Wedding Date on Mar 17, 2018

Read more about how they met . A few years later, the couple took their first trip together abroad to Barcelona, Spain and with the help of some friends, Andy proposed to Ashley. "I totally knew it was coming but was still so excited," she says. Read more about their proposal story . We compliment each other and I think we both really need that. I am more decisive - aka seeing one wedding venue and booking it vs. my husband who likes to see all options before making a decision. It's helped us both a lot in our grown up lives! Continued our European engagement moon in Italy! We didn't have an exact budget per say. Not because it was unlimited but because of my job. We were able to work with some vendors to provide valuable content and exposure in exchange for discounted services. We were still very conscious in spending as we paid for our wedding from our savings. As we decided where to put our money, we prioritized everything. Food + alcohol and photography + video were the two highest things on our list. We did not cut corners in those categories and I have no regrets about that. I never did the final calculation, because most brides can agree that towards the end you are just throwing $1,000 at problems like they are $1 but I would guestimate everything came in at under $100,000 for 3 days worth of events (welcome party, wedding, Sunday pool party). I will say our wedding planner was AMAZING in negotiating for us among other things. She was worth every penny! It's also important to note we were one of the first people to get married at Acre Baja. They had maybe booked 3 weddings before us. Since then (2+ yrs ago) the demand for Los Cabos weddings and our venue in general has gone up significantly - they are doing 2+ weddings a week. With demand comes an increase in price, something I always have to remind brides-to-be as they ask about my budget/ guestimated costs for current weddings there. Location, food and overall vibe. Definitely a lot of emotions! It was such a special weekend. Yes, we did. You can hear a lot of our vows in the wedding video. It was so special and I'm glad we decided to do our own thing. I'm a pretty decisive person and only had to go to two different places before I decided on my dress. We also planned our wedding in less than 4 months, so there wasn't really time to be indecisive. Lovely Bride was the winner because of their overall style and vibe. It's a little boho and a little glam. I think the dress I went with was maybe the 2nd or 3rd dress I tried on. As part of my job I take pictures of myself almost daily, so I will say that I think I had a little advantage in knowing what works for my body type. It helped to refine the choices from the get go. More about my ceremony dress shopping experience . I discovered my reception dress on pinterest about a year before and fell in love instantly. My makeup artist had a connection to the brand and they let me borrow it on loan for my wedding weekend; it was so special. You can read more about that . Fun fact: Acre Baja was the ONLY venue we looked at. I knew I wanted to get married outside and we love Mexico. As I was casually looking at the Venue Report website I found Acre Baja and told Andy it was the one. He laughed but I booked us a flight two weeks later to go visit the property. That was late October 2017. We got married in March 2018. Needless to say we fell in love the second we walked on the premises. I loved that it was a "beach destination" but not ON the beach. The boho yet modern vibe is very us. Aside from the property we were blown away by the food and alcohol program. Acre was a restaurant first and I think that makes ALL the difference. I have been to so many weddings in my life with bad food that I refused to be part of that group. People still talk about the cheddar biscuits and killer margaritas from our wedding day and that makes me so happy. I had a gut feeling the venue as a whole was going to blow up in the wedding space and although we could've waited a year plus to plan our wedding we just decided to go for it 4 months later and it was the best decision we ever made. Yes! The goal of our wedding was to make it an experience for all of our guests especially since they flew all the way to Mexico. It's also one of the reasons we went with a destination vs. a wedding in Los Angeles. In 2018 your money went much further in Los Cabos than it did in LA and we probably spent the same amount for 3 days of parties during our wedding weekend that we would've spent for ONE night to do an LA wedding. Friday we had a welcome party on the rooftop of El Gonzo Hotel that overlooked the ocean. And closed out our wedding weekend with a big pool party at Acre on Sunday. It was the best! Thanks! I used Pinterest to put together the entire vibe of our wedding and shared that with our wedding planner Amy Abbot who helped us execute everything. Our wedding planner and amazing florist put together the florals after seeing my pinterest board. It is amazing to have footage to look back on. Pictures can only capture so much but video really captures the essence of the day, the feeling of being there, and all the special moments. It's also great to have because as a couple so much is going on that you miss out on a lot of what's happening around you, so it's great to be able to re-live it and see on film. Too many! But there was a moment that we stepped away from the dance floor and just took in everything going on around us. It was magical and one of the best wedding tips I recieved. Communication! Definitely be aligned on expectations and that will make things a lot easier. And to be honest, the less people involved in decision making, the better. Andy and I shared what we were doing with our families but we did not involve them in decisions or choices and that saved us all a lot of stress. All of them! I honestly can't pick. Together they made our perfect wedding weekend. I wouldn't have wanted to do it without any one of them! (all of my vendors are listed)