A few days after Gabriella Aldana’s wedding to Renzo Sousa in Peru’s Sacred Valley, she saw someone talking about her nuptials on TikTok. “If you’re Gabriella, and you got married in Cusco, I need the information about your wedding planner,” the girl says in the video (Gabriella’s planner was Franco de Bernardis and the logistics planner was Veronica Kohler, by the way). Turns out, she had overheard the bride’s family talking about the ceremony in the airport.
“All people in Latin America, they love good chisme [gossip],” Gabriella says. “She went viral, so she made me viral, too.” The TikTok now has over 1.5 million views and drove so many people to the website for Gabriella’s brand, Cécile, that it broke down.
Prior to meeting, Gabriella had known lore about Renzo through mutual friends. Their eventual relationship seemed to be fated, as they kept having not-quite-there meet-cutes, and finally, when both were living in Miami, a sequence of events brought the two together. Gabriella found herself on a boat, and one of her friends mentioned that Renzo just so happened to be out at sea that day also. When the two boats were joined together for a brief moment, the two did not say a word to one another, but Gabriella knew she had to meet him. He was as cute as she had thought he would be. “I went, ‘Oh my God, he’s that guy,’” she says with a giggle.
A week later, her friend invited Renzo’s crew to her birthday party—at Gabriella’s request. She was worried he and his friends wouldn’t show, but they finally arrived late into the evening. “I grabbed his hand, sat him down, and we started talking for hours,” Gabriella says. “Then, he invited me on a date, and here we are.”
A few years later, when planning their 300-person wedding at the Rio Sagrado, A Belmond Hotel, the couple wanted to ensure it was a blend of their two cultures. Renzo, whose family has worked in the Peruvian hospitality business for 25 years, hoped to give guests a taste of Peru, and Gabriella, who is from Colombia, wanted to make sure her family could see themselves represented as well. The welcome gifts friends received upon arrival were filled with Colombian candies and a handmade Colombian bag. They hoped, by blending their two cultures, their two families would mix. And that is exactly what happened. “I had never seen young and old people dancing all through the night,” Renzo says of the whole weekend. “All of a sudden, I see posts from some of Gaby’s aunts and uncles, and you see some of my friends from Los Angeles commenting.”
For the pair, the people are what made the weekend truly pop. “Even if someone tries to recreate the exact wedding, the guests that came made it special,” Gabriella says. “It was magic.”
Read on for all the details.
The Welcome Party
Because Gabriella and Renzo’s guests come from as far away as Europe, they found it imperative to have a full itinerary. On the first day of events, guests boarded the Hiram Bingham train and the PeruRail Vistadome, complete with live music and beverages, and took off for Machu Picchu at 8 A.M. After arriving at the Incan citadel, lunch was served at the Sanctuary Lodge Hotel.
Following the scenic experience, attendees got back on the train and partied their way to the Sacred Valley. Renzo turned the lights off to make the cars feel more like a club and blasted songs from the ’90s and 2000s. “I can guarantee you the stuff we did on both of those trains has never been done on any trains anywhere in the world,” he says.
When the party landed back in the Sacred Valley, dancing continued at the Tambo del Inka Hotel, where many guests were staying.
The Pachamanca
On the second day, guests were treated to Pachamanca, a traditional Peruvian barbecue. A ceremony and dish seeped in Andean culture, something with which Renzo is intimately familiar due to his upbringing, was important for the couple to share. After shamans blessed the ground and gods of the earth, meat was cooked on top of hot rocks and was then buried underground.
The picturesque weather and decadent aromas were complimented by a beautiful landscape. Set above the Sacred Valley, snowy peaks, fields of green, and colorful flowers provided the perfect backdrop for pictures. Llamas made the day feel intentionally rustic. “People who vacation in Colorado or Jackson Hole were telling me, ‘You don’t have this in the U.S.,” Renzo says. “The setting was truly, truly beautiful.”
The Ceremony
The couple had a traditional Catholic ceremony in a church overlooking the Sacred Valley. They wanted somewhere completely private and surrounded by nature, and looked at about four churches before settling on the space. The church, according to the priest who married them, was built by the Spanish to cover the neighboring mountain, which the Incans viewed as a god. The couple painted the space, added lights, and adorned the church with flowers. Traditional Andean dancers also greeted guests.
The Dress
Finding the perfect dress became a challenge for Gabriella, who tried multiple gowns before settling on a billowy Monique Lhuillier. As someone who typically wears turtlenecks in the high heat, she was originally attracted to the brand after seeing one of its high-necked dresses. That specific style wasn’t available during her first appointment, so she decided to try some gowns outside her comfort zone. She fell in love with a lacy one with a sweetheart neckline.
During her second appointment, when she finally tried on her first choice, she immediately knew it wasn’t right. She went back to the lace gown from appointment one, which has a removable vest that renders it sleeveless. She was enamored. “What I got married in wasn’t something that you would say, ‘That’s very Gaby,’” Gabriella says. “But, for some reason, it felt perfect.”
The Reception
The bride wanted the reception to feel like an “enchanted forest,” and planned the theme with her mother and mother-in-law. The collaboration was intentional, as she wanted both sides of the family to have a say in the day. Gabriella and her planner strayed away from white flowers and instead embraced colorful arrangements. The dance floor was made to look like a black-and-white chessboard. The tent, which felt like a centerpiece of the experience, took 10 days and 70 people to build.
For the meal, the couple had a buffet filled with foods from around the world—and a heightened spotlight on Peruvian fare. Tiraditos and ceviches could be found on the table, along with arroz con mariscos. At 2 A.M., while beats were played by DJ Juan Crismatt from Medellin, Colombia, Colombian tequeños with garlic sauce were served. “It was a big melting pot for all the cultures to come together,” Gabriella says.
The First Dance
For their first dance, the couple chose Big Wild’s “6’s to 9’s” featuring Rationale. They wanted a romantic song with a bit of funk, merging tradition and fun together in a robust way. Neither considers themself to be a dancer, either, so the song needed to be one that was easy to jam out to. “Since then, I’ve seen a girl in our circle get engaged and post an Instagram Story from that song,” Renzo says.
The Day After
After a night of partying, stray guests had lunch at Monasterio, one of Renzo’s hotels. “It was nice to have those more intimate moments where time wasn’t flying by as fast as it was during the weekend,” he says. “I really felt like we delivered on something so unique that people will carry with them for quite awhile.”
Gabriella Aldana and Renzo Sousa’s Wedding
Samuel is the Associate Editor at ELLE Magazine. He covers theater, music, and culture. Sam famously broke both his arms at the same time in fourth grade and was formerly the Assistant to the Editor-in-Chief.
