California Weds

Thursday, Jun. 11, 2009

Designs on simplicity

Mission and Madonna Inn set the mood for multicultural vows

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Over 2,500 miles separate the cities of Zacatecas, Mexico, and Montreal, Canada. Yet, a young woman from Zacatecas and a young man from Montreal somehow found their way to each other in a courtship that culminated when mission bells announced their marriage in July 2008.

Mark Fekete and Viviana De Loera were in their last year as architecture students at Cal Poly when they met in 2004. Conversations during late-night study sessions at the architecture department design studio led to hanging out with friends, then to a bold move by Viviana.

“One night we were both tired of studying, so I asked if he wanted to go to the movies to take a break,” she recalls. “That’s how it all started.” They began dating steadily and, when they graduated a few months later, both were fortunate enough to find jobs as designers in Irvine.

In March 2006, the couple went out to dinner, then for a stroll through Noguchi Sculpture Gardens in Costa Mesa, a favorite spot for the artistically minded pair.

“I brought Viviana to the middle of the park and caught her off guard,” said Mark, recalling his marriage proposal. “She was pleasantly stunned.”

The couple quickly realized that no single wedding venue would cater to both of their families. Viviana was born in Zacatecas but moved to Los Angeles when she was nine and has family and friends in both cities. Mark’s family lives in Montreal.

“We would have had to have four different weddings to involve everyone,” Viviana said. “So, instead, we found someplace meaningful for us.”

They decided to be married in San Luis Obispo where their immediate families had enjoyed vacationing, where many of their college friends still lived, and where their relationship began.

Both Mark and Viviana were raised Catholic, so they chose to have their ceremony at Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa where they had frequently attended services together.

“Mark is an only child and I’m the only daughter, so it was important for our families to see us get married in a church,” said Viviana.

For the reception, the couple took a laid-back approach. Instead of fretting over details, they opted to go with an all-inclusive package at the Madonna Inn where everything — including the food, beverages and wedding cake — are included. The inn’s event planner also helped them choose vendors such as a photographer and disc jockey.

“We chose the Madonna Inn because we thought it would be fun for our families and would make things easier on ourselves,” Viviana explained. “They were pretty organized. All we had to do was show up.”

The couple decided to have their ceremony at 11 a.m. with a lunch reception immediately following. “We talked to friends and experts and they all said that evening receptions are all about drinking,” said Viviana. “Plus we wanted to give our guests the chance to experience the town on their own after the wedding.”

Mark and Viviana paid for the entire event themselves and needed to keep their budget under $15,000. So they opted for simplicity over extravagance, which also suited their environmentalist principles.

They passed on limos and instead asked the wedding party to carpool from the wedding to the reception. Instead of elaborate floral decorations for the mission, they purchased one arrangement and used the few arrangements provided by the church. “The mission is already beautiful as it is,” said Viviana. “We preferred simplicity rather than overwhelming the church with flowers.”

The artistic couple also wanted the wedding to be an outlet for creative expression.

They designed most printed materials themselves, including the wedding invitation and place cards. They gave their bridal attendants the freedom to choose their own gowns, keeping everything in the same shade of yellow. For reception table decorations, Viviana chose simple floral arrangements made by a family friend, along with sculptures made from recycled auto body parts created by a metal artist from her hometown of Zacatecas.

They asked their photographer, Colin Michael, to take some of their wedding photos on the Cal Poly campus, highlighting a few significant locales. “He had experience shooting architecture, so he was able to incorporate some of our favorite buildings into the shots very nicely,” said Viviana.

The wedding was a fusion of cultures. Many of Viviana’s friends and family speak Spanish, and some of her friends, including her maid of honor, traveled from Mexico. Mark is half Hungarian and half Filipino, and his immediate family traveled from Montreal.

The couple chose to have their ceremony recited in both English and Spanish. Their one regret was that the translations caused the ceremony to run long and, because there were three weddings at the mission that day, they did not have time to take photographs inside the church.

Because both Filipino and Mexican cultures have a strong Spanish influence, many of their wedding traditions are the same. The couple incorporated some of these ethnic rituals into their ceremony, such as the coin ceremony where the groom presents the bride with 13 gold coins as a wish for prosperity, and the lasso ceremony where a long rosary is placed in a figure-eight around the couple, symbolizing unity.

For their reception, they selected a disc jockey who spoke Spanish and played Latin music, along with more traditional selections.

Sixty guests attended their wedding last July 19. It was small enough to allow for intimate moments, such as when all guests gathered for a group photo on the mission steps.

Because many of Mark’s friends and family were not able to travel to the wedding, the couple spent their honeymoon in Montreal where they attended a second reception. They hope to do the same in Zacatecas on their first anniversary. Mark and Viviana now live in Portland, Oregon, where they are starting their own architecture-design studio. They look back on their wedding as a special day for themselves and for their loved ones.

“It was great to be able to bring our immediate families together because none of them had met until then,” said Mark. “Not only was it a union for me and Viv, but for our families as well.”