Carla + Tom by Mariana Barbosa

I wanted it to scream a romantic secret garden and for everyone to feel like they were surrounded by florals and dreamy greenery.

Tell us a little about yourselves, what you do, what you love…

Tom is a product manager, and I’m an Artist and Designer. We live in NYC but are from Canada! Prior to moving to NYC, we lived in Mexico City for a few years (we would frequent SMdA frequently during our time there, which is why we wanted our wedding to take place there!). We love travelling, eating good food (we’re foodies), comedy, and our cat cinders!

How/where/when did you meet – and what were your first impressions?

We’re both Canadian and from the same hometown (London, Ontario), but we met in Toronto, Canada, via his second cousin! We clicked instantly and scheduled a date a week right after we met, and the rest is history!

When did you first realise that this was someone you’d like to spend the rest of your life with?

When I realized we wouldn’t stop laughing and being silly when we hang out together.


Was there a proposal? Tell us a little about it…

In October 2022, we decided to go on a beautiful trip to Italy. We travelled to Florence, Tuscany, and Milan during the first half of the trip and headed to our last stop, Lake Como, where we would be staying for 5 days. Tom proposed to me on our last day in Lake Como. We rented a boat for the day, and we just cruised around the lake. We parked the boat near Villa del Balbianello to enjoy the beautiful view and weather. Tom asked me to go to the back of the boat to grab the snacks we brought. When I came back, he was down on one knee and popped the question. It was perfect.

Tell us about the vision you had for the mood or style of your wedding.

I love something so organic and romantic, and I also wanted to play with the venue’s beautiful features. We wanted our guests to experience this wedding as a whimsical love letter to our time living in Mexico. I wanted it to scream a romantic secret garden and for everyone to feel like they were surrounded by florals and dreamy greenery.

Colours: Peach, Pink, Yellow, Orange, White | I’m a designer and a colour nerd, so I wanted things to compliment the venue first and foremost. I love it when colours can enhance the space and create a story. The space itself is very warm, with different shades of peachy terracotta and oranges, and it’s covered in greenery. So we went with a soft pink and peach pallet with touches of forest green.

Festivities: Since it was a destination wedding, we wanted to host a few events leading up to the wedding to show our friends a great time and our favourite spots in Mexico City and San Miguel de Allende. A few days before, a bunch of us headed to San Miguel de Allende we took them to hot spots like Hugo wine bar, Marmotta, Rosetta, etc. a taco tour and our favorite, a private sunrise boat tour and breakfast in Xochimilco with Arca Tierra. In San Miguel de Allende, we decided in lieu of a rehearsal dinner, we would have a lunch/wine tasting at one of our favorite places, Vinedos San Lucas. Our welcome party later in the evening was hosted on Bekab’s rooftop!

Florals & Decor: Clara from Florklore Studio has such an organic and unique style in how she approaches florals, which I was obsessed with, so I trusted her completely because whatever she comes up with is amazing! We didn’t want an archway for the ceremony, but instead, lots of flowers surrounded it because the rotunda at Casa Carino is stunning, and I wanted to showcase that. Also, it didn’t hurt that the flowers could then be used after the reception! For the reception, the fountain is a huge focal point in the venue, so we decided to fill it up with beautiful flowers, and for the tablescapes, we decided on one long floral centrepiece for each table so the guests could truly feel like they were surrounded in florals and greenery. I designed the stationery, menus, and wedding signage. After lots of decision paralysis, I kept it simple and focused on some hand lettering.

What was one element you were happy to splurge on?

We’re big foodies (Carla’s IG food crawls can vouch for that). So one of the most important things for us was that we wanted to make sure everyone left the wedding with happy bellies. Penzi made sure to pull out all the stops for our catering! Some highlights were the octopus and San Miguel salad for our starters, the empanada soup, and the mango salmon! The late-night snacks were chicken pastor tacos and churros, and we had great cocktails, carajillos, and blended guava margaritas, to name a few!

Did anything happen on your wedding day that you laugh about in hindsight (even if it was stressful at the time)?

I woke up with pretty bad food poisoning the morning of the wedding! But thankfully, my MOH managed to grab some antibiotics for me, and we got me alright before walking down the aisle! I was laughing about it the day of, and I’m laughing about it now, haha. Oh, and I guess that our DJ kind of pulled a switcheroo on us and wasn’t at our wedding and had two other guys come in place of him! We were so confused at first but luckily the DJs that showed up were great!

Other personal touches: I’m muslim and Tom grew up Christian, and while we did have a low-key nikkah shortly after our engagement, we also wanted a secular service for our actual wedding. I walked down the aisle to Homesickness Pt. 1 & 2 by Emahoy Tsegue-Maryam Guebrou. We got our lovely friend Wes to officiate our wedding. We couldn’t think of anyone else better to do it than him. After his remarks, we did candle lighting and got our mothers to sign a declaration paper while Cat Power played in the background. We walked out to We Belong Together by Vampire Weekend! Our entrance song was Lately by Porches and our first dance was This Is Your Song by Elton John, the song both resonated with us in different ways and we both loved it growing up.

