Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Luz Weddings does it again. We’re totally obsessed with their fab captures of this epic destination Jewish wedding, from the artsy minimalist couples’ shoot to the fantastic emotion of Lian and Amir’s big day.
The LA-based couple wanted something different, and did they ever find it in Mexico City! Their venue, former 17th-century convent called Ex-Convento San Hipolito, is not only totally breathtaking, it also has a secret, ultra-meaningful Jewish history that the couple’s rabbi revealed to them on the day.
We’re experiencing some serious FOMO drooling over Lian and Amir’s incredible kosher Mexican catering menu – we’re talking ribeye tacos, quesadillas, churros, and even an LA-style fruit cart! (Fittingly enough, the groom wore taco socks.)
Oh, and did we mention there’s an exquisite papercut ketubah by Israeli artist Enya Keshet, purchased from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Ketubah.com?
Now over to Lian, who looked so elegant in both of her gorgeous Maggie Sottero gowns…
How we met
Lian, the bride: Amir and I went to the same high school and had seen each other here and there, but never really spoke or hung out. Fast forward 15 years, my mom’s cousin was having a big party at his house, which I wasn’t planning on going to since my birthday was the day before and I wanted to go out with friends.
The moment I walked in the party and saw Amir, something inside me screamed ‘Yes’! When we said ‘hi’ to one other, it was more of like, ‘oh hey long time no see what was your name again?’ We hit it off right away and spoke all night, with both our families’ eyes watching us – which was so funny. It was great and he turned out to be the best birthday present ever.
Destination: Mexico
Amir and I are both from Los Angeles, but after looking at venues in LA, San Diego and Palm Springs, we decided we wanted something different. We finally decided to get married in Mexico City at a stunning venue called Ex-Convento San Hipolito, an ex-convent from the 17th century.
Mexico City has a huge and affluent Jewish community, so we knew it would be fairly easy to find a rabbi and kosher caterer as well as a DJ that knew Hebrew/Jewish songs.
When we first started looking into Mexico City as a potential location for our wedding, we googled “weddings in Mexico City” and the first picture we saw was San Hipolito. That basically did it for us. We booked the place before seeing it in person – which I wouldn’t recommend for everyone, but we got lucky.
On the night of our wedding, our rabbi revealed to us that in the 17th century, the nuns at San Hipolito hid Crypto-Jews from persecution, and that we were honoring their memory by having our wedding there. That got me all emotional and made the night even more special.
Mexico City Vibes
The theme was essentially a destination wedding in Mexico City. We wanted a unique wedding that represented who we are as individuals and as a couple. We wanted an intimate wedding, and one where we could spend more than just a night with the people we love most. Being both Persian and from LA, we were used to 500-person weddings, and we knew that wouldn’t be the case if we did it in Mexico City.
We really could not have done it without two important people – Pamela Strauss Goldman from Wedaways: International Wedding & Travel Planning and our local wedding coordinator, Luchy (Lucia) Ramirez of Eventose3. I connected with Pamela by chance, and she was literally a godsend. From the moment we met her, we felt really good about doing a destination wedding. Pamela connected us with Luchy based on our needs and budget, and they worked together to get us amazing vendors.
Paperless Post
We used Paperless Post for our wedding invitation – we didn’t have time for physical invitations and also wanted a more green option than sending over 600 physical wedding invitations.
Our wedding included so many details that it was also easier to use an online invitation and create a website to lay out all the information our guests needed to know – our website was www.lianandamir.com. I also created a PDF guide for guests that would answer all their questions and have information handy when they were in Mexico City.
Hair + Makeup
Peter Cortez was my talented hair and makeup artist who just got everything so perfectly. I couldn’t decide between having my hair up, down, or changing it up for the party after the ceremony. The first updo Peter did was just the one, and I didn’t even want to put my hair down after that.
The makeup was more natural, as I don’t like a lot of makeup. I was really happy with how I looked and felt.
Two Maggie Sottero Dresses
I had two dresses, and both coincidentally were Maggie Sottero – just love her designs! The first day I went dress shopping with my mom and mother-in-law in LA, I immediately fell in love with the first dress, which has more of a champagne vintage look that very much fit the style of the venue, but we were worried it was not “bridal” enough.
The second one I found, called Autumn, was very bridal and stunning; my mother-in-law started crying when she saw me in it, so I knew it was the one. I couldn’t get both dresses out of my head and couldn’t decide between the two – so I knew I had to have both, or I would regret it. It worked out great, because the vintage dress was so much lighter and easier to wear when were running the streets of Mexico City for our couples shoot.
I wore the more bridal one for the ceremony and through dinner, then changed again into the first dress to be more comfortable.
Sentimental Jewelry
I wore a stunning vintage necklace my mother-in-law gave me as a gift at our wedding shower. It went with the dress so perfectly. My earrings were a gift from Amir’s sister and complemented the necklace. I had a tennis bracelet my mother gave me on my left wrist, and on my right, I wrapped a pearl necklace that was my grandmother’s who passed away a little over a year before the wedding. It didn’t really match, but I didn’t care – I needed to have a piece of her on me and it helped me keep her in my thoughts when we were under the chuppah and throughout the night.
