On a routine flight for her job from San Francisco to Chicago, Suzanne settled into her first-class seat, in all her unshowered and yoga-pants glory, hoping to get some sleep. But the guy next to her was just starting his vacation. He was a few drinks in and ready to chat. He asked for her name. She gave him a fake name, and somehow he called her bluff. They began talking nonetheless. And somewhere in there, on that fated route, something magical happened.
Because when Suzanne got home, she called her sister and told her she’d just met the man she was going to marry. The same thing happened on Greg’s end. He started spending a lot of time flying back and forth from San Francisco, where he lived, to Chicago, where she lived. On New Year’s Day last year, they took that same flight from San Francisco to Chicago together, and with the help of the United Airlines flight attendants, Greg officially proposed.
We loved these two from the moment we first spoke with them. And it wasn’t even their great story that got us. It was them. Suzanne and Greg are hilarious; they are extremely kind and thoughtful; and they love their people so well. Their wedding was at one of the best wedding locations in the world, Hotel Esencia in Mexico’s Riviera Maya. When we got to our room, there was a gift waiting for us. But it wasn’t a generic welcome gift. It was a bottle of champagne in a custom wooden box with our last name engraved on it, with a beautiful, heartfelt note saying they knew it was our anniversary weekend and hoped it would be special for us. This was THEIR wedding weekend, and they were thinking about OUR anniversary. Who does that?! It was too much for me to even process. I had tears in my eyes.
The whole weekend was a testament to how close these two are with their family and friends. The guest list was kept very small so they could actually spend quality time with the people they love. Instead of dancing, Suzanne and Greg spent most of their wedding reception having meaningful conversations with their guests. The evening ended in a bonfire on the beach.
This was one of those weddings that we live for – a fun couple who know exactly who they are and appreciate what they have, getting married in a beautiful place and taking nothing for granted. We feel very fortunate that Suzanne and Greg shared a bit of their world, and their love, with us. And of course now we stay in touch pretty regularly because, as I told Greg at the rehearsal dinner (as he and his friends were doing tequila shots and laughing hysterically), “what I REALLY want to do is just hang out with you guys!”
This was our second time photographing here. Our first one was 10 years ago at Lauren and Frank’s Hotel Esencia wedding.