Mexico! Not just for any wedding, but for Dutch’s brother TJ’s marriage to Fiamma. It was a fantastic trip. Fiamma actually grew up in San Miguel and it is so pretty; full of colorful 17th-18th century colonial houses, a towering pink cathedral, steep cobblestone streets, and very tasty food.

First, I have to say we did not photograph their wedding. Really! TJ and Fiamma granted us a reprieve so that we could simply enjoy being a guest (and Dutch the best man) without the responsibility of documenting their day. Finally, a cocktail! An appetizer! Thank god! In all seriousness, TJ and Fiamma mean so much to us, we really just wanted to celebrate this milestone with them.

Second, I have to say (yes with all the biases of being family), this was one of the most beautiful weddings we have ever seen and it was very difficult for me not to photograph. Ah! There were opportunities at EVERY corner! It killed me. However, given that I couldn’t walk and the only camera we allowed ourselves was a little point-and-shoot Lumix, I was forced to eat (cochinita pipil forever), drink (mezcal baby) and dance (kind-of-not-really, more of a one-crutch shimmy).  So here’s the snapshots of our non-wedding-photographing-wedding…

Meet TJ, Dutch’s brother. He’s a great artist and you should check out his work here. He can cut wood like nobody’s business. Hint: that’s his work at the top of the page which is from their wedding invitation. He’s also pretty good with a paint brush.

Meet Fiamma, our new sister-in-law. She’s an excellent photographer and you should check out her work here. She is currently shooting for her brother-in-law Enrique Olvera’s new cookbook. P.S. Enrique is a super talented chef in Mexico and his peeps cooked for the rehearsal dinner and wedding. Oh it was decadent. I think this sums it up: ant-smoked baby corn. Oh. My. God. I’m not joking, it was good. P.P.S. We also ate crickets. P.P.P.S. Enrique does cook things other than bugs which were equally and arguably more delicious, but the bugs went so well with the tequila.

Now. With two creatives such as TJ and Fiamma we knew they would go all out, but they knocked our socks off with their invitation and really, everything. The following is just a few excerpts from their wedding webpage info for their guests. So cool I could hang half of it on my wall.

Here’s my very own cute and talented Huff. The view from our casa..amazing.

The ceremony! Fiamma and TJ smiling through a little itsy bitsy rain shower. Actually it was a sun shower, which is so beautiful how can you not want that to happen at your wedding?

OK now it’s really coming down!  They stuck it out through the end the ceremony though, it was very impressive.

That’s all! I told you I didn’t take many pictures. But since the places we visited were so beautiful, here’s a little vacationing we did around Mexico the few days before and after the wedding…

San Miguel de Allende is definitely a walking town (they said to the girl on crutches with a concerned look). We managed just fine, especially with the help of a 4-wheeler! Oh yes, Dutch and I donned helmets and sped around San Miguel on an ATV for an afternoon. It was hilarious and perfect.

Now we’re in Guanajuato, an equally gorgeous town with two very unique features: a crazy mummy museum that shows, amongst many grotesque mummies, a woman who was accidentally buried alive and she’s mummified screaming (it was awful, but we couldn’t stop looking at her). The other strange thing is that Guanajuato has underground streets for driving that are old mining tunnels. We were pretty relieved we didn’t rent a car for this one…literally zero landmarks, few street signs, and a flickering light bulb underground to guide you. You just had to know which turns to take when you got to the intersections: aka be a local.

The amazing view from our B&B.

Tacos pastor! You know it’s a find when the best thing you’ve eaten all day cost about 50 cents.

Alley of the Kiss (on the right, duh) has a tragic Romeo & Juliette-esque story about star-crossed lovers and battling families. The boy purchased the house across from his secret lover so they could steal smooches across the balcony. Unfortunately, the girl’s dad caught them, the boy jumped and broke his neck and the girl got a dagger through the heart courtesy of pops. Yikes. P.S. Dutch is truly embarrassed we’re doing this amongst the other tourists. I thought it was funny. Seriously how many times do we photograph couples kissing per Saturday? Hmmm…one little kiss? Please? Besides, legend has it that a kiss guarantees 15 years of happiness. Bring it on.

 

This picture of me reminds me of this Japanese photographer I love who does “daily levitations” where she photographs herself jumping in everyday situations and it looks like she’s levitating (self-titled yowayowa camera woman). It’s kind of like that. Only she jumps a little higher.

My favorite thing we saw in Mexico City was Diego Rivera’s murals. They were breathtaking.

That’s right. The scooter traveled all the way to Mexico with us! Only Mexico City had enough smooth ground that I could actually use it, the cobblestone covering the rest of our trip was a just a bit bumpy.

The end. Thanks for coming along.