For months, wine importer and hospitality entrepreneur Josh Hackler had been planning to propose to his college sweetheart, jewelry designer Pili Restrepo, during an upcoming vacation in Turkey. (He even convinced his sister and her husband to buy tickets and join them in Istanbul to celebrate as a surprise.) But a last-minute change of plans led the trip to be canceled and the proposal was put on hold. Months later, Josh came up with another plan, this time in Cartagena, but again, things didn’t work out quite as he expected.
“He had planned a surprise trip to Cartagena for New Year’s Eve, but I told him we couldn’t go because my mom was already excited about all of us spending the holidays with her in Cali, Colombia, the city where I grew up,” Pili recalls. “He ended up canceling everything and flying to Cali instead and, as is tradition, he brought along my Christmas stocking as well.” The day after he arrived, Josh surprised Pili with a diamond ring attached at the end of the stocking. “It was my last present and the most precious one of 2013!” she says. The ring had been chosen by Josh’s grandmother years ago, with the intention of gifting it to her future granddaughter-in-law. “I never met her, she died before I started dating Josh, but she was an amazing woman: elegant, lover of parties and vintage jewelry, the best hostess.” The couple then celebrated their engagement with the bride’s family and friends and toasted with a very special bottle of Champagne. “My dad had bought it before he died,” she remembers. “We were saving it for a very special occasion.” A night of salsa dancing with friends at Pili’s favorite teenage haunt, Éxtasis, followed well into the wee hours of the morning.
http://www.vogue.com/article/pili-restrepo-josh-hackler-wedding-cartagena-colombia
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“He had planned a surprise trip to Cartagena for New Year’s Eve, but I told him we couldn’t go because my mom was already excited about all of us spending the holidays with her in Cali, Colombia, the city where I grew up,” Pili recalls. “He ended up canceling everything and flying to Cali instead and, as is tradition, he brought along my Christmas stocking as well.” The day after he arrived, Josh surprised Pili with a diamond ring attached at the end of the stocking. “It was my last present and the most precious one of 2013!” she says. The ring had been chosen by Josh’s grandmother years ago, with the intention of gifting it to her future granddaughter-in-law. “I never met her, she died before I started dating Josh, but she was an amazing woman: elegant, lover of parties and vintage jewelry, the best hostess.” The couple then celebrated their engagement with the bride’s family and friends and toasted with a very special bottle of Champagne. “My dad had bought it before he died,” she remembers. “We were saving it for a very special occasion.” A night of salsa dancing with friends at Pili’s favorite teenage haunt, Éxtasis, followed well into the wee hours of the morning.
http://www.vogue.com/article/pili-restrepo-josh-hackler-wedding-cartagena-colombia