Chatay and Angela's Spiritual Destination Wedding in Mexico by Quetzal Wedding Photo

Happy Friday everyone! I hope you are all well and happy and have had a good week! Are you ready for the weekend? I am ready for some sunshine, I don’t know about you!! This weekend it’s all about birthday parties at Boho HQ! Dexter is going to his mates roller disco 9th birthday party and then we are all of to one of my best friends birthday parties. It is meant to be a garden party, but the weather is not looking kind at all, so I think we may all be hiding under a gazebo! Luckily I am bringing some much needed sunshine to you with today’s destination wedding. Angela and Chatay were married on 7th March in Tulum Mexico. They held a super personal, spiritual wedding, with their own shaman. The ceremony and reception all take place on the beach, with a bare foot dress code for their guests. They all laughed, cried and partied into the early hours, celebrating their love in true free spirited style. Big thanks to Quetzal Wedding Photo for the awesome photos.

Chesira the photographer tells us more about the day

Tulum is one of our most favourite places to be! And when we get invited to a destination wedding there, we vibrate on the highest frequency! So you can just imagine our excitement when Angela and Chatay asked us to be the photographers for their BOHO style destination wedding at Ikal Hotel in Tulum!

It was our very first time at this location, and we immediately fell in love! The well-hidden jungle venue has it all: super soft sandy beaches, beautiful bungalows, bamboo and natural architecture, and space for your ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception! There is NO curfew and you have the place all to yourselves! Literally, Angela and Chatay and their family and friends rented out the entire space and used it as their personal playground!

They were stress-free, running on their own clocks, doing whatever they wanted to do when they felt the urge to do so. It was a special and very intimate white ceremony. Take a look at their set up!! It’s SO Tulum!! After the loving ceremony, they got down to the tribal beats of DJ Memos! It was their dream come true!

And more from the couple

The location
We have been visiting Tulum for years and love the vibe. Enriched in natural beauty and ancient Mayan spirit, this land is sacred as it is enchanting. We knew we wanted to have our big celebration there and were introduced to the property Ikal by a dear friend. Ikal has a communal and super relaxed essence. It’s a place you can visit to reflect, relax, rejuvenate from nature and truly enjoy time pass. That is what we wanted out theme to embody: nature, harmony, community, spirit and most of all, lots of fun. We are very spiritual and had the biggest blessing from Ikal’s own shaman Carolina. She decorated and blessed the alter she felt led to create when assisting in expressing Ikal’s spiritual bond.

Outfits
Angela worked in fashion for many years and comes from a retail heritage so had lots of fun with this part. Firstly, the dress-code was very specific: everyone wear shades of white and no shoes. For her main dress, she had a Pronovias gown fully customized, wore gold coins that her Mother-In-Law gifted her from Turkey and also had brilliant hair-stylist Zorka Vulevic create a custom head-piece and style. For the party-portion of the evening, Angela designed a two-piece look that she had made from her mother’s wedding dress. Nothing better to dance in than a crop top and loose shorts! For Chatay, we went with a classic tailored look from Suit Supply. All tones of white, the linen/silk blend vest kept him together during the ceremony and was unbuttoned during the reception to show off his suspenders and lightweight cotton button-up. Angela had a few parts customized like hand-made mother of pearl buttons imported from Italy on Chatay’s vest, hem and fit. Chatay also wore a family timepiece from his late father.

Decoration
Other than a few blankets we purchased in Turkey, where Chatay is from, there were zero decorations. Just the natural beauty of the property. That’s exactly what we wanted: Ikal Chit, Palm trees, sand, sea, handmade wooden structures, smoke from copal throughout the property. Super sexy, super simple.

Personal touches
Every component was a reflection of us. Alejandro, from Ikal, worked with us on a very intimate level to achieve all that was an expression of us: local food only, fresh buffet-style not to overwhelm the small staff, Klezmaya gypsy-band pre-ceremony, DJ Memos house/throwback 90’s hiphop beats, a fire show (which was a complete surprise to Angela and a dream she had but cut out for budget), late-night tacos, ceremony led by family, only close friends/family invited, and we reserved the entire property so all of our loved ones were close. My favourite parts included our profession of love in front of our community and all of the dancing. We had such an incredible jungle party!!!

Special moments
Hearing one another’s vows. It was the most special and those words will resonate forever.

Advice for other couples
Simple is best and allows you to savour each moment more. The more complicated, the more distractions. Make sure to list top 1-2 priorities for each person and create a wedding based off of that. Photography and music were Angela’s top 2, Music and food were Chatay’s top 2. Easy enough, we made all of that happen.