Wedding day hiccups are bound to happen, as this designer & planner-turned Bride can attest. Janie of Idyll Stories experienced a few of them on her very own Big Day, as she shares below. To make up for it, she and her husband teamed up with Esther Sun for round two—and oh my friends, is it an anniversary session for the books. See it all here!
From the Bride… We celebrated our one year anniversary by returning to our destination wedding location in Mexico to re-live our special day. On April 14, 2018, 62 of our closest family and friends traveled to Riviera Maya, Mexico for a weekend full of wedding festivities at Belmond Maroma Resort & Spa. As the saying goes, wedding guests rarely know what went wrong at a wedding—and something always happens. On the morning of our wedding, everything went off without a hitch. I know because I was the designer and planner of our own wedding and even though I was the bride that day, I knew when everyone from my florists to our rental vendors had arrived at the hotel. Things went smooth until that moment hit.
We couldn’t find the special earrings that I had purchased from a Paris boutique for my maid of honor/sister. My bridesmaids enlisted the help of my husband to search for the lost earrings while my sister in law was communicating with the hotel staff. Another of my bridesmaids even called a boutique in Cancun to see if they would have the specific Hermes earrings to purchase again and have it delivered to us. This was going on while my hair and makeup artist was finishing me up all while trying to keep this quiet from my sister. While sitting in the makeup chair, it started to drizzle a little outside. Staying calm as possible, I knew a little rain would happen in the morning as forecasted.. And I knew that rain was a sign of luck on your wedding day. That exact moment, that’s when my husband came rushing into the room (luckily I didn’t have my complete look done or dress on) and announced he had found the earrings! I was so relieved that it wasn’t lost forever.
Once I was able to relax, the rush of adrenaline left my body, and I felt nauseated. I was able to pull through some portraits with my bridesmaid and the first look but then with the nausea hitting me so fast, I remember leaning on my husband and feeling sick. I was given some medicine and then completely fell asleep in one my family member’s room. No one had realized that the side effect of the medicine was drowsiness. All my aunts pulled out all their Korean remedies to help. I was back on my feet to make my wedding day. The moment I stepped out with my dad down the aisle, I just remember seeing all the faces in front of me that had helped pull off the wedding day with a wedding planner and bride down.
That day was a day to remember… one full of ups and downs and when things went wrong, the stories my family and friends told me about what went on while I was asleep were much more memorable than a day going perfect without any hiccups. It’s all those moments that reminded me how it really took a village to get me down the aisle to my husband. The only thing we did miss on our day was all the photos my husband and I did not get on the beach by the water. So to make up for that, my husband, on the last day of August, had told me to start doing what I love and plan our re-visit to celebrate our one year anniversary of the legal wedding to retake our photos and celebrate at our wedding venue. He tried to plan it alone but realized he had to hire a professional planner in the end. This gave me about 3 months to plan an itinerary packed with adventures.
We went back to re-live our day but this time without any mishaps and we finally got our photos along the Caribbean Sea while also getting to eat one of our wedding cake flavors and seeing a cenote after not being able to visit one even though we visited Mexico 3 times before our wedding. It was the perfect way to celebrate our anniversary and incorporate little mementos and details from our wedding into this shoot. Also, we were able to make up for those two hours we lost on our wedding day when I was asleep!
Photography: Esther Sun Photography | Floral Design: Allium By Olympia | Catering: Inn at Perry Cabin by Belmond | Design, Planning, Stylist: Idyll Stories | Dress 1 : Bella Bridesmaid | Dress 2 : Marchesa | Dress 3 : Galia Lahav | Hair & Makeup Stylist: Chiali Meng | Location : Inn at Perry Cabin by Belmond | Outfit: Oscar De La Renta | Paper Picado: Karina Puente