Scaling back their large Summer Camp themed wedding due to Covid, Jasmine and Vicente stuck with an outdoor vibe, holding their day instead on an acre of land on Mount Sequoyah in Arkansas. With wild trees and natural landscape, the couple got that magical forest feel that they wanted.
Meeting online, Jasmine was the first and last person Vicente messaged. Together for over five years, the couple wanted their ceremony to focus on the importance of maintaining their individuality, even as a devoted married couple. Jasmine told us, “There were a few traditions we broke. I walked myself down the ‘aisle’, and our ceremony included smoke cleansing, a wine-sharing ceremony, an exchange of vows we wrote together, the ring exchange, handfasting, and, finally, the breaking of glass.”
They were also keen to include Vicente’s heritage in the day, with some fun, colourful additions. “We also had a piñata. Vicente is Mexican and we wanted to find a way to incorporate his culture into the wedding day. We found a wedding cake shaped piñata on Oriental Trading and stuffed it with Mexican candies. We arrived ahead of schedule from our sunset photos to the reception so we decided to go ahead and do the piñata before dinner. It was a blast!”
Helping them stick to their $7,000 wedding budget, Jasmine spent over a year thrifting items to include in their day. She collected amber bottles, vintage arrows and a picnic basket, as well as cold brew amber bottles from the local coffee shop – a result of her and her mum’s coffee habit! Jasmine told us, “We definitely experienced sticker shock when it came to establishing our budget. But we ended up saving a lot of money by having our wedding at a private residence. We also had to have many conversations laying out our priorities and finding ways to align them. Communication was key throughout the process.”
Vicente added, “There were many times when we could have gone over budget because of FOMO, but Jasmine and I were able to communicate about our priorities and about what the event meant for us. That allowed us to remember that making this special memory shouldn’t compromise the many other memories we wanted to make. Keeping that in mind helped us to stay on budget.”
The couple weren’t willing to compromise their budget on the photographer, however, as Jasmine explained, “It was important for us to find both someone whose style matched our own and someone we liked and wanted to work with. Laura Powers is both supremely talented and someone and a joy to be around. Having her at our wedding was like a having an old friend.”
Jasmine and Vicente had to make some tough decisions due to Covid, but they still had a magical day. Vicente concluded, “My favourite moment was the way time seemed to stop during the ceremony. There’s always a lot of rushing around when preparing a wedding. But, once the ceremony began, I felt a great sense of presence and calm. I was able to be fully in the moment with my favourite person and some of our closest friends and family.”
