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Their Story
Gus and Erika are another great success story of international love! Gus was friends with Erika’s aunt who introduced the two while he was vacationing in the Philippines on the beautiful island of Boracay. Though it wasn’t love at first sight, the two quickly became good friends and travel partners. Erika always wound up being the tour guide for friends and family when they came to visit. After many trips together they discovered their love for each other and the rest is history. The hardest decision was who would move to the other’s country seeing as Gus lived in the US. On Erika’s second visit to the US Gus proposed and the two started planning their life together.
On the big day they made the event planning a family affair. Everyone had a task to make the day move smoothly which Erika said helped a lot in keeping the stress down. Gus’ siblings set up the chairs, Erika’s mom handled the bouquet and wedding bag, Gus’ mom helped with the food and his dad was the driver. It truly was a day of family bonding.
Their favorite part of the day was having their parents there to witness the ceremony. Gus dad flew in from El Salvador and met Erika for the first time. Gus and his dad got to spend some much needed quality time together as well. “It was full of love and happiness that day,” said Erika.
The couple credits Cactus Collective for making their day stress-free and magical. “From the bouquet, the wedding cake, our officiant, especially our photographer – Jill, everything was a beautiful experience. They helped us all make that day the best day!” said the couple.
Gus and Erika had a great checklist to pass along to other couples taking the plunge:
1. Enjoy the process and planning. It’s a good bonding experience for the groom and bride.
2. Less is more. Our intimate wedding (11 guests) was beautiful and there was less stress because we wanted it to be for “us”, not for other people.
3. A weddings doesn’t have to be expensive for it to be beautiful. Search online. There are a lot of resources out there.
4. Make a checklist and write everything to keep track of everything including the expenses (if you need to).
5. Prepare not just for the wedding, but more for the marriage which is a lifetime thing. If the couple disagrees on something while planning and doesn’t compromise or forgive each other and it causes tension on the relationship on the big day, probably put the wedding on hold, and work on the “relationship” first before anything.
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McKenzi Taylor is America’s go-to elopement and micro wedding expert, often featured in small and major media outlets, such as the New York Times. With over 15 years of wedding photography experience, it was after planning her own Las Vegas elopement in 2016 that McKenzi felt her purpose shift into elopement coordination. She started Cactus Collective Weddings soon after in 2017. Since then, she’s become a WIPA board member, and has helped well over 1000 couples get hitched in style around Las Vegas, San Diego and Black Hills.
