A ‘Desert Chic’ Destination Wedding for Influencer Allie Tong in San Miguel de Allende

We’ve all got an important lesson to learn from food + lifestyle influencer Allie Tong: Don’t be shy about doing what you need to do to get that perfect Instagram photo! You never know who could be watching, and it just might mean meeting the love of your life! 

“We met at a local pizza shop in San Francisco. I was taking photos of my pizza and capturing content for my Instagram,” Allie remembers of her adorable social media age meet cute with now-husband David. “David was intrigued and came over to see what was going on and charmed me!”

With the perfect pizza pics as their jumping off point, these two began a love story that landed them in beautiful San Miguel de Allende, Mexico for a desert chic destination wedding that we are absolutely obsessed with.

Allie + David had a vision—soft, light, earthy, neutral colors that vibed with venue Casa Adela’s architecture +natural beauty—but they turned much of the planning process over to Bonnie + the Cabo-based team from Bliss Events. “We heavily emphasized to Bonnie that we wanted to be guests at our own wedding,” Allie + David say. “We wanted to keep some level of surprise.” In fact, the couple never even visited the gorgeous venue until the wedding weekend itself!

The photos that Daniel Kim snapped of this chic + sunny celebration are beyond beautiful. Allie’s gown is the definition of modern strapless sophistication. And we can’t get over the vibrant pops of color in the bridal party palette.

Let’s take a look!

Love the idea of going with a lacy pink slip for getting ready rather than a traditional robe! Shop this one from LoveShackFancy for a similar look!

Allie’s kitten heel wedding shoes from Lola Cruz added a playful touch of sparkle.

“I didn’t know exactly what kind of dress I wanted but I knew that I didn’t want any lace,” remembers Allie of the dress shopping journey that led her to this stunning strapless gown from KYHA’s ‘Chosen’ collection. “Multiple people recommended that I check out Unveiled Bridal in San Francisco since they have a lot of non-lace options, and I’m so glad I did because it was a one-stop shop! My goal was to find my wedding dress in one appointment and that’s exactly what happened.”

“I made the most of my 1 hour 15 minute appointment and tried on about 10 dresses, narrowed it down to 2 at the end, and made my final decision, complete with the veil. In attendance to help me decide were my mom, 3 girl friends in-person, and 3 girlfriends on Zoom. Afterward, we went to eat at one of my favorite restaurants, Casaro Osteria, to celebrate!” says Allie, ever the foodie.

“Once I got home, I looked through my saved wedding dress posts on Instagram and realized that I had been saving very similar dresses to the wedding dress I’d just chosen. I had never looked at this collection of posts before — I had just been saving posts whenever I came across a dress I liked but truly forgot about this collection until after I’d chosen my dress. So that really solidified my decision, and I knew I’d picked the right dress for me!”

Allie’s gorgeous wavy down-do by Abby Rodrigo of Double Take Studio complimented her simple strapless gown beautifully.

David’s went with a classic Hugo Boss tux look for his timeless groom look.

Allie + David chose not to have a traditional wedding party, but Allie’s besties were dressed in the nines in bold, bright color!

The Ceremony

San Miguel de Allende really is such a beautiful place to say “I Do.” Check out this all-white dress code wedding with a vibrant pink wedding dress and this eclectic + holistic wedding weekend to see some of our other fave weddings that had the beautiful, historic Mexican city as a backdrop.

Very into the combo of earthy orange, delicate blush, and dreamy ivory in these arrangements by Vasija Floral + Maye Córdova .

“One thing I heavily emphasized was that I wanted the florals and tablescapes to look very organic and didn’t want any symmetry,” Allie remembers.

Check out our collection of the best processional song ideas for every vibe to find the music worthy of your own super special down-the-aisle moment.

Love the classic simplicity of Allie’s cathedral length wedding veil from Untamed Petals!

Picture Time!

How adorable is this photo-op shot!! Your besties are already snapping a million photos of you–why not make a moment of it!

Now for the super cute proposal story: “David’s idea was to have a the social/member’s club Shack15 reach out to me to “hire” us for a couple’s photoshoot for the brand’s IG account,” Allie recalls. “The company was in on it, and there wouldn’t actually be a shoot at all. This way we’d be all glammed up and in a fantastic setting for photos. We’d also bring our own photographer and videographer (two of my best friends who are professionals) for the shoot.”

