A DESTINATION WEDDING IN MEXICO WITH A BLACK AND WHITE FARMHOUSE AESTHETIC
In May of 2019, Kristen Partipilo and Josh Grossblatt met on the dating app, Hinge.
“I wouldn’t say it was love at first sight,” Kristen shares. “It wasn’t his carefully curated selection of photos showing that he’s a family man who likes BBQ and Burning Man. It was his words; his words in the form of a response to a very basic ‘what I’d like to know about you’ prompt that made me burst into laughter and drove me to DM him, applauding his wit.
Unlike most men on these dating sites, Josh didn’t want to know what a girl’s favorite bar was or what they like to do over the weekend. Instead, he wanted to know a series of security questions: what’s your mother’s maiden name, make and model of your first car, and the last 4 digits of your social security number. It was an incredibly clever and very ‘Josh’ spin to an otherwise boring question. And one that made me feel like I had finally met someone on this app who was funnier than I was. And so, I reached out not for a date, but merely to tell him that I was stealing his material to put on my own profile. And let’s just say, his huge ego took it from there.”
“We represent two very different sides of the exact same coin, and it’s what makes us, us.”
The First Date
Kristen and Josh’s first date was at a restaurant called Nightshade in downtown LA. Sadly, the restaurant didn’t survive the pandemic, but it lives on in their love story. Unknowingly, Kristen impressed Josh by telling him that she had no dietary restrictions and “eats everything.” He unknowingly impressed her in return, ordering one of everything on the menu.
“Three hours and far too many craft cocktails later,” Kristen recalls, “I was sneaking off to the bathroom to text my girlfriends that I had just met the man I was going to marry. We moved in together just a month before lockdown, which brought our whirlwind romance to a screeching halt. But Josh is a gambling man, and though the fate of the world was uncertain, he was certain of one thing: that he was going to propose on the luckiest day of the year, 7-11-21.”
The Bachelor Mansion
The proposal took place at the Waldorf in Newport, where Kristen thought they were going to celebrate her sister’s birthday.
“I dragged Josh to take pictures with me at a particular scenic spot right before our brunch reservations on the last day,” she adds. “Much to my surprise, what I thought was my idea, was really Josh’s plan all along; and there, our photographer was waiting in the bushes for Josh to get down on one knee. To top it off, Josh had already pre-planned our engagement party at the Bachelor Mansion – my guiltiest of pleasures.”
A Destination Wedding in Mexico
Since Kristen and Josh both grew up in Los Angeles, they knew a local wedding would mean having a guest list that would quickly become unmanageable. Cabo has always been their “happy place,” so they figured the easiest way to “weed out the obligatory invites” was to plan a destination wedding in Mexico during a pandemic. Just as they’d hoped, it worked.
“We toured a fair amount of hotels but ended up choosing Hotel El Ganzo because it truly felt alive,” says Kristen. “It’s not only a hotel, but a place for independent artists to come and make their mark: from live artist installations, murals, musical performances, to an in-house recording studio, every corner of the space has a personal and eclectic touch unlike anything we have ever seen. Not to mention, it was one of the only hotels we could rent out completely for all our guests.”
Their overall wedding aesthetic was “black and white modern farmhouse with a vibey Mexican flair.” The couple also wanted the art – along with Kristen’s “glitter bomb of a wedding dress” by BERTA – to speak for itself, so colors were kept to a minimum. With food being their ultimate love language, each table was named after a restaurant that was meaningful to them, adding a personal touch. These restaurants included Nighshade, where they had their first date; Bavel, where they go for their annual birthday and anniversary dinners; and Howlin’ Ray’s, which is Josh’s guilty pleasure.
The Big Day
“The day of the wedding, I felt pretty calm overall,” Kristen describes. “I had been waiting my whole life for this. Josh on the other hand, never thought he'd see the day. So, let’s just say it was impossible to tell if he was wiping sweat or tears throughout the whole night.”
“Our favorite part of the day was our vows,” she continues. “Josh and I are basically the same person, but in completely different packages. He’s a glass half-empty pessimist from the valley, and I’m the glass half-full, bright westside girl. We represent two very different sides of the exact same coin, and it’s what makes us, us. When the time came to read our vows, we quickly realized that we wrote the EXACT. SAME. THING; just from our two perspectives.
Our officiant, Matthew Schwartz (my brother-in-law and Josh’s idol), who was the only person to have read our vows before the wedding day, knew that this was coming and instead of advising either of us to go in different directions, let it play out this way because it was the perfect embodiment of who we are as a couple. Matt’s speech was also nothing short of perfect and completely tailored to us. From Arnold Schwarzenegger and The Rock jokes to deep intimate moments shared, he had the whole crowd rolling in laughter and tears from start to finish.”
The couple credits their beautiful Cabo wedding celebration to the help of their incredible planner, Ximena Paredes of Amy Abbott Events, and thanks M. Hart Photography for capturing it all to perfection.
WEDDING TALENT
Location: Hotel El Ganzo, B.C.S., Mexico; Planner: Ximena Paredes of Amy Abbott Events; Wedding Dress: BERTA; Photography: M. Hart Photography