Kiley + Jacob

Her Big Day Team
Oct 2, 2015
4 min read

Bride: Kiley Gashaw Dunne

Groom: Jacob Lizama

Location: Punta Mita, Mexico and Fallbrook, California

Wedding Date: Mexico (7/17/2015) and California (08/22/2015)

Venue: Mexico- Four Seasons Punta Mita, and California- Fallbrook Hacienda

Number of Guests: Mexico (30) and California (250)

Cultures Represented: Guam (groom), Ethiopia and Ireland (bride)

Description or Theme of wedding: Our wedding theme in Mexico was a lot more casual and laid back, we wanted to incorporate a bit of the beach feel as well as a little bit of Four Seasons glamor. We all sat along a row of tables for a sunset dinner right on the beach with lanterns and candles surrounding us. Each guest received their choice of dinner provided by the hotel and there was no wedding cake or major party following. The wedding was designed to be more intimate and personal. Our colors were more vivid pinks, blues, and purples with gold.

The California wedding had a more villa/rustic feel with more muted tones (peaches, gold accents, creams and browns).

We both LOVE traveling so the main theme was “Around the World We Go!” Instead of table numbers we did countries and had globes as our guest books. We got married in a private villa and incorporated both of our cultures within the wedding as well, with buffet foods with food from both cultures. Each table had a bottle of Tej and Tela for guests to sample, and the wedding favors were miniature bags of Ethiopian coffee beans (the bride is a coffee addict). For the island feel we hired our favorite local band (Tribal Theory) to play live at the wedding and give it a bit of a island reggae feel as well.

The most memorable part of your wedding: For Mexico the most memorable part was just the complete intimacy of the ceremony and having just our closest family and the bridesmaids and groomsmen there. It was kind of like taking them on a thank you trip before the big California wedding and creating incredible memories over 3 days in Paradise. My father isn’t actively involved in my life and my mother was an INCREDIBLE single mother and I had the privilege of having her walk me down the aisle.

For the California wedding, the most memorable part was getting to see how both cultures represented themselves and tried to unify as well. It was incredible and sweet and everyone felt like they were part of something. My grandmother was able to attend my wedding and to honor her, we had her walk me down the aisle (my grandfather was taken from us during the upheaval in Ethiopia in the 70s) with my mother and aunt behind us, such an incredible girl power moment!

Did you do anything unique, crazy or fun: We had a Ethiopian Coptic priest bless the ceremony in Amharic and a Catholic priest exchange the vows in English to incorporate both culture’s religious backgrounds. The wedding included dancers from each culture performing for the diverse audience as well. The Ethiopian priest blessed the food in Amharic and the Guamanian head of the family blessed the food as well in Chamorro, before eating and then we added a coffee ceremony towards the end of the evening and invited all the guests to join in as well.

What was the most difficult part about planning your wedding: The California wedding was the harder of the two weddings by far. The Mexico wedding was taken care of by the hotel. Although it was an easier wedding to plan it was hard to convey what I wanted for the ceremony and wedding without being at the venue to see things in person, so there was a lot of hoping it would turn out like I wanted in my head. The Four Seasons definitely came through and it was STUNNING.

I really struggled in the beginning with having the second wedding as we are both more introverted people and had no interest in a large and very public wedding. I had to remind myself on various occasions that the California wedding was definitely more of celebrating with our friends and family that were not at the private Mexico ceremony, and to be honest I’m so thankful we did it! So many wonderful memories were created that evening. I think the most difficult part for the California wedding was representing both cultures equally without going overboard, and trying to get guests who are not familiar with American customs for weddings (RSVP’s, seating charts) to participate, not to mention we lost our wedding coordinator and bar tender day of the wedding (CRAZY). Luckily we were able to find last minute bartenders and family and friends banded together to help the evening run smoothly.

What was the easiest part about planning your wedding: The easiest part by far was working with my wonderful HUSBAND (so fun to say still). He was so supportive during the entire process and made planning a lot more tolerable.

Any words of wisdom to the couple planning their wedding: It’s ok to get frustrated and it’s ok not to want to please everyone. If you spend the whole time planning trying to please everyone then you’ll lose the meaning and personal feeling behind your wedding. People would say to me “it’s your day,” but would become so upset if I wanted to do things my way and I started to feel bad but then I’d have to remind myself that you don’t get married every day and it’s ok to want it to be what you want. There’s a way to be mindful of others and still not lose yourselves in it all. Also DON’T SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF, it’s crazy how much effort went into the little details of the tables that NO ONE noticed lol. It’s ok if everything isn’t perfect, just remember to enjoy the moment and CELEBRATE EACH OTHER.