South Norwood Tourist Board

After 10 years together, Lucy & Juan have realised that the only thing their love is missing is a betrothal of their love for each other conducted by SNTB, in the most romantic place in the world South Norwood.

We will be celebrating 10 years together this month. We met in a dreary, cramped social services office in South London in August 2004, where we happened to work together for just a few weeks. Sparks flew. Lucy recalled, ‘Juan was devastatingly good looking, expressively sincere and possessed the most heart-felt and infectious laugh I had ever heard.’ Juan was taken by, ‘Lucy’s genuine smile, her tone of voice, and her perfectly fitting blue jeans’ the moment the new girl walked in. Lucy was introduced to everyone in the office. Juan waved at her. ‘I was standing up whilst on the phone, like Fidel Castro giving orders at the Bay of Pigs battle. At least that’s how I hoped I came across. I was very passionate about my work then. I was very happy to see someone like her walk in and make my day just like that.’

In September of that year, Lucy’s heart sank as Juan took off to Bristol to study a social work MA. ‘As I had just completed my studies I offered to ‘help him with his essays’ and we swapped email addresses.’   A long distance courtship ensued. We never knew that the Mega bus could be so romantic. We had much in common, Hednesford (Staffordshire) and Havana (Cuba) our places of birth both start with an ‘H’ after all. We shared a love of food, dancing and politics. Soon Lucy’s passion for football and film and Juan’s for social justice and living life became shared. La espontaneidad (spontaneity) entered Lucy’s vocabulary and life was changed for good. Juan: ‘Lucy brought back romance and excitement into my life and after 10 years I still feel the same.’ After flirting with Crystal Palace and Gipsy Hill we moved to our first home together in South Norwood in 2008, and have never looked back. Our two children; Federico (5) and Matilde (2 and a ½) were born in Croydon University hospital and we became a family. We love our community (except for the dog shit, Paris has a problem too) and feel so happy to be in such a diverse and vibrant place as South Norwood. Thank you to South Norwood Tourist Board for giving us the opportunity to tie the knot in the place that we live and love, and for saving us a few quid too.

Viva la vida, viva South Norwood!

Three couples have now come forward and we wish them all well as we count down to the big day.