Planning a Wedding in Rome? You’ll LOVE This Radiant Wedding at Norwegian Embassy in Rome
A Latin Inspired Beach Wedding: Jessabelle & Angel
I adore every bride and groom that we feature on Bespoke Bride but every now and again there is one couple that comes along that you feel an instant connection with. Jessabelle and Angel are certainly one of those couples and they really touched my heart. Jessabelle spoke about her wedding with such passion, you can tell that every ounce of thought and love had gone into making her wedding a reflection of their love, their traditions and their roots.
I was blown away by Jessabelles determination to hold her dream wedding by the sea no matter what was thrown at her, whether it be budget or vendor cancellations, she was a real problem solver and is a brilliant example of how a little imagination can go a long way.
Last but not least it would be awfully rude of me not mention that Jessabelle and Angel were looking forward to being joined by their best man and best friends at their ceremony but at the last minute they were suddenly deployed and sadly could not make it to share the couples special day. Jessabelle spoke of how especially important it was to them that these friends although not present were remembered and supported and so they said a prayer for them at the service to honour the important part they would still play in their day.
I asked Jessabelle to tell me all about it…
“The ceremony was held on Navarre Beach in Florida. I am Mexican and my husband is Puerto Rican so it was very important for us to show our roots and traditions within our wedding. We began by creating an authentic Latin menu, that would be easy to come by for any chef. It was delicious and included items like pernil, arroz con gandules, and a fajita bar.
I had planned this wedding for a year but couldn’t find a committed baker until 2 months out! I wanted a cake that would show the beauty of Hispanic/Latin culture. I wanted it to include Spanish tiles, a tropical filling, bright colors and our toppings were two figures representing El Dia de Los Muertos. Emily it was perfect, delicious and I think I ate it for a week after the wedding. Lol. I also had small cookies called biscochitos (anise flavored cookies) as party favors and along side the cake. My Tia Licha makes these and I grew up eating them … really warms my heart. :’)
Anyway, we gave ourselves a budget of $15,000 but found that very difficult to come by – due to the fact that we were having a beach wedding along the Emerald Coast. Everything was so expensive and at one time I even thought we were going to have to cancel. That was until I saw a picture of a wedding at a beach house. We came up with the idea of renting a beach house, having our parents and the wedding party (brothers & sisters) stay in it and having the reception underneath. It was brilliant and so cost efficient. Our parents and wedding party split the cost of the house ($150 each for one week) and voila! our venue was paid for. 😀
My wedding planner did an amazing job decorating with maracas, papel picado (banners) in bright multi colors. We accented the tables with the phrase from our first dance “soy incondicionale, un amor tan real“ which means ‘I’m unconditional, a love that is real’. Our colors were turquoise, grey and yellow.
The men wore grey suits, bridesmaids wore a bright yellow and we accented with turquoise heels and jewelry. I had my garter and shoes made from a vendor that I found on Etsy. I gave my bridesmaids a makeup bag filled with my favorite soaps, and trinkets from local stores and farmers markets in the area. My husband gave his groomsmen and day out on a boat to do deep sea fishing. The deep sea fishing helped out for our rehearsal dinner and with cost. We decided to have a big fish fry and lay out by the beach.
My husband is a DJ and so you can imagine the difficulty of finding somebody “as good as he is.” Haha! Surrounded by friends in the same business, we decided to fly in our best friend and have him DJ our wedding. The cost was $400 for a round trip ticket and $150 for a week at the beach house. This was ten times better than a $1500 DJ.
We ate, we cried, we laughed and danced the night away to salsa and bachata. It was beautiful!
My best advice for couples is to support small businesses. As I mentioned earlier I began planning our wedding well over a year before the big day, but all my vendors bailed out so I began searching on Facebook for individuals that didn’t have a big name and worked from home. It was because of this that I received the best results. There IS a way to plan a beach wedding that is cost efficient.
Your wedding represents you, your husband and your roots. Remember you are bringing two families together, not impressing your guests with silly party favors (that they’ll end up throwing away). Nothing is too cheesy, too cheap or not enough. Have fun with your wedding and make sure it is a reflection of where you two come from.”
Super Suppliers – Photographer: Kate’s Captures Photography//Event Planner: White Sand Weddings// Submitted via Two Bright Lights//
Doesn’t all that food just sound totally delicious, my mouth is watering at the very thought! And that cake, did you see the Dia de Los Muertos figures, they are so much fun!!
We wish Jessabelle and Angel all the love in the world for the future together, we really couldn’t wish to meet a nicer couple!
Much Bespoke Love
Emily x
Thank you, thank you! The blog is beautiful!
I am so glad you liked it Jessabelle, it was a joy to feature your wonderful wedding 🙂
xxx
Thank you for the feature!! It was a lovely wedding to photograph!! -Kate
It was our pleasure Kate,thank you so much!
xxx