My vision was for our wedding to feel ethereal, elegant yet understated and timeless.
Tell us a little about yourselves, what you do, what you love…
Drew- I grew up in Northern Virginia about 45 minutes outside of DC. I currently work in Real Estate and enjoy gardening, interior decorating, spending time with our animals, riding my horse, and traveling. Both Dylan and I adore the beach, so any opportunity or activity around/near water is usually where you’ll find us particularly when we vacation.
How/where/when did you meet – and what were your first impressions?
Drew: Dylan and I met in high school- specifically sculpture class. When we first met, we were both dating different people and later reconnected during Dylan’s sophomore summer of college. My first impression of Dylan was that he was a total goof ball. His sense of humor would send me into uncontrollable laughing fits, which was one of the first qualities that I fell in love with. No matter what type of mood I’m in, Dylan still makes it his mission to crack a smile out of me. We dated just over 10 years before getting engaged. This included being long distance all throughout college, until I finally managed to convince him to move to Richmond.
Dylan’s response: Anyone that is around Drew will have the same first impression.. her smile. It’s impossible to be around her and not immediately smile yourself or want to make her smile.
When did you first realize that this was someone you’d like to spend the rest of your life with?
Drew: I have to admit, it didn’t happen right away or as quickly as it happened for Dylan. Throughout our first few months of officially dating, I learned that he was quite the romantic. From receiving love poems, to little notes, notes inside stuffed animals, etc., it became evident in the matter of the first year of dating that our love was something truly special and worth holding onto forever. Dylan’s sensitivity, deep emotional awareness, selflessness, sense of humor, coupled with the fact that we shared many mutual interests makes him the complete package.
Dylan: I knew pretty quickly that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with Drew. She has such an infectious personality and radiates positivity, so I was pretty confident I’d be the happiest man as long as I could be around her as much as possible.
Was there a proposal? Tell us a little about it…
Drew: In our dining room! It was the sweetest, most romantic evening I’ve ever had with Dylan. He converted our dining room into what felt like a little private restaurant, decked out with bistro lights, dozens of votives, complete with Ben Howard playing in the background, while he prepped and served the most gourmet meal. Right before he proposed, he sat me down and handed me an artifact uprising book with photos of memories from past trips and big milestones. On the last page, there was a heart melting note that had me bawling one sentence in. As soon as I finished reading the last word, he was down on one knee holding a blue Tiffany box asking me to marry him.
Dylan: I proposed to Drew on Valentine’s Day in 2021. We have always done something special on Valentine’s Day but this year we just stayed home since just purchasing our first home and getting two puppies made traveling a little more challenging. I made a nice dinner for us and filled the house with candles and romantic lighting. It was a perfect and intimate evening that is a core memory and foundation for the life we are building together in our home.
Tell us about the vision you had for the mood or style of your wedding…
I (Drew) designed and planned our wedding from top to bottom. My vision was for our wedding to feel ethereal, elegant yet understated and timeless. It was really important for me to enhance & strike the perfect balance of the jungle/beach through a muted color palette that resembled and played off the natural surroundings of our magical destination. I did this by incorporating lots of ambient candle light, natural textures/textiles that not only matched the rustic feel of Casa Violeta (our venue) but also the aesthetic of Tulum we fell in love with when we first visited. There wasn’t one detail that went overlooked when it came to the intentionality behind creating little wow moments to ensure a consistent, cohesive design vision. Down to every song we selected for cocktail hour, reception, special dances, etc. to the hand painted sea glass name cards delicately set at every place setting— so much love was put into every decision. As a creative, I had so much fun planning an unforgettable night not only for us as the married couple but for our closest friends and family. To this day, we still are getting compliments that it was the most special, magical wedding they’ve ever been to.
What was one element you were happy to splurge on?
Our photographer/videographer 100% hands down. I (Drew) had been eyeing the team of vendors we ended up hiring for more than two years before our wedding (with the exception of our videographer). I knew Tulum, MX was where I wanted to get married since the first time visiting in 2017. Long story short, we had to postpone our wedding for almost a year due to a sudden family emergency. A few months after having to make the hard, necessary decision to postpone, I met our videographer, Kelly, at a friends wedding that I happened to be the lead coordinator for. We hit it off instantly and knew she needed to help tell our love story and everything we’d been through. Turned out, she also was good friends with Marci, making it a no brainer that they absolutely needed to be the duo team we hired. I truly cannot say enough amazing things about these two women as artists and humans in general. They’re brilliant beyond measure. Being seen through their eyes and having them tell our story is a gift I’ll cherish to my core forever.
Did anything happen on your wedding day that you laugh about in hindsight (even if it was stressful at the time)?
Our vow books were left inside my parent’s room during the ceremony. When our officiant (my uncle) turned to me and Dylan about exchanging vows, we expected him to hand us our respective books. Instead, he looked back at us as if we had them. The sheer panic on of all of our faces was absolutely priceless. Luckily, my uncle has a great sense of humor and was able to add some comic relief to the moment completely unplanned. Immediately, my sister jumped into action and darted to the room where the vow books were left not even 300 feet away, and I swear within under a minute we were back in business. Had our ceremony not happened at the same venue and within such close proximity to where we were staying, I’m sure I’d still be stressed about this moment.
CEREMONY Casa Violeta, @casavioleta / PHOTOGRAPHER Marcella Laine, @marcellalaine / VIDEOGRAPHER Kelly Mour, @kellymour_ / ENTERTAINMENT Plug In Audiovisual, @pluginaudiovisual / RENTALS & STYLING Archive Rentals, @archiverentals / DAY OF COORDINATOR Diana Romo Weddings, @dianaromo.weddings / FLORA Cherry Blossom, @cherryblossom_mexico / CAKE Zaida Marcos Sweet Boutique, @zaidamarcos / STATIONERY Curious Fox Press, @curiousfoxpress / SUIT Hockerty, @hockerty / WEDDING DRESS Cortana Bridal, @cortanabrides / RINGS Tiffany & Co, @tiffanyandco / HAIR & MAKEUP Salty Beauty, @saltybeauty.weddings / GROOMSMEN’S ATTIRE The Black Tux, @theblacktux
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