Since we had our wedding in Mexico City, I naturally had to have a rose in my hair. That completed the look.
Badgley Mischka Shoes
I had to have two different shoes to fit the two different dresses! Both were Badgley Mischka and were high and super comfortable. I wore a champagne, strappy peep toe with the first dress that I could run around in during our couples shoot.
For the ceremony, I wore an ivory embellished peep toe pump.
When the dancing started, I quickly changed into high platform sneakers that kept me jumping all night long!
The handsome groom
Amir was so handsome. He decided to go with a white jacket for our couple’s photoshoot and then changed into a velvet black tuxedo jacket for the ceremony and party. He looked so dashing in both I could not keep my eyes off him. I was swooning over my husband to be.
For accessories, Amir had taco socks! They were hilarious. He surprised me with them on the day of the wedding. He finished the look with a velvet bowtie, sleek black cufflinks, suspenders, and shiny shoes that were not too shiny (Versace).
A Surprise Chuppah
Believe it or not, I had no idea what the chuppah would look like and did not see it until I walked in for the ceremony! My florist understood my style and knew my obsession with baby’s breath (gypsophila), greenery and candles, so she took that and made it look magical. I was really happy when I walked in and saw Amir under a beautiful chuppah waiting for me to join him.
An Emotional Ceremony
The ceremony was really special. Under the tallit of my late grandfather, Amir and I shared our vows in front of family and friends. I was an emotional mess, just crying the whole time.
Our rabbi was the wonderful. Dr. Daniel Fainstein, who is also the Dean of Universidad Hebraica in Mexico City. He was recommended to us through a colleague of mine from Mexico City.
We had never met him in person or seen him officiate or sing at a wedding, so at first, we were a bit nervous. But after our first Skype call, we really liked him and his style. He also spoke and sang in Sephardic Hebrew, which was what we wanted. His style and choice of music was really beautiful and moving and exactly what we wanted.
Ketubah.com
I found a beautiful ketubah by an Israeli artist Enya Keshet at Ketubah.com – it was modest yet so detailed with the papercut design.
Our music choice
This was hard but super fun because Amir and I love so many genres of music – we did a mixture of Hebrew, House/EDM, Persian, English, Spanish/Latin and French music.
Here’s a taste of the different songs we had
The groom walked to ‘Nuestro Secreto’ by Carlos Vives
The bride walked to ‘Can’t Help Falling in Love’ performed by Haley Reinhart
Under the chuppah ‘אהובתי שלי לבנת צוואר’ by Roni Ginosar
First kiss was to ‘Together We Are’ by ARTY which started at 1:33
Entrance song was ‘Pjanoo’ by Eric Prydz
First dance was the classic ‘At Last’ by Etta James
First dance with bride’s father was ‘La Vie en Rose’ by Edith Piaf
The famous flower shower song! ‘Yar Mobarak’ by Shahram Solati – this is a Persian custom and was one of my favorite parts of the night!
Romantic Flowers
I wanted a romantic and simple look, since we felt the venue was already so stunning. I wanted baby’s breath (Gypsophila) and white roses and candles everywhere. The venue has a humongous water fountain in the middle of the courtyard where we had the reception, so we wanted floating candles and white petals in the water with candles all around the perimeter.
Sofia Basave of Casa Delirio brought my ideas to life so perfectly. I never got to see the mockup in person nor did I have any idea what the chuppah would look like, so I really had to rely on her talent and sure enough it was perfect!
Photographer
Ah, the photographer. I had been following Luz Weddings‘ work since I saw their pictures of my friend’s weddings years ago. I fell in love with their minimalistic art and how they captured the personality of the couple. I knew we had to have them for our wedding. They were amazing and I could not be happier with the photos and moments they captured at our wedding. They were fun to work with and made us feel very comfortable.
Mexican Food
Since we were in Mexico City, we wanted Mexican food! Our glatt kosher caterer, Gaucho Grill, prepared a totally different menu from what we are used to in LA, which is Persian food. We had ribeye tacos, quesadillas, sopes and so much more deliciousness, all prepared at a wedding level.
Churros for Dessert
Cake? What cake? We’re in Mexico City, we’re having churros!
Persian Meets Latin
We had a great DJ called DJ Gori from Live Producciones who did an amazing job, considering we had mostly Hebrew and Persian songs. They brought a percussionist and also did some confetti blasts which were fun. They have a cool tradition where they bring a huge white, round skirt with a hole in the middle that the bride and groom stand in while the guests hold the ends of the skirt and shake it while confetti flies through the air. It was amazing!
In the beginning of the night, we had a 3 guitarists play during the cocktails and after the ceremony. Mike García Guitarras Flamencas and his two band mates were amazing and got guests dancing even before the music came on!
