Designing a Jewish Wedding on the Beach
DESIGNING A WEDDING on the beach, anywhere, let alone in lovely Los Cabos, Mexico, can be challenging for one reason or another. Isn’t anything worth doing worth carefully planning each detail? Logistics, logistics, logistics. For outdoor weddings that means dealing with Mother Nature. Usually, here in Baja California Sur, we are blessed with clear blue skies and very little rain. Great for hosting weddings and parties outside, on the beach, in the garden, on the terrace, or around the pool. But, what we do face at times is direct sun, intense heat, strong winds, blowing sand, or all of them at once as the case may be. You name it, we have experienced every weather condition our coastal environment has dished out and more! Sometimes, it’s the little sudden breezes that cause trouble!
When we have a client who wants to celebrate their wedding right on the beach, with their toes in the sand from start to finish, we are more than thrilled to make their dream wedding come to life! Earlier this season we did just that at the gorgeous Esperanza, An Auberge Resort. Elena created a wedding ceremony under a traditional Jewish wedding canopy, formally called a Chuppah, followed by a sit down gourmet dinner served right on the beach. Sounds easy enough, but all good things take time!
INSTALLING THE CEREMONY CHUPPAH TAKES TIME
While yachts and sail boats glided by, the team installed the Chuppah by first, and most importantly, staking it deep into the sand. To withstand the wind this was a must! Once the structure was secure, the flowers and organic elements were painstakingly attached to the Chuppah frame, inch by inch, bloom by bloom. A process that can take hours, much patience and many hands but is worth the wait. Luscious blooms such as Roses, Anemones, Orchids, and Lisianthus, all blooms that can take a beating from Mother Nature, were intertwined with Smilax and Olive in a natural, random fashion. The client’s tallit (Jewish prayer shawl) was attached to the top of the Chuppah towards the end of the installation process. The Jewish faith has many powerful traditions that resonate with us, most particularly the Chuppah itself as it symbolizes the home that the couple will build together. Open on all four sides, the Chuppah represents warmth and hospitality; and the tallit hung as the Chuppah ceiling represents the presence of God over the covenant of the marriage. Beautiful, right? You can see why the construction of the Chuppah needed to be carefully planned and meticulously produced!
DINNER ON THE SAND
From the ceremony to the cocktail reception and subsequent dinner, this wedding celebration remained surf-side on the picture-perfect Esperanza beaches. Square and rectangular wooden tables were placed in a casual fashion wherever they found the best position, vintage lights were stung overhead from pole to pole, and lace fabric runners softened the surfaces. For the floral centerpieces, we used multiple vases and vessels to create low collections of flowers. Some of the sweetest flowers were used too, like lavender triple Tulips, purple Anemones, magenta pink Peonies, red Sweetheart Roses and Cymbidium Orchids, as well as willow-wrapped vases of local succulents and vines. Weathered glass and raw wood candles were placed throughout for a soft glow and each place setting held it’s own ribbon-tied flower favor.
CHAIR BACK DECOR
We added loosely tied Smilax vine, Clematis and Olive branches to the backs of many of the chairs at the dinner tables. On some of the chairs, we added whimsical pops of red Roses, purple Anemones or lavender Tulips. Adding floral touches below the guests eyeline kept the stunning view of the ocean clear, as well as the conversation across the table flowing.
Such a lovely way to spend an evening! Getting married under a romantic Chuppah and then watching the sun set over the water from your dinner table. Pure bliss in our books, particularly when we know we have outsmarted Mother Nature once again!
