Maria Claudia “Cloclo” Echavarría has all the time identified the treasures that her native Colombia holds. Although she was educated in Switzerland, has lived in London, and now resides in Milan, Cartagena has remained her household’s base. So when the announcement of Echavarría’s engagement to Prince Josef-Emanuel of Liechtenstein was made final July, there was little doubt {that a} very Colombian wedding ceremony could be in retailer. The bride, co-founder of former expertise incubator/style consultancy Sí Collective, has devoted herself to elevating the profiles of Latin American designers, and her wedding ceremony, a weeklong, three-destination affair, was no exception. “It was necessary to me to maintain the group as native as attainable, and to have the ability to actually provide our visitors a style of the most effective of Colombia,” Echavarría says. “Colombians are so happy with our nation, and we wish individuals to see and expertise every part it has to supply.” Right here’s how the couple celebrated throughout three cities.
Cartagena
Chiqui de Echavarría created a tropical paradise in her dwelling’s courtyard, including a mural of vines and contemporary orchids (Colombia has over 4,000 species).
Iraca palm place mats, serviette rings, and bread baskets had been made by native artisans for Casa Chiqui, whereas the household plates had been hand-painted in Medellín.
Among the many first to obtain a name: childhood pals and designers Esteban Cortázar and Edgardo Osorio. Cortázar, regardless of having created many a marriage costume, had by no means designed one for a marriage in Cartagena. “It’s probably the most romantic cities, and it has all the time impressed me. You’re strolling down the road and it’s such as you’re in a Gabriel García Márquez novel,” says Cortázar, who had the thought of fashioning the costume from vintage linens to be able to stand as much as the Caribbean warmth, attraction to the bride’s ardour for sustainability, and really feel sufficiently grand for a royal wedding ceremony.
“Cloclo has impeccable style, however she’s additionally a down-to-earth lady, so I wished to create one thing that might command consideration,” he says. “I envisioned her because the Princess of Cartagena, a mixture of each worlds, as a result of she’s lived everywhere in the world however she’s all the time been in contact along with her roots.” The grandeur of the church, the Sixteenth-century Iglesia de San Pedro Claver, known as for an extended practice, which was created partly by becoming a member of 4 huge, early-1900s curtain panels present in Paris—pushing the bride out of her normal flats and into skyscraping platforms by Osorio, founding father of shoe model Aquazzura. Osorio embellished the pumps with remnants from the costume cloth.
Customized platforms by Aquazurra.
The couple’s rings sit atop invites by Crystal Ochoa and a headpiece by Magnetic Midnight.
After the ceremony, visitors rode chivas (distinctly Colombian open-air buses) via dense crowds hoping to catch a glimpse of the newlyweds as they emerged to the sounds of conventional drummers and dancers, whose white cotton attire echoed the bride’s. The dancers had been “completely a shock to Josef, which exhibits on his face in lots of the images!” Echavarría says. “Cloclo was completely positive she wished to have the reception at dwelling,” says her mom, legendary hostess Evelia “Chiqui” de Echavarría, who began planning final summer time. “I mentioned, ‘Oh my God, I’ve to get all of the orchids now, in order that they’ll flower in March.’” Flower they did, complementing the luxurious backyard Chiqui has been cultivating for many years. And when she determined that the area nonetheless wasn’t fairly inexperienced sufficient for her liking? She employed an artist to color vines on the white partitions and ceiling.
After the dinner, catered by Juan Felipe Camacho of restaurant Don Juan, and the cake, a coconut and mamey pie by Cartagena’s Pastelería Mila, musicians enjoying vallenato obtained the occasion began, adopted by a salsa band and DJ Carlos Mejia. The Echavarrías’ events are legendary, however figuring out a full day on the seaside awaited them, many of the visitors retired earlier than daybreak.
Barú
The day after the ceremony, visitors decamped to the Echavarrías’ Barú home for a bounty of Colombian fruits and juices and stay music on the seaside.
Cloclo, above with Josef-Emanuel, collaborated on a minidress with designer Diego Guarnizo, crocheted by Colombian artisans with shell gildings.
Barú, a small island the place the Echavarría household has a thatched-roof seaside home, feels a world away, making it the best spot for visitors—together with the Grand Duke of Luxembourg and household, purse designer Carolina Santo Domingo, and Princesses Maria Laura and Luisa of Belgium—to unwind after the day gone by’s festivities. Echavarría arrived in a hand-crocheted minidress created with costume and set designer Diego Guarnizo (it was embellished with shells at her mom’s boutique, Casa Chiqui) and a bikini designed with Cali-based Juan De Dios. “I wished to focus on artisans and smaller manufacturers that may not be as internationally acknowledged,” Echavarría says. “This has all the time been central to my work and one thing I consider in strongly, past it being an expert endeavor.” Later, she became a Gabriela Hearst costume, with Casa Chiqui earrings and a headpiece by her cousin Lucia’s model, Magnetic Midnight.
Bogotá
The bride wore an embroidered ivory silk dirndl with a pale pink silk brocade apron by good friend Annina Pfuel’s model Annina Dirndl, in addition to Aquazzura espadrilles.
One other costume change noticed the bride don a Swiss coat by her good friend, designer Olivia Schuler-Voith, whose model, Lokomotive, launches this fall.
Just a few days’ break earlier than the celebration’s wrap-up in Bogotá gave visitors ample time to discover Colombia. A rustic home owned by Echavarría’s aunts stood in for an Alpine setting as visitors donned tracht (conventional clothes of German-speaking international locations) and explored a fruit and flower market created by Guarnizo. The Alpine-style desk linens—created in collaboration with illustrator Crystal Ochoa, a former Sí Collective director—featured yellow embroidered butterflies, harking back to Gabriel García Márquez’s image of affection, hope, and peace. The motif recurred all through the week, within the invites and even fluttering round occasions. “The entire course of felt like working with pals,” Echavarría says. “From placing collectively my appears, to creating the graphics and selecting the distributors, it felt like I used to be tapping into my community of family members.”
A household home within the hills was the setting for an Alpine-inspired post-wedding send-off.
Inside of the Bogotá dwelling.
This text appeared within the August 2022 challenge of ELLE.
Naomi Rougeau is ELLE’s senior style options editor.