The (lesbian) Celebrity Wedding of 2016, revisited.

I wrote about this celebrity wedding back in 2016, thought it was worth sharing again because its still just so stunning & important.

Four years have passed since I wrote about the celebrity wedding of Aida Domenech and Alba Paul. At the time, I was living in North London and during the weekends I was doing research on Spanish culture as I was due to move there in a few weeks time. Barcelona was our destination, and although I wasn’t overly excited to be leaving my home (girlfriend had a new job there etc), it was important for me to not just get a feel for the language but also what the modern music was like, who’s on TV and who’s the big Instagram star. That’s when I found Dulceida (Aida Domenech. A style blogger who found fame on both Instagram and YouTube, Barcelona born Aida has become a phenomenon in her native Spain and now even has her own festival! Alongside her success on social media she also has a very popular shop online, alongside multiple ‘designed for’ ranges for fashion and beauty brands. She’s doing pretty well. Back in 2016 she had just tied the knot with her long term girlfriend Alba Paul. I covered the big day four years ago for an old blog I was sporadically writing on, the blog is now not online, but I found the copy and thought it was worth sharing as the comments I made previously, didn’t match up with how I felt today.

So, I wanted to share the whole post below. Most of it is mainly about the big day and how it was the celebrity wedding of 2016, but the intro is the bit that I’m not too happy with any more. Please read and then at the end I’ll make my comments. 🙂

The (lesbian) Celebrity Wedding of 2016

‘I happened to stumble upon the celebrity wedding of Aida Domenech and Alba Paul the other day while browsing Instagram. Finding the image below I was immediately intrigued. Not enough wedding propaganda is focused on the matrimonial’s of non-heterosexuals and considering we are fast approaching 2017 I think this is a shame. As my life is filled with pouring over the stories, fashions and people of weddings I feel best placed to say that this area of the industry is not covered enough. This lack of coverage does come with good reason however, it is a business after all and as of 2014 there is only an estimated 6% of homosexuals in the UK. So to give them the same amount of press as heterosexuals would of course not make as much marketing sense. There is however an influx of media attention on the lesbian community of late with several celebrities such as Cara Delivigne and Kristin Stewart now either defining themselves as such or as bi-sexual. A positive thing for young women struggling with their sexuality and who idolise these public figures. The cynical side of me doubts the validity of some of these famous ladies though, believing they seek more than just an out. Putting this aside, the wedding industry should match this change in tide and represent the change in tide, don’t get me started on race! Anyway… #DULCEWEDDING’

A blogger with millions of followers, Aida Domenech, better known as Dulceida, married her girlfriend, Alba Paul, back in September. The ceremony was kept secret until the moment of its conclusion when it then sparked a social media frenzy within their native Spain and beyond. Undoubtedly one of the most famous fashion/lifestyle bloggers in the country Aida was always going to have a very stylish, chic affair and the event did not disappoint. 

The couple used the hashtag #dulcewedding to spread the imagery of the wedding and if you take a moment to search through the thousands of images on Instagram using it you’ll certainly not be disappointed. Laid back not trying to look cool is the vibe, if thats what they were going for, they smashed it. In keeping with the non-traditions the nuptials were officiated by Javier Calvo, an actor and friend who shared the burden of marrying the pair with fellow mate and musician Shinoflow. 

Both brides opted for custom-made dresses/outfits by top Barcelona fashion designer Ze Garcia. Perfectly matching each of their signature styles both the designs were statement making in equal measure. Aida opted for a long, flowing strapless tulle ballgown with a cut-away back while Alba Paul chose a white tuxedo with a low-cut blouse and strappy sandals, in line with her more tomboy aesthetic. 

Their hairstyles were also very different: while Alba left her long hair on the fly with a simple collected aside, Dulceida opted for low and collected with a gold crown courtesy of Madame de Rosa and Christ Bañez, both fellow bloggers.

The rest of the celebrity wedding was suitably cool, fun and joyous. Retiring to an outside party venue nearby the newly-weds and their guests danced, drank and eat into the night backdropped by twinkly fairy lights and cobble stoned buildings. Alba changed into her second dress in the evening, this time a more fitted yet still flowing lace dress with cut-away sleeves and relaxed bateaux neckline.’

End of 2016 blog post.

Its funny how time can really change how you feel about something, its ability to be right or wrong. Now, obviously what I said was not disgusting or offensive (I believe), but what I think I shouldn’t have suggested is that gay weddings should not be given publicity from a financial point of view. Just because there are fewer homosexuals than there are heterosexuals should not mean that gay weddings or gay celebrity weddings are given less coverage. A bride or groom looking for wedding ideas should be able to get as much inspiration from a gay wedding as they do from a straight one. If you’re a bride, half the time there’s two wedding dresses on show! If we were to compare this to race, it would be like someone not able to like a shirt they’ve seen online because its being modelled by a black guy. This sort of behaviour needs to stop, but it will only come with education from respected peers – and at the moment those peers aren’t parents or teachers, they’re newspapers and websites. If we’re focusing just on weddings, then we need to see more people from all genders, races and styles featured in the glossy magazines, blogs and ad’s – so we don’t just see leggy blondes on our front covers! But the flip side of all of this is that these days everything is online, the traditional print magazines are dropping like flies and moving all their focus to their websites. What this means is that if you are, for example, a gay-black-transexual looking for an S&M themed wedding, you’ll probably find what you’re looking for in a couple of clicks. The irony is that back in 2016 print wedding media was still around, it was fading but there was still money being pumped into its advertising by big brands. Now that it has died out that changes the way brides get their wedding ideas and celebrity wedding inspiration. Why would they visit brides.com when they can look at a wedding blog that is already tailored to their taste and location.

All of this doesn’t change advertising and marketing by the big brands, this still needs to change with the times. Although we may be seeing more ‘black brides’ featured in ads it is still not enough, without being forced, the public needs to engage with people from all ethnicities, genders and sexualities on a daily basis in order to normalise something which should, honestly not even be something worth writing a blog post about.

Rant over, enjoy a video of the big day below courtesy of Dulcieda herself.

Photography by Abel Bueno, Pablo Escudero & Gerard Estadella

To view Dulcieda’s blog and see more pics from her big day click here