Carlos Gómez del Campo Neme was not planning on falling in love with an American woman when he moved to Austin to get his MBA, but that all changed when he met Dagney Devlin Pruner at a dive bar. After a year-and-a-half together, he proposed while on a trip to Cancun over Valentine’s Day.
Once engaged, they wanted to find an authentically Mexican, historic venue in the metro area of Mexico City for their October, 2019 wedding. “All of Carlos’s family still lives in Mexico City, and it’s an important part of our relationship—we had a lot of firsts there—so we really wanted to show off the city and have our American friends fall in love with it,” Dagney explains. They finally found Colegio de San Ignacio de Loyola Vizcaínas, built in the 1750s, and booked it for their 750-guest celebration.
To help plan their wedding, they hired Diego del Rio Zepeda, and Dagney landed on a very specific theme, which she called, “Mexican black-tie, Midsummer Night’s Eve.” “We settled on burgundy, fuchsia, navy, and gold as our colors and incorporated them into absolutely everything—navy velvet chairs, ornate gold Dolce & Gabbana flatware, TONS of candles, and chandeliers hanging everywhere,” the bride says. “I joked with my planner that I wanted the ambiance to be so romantic that all the single people were going to find love that night and all the married couples would want to renew their vows.”
“While my personal style is very casual and simple, the venue really demanded a show-stopping gown,” Dagney shares. She flew to New York City to go dress shopping and fell in love with Monique Lhuillier‘s Majesty gown at Mark Ingram Atelier. For her “something borrowed,” the bride’s best friend, Elizabeth Caccia Kelly, lent her a pair of diamond and pearl earrings that she’d worn at her own wedding. And her “something blue” was from another best friend, Elizabeth Mclean Hughes, who had “Mrs. Gomez del Campo” embroidered into her bridal lingerie with blue thread.
On the day-of, Dagney got ready with makeup artist Jordi Avendaño and hairstylist Emiliana Perez, who perfected the bride’s beauty look. And Bambu Flores made her a mini burgundy flower crown for the reception.
In the Cathedral of Vizcainas lit with tons of candles, the bride walked down the aisle with her father to begin the full Catholic evening mass. “The ceremony was almost completely in Spanish, but we did have the vows and a few of the readings in English, so the American guests would know what was going on,” Dagney remarks. “Since we had gotten legally married at Cipriani the night before in front of a judge—per Mexican tradition—we didn’t feel nervous at all which was great.”
Once the two were announced as husband and wife, everyone headed next door to the main courtyard for the reception. People found their seats with personalized place cards, printed by Carlos’s sister’s company, Intelli Studio. And the five-course meal was catered by Les Croissants. During dinner, everyone was treated to a set from Paco de Maria and his swing band, and the entrees were followed by a candy bar, a Magnum ice cream bar station, and more food coming out every hour from 11:00 p.m. until 6:00 a.m.
Out on the custom dance floor, guests changed into slippers with the wedding logo on them, and at 2:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m., confetti fell from the ceiling. The newlyweds had their first dance to “Beyond” by Leon Bridges, and then Julio of 2DJs took over the party. “Since the wedding went for 12 hours, and we had a completely culturally mixed wedding, it was an intimidating feat,” Dagney explains. “He mixed Mexican songs and reggaeton with American wedding classics and Top 40.”
And since it’s a Mexican tradition that the bride can’t toss her bouquet until her husband is able to get rid of a bottle of tequila, guests formed a line to receive shots to help him. Once empty, Dagney threw her flowers into the crowd.
The wedding night didn’t end until 7:00 a.m. technically because daylight savings changed the clocks, but needless to say, there was no need for an after-party!
