Karakter, Curaçao · April 2024 · by Ghislaine van de Laarschot
Planned by Caribbean Blue Weddings
Three years of near misses, then one lunch. Five years after that, Curaçao.
Their story
Kristal and Brittany were best friends for three years before they met. All of it online, built on travel and wine and plants and a shared taste for dark humour.
Everything else was near misses. They worked at the same place. They lived around the corner from each other, close enough that Kristal's walks took her past Brittany's house. They went to the same festivals. They passed each other in a grocery store once, where somebody lost their nerve.
They finally sat down together at Mango Mangeux, by which point Kristal had moved to North Carolina and the whole thing had to be arranged at the last minute. It was immediately easy. Neither of them showed up as a polished version of herself, because as far as they were both concerned this was two friends having lunch.
Kristal asked her out within the week. They were in love after the first proper date, and both knew they would marry, which they still find funny, because neither of them had ever wanted to.
Five years later they came to Curaçao, and they were clear from the first conversation that they didn't want a ceremony. They wanted a night people would talk about.
The day we created
Everyone got ready at Kontiki and came over together. One bus out to Karakter, one bus back at the end of the night, thirty-four people and not one of them thinking about how they were getting anywhere.
Black, white and emerald green, and the boldest decision in it was who wore what. Guests came in emerald. The wedding party wore white. Both brides wore black, which made Kristal and Brittany the only two people on the property in it, and meant you could find them in any photograph from any distance.
The table ran long. White and cream florals threaded through with pampas grass, candles at every height down the length of it, so the light came off the table rather than down onto it.
The rest of the day was built to keep moving. A saxophonist met guests as they arrived. A guitarist played through cocktail hour. A DJ took the night. Then carnival dancers came through, and fire breathers after them.
They had asked for an experience rather than a ceremony. By the end of it, nobody was sitting down.
