Inside Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez’s intimate wedding day in Portugal

Cristiano picks up the story: “I had my back to her and then I turned around and saw her. Our eyes met, and from that point on it was…”

“It was a dream,” Georgina suggests.

“Yes, a dream,” says Cristiano. “I know she’s the love of my life, and I think I am”—he pauses and grins—“I think she thinks I’m the love of her life.”

The following year, twins Eva and Mateo were born and also Alana, and in 2022 they welcomed another set of twins, Bella and Ángel. Sadly, only Bella survived, and together with Cristiano Jr, they form a large family.

“The children know that our time belongs to them,” Georgina says. Both she and Cristiano, who grew up in Spain and Portugal, respectively, come from what Georgina describes as “less structured families.” It’s important to both of them to show their children “the value of having nothing and of having everything.” At the wedding, the children will be, in Georgina’s words, “protagonists, as they are in all our days.”

Given the origins of their romance, they will, of course, be wearing Gucci. When we speak, Georgina has just taken receipt of her white silk faille skirt suit and matching satin shoes with the signature silver horsebit detail. Cristiano’s custom light beige cotton suit and custom loafers and the children’s matching outfits are due to arrive the following day.

Georgina in her Gucci wedding day look.

Photographed by Juergen Teller

“It felt incredibly special to dress Georgina and Cristiano for this moment, knowing their love story began in a Gucci store in Madrid,” Gucci’s artistic director, Demna, tells me. “There is something so romantic about it—a beautiful circle closing, almost like a modern fairy tale.”

Georgina adds that Demna understood right away what they were trying to do. “He’s not going to dress us up,” she explains. “I didn’t want us to go into a day that was so simple for us in costumes.” The wedding photos will be taken by Juergen Teller, the provocateur known for his artfully stark images. They chose him, Georgina says, because “his photographs are art. I didn’t want the typical boring family album. I wanted an artistic one that would last forever.”