“Once the shoot kicked off, David surprised me and proposed to me right there. After the proposal/shoot, our crew of 4 grabbed a bite to eat together, but they pretend like we chose a restaurant at that moment. When we got to the restaurant there was a big group of friends and family already in the special lounge at The Felix reserved for us with special service, another great surprise for me.”

“The plan worked to perfection and there were many funny moments. It was a huge conspiracy amongst David, my family & closest friends, Shack15, and The Felix – and transpired over several months.”

“A highlight was me taking a few weeks going back & forth negotiating compensation for the (fake) photoshoot with Shack15 (meanwhile, David was crafting the email responses for the Shack15 team to send to me the whole time).

The Reception

Can’t decide between a subtle or bold color world? Why not both! Allie + David went earthy with the florals but used the wedding’s dress code to add vibrancy: “We wanted our guests to be the pop of color and asked the ladies to wear bright and colorful formal dresses and the men to wear dark suits or tuxes.”

“As a big foodie, the food throughout the weekend was a big priority for me,” Allie says. So she went with caterers Maye Córdova to create the wedding’s delicious dinner menu.

One of our new favorite emerging wedding traditions/trends is when newlyweds like Allie + David take a second alone to admire the fully decorated reception space before the party begins. Like the brides + grooms did in this colorful Chicago wedding or this Brooklyn art museum wedding!

Allie’s idea of “ikebana flower arrangements mixed with fruit and candles” made for chic + organic floral centerpieces.

Natural wood furniture and understated modern table decor from Canela Mobilario embraced the elevated yet earthy feel of the venue.

“We had two signature cocktails,” remembers Allie: “One was ‘The Allie.oops’ (a riff on my IG handle). I love tequila + pineapple so Maye’s team created a frozen tequila, pineapple, and coconut cocktail, which was as if a piña colada and a margarita had a baby. The other was the ‘Legendberry.’ David’s go to drink is usually a citron vodka soda so this was a vodka lemonade topped with berries.”

“I wore my wedding dress strapless for the ceremony,” says Allie, “and then added on the detachable sleeves that came with it for dinner.” BOOM. Instant silhouette change.

“In addition to candles, we had string lights, uplights on every tree and along the walls that were coordinated with the music during dancing, and a disco ball with spotlights. I think the lighting really helped set the mood by making the space feel very warm and inviting during dinner and then upbeat for dancing.”

Groom David (aka @dirtonthekid) is a super talented designer, and he custom designed these super cool menus himself along with the wedding’s save the date flyer, the email invitations, the wedding website, an event cheat sheet, the escort cards, the bar signage, the dance floor, and the thank you note stationary.

“The flowers in the fountain surrounded by candles were also a big hit,” Allie says. “We had a mix of candles so the candles on the fountain, the tables, and the bar were all different.”

“We provided our vendors a pretty simple inspo deck with things we liked and didn’t like but wanted to allow them to run with what they felt would be best,” Allie + David say of how they approached their long distance collaboration with their planner.

“Bonnie conducted all our walkthroughs for us and we heavily relied on photos + videos of the space (aka stalking tagged photos on IG) when we started planning. We put a lot of trust into all of our vendors and they did not disappoint!”

“For dessert, we had an entire table of mini wedding desserts,” the couple says, “including a mini wedding cake, mango panna cotta, whipped cream + berry merengue, brownies, Mexican wedding cookies, and mini churros with chocolate.”

This might be a first for us at GWS! Bride Allie shook up her look in a major way by getting a mid-reception haircut!!

Our Favorite Memory
-Walking throughout downtown SMA and taking in all the beautiful sights (our wedding was the weekend before Dia de los Muertos so the city was full of decorations for the holiday)

-Seeing all of our friends + family together for the first time at our welcome dinner

-Breakfast every morning with everyone staying at the hacienda

-Walking into our reception and seeing it all set-up

-Taking a moment by ourselves to sample all our cocktail hour apps

-David’s roast/speech

-Allie’s haircut in between dinner + dancing

-Giving out shots to kick-off the dancing

We love a reception dress reveal! Especially when it’s accompanied by a fresh haircut!

Have you ever seen anything cuter than this fresh flower adorned mini wedding cake? Yeah, us neither.

“I changed into my party dress for dancing and dessert,” says Allie of the timeline for her switch to the “Aurora” mini dress from Oh Polly. “When I was shopping for my party dress, my inspo was a “disco ball”. I wanted to look like a disco ball and found the perfect dress, which probably isn’t your typical wedding reception dress but I loved it.”

Congrats, Allie + David, on your desert chic destination wedding! GWS wishes you nothing but the best!