When Alana and TJ, both American entrepreneurs living in Mexico City, set out to plan their Jewish wedding, they knew they wanted to use it as an opportunity to share their beloved adopted hometown with their family and friends – and they found the most perfect venue in Hacienda de Cortes, a gorgeous hotel full of character with space to accommodate guests.
We love how the couple opted to embrace the natural beauty of their venue, opting for a color scheme of all greens when it came to flowers and décor and a wooden chuppah adorned with more greenery – with some disco balls thrown in for good measure!
And we’re especially obsessed with Alana and TJ’s fabulous ketubah from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Tchotchke. In Alana’s words,
All of the designs are things that you’d want to keep on display year round because they’re so beautiful, and we wanted a ketubah we’d love to have up forever. We looked on Etsy and other websites and didn’t love the super traditional options.
Then we found Tchotchke, founded by Adam Paskow, who designed gorgeous menorahs, mezuzah’s and more, and it was hard to pick one as they were all fantastic. Ultimately, we decided on the “shapes” design by Emunah Winer, who has a creative agency, rum and tequila brand. We didn’t know how cool she was before we picked it, but we should have.
Don’t miss it in the stunning images from Efege Photography.
Read on for all the details of this very special day in Alana’s words…
How We Met
Alana, the bride: We met at a dinner in Mexico City! I had been in the city for 4 years and TJ a few months when a 5 person dinner turned into a 17 person dinner and we sat next to each other. Our friend Kate eagerly asked what I thought of him after the dinner as she thought he could “match my energy,” and we exchanged numbers.
We saw each other two nights later, though both were entertaining friends from out of town, and then I invited him to a party, and to my house for a pre-party, which was 8 mostly Spanish speaking women and TJ. Despite not speaking Spanish well yet, he did great. We had a great time at the party and went on a date before he left Mexico to move out of his San Francisco apartment and planed to be back in a month.
During that month we kept chatting and he invited me to join him and his friends in Napa for a birthday trip. Since we barely knew each other I didn’t know what to say or do, so I did nothing. Then he took the pressure off, Kate assured me I wouldn’t get murdered, I decided to go on the trip, it was fantastic, and we’ve been together since!
A Mexico City Wedding
We were so excited to share Mexico City, where we live, with our friends and family, though our dream was to have everyone together in one place. Some of our favorite weekends have been outside of Mexico City with friends in a big house, or hacienda, together.
After hearing what our wishlist for the wedding was, our planners took us to 7 venues in one day, and each one was more gorgeous than the next! The last one we saw, and almost didn’t visit!, was the one we chose – Hacienda de Cortes.
It had so much natural beauty and character, more than enough room for the number of guests we wanted, we had flexibility with what vendors we wanted to work with and room for about 100 guests to stay there. We hoped that it would feel special for our guests and every time we went to visit, we were more pleasantly surprised by all of the different spaces to be able to use. The ceremony, cocktail and party were all in separate spaces in the hotel (though next to each other so it was easy to move from one to the next!), and open air. We’re extremely lucky to have had fantastic weather!
Natural Beauty
We wanted the natural beauty of the venue to shine through, and decided on all greens instead of flowers for the decoration, including the bouquets! The ceremony was in a narrow space with archways throughout and the wooden chuppah had greens decorating the top and bottom.
The party and dinner were in a big open space, and we wanted it to feel like a party, so we put the dance floor in the middle, and covered it with greens and disco balls. Our planners, Kismet, did a fantastic job of translating our vision into reality and it looked better than I imagined! Our friend also gave us a ton of Bozal and Pasote, his mezcal and tequila brand as a wedding gift, and we had the beautiful bottles on each table and assigned a “captain” who was in charge of making sure the rest of the table was drinking 🙂
Hair + Makeup
Bailee Wolfson is an incredible makeup artist and also happens to be one of my best friends! She did my makeup for the rehearsal dinner and not only made me feel so beautiful, she kept the day of / getting ready both calm and fun.
Our hairdresser got sick and showed up 2 hours late, and his fantastic assistant ended up doing my hair!
A Sarah Seven Dress
Ooooh man, the dress! The original one I ordered didn’t arrive on time, and I was very lucky to have found one I liked even better at The White Room in Minneapolis. They really saved the day! It is a Sarah Seven sample and loved how simple, modern and gorgeous the silk was.
