November 30, 2019

Adam and I got married in San José del Cabo in México, where I am originally from. We spent a bit over a year in the planning and went through so many emotions, from intense happiness, to tears, to sleepless nights and stress, and everything in between.

The wedding venue was really special for me; it was held at what used to be the first market and Ford dealership in town owned by my grandfather. It took my aunt (with some of my help) over a year to restore the 150-year old warehouses to turn it into an event space whilst maintaining its original charm. The venue is now called Goncanseco. We refurbished some supermarket counters and used them as the bars, original metal sheets as decoration for the wood-fire comal station, old wood planks for doors, and dirt from the space to make hand-made bricks for the floor. It ended up being a magical place with so much history and meaning.

The religious ceremony took place on the atrium of the historic Parroquia de San José. Nobody has ever done a wedding outside in that space like that so it felt unique, nothing like that natural light and breeze during the ceremony. We had a Catholic wedding but were able to do the Jewish tradition of the breaking of the glass, and half of the readings were read in English which was the way we chose to integrate Adam’s family traditions. The ceremony was followed by a traditional Mexican wedding processional from the church to the venue as the mariachi and mojigangas (big tall puppets made out of papier mâché) guided us, and all of our guests, through the main plaza.

We wanted a wedding that felt uniquely Mexican, and worked with artisans and creators to select items that complemented the venue. Some of the things we incorporated on our tablescape were hand-carved candles, amber hand-blown glasses, and custom Oaxacan clay plates. We decorated the venue with custom papel picado with bridal motifs and our names on them suspended above the cocktail area; we also created a floating papel picado installation above the dance floor to resemble a fluffy paper cloud. We built a comal station for midnight quesadillas, and a cantina with artisanal Mexican beer and cocktails. To frame the dance floor, we used a mix of rectangular tables with tablecloths along round equipal tables (traditional Mexican furniture); the different shapes and styles gave the space warmth and texture.

Our dear friend Enrique Olvera designed the menu and cooked at our wedding along Daniela Soto-Innes from Cosme, Luis Arellano from Criollo, mixologist Yana Volfson, and the rest of their team. The food was out of this world. As suggested by Enrique, we opted for family style so guests could try as many dishes as possible and to make it more interactive among them. The menu included guacamole, tlayudas, cauliflower al pastor, the most delicious fish, Cosme’s famous corn husk meringue, churros, and midnight quesadillas.

We decided to take dance lessons to learn basic steps for our first dance but our teacher ended up convincing us on learning a simple choreography. It was a struggle, and we were very nervous, but it ended up being so much fun dancing in front of our 300 guests. Definitely one of the highlights of the night. We asked for a special mix of a slow rumba English version of Sway that would then turn into the Spanish version Quien Será, in a faster-paced salsa style. You can listen to the mix below, we loved it!

It was really special for us to have friends from all over the world and different parts of our lives celebrating with us on such a memorable day. Definitely a night to remember!

Special thanks to my mom for making the wedding of my dreams possible.