Our cake toppers were something of a last-minute decision, but we love silly cute things, and we’re die-hard Calico Critters fans, and we think it encapsulated our personalities very well!

Tell us about your main outfits, what was unique, is there a story?

My dress was Nadia Manjarrez Bridal and was the dress of my dreams. I had a hard time finding a dress in NYC. I looked everywhere for months. I knew I wanted something that felt romantic and vintage inspired with a touch of modernity, and nothing I was trying on felt like it checked off all those boxes. While I was trying something at a bridal salon, the bridal stylist suggested I look up Nadia, as she is based in Mexico. I looked her up and instantly fell in love with her dresses and her signature bodice ruching. I love that her team is made up of all women! There was one particular style I loved, which was the Jackie gown. When I saw that she offered the dress in white, I knew instantly that it was going to be my dress. So I DM’d Nadia on Instagram to see if I could try on the Jackie gown and see if it was possible to make a dress in such a short time frame. She replied back that her team could do it, and since I was in Mexico City at the time (we spend our time there 50/50 now), she said she could send the sample gown to Va de Blanco for me to try on. Side note: she and her team are so incredible and kind! When I tried on the sample, I fell in love with the drop waist, the ruching of the bodice, and the delicate floral embroidery details of the fabric. I’m a sucker for an off-the-shoulder moment, so I asked if I could make an off-the-shoulder halo to add to the Jackie gown as well instead of the arm doughnuts.

I picked up a veil from anthropology.  I wanted a shortie because I wanted to show off the beautiful train! It’s too beautiful to hide! The bow was very Ariana Grande-inspired, and I love it. It added an element of fun, modernity and sweetness to my bridal look. I kept it on the rest of the night because it added such a fun element to my other dresses for the night!

For the rest of my wedding wardrobe, I wanted it to be cohesive with the wedding dress but still fun. I kept all the dresses off the shoulder, and they all had some form of floral print to them. For my reception gown, I chose a Markarian gown (as my something blue!). I love the brand’s vintage cuts and fabric prints. There was no doubt I was going to wear a dress from them. For my after-party dress, I opted for something more fun and flirty. I chose a SHUSHU/TONG dress. I found one that was an exclusive colour with Matches Fashion, but the print and colour screamed bridal, and I needed to do it! It was so much fun. The welcome party dress was from Mara Hoffman, and I thought it matched Bekeb’s decor and vibe so well with the elevated beach cocktail look.

The bridesmaids wore mismatched gowns but to complement the flowers, colour scheme, and venue colours. I went with a vintage dress for my sister, a V. Chapman dress for my sister-in-law, and a dress from Significant Other for my BFF. I wanted each dress to be reflective of their own personal style while also having a different texture to create depth when the looks were photographed together. For everyone’s dressing gowns for getting ready, I wanted them to be in a gradient (while my mom and MIL had complimenting longer dressing gowns) that would complement the master bedroom’s wall and decor.

We opted for a classic black tux for the groom and the groomsmen so it wouldn’t look busy as a group. Tom went for a custom-made suit in NYC. He added some sentimental touches as well, such as the cuff of his shirt with his initials and the lining.   

BRIDE Carla Aziz, @carlaidoscope VENUE Casa Cariño PHOTOGRAPHER Mariana Barbosa, @marianabarbosa_photo VIDEOGRAPHER Monkey Films, @monkeyfilmswedding PLANNER Penzi Weddings, @penziweddings FLORIST Florklor Estudio, @florklorestudio STYLIST By the Bride ENTERTAINMENT DJ – DjBEB of BEP Producciones, @bepproducciones HIRE, CATERING, & CAKE Penzi Weddings, @penziweddings STATIONERY By the Bride BRIDAL DRESS Nadia Manjarrez, @nadiamanjarrezbridal; Reception – Markarian, @markarian_nyc; After Party – SHUSHU/TONG, @shushu__tong; Welcome Party – Mara Hoffman, @marahoffman BRIDAL BOUTIQUE VA de BLANCO, @vadeblanco BRIDE’S SHOE Blue Shoes from Porte & Paire, @porteandpaire BRIDE’S ACCESSORIES Veil – BHLDN, @bhldn; Vintage earrings and bracelet from mom of the bride HAIR Hello Gorgeous, @hellogorgeous.yh BRIDE’S FRAGRANCE Le Labo, @lelabofragrances SUIT Welcome Party – J.Crew, @jcrew; Wedding Day – Custom Made by a tailor in NYC GROOM’S SHOE J.Crew, @jcrew GROOM’S FRAGRANCE A local Mexican perfumery BRIDESMAIDS DRESSES V. Chapman, @vchapmanstudio; Significant Other, @the.significant.other WEDDING SUBMISSION SERVICES Published + Pretty, @publishedandpretty