Accessories
I wore my Aunt Janet’s earrings and bracelet, which my cousin brought for me. She passed away nearly 10 years ago, and it was so wonderful to feel her presence celebrating with us that day.
Ceremony & Chuppah
We wanted the chuppah design to fit in with the setting, and decided on wood with greenery!
Our friend, Julia Winston, did us the huge favor of being our officiant. She spent time interviewing us, our family and friends, to get our story from a handful of different angles and went above and beyond what we hoped for!
It was incredibly thoughtful, incorporated the Jewish traditions we chose, and had everyone both laughing and crying. She told everyone that she’s not a rabbi at the start, as everyone would have mistaken her for one if not, since she led the ceremony like someone who has done it hundreds of times. She hosts an incredible podcasts called Refamulating, which examines relationships and families in all of their forms; i highly recommend it (and you can easily see why she’d be the best officiant of all time)!
TJ’s favorite part of the ceremony: seeing Alana come down the aisle, smashing the glass. Funniest part: TJ being unable to repeat the vows Julia read to him. Alana’s favorite part of the ceremony: hearing TJ’s vows, Julia’s Wiener (mobile) joke, looking out at all of the people I love in one place!
Ketubah
Our ketubah was incredibly special! It’s from Tchotchke which has the most original, gorgeous menorah’s, candlesticks+.
All of the designs are things that you’d want to keep on display year round because they’re so beautiful, and we wanted a ketubah we’d love to have up forever. We looked on Etsy and other websites and didn’t love the super traditional options.
Then we found Tchotchke, founded by Adam Paskow, who designed gorgeous menorahs, mezuzah’s and more, and it was hard to pick one as they were all fantastic. Ultimately, we decided on the “shapes” design by Emunah Winer, who has a creative agency, rum and tequila brand. We didn’t know how cool she was before we picked it, but we should have.
Our music choice
Our friend Moncaya, an incredibly talented singer, played the music for our ceremony, and we walked down the aisle to one of her original songs, Stardust! She also created a beautiful rendition of a song my sisters and I used to sing at camp, and I now sing with my nieces and nephews while they walked down the aisle, “I see the moon, and the moon sees me.”
After TJ smashed the glass, we walked back down the aisle together to 6’s to 9’s by Big Wild.
Our first dance: Real Love Baby by Father John Misty
Dance with my dad: Where our Hearts will go by Natale
Dance with our moms: The Way We Were (Barbra Streisand, sung by Natale)
Flowers
Our planner recommended Taller Olivo, and they were 100% right. We were blown away by how incredible the dance floor, disco balls, table settings and bouquets turned out. We chose to go with all greens, including the bouquets and button holes and it all looked gorgeous. It was truly a jungle disco party.
My dad’s friend who worked in landscaping couldn’t believe it was a temporary structure with leaves added.
Photographer and videographer
Our photographer was from Efege Photography.
Food and cake
Our caterers Atipico, served incredible food in the format that lent itself well to the party: stations around the venue, with tacos, mole, ceviche, oysters and a dessert table.
Because of the dessert table, we weren’t going to have a cake, though I changed my mind 2 days before the wedding and ordered a tiny cake from a bakery that I love in Mexico City – Mielmesabe – and my friends brought it to the venue that day for us. I love cake too much not to have one that night. I ate the whole thing the next day.
Honeymoon
We went to Japan! We found Ari with Japan Travel Pros, who is also from Minnesota though has lived in Japan for 10+ years, and his wife to help us to create a great itinerary.
Advice to couples currently planning their wedding
Remember you’re the guests of honor, not the hosts!
ALANA & TJ’S LITTLE WHITE BOOK
Photography – Efege Photorgaphy
Ketubah – Tchotchke
Venue – Hacienda de Cortes
Planner – Kismet
Bride’s dress – Sarah Seven found at The White Room
Makeup – Bailee Wolfson
Flowers – Taller Olivo
Music – Moncaya, Natale
Catering – Atipico
Cake – Mielmesabe
Officiant – Refamulating
Honeymoon itinerary planning – Japan Travel Pros
If you’re a Jewish or Jew-ish bride-to-be, you’ll want to join Smashing The Glass’ Brides Club. Guided by the world’s number 1 Jewish wedding expert, Karen Cinnamon, Brides Club is the private community for Jewish and Jew-ish brides that removes wedstress and indecision and gives you what you need to plan with confidence during these uncertain times. Join our Brides Club here.
