real wedding: jesse and thom

I'm really excited to share Jesse and Thom's Wedding with you. When I first looked through their wedding portfolio, I was blown away by the color and the depth of the photos. I emailed Jesse right away and begged her for all the details. I wanted to know everything. (I also wanted to book my own Mexican holiday right away!) When you read Jesse's comments below, you'll be blown away too. This Brooklyn couple infused their personalities into every corner of their destination wedding. Tomorrow I'll post more from their day after shoot with their photographers, Our Labor of Love. As if it could get any better than this...We got married on April 5th, 2008 in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico which is in central Mexico - about 3 hours from Mexico City. We chose SMA because it's a small artist town with amazing architecture. A lot of ex-pats live there so we thought our less-traveled guests would feel comfortable there as well. And they have darn good tequila!Q. How would you describe your wedding style?

A. Um, non-wedding. I haven't been to many weddings and I was never into the big wedding thing. In fact, I wanted to elope but it was important to my husband to have a celebration. And we do love big parties so that's what we were really trying to do - bring everyone together for great food, drinks and music. Q. What were some of the details you enjoyed designing the most?

A. I'm an Etsy-addict so the wedding was the perfect excuse to contact some of my favorite artists and have custom works created. I loved the boutonnieres we had made. We also ordered rehearsal dinner details (place cards, coasters and garlands) by Letteria, pillow boxes with our names by Field and Sea and custom candy from Papabubble (not etsy - but so friggin' amazing!). We had custom converse for all the groomsmen with their names on them and a tequila tasting table with amazing local tequila. We also had a fantastic local band that got everybody going - Pila Seca. Perhaps my very favorite detail was our specialty cocktails which were really tied to who we are and how we came to be. Q. What was the greatest source of inspiration behind your wedding?

A. I love hot spicy food. And Mexico was a strategic decision. Our whole wedding was spicy - in flavor and feeling. I had chili peppers in my bouquet as well as in the food!

Q. How did you pick your vendors?

A. Each person we chose to be a part of our celebration was a joy to work with and added a special something to our experience. But - without a doubt - Whitney and Jesse from Our Labor of Love are two of the most amazing people I've ever met. They are beyond talented. I ran across them on WeddingBee, saw their website, spoke to them and fell in love immediately. I had talked with several photographers that fit our requirements - would travel, non-traditional and a mix of photo-journalism and location "day-after" magic. Then we met them and they blew our minds. We were them - they were us. And it was so perfect to have them part of this intensely personal experience. They're even coming to Thanksgiving this year!

The only other thing I would add is that we're both vegetarians and planning food (for three days!) for 80 people is not easy - but including our specific tastes was another issue entirely. I'm really proud that we were able to have diverse, flavorful food that catered to everyone's tastes - the vegans and meat-eaters alike. In Mexico, no less! It wasn't easy and took a lot of negotiating and trust (we weren't there to taste everything) but we managed to have a great range of food.In the end, it was a lot of work but it was so us - and worth every stress-pimple, torn fingernail and tearful moment.

{Photo credits: Our Labor of Love}