Jennifer and Don January 23, 2009

Plan a destination wedding that includes your family

Jennifer Danganan and Don Hurtikant II never should have met. One lived in New York, the other in Chicago. While they both were working in the same industry and had attended many of the same events, their paths never had crossed. One day while at an industry event, Jennifer’s coworker wanted her to meet Don. Don was willing to give it a try, but Jennifer wasn’t interested; they lived in two different cities. What was the point, she wondered, despite her apprehension, she gave it a try. The meeting turned out to be the perfect idea.

After they started dating, Don made the decision to move to New York. One day in early 2008 while Jennifer was in the shower, Don snuck into the bathroom and wrote “will you marry me?” in the steamed up mirror. When Jennifer opened the bathroom door, Don was there on one knee with flowers and a ring. It didn’t take long to start planning the wedding.

Jennifer always envisioned celebrating her wedding over several days in a quaint Mexican town surrounded by family and friends. When Don proposed, Jennifer quickly realized she was going to need to find that quaint Mexican town of her dreams.

Jennifer wasted little time and began researching towns in Mexico; much to her disappointment she wasn’t having much luck. Then one day she stumbled upon photos from another bride’s wedding in Zihuatanejo, Mexico. Based on the pictures, Zihuatanejo was the small, quaint town she had dreamed about. So in May 2008, Jennifer and Don boarded a plane to see the dream town for themselves. “Upon our arrival, we were a little apprehensive about our first impression of this small Mexican town,” says Jennifer. Luckily, a meeting the following day with their wedding coordinator helped change their minds. After showing them a number of possible venues, they made one last stop at Casa del Arbol, a private home that can be rented. “The minute we walked up the hill onto the grounds, we knew this was the perfect place,” says Jennifer. The date was set for January 23, 2009.

Once they returned home, it was time to get to work on invitations and other details. Jennifer and Don worked with invitation design and videographer Amy Johnson of One Fine Day Productions, who captured the vibrancy of Mexico by using bright, festive colors of red, orange and tallow. She was able to design a pattern that Jennifer and Don incorporated as a consistent theme for their invitations and all the other paper goods.

Amy also created a photo montage that was shown at the reception, starting with baby pictures and photos throughout the years with their family and friends.

While a destination wedding is a great opportunity to celebrate your love in an exotic and romantic location, it does make it harder to celebrate with your closest loved ones. Jennifer recommends choosing a place that is easy to get to for all the travelers.

For the Hurtikants and the Danganans, that meant arranging flights from Chicago, New York, and California, among a few other locations. Most of the flights connected through Huston, with many of the guests ultimately flying in together. When all was said and done, 94 people traveled to Mexico to share their love with Jennifer and Don.

“We’re both extremely close to both sides of the family,” Jennifer says. “It meant a lot to us to have them travel all that way.” Just before their wedding, Don’s father grew very ill. But despite his illness it was important for Don Sr. to be there. Growing up, Don’s and Denise Liles (owner of the Veil Magazine) family would always go on a tropical vacation the day after Christmas. A winter wedding in Mexico fit perfectly with the family tradition. The family was able to spend one last tropical vacation together. Sadly on April 25, 2009, Don Sr. passed away.

The wedding would be the last time Don and Jennifer saw his father, but Jennifer says he was happy and in a beautiful place and that is a great way to remember him. “That is the best memory I could have of him.”

“We’re very grateful that he was able to be there; it would have been completely different event without him.”

Jennifer says that while their family and friends were coming to Mexico for her and Don, they still wanted it to be a vacation for everyone. All their guests were welcomed with thoughtful and personal gift baskets. The baskets included information on places to go, sights to see, and restaurants to check out. They also included special personalized luggage tags, maps, information on messages, manicures and pedicures, contact information, sunscreen, shampoo, aloe vera and shower gel.

The celebration started the Wednesday before the weddings with a welcome fiesta on the beach. Jennifer says this casual get together gave all their families and friends an opportunity to break the ice and get to know each other in a relaxed atmosphere. Because their families are so spread our across the country – and world – the welcome fiesta was the first time Jennifer and Don’s families met each other.

“We come from two very different families. Don’s family is loud and very social, and my family is quieter and more reserved,” she says. Their parents got along great, much to Jennifer and Don’s delight.

On Thursday Jennifer and Don took everyone who was interested in snorkeling on a private catamaran they had rented. That afternoon, the wedding party rehearsed at the local church in town followed by a rehearsal dinner at Casa del Arbol. The wedding party and Jennifer and Don’s closest relatives enjoyed a tapas style dinner over looking a breath-taking view of Zihuatanejo Bay.

Friday was the big day and the bridal party prepared for the celebration in a open air house the couple had rented. Getting ready in the calm and relaxing atmosphere of the open air house was one of Jennifer’s favorite memories of the day, she says.

Guests boarded buses to take them to the small church about an hour outside of town. Jennifer is Filipino so the ceremony included many Filipino traditions. Since family is important, their siblings were part of the wedding ceremony helping with the candle, cord and veil traditions, which are an important part of the Filipino culture, Jennifer says. The candle represents unity, the cord goes over the couples shoulders signifies their lives together and the veil that is draped over them represents them coming together under one roof.

Following the ceremony, Don and Jennifer stayed back in the small town of Petatlan with Eron and Neil from Front Room Photography to take pictures. “They really captured the simple beauty of this tiny town, “Jennifer says. “At one point, Don and I took photos with locals sitting in front of their house enjoying the afternoon. Our photos are beyond words, Eron and Neil were with is from the start of our welcome fiesta to the pool party and they did not miss a shot and went above and beyond.”

Following the ceremony, the guests boarded the buses that took them to the reception at Villa de la Selva Restaurant in Ixtapa. The guests were stunned by the amazing view once you step into the doors of Villa de la Selva. Jennifer says, “We didn’t want to take away from the natural beauty, so we kept our tablescapes fairly simple. With beautiful red, orange and yellow linens from BBJ Linens, we were able to add a splash of color. We chose very simple centerpieces with floating candles for a romantic glow after the sunset.”

During the reception, Jennifer’s father gave an amazing speech during which he mentioned every single person who attended the celebration. When he ended his speech, he looked to Don and said, “All sales are final, no returns.”

The night ended with a spectacular firework show that surprised all of their family and friends.

Jennifer and Don didn’t want their guests to feel tied down to a rigorous schedule of activities. So for those who were not interested in the other planned activities, they created a scavenger hunt that worked both as a game and as a guide of things to do. This gave their guests the freedom to explore the town at their leisure. On Saturday the couple hosted a pool party for all the guests and gave out prizes for those who participated in the scavenger hunt.

During the pool party, they showed a slide show that Eron and Neil had put together, show casting all the events of the week.

Following the week in Mexico with their families, Jennifer and Don headed to the Excellence Playa Mujures Resort in Mexico for their honeymoon. They worked with Nancy Finn from Island Getaways, who arranged for them to have a two-story rooftop terrace suite that included a private HydroSpa pool, and offered amazing views and the perfect setting for their honeymoon.

Careful planning and passion helped Jennifer and Don not just have a fabulous dream wedding but also the memories of an amazing vacation spent together with the families that they will treasure forever!