Rafa Nadal to marry childhood sweetheart Mery Perelló on Saturday
Rafa Nadal set to marry childhood sweetheart Mery Perelló on Saturday at opulent British-owned fortress in Majorca complete with Michelin-star menu and glamorous guestlist
- Footballer Gareth Bale tied the knot with Emma Rhys-Jones at the fortress in July
- It is also where the acclaimed BBC thriller The Night Manager, starring Tom Hiddleston, Hugh Laurie and Olivia Colman, was filmed
- Overlooking the bay of Pollensa in north-east Majorca, La Fortaleza was bought by Lord Lupton in 2011 for £30million, despite the original £75million asking price
- The original fort, which is now Spain’s most expensive property, was built in 1628 to defend Majorca against invaders
- Tennis ace Rafa revealed in January that he was engaged to his long-term girlfriend Mery following a 14 year courtship
Rafa [Rafael] Nadal is set to marry his long-term partner, Mery Perelló, on Saturday at at the British-owned fortress La Fortaleza in Majorca.
The 33-year-old tennis ace’s nuptials to his childhood sweetheart, 31, will be a no expense spared affair complete with a Michelin-starred menu and a guest list boasting retired tennis player Carlos Moya and Juan Carlos I of Spain, who is expected to arrive by helicopter.
The idyllic, and hugely popular wedding venue owned by Conservative party donor Lord Lupton – which is where footballer Gareth Bale tied the knot earlier this year – also saw an enormous marquee go up on Thursday.
Impending nuptials: Rafa [Rafael] Nadal, 33, is set to marry his long-term partner, Mery Perelló, 31, on Saturday at at the British-owned fortress La Fortaleza in Majorca (pictured)
No expense spared: The couple’s nuptials will be complete with a Michelin-starred menu and a guest list boasting Juan Carlos I of Spain, who is expected to arrive by helicopter (pictured together in 2015)
Proving to be quite a highly sought out A-list destination, La Fortaleza is also where the acclaimed BBC thriller The Night Manager, starring Tom Hiddleston, Hugh Laurie and Olivia Colman, was filmed.
Two-time Wimbledon winner Rafa has also roped in popular Majorcan chef Macarena de Castro, who will be whetting the appetite of the star-studded crowd at the reception.
The priest that will marry Rafa and Mery, also known as Xisca, has been named as Tomeu Catala.
Speaking to the island paper Diario de Mallorca earlier this month, Tommy gushed: ‘Everyone of the weddings I have been involved in has been special and this one will be the same. I am just going to marry two people who love each other.’
Overlooking the bay of Pollensa in north-east Majorca, La Fortaleza was bought by Lord Lupton in 2011 for £30million, despite the original £75million asking price.
Preparations: The venue owned by Conservative party donor Lord Lupton – which is where footballer Gareth Bale tied the knot earlier this year – also saw a marquee go up on Thursday (Stock image of venue)
History: The original fort, which is now Spain’s most expensive property, was built in 1628 to defend Majorca against invaders
Overhaul: Ahead of Lupton’s purchase, the estate has been transformed and expanded to include seven villas complete with 17 en-suite bedrooms, two swimming pools and a helipad
The original fort, which is now Spain’s most expensive property, was built in 1628 to defend Majorca against invaders.
Ahead of Lupton’s purchase, the estate has been transformed and expanded to include seven villas complete with 17 en-suite bedrooms, two swimming pools and a helipad.
Rafa revealed in January that he was engaged to his long-term girlfriend Mery following a 14 year courtship.
Hello’s sister publication HOLA! revealed that Spanish athlete proposed to Mery in May of 2018 during a romantic trip to Rome.
However, they reported that the couple decided to keep the happy news private for the first eight months of their engagement.
‘Going to marry two people who love each other’: The priest that will marry Rafa and Mery (pictured in February 2018), also known as Xisca, has been named as Tomeu Catala
Perello, born Maria Francisca Perello, is an insurance worker and business graduate.
The brunette beauty also serves as a project director for the Rafa Nadal Foundation, the charity he founded almost ten years ago.
Nadal has made no secret of his desire to have children, saying he is a ‘family guy’ and is looking forward to having his own brood in the not too distant future.
But the dedicated sportsman admitted his tennis career has made it difficult to think about starting a family until now.
He said: ‘I would love to have children, boys, girls… I’m a person who loves kids and I’m a family guy.
‘But also I tell you that the reality is, the years keep passing, I would like to start to do all of this when my sporting life determines it.’
Two-time Wimbledon winner Rafa has also roped in popular Majorcan chef Macarena de Castro, who will be whetting the appetite of the star-studded crowd at the reception (pictured at the 2019 US Open)
He told Essentially Sports, at the end of last year: ‘I have a girlfriend too and I am not alone to take decisions.(sic)
‘You have to suit situations you know. Having family? I don’t know, things are not easy to be predicted. At this age, I thought that I would have already been a former player and that I would have started a family.’
Mery, who is well-known as an incredibly private person, spoke about her relationship with the tennis champ in 2011.
She told The Telegraph in a rare interview: ‘Travelling together everywhere, even if I could, would not be good either for him or for me.
‘He needs his space when he is competing, and just the idea of me hanging around waiting on his needs all day wears me out. It would asphyxiate me.
‘And then he would have to be worrying about me … No. If I followed him everywhere, I think there’s a risk we might stop getting along.’
Smitten: Tennis ace Rafa revealed in January that he was engaged to his long-term girlfriend Mery following a 14 year courtship (pictured in 2010)
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