Oaxaca

Why we love it

Oaxaca is the destination our team fights over. A calenda, the traditional parade of dancers, giant paper-mâché puppets and a brass band, turns a wedding processional into a street festival. The food is reason alone: a seven-mole tasting dinner, tlayudas at midnight, hot chocolate and pan de yema at the farewell breakfast.

Design here is a joy because the raw materials are already perfect. Hand-loomed textiles from Teotitlán, black clay from San Bartolo, palm and marigold from the Sunday market.

What to know

Oaxaca’s infrastructure is more artisanal than industrial. Venues are smaller, audio-visual rentals are limited, and the best caterers book a year out. This is a destination for 120 guests or fewer, and for couples who’ll trade a ballroom for a convent courtyard.

Late October is Día de Muertos and the city is at full capacity; celebrate then only if you’re planning eighteen months ahead and want the festival as your backdrop.

Signature moments we’ve planned here

• A calenda winding from Santo Domingo to a 16th-century courtyard, with the couple’s monogram on hand-painted mezcal bottles.
• A palenque lunch in the Tlacolula valley, guests tasting mezcal straight from the still.
• A tlayuda and Oaxacan-cheese late-night station that guests still text us about.