Toes in the sand, gorgeous florals covering every nook and cranny, and chandeliers hanging from the trees. If that sounds like an absolute dream come true (and it totally does for me), then this wedding designed by Sea Of Dreams Weddings and captured by Joann Arruda is going to seriously make your day. It’s image after image of pure pretty, and you can see it all here.
From the Bride…Dave actually surprised me by popping the question on a freezing beach (I didn’t want to get out of the car!) in Martha’s Vineyard where we spend as much time as we can in our little home with our big dog. Dave and I have been together for almost five years and as much as we both loved the Vineyard we both wanted 3 things, to get married on the beach, a small intimate wedding and a place to visit on our 5 year anniversary. I 35 and Dave 45, have been to a lot of weddings and really wanted our wedding to be an experience shared and not rushed, a time where we remembered conversations, laugh’s and experiences outside of just the ceremony and reception, therefore we choose a long weekend extravaganza, with the actual wedding on December 7th in Punta Mita Mexico. It was a difficult decision, as we knew many friends and family would not be able to make the trip but we also knew that they loved and supported us from whatever vantage point they were on that day and for our life together.
I never grew up wanting a big fancy dress and a big fancy wedding. I actually never fanaticized about my wedding at all. So when I was faced with the absolute fact we would have to come up some ideas it was a bit daunting, all the wedding magazines and websites! Finally I came across a picture of a chandelier hanging from a tree…and I fell in love. I always wanted a big tree in my wedding since I had visited Jamaica’s Montego Bay’s Almond Tree beach bar back in college (with my BF/ now one and only bridesmaid) it always stuck with me, how cool a tree on the beach! Dave loved the idea of The Tree of Life and I think this idea spoke to him also, which was great. We didn’t want a formal wedding, but elements of shabby chic mixed with a crazy idea (Chandeliers hanging from tree’s) that just made it relaxed yet classy and comfortable (shoe’s off everyone!)
When you have a destination wedding you figure out pretty quickly that you can’t ship everything you want, and you can’t have everything you want so the crazy theme before stated, was somehow translated to our BRILLIANT wedding planner Yazmin via Pinterest. On our site visit she had the most amazing chandeliers, we showed her pictures of flowers we loved and we wanted to incorporate succulents for greenery into the mix. We like different sized, colored antique looking glass vases, the simplicity of small details we craved such as luggage tags as place settings, first dance to sparklers, floating sky lanterns as a tribute to the wonderful grandmothers we both had and just basically how we wanted our wedding to be memorable to everyone in a different way, something that touched them and they would keep with them. Our color was different shades of purples, pinks and creams however we didn’t really focus on that too much, ha Dave even forgot the Men’s ties…so luckily I had packed 4 of his purple ties and it all worked out just dandy.
We didn’t taste the cake before or see the actual flowers, we didn’t touch the linens or even give the DJ a real specified list of songs but somehow not one thing was done less than if I had done all of those things myself. Now you might think, oh she’s the kind of bride who would go along with anything and be happy, not so my friend, not so. I can tell you that I sent thousands of emails, had spreadsheets that almost divorced me before I was married and had ‘a few’ pages on pintrest so I was definitely into communicating what we wanted for our special day.
Oh and also, the days leading up to our wedding were magical spending time with family from Ireland and friends we hadn’t seen in years! My ‘Husbands’ family had a bright and fun Mexican themed beach party for our welcome dinner the Friday night before for all our guest including a 12 piece Mariachi band that were out of this world and incredibly memorable. We had a pool party on the Thursday afternoon to get the party started and show our appreciation for all of those who had traveled many many miles to be with us on our special day.
Our wedding and days leading up to it was a perfect celebration of who we are separately and who we are together. I wouldn’t change a thing (even the cigar roller who Dave snuck in the night before….sneaky cat.)
Photography: Joann Arruda Photography | Floral Design: Francisco Salazar | DJ: Edwin Uribe | Acoustic Musical Trio: Trio Acapulco | Hair + Make-Up: Brisa del Mar Palapa | Lights & Dance Floor: Curiel Producciones | Mariachi: Real De America | Rehearsal Dinner: Four Seasons Hotel St. Louis | Wedding Ceremony + Reception: Le Meridien | Wedding Design + Planning: Brisa del Mar Palapa