Aaron proposed to Shelley on his 40th birthday. It was an important day, as he never thought he’d live to see 40.
A risk-taker with a wild life of extreme skiing and fast motorcycles, making it this far was not a given. But seven years ago, he found himself magnetically drawn to this beautiful blonde in a bar during a breakdancing competition. He was wearing a Rod Stewart wig at the time, and, being the risk-taker he is, asked for her phone number, still wearing the wig. She found him smart and funny, and did not even see what he really looked like until just before he left the bar that night.
After seven years have passed and you realize she’s still right there by your side and she loves you more than anything, yeah you might have a revelation about your future. “He said all he wanted for his next 40 was me,” Shelley said.
Shelley and Aaron decided to get out of their hometown of Austin, Texas, and plan a destination wedding weekend in a place neither they nor any of their friends or family had ever been – Guanajuato, Mexico. “We visited on a trip and fell in love with it – the beauty, the art, the food, and the opportunity to have a wedding in a place our friends and family had never been,” Shelley said.
After seeing Hacienda Las Trancas, in the town of Dolores Hidalgo, about an hour outside of San Miguel de Allende, they knew they had found their place. “Being in Dolores, it was not touristy, authentically Mexican, with amazing owners and staff who made the wedding planning from Austin seamless,” Shelley said.
Not everything went as planned (which is normal for Mexico weddings – I know because Ben and I were married there too), but everything was perfect. The band was late and did not know Shelley and Aaron’s wedding song, but the traditional Mexican wedding song they did play was so beautiful Shelley and Aaron didn’t care. Shelley got to watch her father sing at the top of his lungs with the mariachi band, which is one of her favorite moments from the wedding. She loved looking around during her vows and seeing that everyone was crying, even the groomsmen. And she and Aaron loved the traditional Callejonada parade the day before, marching through town with everyone they love, accompanied by a tequila burro and giant bride and groom puppets, while everyone in town cheered them on.
“Until my wedding day the following day, it was the happiest moment in my life,” Shelley said.