Photo: Thayer Allyson Gowdy
Photographer Chris McPherson had a rule: He didn't date models. And he definitely didn't date younger models. Then Katie Malia Knoernschild, a dancer-actress-model 11 years his junior, walked into his Los Angeles studio. "It was a taxing shoot, and she was with a lot of other dancers," he says. "Katie was the only one going, 'Let's do this!'" Little did he know she had ulterior motives: "It was love at first sight," she says. "I wanted to impress him—I could have danced for days!"
But despite mutual interests (surfing, art, travel), mutual friends, and a spark that must have been visible from the space station, Chris wasn't sure he wanted to date someone that much younger. (At the time, he was 33 and she 22.) It wasn't until his grandmother died four months later that he decided to stop hesitating and ask her out. "That was the defining moment," he says. "I didn't want to miss out on my future wife."
Three years later, Chris proposed amid the Mayan ruins in Tulum, Mexico, while they were on vacation. On April 29, 2012, they were back to pledge their devotion in front of 50 of their nearest and dearest on the beach of the Be Tulum Hotel. "The setting needed very little dressing," Katie says of the wedding, which was planned with Alison Hotchkiss of Alison Events. "We wanted everything to be simple, natural, and local." The only exception? Air plants, which Katie's 90-year-old grandmother smuggled in from L.A. in her suitcase. ("We couldn't get them down there, and I wanted them for my bouquet," the bride says.)
Photo: Thayer Allyson Gowdy
Katie's crown of local red roses was inspired by the artist Frida Kahlo. "It was the perfect pop of color—and it matched my lips," she says.
Photo: Thayer Allyson Gowdy
Small air plants were also used for the boutonnieres.
Photo: Thayer Allyson Gowdy
Guests sat on white lounge cushions strewn with Mexican serape blankets. Flower girls in locally made linen dresses tossed hot pink rose petals onto the white sand.
Katie's father, Joe Knoernschild, cofounder of Billabong USA, officiated. "He's a spiritual person, a teacher, and a very cool guy," says the groom. Chris and Katie (she in a Monique Lhuillier wedding dress) spoke from the heart. "I talked about all the highs and the lows of our relationship, including a breakup," she says. "We kept it very real."
Photo: Thayer Allyson Gowdy
That was the last serious moment of the evening. Accompanied by a mariachi band, guests gathered for cocktails before heading to the lantern-filled restaurant for a seated dinner of lime soup, local whitefish, and Neapolitan flan, which the hotel chef whipped up in place of a wedding cake.
Photo: Thayer Allyson Gowdy
The Neapolitan flan was topped with Día de Los Muertos figurines that were purchased in a local gift shop.
Photo: Thayer Allyson Gowdy
"Our colors were blue and white—a marriage of the sand and sea—with bright bougainvillea pink," says Katie. "The bottle of our favorite tequila, Clase Azul, was a huge inspiration."
Photo: Thayer Allyson Gowdy
Reception tables were topped with succulents, air plants, local China mums, and custom laser-cut wooden votives. "We wanted everything to be relaxed, with a clean, modern look," says the bride.
Photo: Thayer Allyson Gowdy
After the couple's first dance, to Chet Baker's "Let's Get Lost," guests grooved to tunes spun by Katie's brother, Joel, and refueled at the late-night taco bar. Then Chris took the plunge into the pool. "Two of my girlfriends followed in their dresses!" Katie says. Half the crowd changed into bathing suits and jumped in. "Suddenly it was an MTV pool party, absolute magic and chaos," she says.
Photo: Thayer Allyson Gowdy
Katie danced to "For Me... Formidable," by Charles Aznavour, with her father, a self-professed "lover of Katie and Chris."
Photo: Thayer Allyson Gowdy
Around midnight, the hotel lit a bonfire on the beach, and everyone reconvened over Modelo Especials, tequila, and, of course, more tacos. The celebration wasn't over yet—a month later, many of their guests would reunite for a 275-person reception at L.A.'s Smashbox Studios, where Katie and Chris met. But for now, the pair savored their last moments in Mexico. "A weekend with all our friends and family, hanging out, relaxed—it's the best gift we could have gotten," says Katie.
Venue & catering: Be Tulum Hotel || Event planning: Allison Events Planning and Design || Bride's dress: Monique Lhuillier || Groom's suit: Waraire Boswell || Flowers: Brown Paper Design || Stationery: Annemarie Buckley of Scout's Honor Co. || Pre-ceremony & cocktail-hour music: Juan Carlos Hinojosa Mejei, contact via email || Hair & makeup: Fernando Funetes of The Makeup Pros, contact via email || Rentals: Planner1 Events
—Rebecca Ascher-Walsh
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