By Paola Velasco
Photo by Ivy Weddings.
When a couple decides to get married, they dream of the perfect wedding and San Miguel offers all the services to make that happen. Ours is a destination that, before the pandemic, registered 1.6 million visitors per year with an economic benefit of 6,682 million pesos. According to the Guanajuato Tourism Observatory of January 2020, in the month of January, 2021, 723 thousand tourists arrived in the city of San Miguel de Allende. The city has recently been named «the best city in the world to visit” for the third time. The data released by the Observatory indicated that during this period the visitors left an economic spill of two thousand 837 million pesos.
Of the tourists who came, 33% stayed in a hotel rated from one to five stars, with an average daily expenditure of 2,134 pesos and a stay of 1.32 days. In addition, 12% stayed in a rented house, with an expense of 1,721 pesos and a stay of 5.94 days on average. The tourists who came, were made up of 63% men and 37% women, with an average age of 44 and 41 years, respectively.
San Miguel’s architectural richness, wide gastronomic offerings, vineyards with first class facilities, as well as it’s many festivals and cultural events are just some of the many pleasures awaiting tourists and locals alike.
Another reason for San Miguel’s increasing tourism is its growing popularity as a wedding destination. In the last 10 years there have been between 600 and 800 weddings held yearly resulting in an annual 10 percent increase. This represents an average of 15 weddings per weekend. If each wedding has approximately 200 guests for foreign weddings and 400 guests for national weddings, we are talking about no less than 7,000 people who come to San Miguel on weekends. The guests stay in different hotels, they eat, stroll and shop in a wide variety of shops and restaurants offered in the Centro. Wedding tourism generates an economic spill of 536.2 million pesos a year (figures before the pandemic).
San Miguel de Allende was declared a World Heritage City by UNESCO in 2008, thanks to its wide, cultural diversity, its detailed handicrafts, the stunning, colonial architecture and the alleyways filled with history. It is a city with incredible aesthetics, perfect for having a mix of old and new for your wedding. With over 200 unique venues to choose from, planning a wedding in San Miguel de Allende promises to be memorable.
The director of the Association of Events, Weddings and Venues is currently Bety Súcar, one of the most recognized wedding planners in San Miguel. This professional organization has been a legally constituted entity for 10 years and its members are experts in planning weddings and business events. They look for venues and hotels specializing in all kinds of social events, festivals, exhibitions, conferences and conventions.
Cultural Weddings
We talked to Xanath Bañuelos, a well-known planner specializing in destination weddings. She and her sister, Ale Bañuelos, have specialized in Hindu, Persian and Jewish weddings. They call them «Cultural Weddings» because in these weddings what is important is to reflect the culture, particularly in the food. When Xanath first arrived in San Miguel in 2015, she felt there were many things to improve in terms of catering service. «For Hindus, the order and combination of ingredients is very important, especially when the food is closely related with spirituality,” commented Xanath.
The first big San Miguel Hindu wedding for Xanath was in 2018 at the Rosewood Hotel. She is currently handling the logistics of an Indian wedding for 300 people at the Live Aqua Hotel. These great hotels have allowed Xanath to offer San Miguel as a wedding destination, because for Hindus it is very important to stay together in the same place, and a hotel with a higher occupancy range allows it.
Xanath defines destination weddings as the perfect opportunity to «go on vacation with your loved ones,» because you can have so many important people gathered in one place.
In an exclusive interview for Atencion, Xanath shared with us that unfortunately they no longer allow the famous callejoneadas—the procession through the city streets of all the wedding party. Now they only allow music and mojigangas in Parque Juárez, a situation that has bothered several of their clients. “We can no longer call them callejoneadas, they are stationed instead.” After the Pandemic it seems that everyone wants to have a unique and unforgettable experience and so the challenge now is to create a constant «Happening» to surprise and amaze the guests, says Bañuelos.
Xanath and Ale Bañuelos are based in Playa del Carmen but they plan weddings all over the country.
