We gave you a quick peek at Adrianne & Stephen's colorful New Mexico wedding from Twin Lens on Sunday, but that was a mere morsel of the complete picture! Self-proclaimed "foodies," they planned their wedding around delicious cuisine and the beautiful New Mexico scenery!
From Kitty and Craig ... Adrianne & Stephen's New Mexico wedding was the best of all worlds... rustic, fun, simple, elegant. They were married in an art-deco Catholic church in Downtown Albuquerque and then traveled north to the Hacienda Vargas for an outdoor gourmet luncheon and afternoon fiesta. Going through their photos, it's hard to find a photo without everyone smiling!! We were honored to have documented their beautiful, flawless day.
You can see more of this delightful day on Twin Lens' Facebook page and in our gallery!
My fiancé Stephen and I always knew we wanted to get married in New Mexico. Though we both have lived in California for most of our lives, he was raised in New Mexico. We wanted to give our wedding guests a chance to get away for a weekend and explore the beautiful NM scenery.
Stephen's number one priority was to have delicious New Mexican/Mexican food. We both enjoy eating… our shared meals with family, friends, and one another have been a definitive part of our relationship and love for one another. It was only fitting that our wedding would be a chance to share a delicious meal with our close community. After some internet research, I came upon Marja Catering in Santa Fe. We visited her kitchen and instantly knew that she was our woman! She offered us tastings of carnitas and fresh tortillas as we all talked about our favorite places to eat in San Francisco where we had all lived for a few years. We were sold.
Once we settled on Marja as our caterer, our focus was on finding a venue. We looked at a few locations in Santa Fe and Albuquerque but nothing was quite right. Our vision for our wedding day was to have an outdoor reception that was relaxed, and where our guests could enjoy hanging out and grazing on Marja’s delicious food. We also wanted a venue that reflected the natural beauty of New Mexico. We finally found exactly what we were looking for at the Hacienda Vargas. It’s a quaint bed and breakfast right outside of Albuquerque. It has a beautiful outdoor courtyard with huge trees providing cool shade, and spots of bright turquoise fencing. Once the goat on the property noisily welcomed us when we first visited, we knew we'd found our venue! Hacienda Vargas embodied the perfect rustic charm for our wedding. The owners (Cynthia and Spence) were helpful, sweet, and did a fantastic job assisting us with our preparations.
I did some research on photographers but once we met Kitty and Craig of Twin Lens, we knew they were the ones for us. We first met them at their home (just 5 minutes away from Hacienda Vargas) and we were instantly impressed with their photography; not to mention how lovely and warm they are. Their photojournalistic style was exactly what we wanted for the day, especially since we did not plan to have a videographer. After seeing their photographs and trusting that they understood our vision for the day, we could rest easy knowing they would produce fantastic photographs.
My older brother Christian prepared our beautiful invitations. He’s a graphic designer that’s never done wedding invitations but he created our invitations as our wedding present. We gave him a few ideas of what we wanted, what we hoped our wedding day would be, and a copy of our menu. He exceeded all our expectations. He designed an invitation that gave guests an idea of the mood we wanted to set for the day and a sneak peek of the menu and our wedding attire!
The wedding day could not have gone better. Our ceremony was at the Immaculate Conception Catholic church. Its art-deco style and its location in downtown Albuquerque were in wonderful contrast to our rustic, verdant reception location. My cousin is the priest who married us. This was a beautiful, personal touch to our wedding. He’s also really funny which fit the celebratory mood of our wedding day.
While our guests were whisked away to our reception in a tour bus that we provided, we were off with Kitty and Craig for a few portraits in downtown Albuquerque. We stumbled upon a small farmers’ market and decided to pick up a few things. I love Farmers’ Markets so it was only fitting that we stop by on our wedding day. Locals greeted us with some fresh fruit and hearty congratulations. As it turned out, much of down time during the wedding day was spent with Kitty and Craig. We loved talking and hanging out with this beautiful couple. They stealthily captured many lovely moments during our wedding day and we had the utmost trust in them. Many of our guests complimented us, not only on the wedding photos, but also on how unobtrusive and sweet our photographers were. Because of Kitty and Craig’s style and talent, we consider our photos from the day works of art. I still get teary watching the slideshow they prepared for us and many of the photos are hung up in our home to remind us of our wedding day.
Marja’s food did not disappoint. We had a simple buffet of carnitas, beans, tortillas, fresh salsas, and some roasted shisito peppers that Marja happened to find at the farmers’ market that morning. The food was local, fresh, tasty, and almost all our guests – as well as my fiancé and I – went back for seconds. Everyone feasted. Instead of a cake, we opted to serve sundaes and popsicles. These were both a hit. The sundaes were decadent and the popsicles were a nice way for our guests to cool down since the weather was warmer than we expected. Marja’s staff was friendly and so helpful. We only wish Marja had a restaurant so we could enjoy her food again!
Since we really wanted Marja’s food to shine, we kept our tables pretty simple. We named each table after our favorite restaurants, with the bride and groom’s table named after the restaurant where Stephen proposed to me. We wanted to recreate the feel of an outdoor bistro so we opted for butcher paper and crayons on each table. The crayons were a hit with the kids and the adults. Our guests created some beautiful art work and wrote some fun poems on these simple canvasses!
To add a splash of color and in keeping with our overall food theme, our centerpieces were small silver tins filled with delicious tangerines provided by our florist. We gave our guests small burlap bags so they could take some tangerines home. My aunt did a fabulous job putting these centerpieces together! For our wedding favors, Marja prepared tasty New Mexican biscochitos and I printed and laminated the recipe for the cookies so our guests could make them at home.
Thanks to our vendors, our wedding day was a complete success. We were relaxed and because we trusted our vendors so much, we were able to enjoy our wedding day to its fullest!
Photography: Twin Lens / Caterer: Marja Catering / Flowers: Jessie Abrams / Ceremony Location: Immaculate Conception Catholic Church / Reception Location: Hacienda Vargas / Invitations: Bride’s brother, Christian / Dress: Deborah’s Bridal