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Our rehearsal dinner started off with a traditional callejoneada, a walking parade with oversized puppets of us, all of our guests, a mariachi band, and a donkey. It was incredibly special to walk through the San Miguel cobblestone streets with all our family and friends celebrating, dancing, and eating tequila popsicles!
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I’ve never led a parade before, so this was so much fun—and then Michael spontaneously picked me up, and it was so romantic! Looking back at all our friends and family having the best time made me so happy.
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The oversized puppets were so funny—they were custom!
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The mariachi band was essential to the parade—they were so great and provided such great energy and music!
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I absolutely loved all my printed materials. One of my very best friends, Natalie, is a designer, and she designed all the printed materials. She managed to capture playfulness with modernity with the logo, design details, and the custom Loteria cards—including a custom one of our dog, Omar.
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I saw a picture of another bride with baby’s breath in her hair, and I loved it—I really wanted to recreate it for my look, but it turns out, they are very fragile flowers, and they only stayed in my hair for 20 minutes—but at least I got the photo proof!
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Michael getting ready with one of his groomsmen, Alex—such a sweet moment between two best friends.
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Michael with his groomsmen, who ranged from high school to college to law school friends. They all look so handsome in their navy suits and floral ties.
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Michael looking handsome in his Paul Smith suit. He looks so good in blue. It turns out suit shopping is more grueling than wedding dress shopping!
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Me and my bridesmaids! Whenever we take group photos, we always like to do a “bad girls” shot, which is always the best shot.
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Each bridesmaid picked their own dress. I was open to style and color if it was complementary to persimmon orange and Aperol spritzes. They all looked so incredible together, especially against the dusty colors of San Miguel!
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Our first look—I’m so happy we did a first look, so we could have this special moment of first seeing each other just to ourselves. We both smiled so big.
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This is one of the walls that made me want to get married in San Miguel. I love the colors of the city and all the beautiful bougainvillea all over.
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One of my favorite photos—I love the contrast of Michael’s navy suit with the deep brick red wall.
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San Miguel’s cobblestone streets, beautiful architecture, and lush greenery make it feel European. I love this little corner of San Miguel right by Casa Chorro, where we got married.
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My friend, Leah, brought a plastic butt to my bachelorette, and it made its way to the wedding too—everyone was having so much fun playing with it. It was a hit on the dance floor too!
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All our best friends in one picture is so special.
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Our groomsmen and bridesmaids in the lush garden of Casa Chorro.
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Walking with my husband down the street in San Miguel.
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It was so special to have my dad walk me down the aisle and see Michael at the end of it. I started crying the second I saw him because I could see he was crying. I couldn’t take my eyes off him the whole time. I walked down the aisle to Sufjan Stevens’s “Mystery of Love,” and it was perfect.
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Our officiants and dear friends, Leah and Alex, created the most beautiful, thoughtful, sweet, and funny ceremony.
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The happiest feeling walking down the aisle with my husband! We walked back down to “We Are Family."
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It was so nice to see all of our family and friends cheering for us and so happy!
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Guests enjoyed margaritas and hibiscus empanadas before the reception.
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Cocktails before the reception—we had a lot of friends that all went to UCSB with us, so it was a bit of a reunion.
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Omar, our Terrier mix puppy, couldn’t come to Mexico, so we made a puppet of him for the callejoneada the night before, so he could be with us, and he made it to the wedding night too.
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Girls just wanna have fun!
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Custom Loteria cards designed by my friend, Natalie, that we made into postcards and were also the table number cards. One of our favorite movies is “Love and Basketball,” so we had a special one made.
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I love spicy food, so I had to make one of the tables the Habanero table.
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My wedding planner found a local artisan to make custom Loteria tiles that matched the postcards for each place setting. I handmade leather name tags as well. I wanted different textures on the table, hence the tile, leather, and kumquat detail.
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I loved my florals—I wanted lots of texture and a rustic feeling. Orange, greens, and whites were the color palette with touches of kumquats.
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I loved my caterer, Maye Cordova Events. Her rustic presentation was perfect, especially these tamales.
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Handmade tortillas on-site were a must!
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Michael and I hardly ate, but everyone said the food was delicious.
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Our first dance was very romantic and sexy. We danced to Kendrick Lamar’s “Love.”
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We didn’t rehearse our first dance at all, but it felt very natural and like we were the only two in the room.
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Right after “Love,” we danced to Childish Gambino’s “Summertime Magic,” which was a last-minute addition. We had a plan to re-enact the music video with Rihanna and Donald Glover, but we never rehearsed. At the last minute, Michael wanted to do it—it ended up being more of a “Magic Mike XXL” live show, but it definitely set the stone for the rest of the night and got the crowd going!
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Churros were essential for the wedding—they are my favorite! We had a custom churro cart all night
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When I started dress shopping, I had no idea what I wanted, except I knew I wanted a low back. I loved my dress so much. It was the perfect mix of elegant and sexy and so easy to dance in.
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My most favorite cake is Ovenly’s Blackout cake (Brooklyn bakery), but when we decided to have a destination wedding, I gave up on that dream. But when my wedding planner asked me what kind of cake I wanted, I asked her if someone could make the Ovenly cake if I sent the recipe, and she found someone to do it, and it was delicious! I was beyond happy to have Blackout cake as my wedding cake!
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Our dear friends, Max and Leah—they are the most fun and danced all night with us. On our marriage license, Max is our witness and Leah is our officiant!
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The dancefloor was definitely nasty in the best way possible—we danced ALL night; it was best night of our lives.
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We met at UCSB, and a lot of our college friends came to the wedding, so we thought it would be appropriate to have a Gaucho pinata (the USCB mascot). Go Gauchos!
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Michael destroyed the Gaucho within three hits—it was filled with Haribo gummi bears (my favorite), tequila bottles, fireball, and Tower 28 products (my sister’s new, clean beauty brand!).
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This was the only time we stopped dancing. Everyone lit sparklers for us, and it was so magical.
