REAL WEDDING
CARLA SEBASTIAN OUR LADY OF LOURDES CHAPEL, GHAJNSIELEM TA’ CENC IL-KANTRA RESTAURANT, SANNAT
A minimal and meaningful Mediterranean celebration Newlyweds Carla Grima and Sebastian Ripard tell Sarah Muscat Azzopardi how they pulled off their memorable wedding weekend in Gozo last June, and how they didn’t let COVID restrictions get in the way of their special day. P H OTO S B Y DAV I D Z A M M I T
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t was some 20 years ago when Designer and Creative Director Carla Grima, 33, and Management Consultant Sebastian Ripard, 34, met for the first time as young teens. “Seb was camping with some of our mutual friends, and it all happened over a game of spin the bottle,” Carla laughs, recalling their first encounter. “I knew there was something special about her from the beginning,” admits Seb, though it would be several years before the two got together to make a proper go of it. In 2010, Carla was based in London working for a fashion designer, while Seb was travelling around Europe on an Olympic sailing campaign. “He needed a place to stay in London, so he crashed at my place, which I shared with my housemate, who ended up being my maid of honour at the wedding,” Carla recalls. The next day, she explains, Seb mentioned that he had to drive to Spain to deliver some sails and asked if Carla
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wanted to join the adventure – one that would turn out to be the first of many. “He picked me up in an old Royal Mail van that he had converted into a makeshift caravan. It was full of sails, so the only way we could both sleep in it was if we held onto each other,” she laughs, revealing “it totally felt like he had planned it all.” By the time the pair reached their destination, a relationship had started to form, and they would go on to make it work long-distance for a few years, before moving back to Malta. And, while it would be more than 10 years before the couple tied the knot, they say that it was clear from early on that it was the real deal. “I remember thinking, about two years in, that it was really what I had hoped and imagined a good relationship would be. I felt very comfortable with her and felt like we complemented each other. I knew this could be the person that I build the rest of my life with,” reveals Seb, sweetly.
