Jennifer and Dylon tied the knot at their destination wedding at Secrets Akumal Riviera Maya in Tulum, Mexico. The darling couple (who embraced their social media side) shared with us the details of their big destination day!
From Jennifer…
There were several people who made our day perfect. Elisa Guadarrama, the wedding coordinator at Secrets Akumal. Elisa made sure that every little detail was taken care of so that we didn’t have to worry about anything. I thought a destination wedding would be so much easier than one here, but coordinating with someone in another country proved to have its challenges. Elisa was great to work with- very responsive and helpful. She is very laid back and has it all under control.
Since the resort had only opened a few months prior, I had my concerns. My sister, mother and I ended up visiting the resort in February to meet with Elisa. It was nice to be able to see everything in person and finalize details. She spent a lot of time walking us through everything. And then once we arrived for our actually wedding, she was right there for us—from arrival, to rehearsal dinner, to ceremony. I couldn’t have asked for a better wedding coordinator, we had ZERO complaints about our wedding, it was such a great experience.
Inspiration for the big day design? The beach! I knew all along that I wanted a destination wedding. I didn’t really have a color scheme in mind. When looking for bridesmaids dresses, I knew I didn’t want the typical bridesmaids dress. I found a navy silk print dress at J.Crew that had some faded flowers in different shades of blue. So, shades of blue with touches of gold became my color scheme, which fit nicely with a beach wedding.
We had welcome bags for each our guests that included a personalized canvas bag (we screen printed on the bags), sunglasses, koozies, a rally towel, playing cards, aloe, some aspirin and Pepto tablets, an itinerary of events along with some drink suggestions for the resort, and a “Clark” candy bar to represent our last name. I (with the help of my super talented mother) also designed, printed, and made the wedding day programs. I was really pleased with how they turned out and several people asked what company we had print them. They looked very professional, but had lots of personal touches that made them just the way I wanted! My original plan was to order a design from Etsy, but I found the designs were limited in what I could change, the organization of the layout, etc.
Favorite moments from the day?
Having the 1st time my husband see me be when I was about to walk down the aisle towards him. We chose not to do a first look before the wedding (even though it would have made pictures a lot easier!). It was such a magical feeling. I’m really glad this is something we didn’t budge on.
We had my maid of honor (my sister) and his best man (his brother) help officiate the wedding. We put a lot of time and energy into thinking exactly what we wanted to include and what wasn’t as important to use as part of the ceremony and had it all typed up for them, but they added their own personal touches. My sister had asked us the reasons why we wanted to marry the other, and she read our responses. His response was so touching and was the part of the ceremony that meant the most to me. Having them officiate the wedding versus someone who hardly knows us meant the world to us!
The week of our wedding, we decided to add fire-dancers and extend our reception an extra hour. Even though this put us above our budget, it was so worth it! Some other touches I really liked was the guitar player for our ceremony and a Caribbean trio playing during the cocktail hour.
I married into a family of really talented singers. My husband’s brother sang a song to us at the reception just after dinner was served. And then as the night when on, other people felt enough liquid courage to grab the mic and sing along to some of our favorite songs and they ROCKED it!
Congratulations to the newlyweds!
Destination Wedding Photographer: Be Photography
Wedding Vendors: Venue, Catering, and Accommodations: Secrets Akumal, Wedding Dress: House of Brides (Chicago), Dress Alterations: Classic Tailors (Houston), Bridesmaid Dresses: J.Crew