Towards the end of the night, we surprised our guests with a live salsa band, called Niche, that came in playing trumpets – this was a dream come true for me. It was so fun and they played Latin songs for about a half hour. It was so fun and memorable for us!
Local Favors
What’s a destination wedding in Mexico without tequila? Luchy, our local wedding planner, took us to the outdoor market in Mexico City and we organized a bag of goodies in line with our Mexico theme including maracas, a bottle opener in a shape of a Corona, a fun package that came with a little sombrero, shot glass, and tequila all in a customized bag. It was fun working on that.
Weekend of activities
Weekend of activities: our wedding was on a Sunday afternoon, so most of the guests arrived on Friday. We organized a Shabbat dinner at the hotel that my parents graciously hosted and that was a great way to kick off the weekend.
Saturday was a day to explore Mexico City and we had recommended tours and activities for our guests.
On Monday morning, we had a farewell breakfast at a nearby restaurant called Saks, which Amir’s family lovingly hosted. It was so wonderful to be able to spend time with all our beloved guests and have them celebrate with us for an entire weekend.
Since we did a destination wedding and most of our guests had never been to Mexico City before, I got in touch with a local tour guide who offered an array of options for our guests at a discounted price – Floating Gardens of Xochimilco, Pyramids etc.
Amir and I decided to do the Floating Gardens of Xochimilco, since it was the best option for a huge group, and whoever wanted to join us could sign up. It was amazing – we were about 50 people on basically a booze cruise, with food, music, dancing and debauchery on these floating boats. Everyone loved it.
450 Floating candles
One of the signature designs of the venue is the hanging candles they place along the ceiling and one of the things that made me fall in love with the space. We had 450 candles hanging in glass cylinders that made the space so magical and romantic – literally looks like they are floating in the air. I didn’t want to leave the room.
Fruit cart
Lian is obsessed with the fruit cart vendors in LA, so we had to have one at the wedding. It was a big hit and the mango was delicious!
Beautiful Speeches
We asked just a few of our family members to give speeches – Amir’s best friend, both our parents, and our sisters with their families. My brother and my cousin also wanted to give a speech which was a fun surprise. The speeches were all beautiful and personal and very special to us.
Getting ready
We involved our families during the preparations and while we were getting ready. Amir had the men help him get ready. Lian had the women – our moms, sisters, aunts, grandma – help me get ready. Each person helped me put on a specific part of my outfit – my dress, shoes, jewelry. It meant a lot to me to have them all around me and contribute to my getting ready for the biggest day of my life, just like they’ve contributed to the woman I am today, walking down the aisle.
We also had a room for all the women to get their hair and makeup done – it was really fun as everyone was in and out of the room, dancing and singing in Farsi.
Photobooth
We decided our guests should go away with fun photos from the night, so we had a photobooth – the guests were all drunk by the end of the night so the pictures were hilarious.
Honeymoon
We haven’t gone yet! So many different places we want to go to and can’t decide. Will definitely have Wedaways help us with that!
Advice to couples currently planning their wedding
First decide what you and your spouse-to-be want for your wedding, and STICK TO IT – we got a lot of pushback when we decided to have our wedding in Mexico City. A lot. People close to us, who were unfortunately uninformed about Mexico City, were telling us how it’s a dangerous place, it’s dirty, crazy things like they were scared their children would be kidnapped, Zika – just a lot of negativity and misinformation. A lot of people we love declined coming to our wedding for these reasons, and while we were saddened by their decision, we had to be understanding.
At the end of the day, we were so happy we did it in Mexico City because our wedding was everything we ever wanted – plus, everyone had an amazing time, no one was harmed (thank Gd), and everyone that attended now can’t wait to go back to Mexico City.
Our advice, is that while it’s hard not to give in to family pressure, do not let it dictate where and what kind of wedding you should have – because most of the time, those people do not know what is best and they will likely be wrong. Trust your gut, do your research and make sure you and your spouse have the wedding that YOU BOTH want.
Be organized – If you’re doing a destination wedding, you have to be organized. Amir and I had to go the extra mile to provide our guests with information and a set schedule so that they knew what to expect when coming to a new country.
Lian & Amir’s little white book
Photography – Luz Weddings {offers 10% discount to all members of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club}
Ketubah – Ketubah.com {offers 10% discount to all members of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club}
Wedding planners – Eventose3 and Wedaways
Venue – Ex Convento de San Hipolito
Bride’s dresses – Maggie Sottero
Bride’s shoes – Badgley Mischka
Groom’s shoes – Versace
Hair + Makeup – Peter Cortez
Flowers – Casa Delirio
DJ – Live Producciones
Guitarist – Mike García Guitarras Flamencas
Caterer – Gaucho Grill
Invitation – Paperless Post
Rentals – Alkila
Nanny service – Nunu Pro
Tour Guide – MexCity Tours
Transportation – Tecam
