Sera and Jaren met working at a PR agency and began a secret long-distance relationship between San Francisco and Austin. After two years together—which is when they finally spilled the beans to their coworkers—Jaren moved to California to be with Sera. In September of 2019, the couple traveled to Greece for their friend’s wedding and ended up extending their trip to visit Italy’s Amalfi Coast. In the small coastal town of Praiano, the two were enjoying a romantic outdoor dinner when Jaren proposed. “We spent the rest of our time in Italy celebrating with Aperol spritzes, lots of pasta, and swimming in the sea,” Sera says. “I had given my friend the keys to our apartment to water our plants while we were in Europe, and when we returned it was covered in decorations and sweet gifts.”

Sera and Jaren knew they wanted to host a destination wedding as a nod to their shared love of travel. Mexico City topped their list, so on a New Year’s trip in 2020, they decided to check out some venues. They stumbled upon Blanco Colima, a restaurant located in a Porfirian-style house in the Roma neighborhood, and immediately knew it would make a unique wedding venue. After initially booking a date in November 2020, they realized a destination wedding wouldn’t be in the cards that year—so they hosted a small ceremony at home in September and postponed their event to March 21, 2022, instead. “After three different wedding dates, I’m so glad we ended up having our celebration in March because it’s the most beautiful time of year in CDMX,” Sera says.

They invited 75 guests to Mexico City for their wedding celebration, which came together thanks to Lauren from Nicoella Events, who assembled a team of local vendors and designed the day around the venue’s architecture. Check out details of the couple’s special day in photos by Dacia Pierson of Eager Hearts Co. Photography.

The easiest part of the wedding-planning process for Sera and Jaren was choosing Blanco Colima as their venue. “Once we had that piece in place, the vision all came to life,” Sera says. “The architecture and interior details of the building were so beautiful and unique that we really only needed to add flowers to make it wedding-ready.”

They asked their dear friend Hannah O’Neal from Ingrained Design to customize their paper suite, which invited everyone to a rooftop welcome party on Friday and rounded out the weekend with a trip to the floating gardens of Xochimilco, where six boats guided the duo and their attendees through the canals. “They even surprised us by painting our names on all of the boats,” Sera says. “It was the perfect ending to an incredible weekend!”

Sera wore an embroidered floral lace chiffon and satin Willowby by Watters wedding dress with bishop sleeves. After purchasing a different dress she had been eyeing at WildBride in San Francisco, the shop owner told her another option had come in that she would love. “I tried it on and ended up loving it, too, so after many FaceTime chats with my mom and friends, I changed my mind and went with a completely new dress,” she says.

She accessorized with gold Loeffler Randall mules, earrings from BHLDN and Catbird, a layered necklace from Argento Vivo, and a vintage rose and pearl ring that was a gift from her late grandmother. She also bought a bag from sustainable Colombian handbag maker Apaya to wear for part of the day. As for her beauty look? “I always loved the look of long, flowing curls with pieces of baby’s breath woven in, and knew that’s what I wanted for my wedding day,” she says. “I wanted to look like myself and have natural-looking, glowy makeup in neutral and gold tones.”

The finishing touch was an organic bouquet of neutral toned florals tied with a piece of her mom’s wedding veil.

Sera asked her bridesmaids to choose a dress within the wedding color palette. “I made a mood board and wanted them to choose whatever they felt most comfortable in from there,” she says. They each held a miniature version of Sera’s bouquet.

Jaren wore a custom tux from Indochino featuring a green velvet jacket with a Mexico City inspired skill print lining; his initials and the couple’s wedding date were embroidered inside, too. Black cowboy boots from Tecovas were a nod to his Texas roots—and he completed his look with his grandfather’s Hamilton watch and cufflinks, a skull-print pocket square, and a beaded bracelet he bought the day before from a street vendor. His groomsmen donned classic black tuxedos.

When the couple’s photographer recommended a first look so they could enjoy the reception without being pulled away for photos, the pair happily agreed and eventually met in front of their hotel. “It ended up being one of my favorite moments of the day,” Sera says. “After all the postponements and uncertainty leading up to the day, it all felt real when we met for an intimate moment on the Condesa sidewalk.”

The couple held their ceremony on the ground floor of Blanco Colima, where live plants filled the space and a disco ball hung from the room’s high ceilings. The venue’s in-house DJ booth couldn’t be moved, so the couple enlisted their planner and florist, Jimena from Flowerize, to find a creative solution for the altar. “The final result was an amazing gold wood backdrop installation with beautiful dried agave plants surrounding it,” Sera says. “I’d never seen anything like it!"

The couple asked Jaren’s childhood friend to officiate the ceremony, which began when their wedding party walked down the aisle to “Silver Inches” by Enya, a song Sera always envisioned playing during this moment. The bride processed in with both of her parents, Mia and Emory, to “Pachelbel’s Canon”—the same song her mom used on her own wedding day.

Sera and Jaren exchanged variations of the vows they'd shared at their private ceremony a year and a half prior. “Even though we’d exchanged vows before, it was special to do it again in front of everyone,” the bride says. “And they were definitely just as special. Jaren broke down crying so hard he had to pause, go over to my dad and give him a hug, and then go back up and keep going.”

Sera and Jaren celebrated back down the aisle to “I Love You Always Forever” by Donna Lewis while their guests showered them in flower petals. “All of the music was played by our DJ, Edgar, who was hiding in the balcony,” Sera says.

After the ceremony, a mariachi band led Sera and Jaren up the balcony for drinks. The couple loves mezcal, so they served mezcal passion fruit margaritas and traditional iterations as their signature cocktails.

The reception took place throughout the restaurant's two levels, where tables were paired with black booth seating or black cushioned wooden chairs. “We kept it simple with beautiful floral arrangements and bud vases, tall candles, napkins from Butterfly Linens, and handmade menus from UK-based Muse Calligraphy, which I found on Etsy,” Sera says.

Instead of coming up with a seating chart, Sera and Jaren decided to offer open seating and let guests choose their own spots. “We had a heavy emphasis on making sure our guests had fun, through our favorite music, food, and drinks, which, to us, is what mattered most,” Sera says. They served a three-course meal including tuna tostadas, ceviche, mini tacos, beet and burrata salad, seabass, salmon, and short rib. They skipped the wedding cake and went for mini churros, instead! “My only regret is not eating more of them!” the bride says.

Sera and Jaren planned to spend the night before their wedding apart, but when Jaren’s rental had plumbing issues, they ended up together in their hotel suite. “We put on robes and ordered room service the night before, and woke up on our wedding day and did face masks together before choreographing our first dance on our hotel room patio for later that night,” Sera says. They executed that first dance perfectly in front of their loved ones to “Jump (For My Love)” by The Pointer Sisters. They made sure DJ Boho got guests on the dance floor with plenty of Bad Bunny.

When asked what memories stood out from the wedding day, Jaren says, “Seeing our friends and family having so much fun on the dance floor. Especially Sera’s mom who was having the time of her life—she was the real MVP of the night!”

The newlyweds spent their honeymoon on Isla Holbox, an island in Mexico’s Quintana Roo. “We opted for experiences over physical gifts and the honeymoon was the only item on our wedding registry,” Sera says. To couples currently planning their nuptials, Sera has these words of wisdom to share: “A wedding can truly be whatever you want it to be, so do what feels authentic to both of you and don’t worry about the rest.”