This Couple Turned the Beach in Tulum, Mexico, into a Disco Oasis for Their Wedding

Since they’re both designers, Marisa (Mari) Suárez-Orozco (35 and a floral, stationery and event designer) and Janette (Jan) Banner (41 and a carpenter and furniture designer) wanted to blend their two aesthetics when planning their wedding. It was, “a little tricky and took some reworking several times, but ended up being worth it!” Mari shares. While Mari loves, “lush, opulent florals,” Jan’s vibe is bold and modern. The melded result was, “a modern gay disco oasis nestled in the heart of the jungle.” Not only did the wedding’s visuals represent a beautiful coming together, the cultures of the day did as well. For the ceremony, Mari’s parents read the lyrics to “Gracias a la Vida” by Chilean folk singer Violeta Parra. As her father is Argentinian, he read in Spanish while her mother translated to English. 

Mari designed all the stationery with illustrated motifs that recurred throughout. Although Mari has been, “designing paper suites for years, this was BY FAR the hardest suite I ever designed!” Passionflower is her favorite bloom, so she illustrated one to thread throughout the stationery and day-of details. Together with an astrologer friend, Mari even incorporated the essence of passionflower and moonstone, a nod to the couple’s rings, into a tincture for the welcome bags. "Passionflower is probably my favorite flower. Passionflower instills a sense of calm as a spiritual conduit. Together with moonstone, it promotes strength, tranquility and harmony," says Mari. 

As for fashion, while Jan wore a bright blue suit for the wedding, Mari, “felt strongly that I wanted a pink dress and it was surprisingly hard to find a non-white dress!” In the end, she donned a light pink number and added, “a blush ostrich shrug later in the night.” Wedding guests were asked to wear black and white, with patterns encouraged. “We thought it would keep the aesthetic cohesive and also that our blue and pink outfits would pop against them,” says Mari.  

The day’s floral designs included delphinium, ranunculus, tulips, Juliet garden roses and lisianthus. The arrangements also, “incorporated painted birds of paradise and dyed roses in Jan’s favorite color, bright blue.” For the reception décor, “We found these cool black marble tables and Jan had the idea to do monochrome black for dishware, flatware and napkins so the blue menus and florals would pop. We wanted the flowers to shine and I think it was really effective,” Mari says. As for the treats at the reception, iced in black and topped with gold animal figurines, the couple’s cake included a cookies-and-cream tier plus a second flavored with coconut and lemon curd. The dessert menu also included churros, mini cheesecakes, alfajores and chocolate-covered strawberries.