Our Wedding in Mexico (Part 3)

The third and final post in my wedding in Mexico series will cover all the details!

Note: For those who are looking for advice, I’m including a few things that I wish had gone differently, because I’m a perfectionist like that. These are minor details that I’ve thought of only after overthinking the whole thing a million times. Really, I loved our wedding in Mexico just the way it was!

If you’re just joining me, get caught upon my previous posts in this series:

Our Wedding in Mexico Part 1

Our Wedding in Mexico Part 2

Once we had our location locked in, it was SO much easier to hone in on how I wanted everything to look and feel from my dress, to flowers and tablescapes. I know exactly what I like so I was pretty decisive when it came to the decor and the overall look. A lot of people say Pinterest is more confusing than it is helpful but it was huge for me in communicating to my vendors the overall look I wanted for my wedding in Mexico.

A lot of people wonder how much David was involved in the planning. I consulted him on the big decisions but the details weren’t of much interest to him. I noticed early on that he always agreed with my choice of colors and styles on most things so over time, I stopped asking.

After our Cabo San Lucas Planningmoon in November, things started falling into place even more. The real stress came with tying up details and loose ends two months before the big day. Looking back, I would have hired a personal assistant for this purpose alone. It would have been worth it.

Event Planning
Amy Abbott Events planned the entire day as well as helped with the rehearsal dinner and also coordinated our Mr. & Mrs. party the day after the wedding. Amy was invaluable in setting us up with all our vendors – the best in Cabo! She has everything down to a science, her team is incredibly sweet and she knows practically every vendor on the island. She’s American but makes her home in Cabo and has been planning weddings there for 16 years and counting.

Dress
After months of trying on dresses and coming close to buying a number of them, I tried on a one-shoulder gown by La Sposa. I loved the gown and how it was gathered and ruffled and the way I looked in it. But I wanted to show a little more skin than it revealed. I left the salon and googled the dress over and over again trying to envision myself in it when I fell upon the Datsun  by Pronovias, La Sposa’s sister brand. It was a similar dress with more bling, less lace and a deeper back.

It was MY dress.

I called every bridal salon in Manhattan to find this dress so I could try it on but I discovered it had been discontinued. Desperate to find the dress, I scoured the internet until I found it  – the perfect size, never worn, being sold deeply discounted as a sample at a bridal salon — IN CANADA! A couple of phone calls and emails later, the dress was mine, sight unseen. I had never tried it on and with a few alterations it was perfect in every way. I’m so glad I held out for the right dress.

As for a veil, I thought I would just borrow one (my something borrowed) so that I wouldn’t have to spend the money on one – I’ve never really seen a veil I like. Then it hit me: I don’t like veils. Veils are so not me. I’m not wearing a veil!

I opted for fresh flowers in my hair instead which fit the vibe of the day much better anyway. Done and Done.

David’s perfectly-tailored suit was from Hugo Boss and I’ve never seen him look more handsome than he did that day.

Bridesmaids Dresses

I had decided on simple colors. Neutrals like ivory and gold, because I love gold. When I saw these Alfred Angelo dresses I loved the way they flowed and in some ways resembled my dress. I also loved the fuchsia flower at the waist. This was the deciding factor in adding fuchsia to my color scheme. Besides, I don’t do anything without pink (hello, my web site), so of course there was pink. My junior bridesmaids wore a fuchsia dress in the same color as the flower from the same line.

Flowers
Right away for flowers, I knew I wanted very few. For my bouquet, I was drawn to the look of mostly greenery with pops of fuchsia and ivory for color. I was set on baby’s breath-only bridesmaids bouquets. 

Pina Hernandez did my flowers and tablescapes and oh my gosh swoon. I did feel that my bouquet was way too big for someone as petite as me and covered my dress a lot but the style was exactly how I wanted it. As for the flowers in my hair, one thing Pinterest doesn’t tell you is that flowers wilt when they’re in your hair for 6 hours. They looked gorgeous while they lasted but I wish my planner or Pina had advised me of this. It’s kind of obvious, but brides do tend to get caught up in the idea of things and forget the practicalities.

Cake
On our planning trip our planner introduced us to a sweet woman from Canada who had made her home in Los Cabos and started a cake-making business, Sweet Dreams Cabo. She had baked us five different flavors of cake as mini cupcakes and showed up at our hotel for an al fresco tasting. Her cake is dense and delicious and I had to have the Italian wedding cake. I was also obsessed with naked cakes so thats what we did. The rest of the desserts were provided as part of the set menu by Flora Farms and all I can say is they outdid themselves. I may be sugar free but I can certainly appreciate a dessert table like this.

The remaining layers of our cake were inadvertently left in the refrigerator at the hotel and forgotten. So sad! Not that we would have taken it home with us, but we could have offered it to our guests the next day. Appoint a bridesmaid to be responsible for these things so this doesn’t happen to you.

Photographer 

Photography was important to us as we knew this would be how we’d remember our day. We wanted a photographer who would do anything for the shot and would totally capture the essence of our big day. I knew when I saw Dino Gomez‘s work he was the photographer for us. He did a gorgeous pre-wedding session with us a few days before the wedding which helped us to get to know him and how he works. I sincerely wish I had given him a list of types of shots I wanted because I do feel there were a few that were missed but I’m a total perfectionist like that. Overall, we were so very happy with the thousands of beautiful photos which can be seen throughout this post and there are more on Dino’s web site here along with our unforgettable wedding video.

Hair/Makeup

Blanc Bridal Salon did my hair and makeup for my pre-wedding photography session, my rehearsal dinner (which also doubled as my wedding trial) and my wedding day. Brittany was so sweet and professional so it was great having her as my stylist. One of the downfalls of a destination wedding is that I didn’t get to have an advance hair/makeup trial. The trial was the night of my rehearsal dinner and even though we had two hours, it felt a little rushed. Likewise, on my wedding day, things were rushed as can be expected. I loved how everything turned out, but wish I had more time to make a few tweaks. Time really does fly!

Music
We opted for a DJ for maximum dancing potential (and to save some money) and it worked! The dance floor was packed all night until the wedding ended at Midnight! We weren’t super particular about our playlist except for a few songs, but I wish we had been. There were a few songs (MC Hammer?) that were totally out of place, but our guests were too busy tearing up the dance floor to even notice the one or two songs we didn’t like. 

Wedding Bands

We wanted to keep the wedding bands simple, especially David who now has to get used to the idea of wearing a ring! He chose a thinner, plain platinum band. I wanted to mix and match my metals so I decided on the 18K gold diamond band in the same style as my engagement ring. We love the customer service we get from Tiffany & Co. Customers for life!

More important than any of the details was the love that surrounded us on the best day of our lives. For two people who never expected to get married before we met, we couldn’t have dreamed of a more perfect day more reflective of us as a couple.

If you’ve read to here, thank you for following along on my special journey and for allowing me to take some space on my blog to share about this special day! It means so much to me.