A Tulum Wedding in an Architectural Villa

Surrounded by the Quintana Roo jungle, Stephany & Philippe eloped at a modern, minimalist villa in Tulum. Just the two of them, the couple wed beneath the palm trees and towering architectural archways that appear to float high in the sky at Liana, Tulum. With a muted color palette and minimal details like flowers by local studio La Distribuidora, it was all about simplicity and allowing the surreal structures of the space to set the tone of the day. The bride wore Issey Miyake, Cartier and Tiffany & Co.

As photographers themselves, Stephany & Philippe captured each other throughout the elopement.

Our Story

Names / Stephany Salazar Ramirez & Philipp Gross

 Wedding Date / April 15th, 2021

Guest Numbers / 0

How We Met

At a mutual friend’s wedding on Greek Island, Sifnos. At the time, I was living in New York and Philipp was in Berlin.

Our Engagement Story

We got engaged on our first trip together to Paris.

Marriage To Us Means…

We had a long distance relationship and then we were separated for a long time because of Covid. So, we would say marriage for us means being together and being able to share life and all of its in-betweens.

The Setting

Wedding Location

We chose Liane Tulum for our Tulum wedding. Because of the pandemic we couldn’t really see the location beforehand as traveling was not as simple. But as we saw pictures of Liana, it caught our eye immediately, everything seemed perfect for what we were looking for in a wedding venue. It was intimate, hidden, and surrounded by natural elements. As photographers we knew the location would perfectly match our aesthetics and that the pictures would be special. We admire architecture deeply and often travel to see architectural landmarks, this place reminded us of  Xavier Corbero’s architecture.

Aesthetic

For the style of our wedding, were inspired by the organic and natural environment of the Mayan Riviera. We drew from our surroundings and kept to a neutral palette of earthen tones.

Preparation

The morning of our big day, we enjoyed a beautiful breakfast at the amazing Kin Toh restaurant at Azulik.

Photography

We captured each other throughout our elopement.

Style Notes

Ceremony Décor

We believe in simplicity, so we allowed the architecture of the place and the natural environment to be the protagonist.

Wedding Planner

Our Wedding Planner was Mango Weddings and La Distribuidora Tulum. We heard about Mango Weddings through a friend that had gotten married in Mexico and had nothing but good things to say about them, since none of us were living on the location or were planning to be there in advance it was important to have someone to take care of everything. They took care of everything, which in our case included the legal part of our ceremony and were very helpful into making this as easy as possible for us. We basically just had to show up and say yes!

“Stick with what you want and not what friends, family or society want from you. This is your day as a couple and it’s important that you honor it and celebrate it the way you want – whatever that may be. The only people that you need to make happy is the two of you.”

Fashion & Beauty Notes

Bride’s Dress

My wedding dress was Issey Miyake. We could write essays on how we admire Issey Miyake but since that is not your typical wedding dress it was not the first to come to our minds. I wanted something simple and minimal, but still something unique and different that showed my love for fashion. It was also very important that it was something I could wear over and over again in daily life. I had a few designers in mind and for months searched for vintage pieces with no luck, until one day it seemed obvious Issey Miyake was the only answer. Still, I had to wait for the dress to come along as the color and cut that I had in mind wasn’t in the current collections. It was even better that the dress was second hand, to know that the dress had a life before, I wonder if the person who owned it could imagined it would be someone’s wedding dress someday.

Bride’s Shoes

My wedding shoes were Gabriela Hearst.

Wedding Rings, Jewelry & Accessories

Elsa Peretti is one of my favourite designers her minimal and organic designs are something that can be worn everyday. I used two of her designs, Diamonds by the Yard, and Pearls by the Yard to add something more classic. Wedding rings were Cartier.

The Details

Honeymoon

Our honeymoon was at Casa Cosmos in Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca. We are obsessed with architecture and art, so we wanted a place that had both while still feeling like we were on holidays, so making the trip to “Casa Wabi” was no brainer. We had always wanted to visit Casa Tiny – a concrete gem in the middle of the jungle. But, as we researched Casa Cosmos it was difficult to resist.  Its lattice sliding walls, the water mirror in the rooftop to watch the moon, and the candlelight shower are just some of its amazing features. We were living as one with nature and the sounds at night were both terrifying and mesmerizing, we will never forget walking back from the bar at night with no lights at all in the middle of the jungle or the loud sounds of the waves of Punta Pajaros. The secluded location is full of amazing things to experience, like El Papelillo sauna created by Mexican Artists Tezontle.

Our Advice

A memorable moment…

To be honest we always wanted it to be the two of us, we felt it made the ceremony more special, just for us and would allow us to be more present in the moment. After being apart for so long in a long distance relationship and because of the travel ban, the most special moment was to go to an airport not to say goodbye to each other as many times before, but to finally start a life together.

One thing I wish I knew before I started my wedding plans…

I wished we had realized how jet lagged and tired from flying 2 days before we were going to be. After the ceremony and taking a couple of pictures, we fell asleep.  We woke up again even more tired and tried to take a few more pictures but we were so tired and it shows in the images.  After that we were too exhausted to drive to the place we had dinner reservations for, so we ended up walking to the amazing shrimp tacos around the corner from us. We set up the time of the ceremony before sunset thinking of the golden hour, but we really should have planned for a morning ceremony. So, if you are traveling somewhere with a considerable time zone difference, give yourself some days to rest and catch up, or do it at a time in the day you know you won’t be passing out in exhaustion.

If I could give other brides to be one piece of advice…

Stick with what you want and not what friends, family or society want from you. This is your day as a couple and it’s important that you honor it and celebrate it the way you want – whatever that may be. The only people that you need to make happy is the two of you. Think about what is important for you and prioritize this, do you love flowers? Is jewellery your thing? You are a foodie? Focus on the details that will make the day be more you.

Sources of inspiration…

We love simplicity and minimalism, natural materials and organic shapes, so everything that we chose was based on that and designers and things we admire and love. We had a very specific idea of how we wanted everything to look like and luckily everything all in place and we were able to find the perfect location and people to make that happen.

Our Contacts

Wedding Venue /  Liana Tulum

Wedding Planner / Mango Weddings

Photography / Philipp Groß

Bride’s Dress / Issey Miyake

Bride’s Shoes /  Gabriela Hearst

Groom’s Formal Wear /  Tiger of Sweden

Wedding Rings /  Cartier

Jewelry & Accessories /  Tiffany & Co

Florist /  La Distribuidora

Honeymoon Destination / Casa Cosmos, Puerto Escondido, Mexico