Rachel Boschetti comes from a family of dentists, but she never imagined she would end up marrying one – that is, until she met Sandy Perez during the first year of dental school at Tufts University in Boston, Massachusetts.
“Although I was born and raised in Boston,” Rachel shares, “Sandy was born in Cuba and moved to South Florida when he was eight, finally moving up to Boston to attend dental school with the expectation of moving back to Miami after his four years of school were completed.
But that’s where I came in. Sandy and I met while studying for one of our first exams with a group of friends. I accidentally offended him by making a joke about a university he attended for his Master’s degree (whoops!) but lucky for me, he didn’t take it too seriously. We navigated through the first year of dental school as friends, finally becoming a couple during our second year of school. We went on to move in together and graduate from dental school, after which Sandy got a job in Boston to stay close to me as I started my residency in Orthodontics at Tufts.”
“We could not have asked for a more perfect way to start our marriage and celebrate with those who we love most.”
In November of 2020, the couple took a trip to Florida to visit Sandy’s family for Thanksgiving. Sandy surprised Rachel by chartering a private boat and taking her out for a day on the water. He proposed while they were floating in Biscayne Bay, and the newly engaged pair celebrated with their families, who surprised them after the engagement and hopped aboard the boat with them for the rest of the night. Sandy had planned every detail to perfection, even arranging for Rachel’s best friends from home to surprise them the following day and stay over that weekend to keep the party going.
“It was the most magical proposal I could have ever dreamed up,” says Rachel. “Right when we got engaged, we knew we wanted to have our wedding in Miami. Florida has always been such a special place for both of us, so naturally the wedding needed to be there. Living in Boston while planning a wedding in Miami wasn’t easy, but with the help of family and friends who live there and several weekend trips, we were finally able to book our wedding at our dream venue – the W South Beach.
We wanted our wedding to be a vacation for those coming from out of town, and something convenient for those living in Florida. The W South Beach offered a chic, cosmopolitan, and upscale venue with the convenience of being able to have the ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception all at one place. With its picturesque beachside location while being in the middle of all of the action on South Beach, we couldn’t have picked a better place to get married.”
On March 19th, 2022, with the most perfect weather and all of the couple’s closest family and friends, the bride and groom tied the knot outside just before sunset under strings of tea lights. After an arduous wedding planning process, their wedding turned out to be “the most magical” day of their lives. They chose a tropical Floridian theme for the décor, using palms and lush greenery to create the backdrop.
As an ode to Sandy’s Cuban culture, a cigar roller made authentic Cuban cigars for guests during cocktail hour. There were also mojito-flavored lollipops and packets of espresso for wedding favors, plus late-night Cuban snacks and pastries to fuel everyone on the dance floor. The speeches given by the couple’s families and man and maid of honor were an extra special touch, spanning two languages, two cultures, and leading to many laughs and tears.
“We could not have asked for a more perfect way to start our marriage and celebrate with those who we love most,” Rachel recalls. “As I write this, we are waiting for a flight home from the most magical honeymoon in Greece. We spent five days in Mykonos followed by five in Santorini, filled with love, a lot of sun, and (maybe) too many glasses of Prosecco. We may have had a near catastrophe when Sandy’s wedding band slipped off his finger while swimming in the ocean during our catamaran trip along the Santorini coast, but don’t worry.
Thanks to some helpful fellow travelers, the ring was safely recovered! We finished off our trip with a private photoshoot of the two of us under the blue-domed churches in Santorini, ducking under countless ‘private way’ signs to get the perfect shots. Just like our beautiful wedding photos, we will now have these memories to remind us of our blissful honeymoon touring the Greek islands.”
“What I’ve learned throughout the planning process, of both a destination wedding and honeymoon,” she adds, “is that every ounce of stress is worth it in the end. Because after all, as long as Sandy and I are doing it together, I know everything will turn out just fine and we’ll have a great time no matter what.”
WEDDING TALENT
Location: W South Beach, Miami Beach, FL; Planner: Events on a Budget, Miami, FL; Floral and Event Design: Petal Productions, Miami, FL; Wedding Dress: Galia Lahav; Bridal Salon: Vows Bridal, Watertown, MA; Photography: Dana Lynn Photography, Miami, FL