Real Wedding | Isabel + Joey

Tell us a little about yourselves!

We met on spring break in Cabo during our senior year of college! We coincidentally both went to the University of Texas at Austin, so we carried on seeing each other after coming back to Austin, where we went on to live for another six years after graduating. Both coming from large families (Joey's in California and Isabel's in the DC area) we connected quickly but decided to take our time in getting hitched, dating for eight and a half years before making it official.

During the pandemic, we relocated to LA with our black lab, where Isabel works in the legal industry and Joey's a songwriter and producer with his own project with his brother - The Lagoons. We love hosting friends for dinner, watching reruns of Survivor, and taking our dog Leo on hikes throughout LA.

Why did you decide to get married where you did?

We fell in love with Mexico City during a memorable anniversary trip four years ago, and actually (unknowingly) found our wedding venue that weekend while attending Salon Acme with a friend. We found the spirit, cuisine, culture, and beauty of Mexico City to be irresistible and knew that anyone who hadn't visited the city yet would fall in love with it too, and that our friends who had already been would be itching to get back. We were drawn to Proyecto Publico Prim itself because we love how rustic, romantic, and intimate it feels, with lots of nooks and rooms to discover. We ultimately decided to do a wedding abroad because with our families and friends living all over the world, anywhere we picked would be a destination for most of our guests, so why not make it a destination for everyone!

How many guests did you have?

164.

Tell us about your outfits.

Isabel chose her dress before the couple had decided on Mexico City! She only went to one bridal shop - LOHO in Los Angeles - and when she tried on the Danielle Frankel dress, the whole vision for the wedding began to take shape. She loved the timeless romance of the neckline and tulle illusion, and she matched the dress's texture with an ivory English net cathedral length veil. Joey was also inspired to rock a timeless look while honoring both of his grandfathers: the white tux jacket was an homage to the one his Papa wore in 1948 and the signet ring he wore belonged to his other grandfather, for whom he was named.

What was the most important aspect for you, in terms of planning your wedding?

We were fortunate to make two separate trips to CDMX to meet with our planning team and it was such a fun excuse to further explore the city and meet with our vendors face to face. Joey's a musician (playing saxophone, keyboard, and singing in his band) and Isabel's a passionate home chef so needless to say, killer music and food were at the top of our wishlist.

Were there any elements that were important for you to incorporate?

It was so important for us to share with our guests what made us fall in love with Mexico City: the art, the food, the nightlife, the romance...and also the sense of discovery and delight. We wanted to focus on showcasing the city's culture in a way that felt reverent and playful through each event of the weekend. From kicking off the weekend on the trajineras in Xochimilco, to the salsa club welcome party, to the wedding day itself where each part of the evening was a slow reveal of the venue. A few of our key themes were timeless, romantic, and playful. Our take on 'timeless' tends to take on more of a retro vibe so we wanted the music and energy to reflect that interpretation. We love that our ceremony music incorporated songs from Laurel Canyon and that later in the night we went full disco on the dancefloor! The venue on its own is so romantic but Lupita Tirado and her team transformed it into the candlelit, intimate, magical dinner party of our dreams.

Any tips for couples getting married?

The wedding planning time is more of your life than the wedding day itself, so remember to enjoy that process and be kind to each other!

Are there any vendors that you would like to tell us a little more about?

Where do we start? We were completely blown away by our vendors and won't stop singing their praises. Lupita Tirado, our wedding planner, was the most lovely, supportive, creative, and talented planner we ever could've found. Her style and taste is unparalleled! She connected us with our DJs (2DJS) and caterer (Ituarte) who were the reason the night was so unforgettable. Our friends will never quit talking about the nonstop energy of our dancefloor or how attentive Ituarte's team was, serving up carajillos all night. We also chose to work with two US-based vendors: Sam Crosby and The Shalom Imaginative. These two, y'all!! Unreal. Sam is New Orleans based and designed our invitations, menus, ketubah, and more. He is unbelievably talented and fun to work with - we looked forward to each and every meeting with him. Nate Howard's team at the LA-based Shalom Imaginative made magic. The video and film they captured from our wedding weekend are everything we wanted. They were so kind and encouraging and blended right in with our guests. We were so lucky.