Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1121563
74 T essa Mugica — formally Teresa Mugica Montana, Baroness of Essendine — and Robert Montana had just finished lunch at Da Gelsomina in Anacapri, Italy, when Rob popped the question. It was just a year into their courtship, but Rob — an emergency medicine physician who now runs the foundation Cross Cultural Care (globalC3), which provides free medical care in Liberia and other war- torn countries — was ready. They were in Southern Italy to attend the wedding of Tessa's oldest brother, Jose Miguel Mugica, and his fiancée, Simona Durante. Tessa and Rob met while working at the Vatican — she as an art historian in the Vatican's secret archives, he as a Pontificio Consiglio delle Comunicazioni Sociali. "We were on the top of a hill overlooking the sea," Tessa says. "It was very natural, spontaneous and beautiful." In short, she says, "Rob wanted to come to the wedding as my fiancé." What followed was a wedding in many steps. In Dallas, where Tessa has lived for 17 years, the couple wed in a civil ceremony in the presence of Tessa's 15-year-old daughter, Carlota Fedorko, and Rob's parents, sisters, nieces, nephews, and his 103-year-old grandfather. "We were married in front of a judge at the Hôtel St. Germain, where we had a beautiful dinner and hired a French band called La Pompe," says Tessa. "It was intimate, and perfectly romantic, but we wanted to celebrate our marriage in front of God and our family and friends, honoring my Catholic traditions in Spain." Planning began for a proper regal wedding in Seville, that would ensue a few months later over the course of several days. BY CHRISTINA GEYER. PHOTOGRAPHY ERNESTO VILLALBA. LOVE AND TRADITION Bride Tessa Mugica and her groom, Robert Montana