD

After taking a day to recover from the wedding or doing some sightseeing, we would love to spend more time with anyone who is still in town! We will be hosting a beach day, very casual, come and go as you please. It will be a great way to see everyone one more time!

Events

We know that everybody's schedules differ, but if you are travelling from abroad, we recommend arriving at least a few days before the wedding so that you are adjusted to the time-zone and can fully enjoy the evening. There will be a few casual events in the days before and after the wedding with details to come later. We would love to have you join if it fits in your travel itinerary. If you would like to rent a vacation home for your stay, we recommend booking that soon. Alternatively, there are plenty of hotels nearby that you can book closer to the wedding date. Sant Vicenç de Montalt is about 40 minutes north of Barcelona. We recommend flying into Barcelona or Girona airports. We recently found out that there is a Formula 1 race in Barcelona June 12-14 that is driving the prices of plane tickets up. If you're looking for a more economical option, you may want to fly in and out of another city in Europe or the UK and take a commuter flight or train from there. And it will give you an opportunity to check out another city! Check you passports! Ensure that your passport will not expire within six months of your travel date. Otherwise, renew it now! If your partner is unable to attend, please feel free to bring a friend or other family member with you! We don't want anyone to feel like they have to travel alone.

Travel

Costa Brava

We are absolutely loving the Costa Brava. We live in Colonge, right by Platja D'Aro. It is about 50 minutes north of the venue and such an incredible area, we would love for you to check it out! We will be returning home on June 19th, if anyone is sticking around after the wedding, we would love to show you around.

Besalú

One of our favorite adventures so far. A breathtaking medieval town about an hour from the venue.

Girona

The old-town of Girona is beautiful, full of history but a vibrant town. It is about 45 minutes from the venue. We recommend an afternoon and evening of wandering the narrow streets, Cathedral, and Basilica. Many scenes of Game of Thrones were filmed there and it was recently named the Culinary Capital of Europe.

Barcelona

La Sagrada Familia

40 minutes from the venue, this is a must see. We highly recommend doing a guided tour as you will get so much more out of it. They are expecting the Sagrada to finally be completed this summer which will make it even bigger of a destination, so you may want to book your tour early.

Gothic Cathedral

Lauren's favorite part of the city. Highly recommend going up to the roof for incredible views of the city.

Park Güell

In the outskirts of the city, this park is truly remarkable. Gaudi's incredible mind intermixed with the beautiful landscape is a sight like no other. (And it is where the Cheetah Girls' stairs are....)

Montserrat

This is a breathtaking Monastery and Basilica built into the side of the most beautiful mountain. It is about an hour from the venue and you can choose to drive all the way up the mountain, or you can park further down and take a rack-railway or cable car up to the top.

Things to Do

Wedding Party

Dynamic Hotels - Dynamic Caldetas

The venue has recommended Dynamic Hotel nearby as an economic option. You will get 8% off of your booking by using the promo code Lauren&amp;Matthew We will have transportation from the hotel to the wedding, and back to the hotel at the end of the night. When you RSVP, please let us know if you would like transportation so that we can plan accordingly. https://www.dyhotels.com/en/hotel-caldes-de-estrac-barcelona/

Vacation Home & Other Hotels

There are lot's of vacation homes on VRBO and similar sites in the area, but they do book up fast, so we recommend booking early! There are also several other nicer hotels in the surrounding areas for you to check out. Book whatever works best for you.

Accommodations

Especially when you are travelling internationally, it is important to know a bit about the culture and norms of where you are going. We recommend you do your own research on the area, but we have a few tips for you and are happy for you to reach out if you have any specific questions. Tip #1 - Do not tip! Gratuity is not expected for any restaurants or services here. At a restaurant, they will not bring the bill until you ask as it is considered rude. So, when you are ready to pay, you can get their attention and say "La cuenta, por favor." We are in Catalonia/Catalunya, a very proud autonomous region of Spain with a very rich history. The language here is Catalan, but everyone speaks Spanish as well, and of course many people speak English, especially in the more touristy areas. A typical greeting is "Buenas." If you speak any Spanish, they will be very appreciative of you trying, but if you need to speak in English, always ask them "Habla inglés?" Google Lens and Google Translate are your best friends! If you have the Google Lens app on your phone, you can just take a picture and it will translate everything for you. We also recommend downloading Spanish and Catalan in Google Translate so that you can use them offline. Restrooms/Bathrooms - If you are looking for them, asking "toilet?" is your best bet. Typically gendered toilets are going to be labeled with a picture, but sometimes it is a letter - M=Mujeres (Women) and H=Hombre/Home (Men) If you are renting a car, go to AAA and get an International Drivers Permit. It is required to drive with a US license, and you do not need to be a AAA Member to get one. SIESTA! Many local businesses close in the late afternoon for siesta. You will want to plan your days and meals accordingly. Most lunch spots will typically close around 3pm (15h) and dinner spots don't open until at least 7pm (19h) with the normal Spanish dinner time being after 8pm. In the tourist areas you will typically be able to find places that are open all day. Wardrobe - There are a lot of stone and uneven streets and walkways, so we recommend wearing comfortable shoes with a little thicker sole while out exploring. People tend to dress a bit more elevated over here, so if you don't want to stick out as much we recommend dressing a little bit nicer day-to-day than you may at home and not wearing many graphics, including flags.

Travel & Language Tips

Cocktail to Formal Attire but we are on the Mediterranean so feel free to embrace that and play around with fun colors and patterns, or keep it classic if that's more your style. Keep in mind it could be warm!The venue has a lot of uneven surfaces so we recommend wearing flats, low block heels, or wedges.

Lauren & Matt

Lauren & Matt

L&M

Wedding Day

Ceremony

Reception to Follow