When Nicole Brydon Bloom walked down the aisle earlier this month in Mexico’s Riviera Maya, she would have seen her wedding guests seated along a powdery white sand dune, a wild cluster of coconut palm trees, and the glittering Caribbean Sea extending into the horizon. Her soon-to-be-husband, actor Justin Theroux (see his favorite New York City MICHELIN Guide picks here), waited for her at the end, dressed in a cream-colored Ralph Lauren jacket.
The setting for the star-studded affair, Hotel Esencia, is one of just three properties in Mexico to hold Michelin’s highest hotel honor, Three Keys. Over three days, the couple made the most of their slice of paradise, hosting their guests at beachfront, poolside, rooftop, and underground events.
When it was time for dinner, guests tucked into a homestyle meal in the garden of Esencia’s main house, a stylish, Spanish-tile-roofed manor once owned by an Italian duchess. “After they cut the cake” – chocolate with vanilla frosting – “the mariachi band came,” says Juan Carlos Gutierrez, the hotel’s artistic director.
Then: “A party with disco balls. It was open air and really nice.”
Read on for our full interview with Gutierrez, who walks through all of Hotel Esencia’s glamorous gathering spaces, and reveals more of the Brydon Bloom-Theroux wedding weekend itinerary, including the site of the speakeasy afterparty.
Where can couples host a wedding on the property?
We consider the hotel to be less of a resort and more like a private home with extra guest rooms. That's always been our philosophy, because the property is not that big and the different areas are not that spaced out. Everything is developed around the main house, which is open to all guests and has a living room, a library, a sitting area, a game room, and a TV room. We have three restaurants: one in the garden near the jungle side, one beachfront, and one poolside.
Weddings can take place in any of our spaces. It depends on the bride and the groom's taste and preference. Every wedding here is customized – we don't sell packages or have pre-arranged setups. The beach is always good for a wedding ceremony because it's very romantic and stunning. Often the ceremonies will be barefoot, because that's kind of the feeling that we have here – just a few flowers, an altar, and that's it. On the beach, we can do wedding ceremonies, icebreakers, cocktails, bonfires, any kind of activity.
Otherwise, you could use the steps of the main house. There is a nice pathway with red bricks and an elevated area where people have made an altar. The Palm Garden, a big lawn that’s full of palm trees, is very romantic as well. Some people have also held weddings, rehearsal dinners, and parties in the Presidential Bungalow, which is open air and has its own private stretch of beach. That has a little more privacy to it.
The Esencia Mansion (a 10,000-square-foot, four-bedroom villa on the property) has also been very popular. We've done wedding dinners of 60 people around the pool, rehearsal events, icebreaker, cocktails, and wedding parties with dancing around the pool. The Mansion also has a speakeasy bar that’s been used for afterparties, for the people who want to stay up late.
It’s pretty common for wedding parties to buy out the hotel, which can sleep 130 people. We have 51 rooms, including four villas. We can do events for 200 people.
What kind of décor goes best with the natural setting and architecture of the property?
The architecture of the house is a Mediterranean, colonial, beachfront sort of style. The walls are all whitewashed. You don't really have to decorate – the natural setting and the house itself is already enough. Throughout the years people typically do really simple things, like beautiful flowers – not even a lot. They just let the space talk. If the event is in the garden, you have amazing palm trees, coconut trees, the green lawn. The beach is a spectacle on its own. If you're poolside, you have these amazing trees overlooking the pool. Most of the events are open air, weather permitting, so to have that opportunity, if it's a starry night and it's warm and breezy, it's just lovely. The house really lends itself to a very private, intimate setting, like you’re having your wedding in a friend’s house.
Tell us about the Brydon Bloom-Theroux wedding itinerary.
Day one they had a welcome cocktail at the beach bar. They served finger food, passed cocktails, and they set up some lounges on the beach. Day two they had a rehearsal dinner for 60 people in the Mansion, which has many levels. First, they had cocktails on the rooftop terrace, which has a covered lounge and an infinity pool. Then they came down to have a seated dinner for 60 people around the pool. After that, they had a rehearsal party at Beefbar, our restaurant in the garden, for 150 people. They served cocktails and had a live Cuban band and giant Mexican puppets as entertainment.
Then on day three, the wedding ceremony was held in the Presidential Bungalow. That day there was a little bit of wind, so the actual dinner had to be moved to the main house garden. After they cut the cake, the mariachi band came, and the guests were guided back to the Presidential Bungalow so the garden could be readied for the party. They had a party with disco balls. It was open air and really nice. And then after that, for the late partiers, they went to the speakeasy bar to continue the party until late. It’s located under the pool of the Mansion and has its own separate, hidden entrance.
And because we’re Michelin, we have to ask about the food. What was on the wedding night menu?
They chose a sort of comfort food-style menu for the wedding dinner. They wanted to make everyone feel like they were at home and not at a wedding, per se. It started with some homemade focaccia, followed by slow roasted beet salad, then lemon grilled chicken with mashed potatoes and creamed spinach. Then they had chocolate wedding cake with vanilla frosting, and also profiteroles with vanilla ice cream, and then tropical flavored popsicles. We cater all of our events with our own staff, our executive chef and his team.
All images courtesy of Hotel Esencia
