Two Aberdeen accountancy graduates are closing the books on single life... and beginning their professional lives together.
Love really does add up for Claudette Castrence and Cedie Herrera who have been taken on by accountancy firm MHA as part of the latest intake of graduate students, just months before their wedding.
Claudette (28) and Cedie (32) met through mutual friends in 2015, studied accountancy and finance together at Robert Gordon University and got engaged on board a cruise ship last summer. And now the couple will embark on the start of their careers at MHA’s Aberdeen office before marrying next March in Inverurie. They will be part of a five-strong intake - Claudette working in the tax department, while Cedie and the remaining students and graduates will take up posts in audit and accounts.
"It’s great that there will be someone there from the start who I know, although it’s definitely a good thing that we’ll be in different departments. We’re very much our own people and will do our own thing. It’s a brilliant opportunity to do our graduate placements at MHA where there is such a strong emphasis on developing the next generation."
Claudette and Cedie got engaged in July 2024 while on a cruise around Santorini, Athens, Croatia, Dubrovnik and Split.
She added: “I wasn’t expecting it at all. We’d been together for nine years, but we were still studying so it wasn’t in my mind. I hadn’t even been hinting! It was a really nice surprise during a formal night on the ship just before dinner. I didn’t even take in what he was saying, I was so conscious of being in public.”
The couple, who live in Dyce, Aberdeen, have wedding plans firmly in place.
"My grandma and aunt are coming from the Philippines and my mum’s side of the family are coming from America. Cedie has family in Dubai, so everyone is coming from far-flung places. It’ll be a big family reunion – a chilled, fun day with family and friends. I booked everything for the wedding early after doing my exams and I’m really glad that I did as it takes the stress out of it all, especially now I’m starting a new job", Claudette explained.
She finished "it’s funny that we came through uni together and now have our graduate placement together. We’ve absolutely found our thing.”
Photo credits: Scott Arlow Photography
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