A Wedding Weekend on the Paradise Island of Antigua
Everything came full circle for Louisa de la Motte. In 2014, she attended the wedding of a friend at the 1950s-era Mill Reef Club in Antigua, the island paradise where she’d spent holidays and spring vacations with her family since childhood—her happy place, as it were. Among the guests was Christofer de la Motte, a Swedish-French Londoner turned New Yorker working in real estate private equity who immediately locked his eyes on her. They met, they chatted, and for a minute, they sparked. “We connected straight away,” Louisa explains. “But at the time, I was living in London finishing my master’s degree in design history and Chris was already in New York, so nothing really came of it.” Months passed and finally, Louisa ended up back in New York, working as an assistant to Vogue’s Editor in Chief, Anna Wintour. Another serendipitous moment occurred and the couple who had experienced the fleeting lightning bolt between them on the beach came back together once again. As Louisa remembers, “We rekindled at a dinner in New York held by the same couple who were married in Antigua.” And just like that, after chance meetings and long distances apart, Chris and Louisa made their love story official.
Photo: Alex Bramall1/40We worked with the British illustrator Clym Evernden on our wedding artwork. I have been a big fan of his for years. Our logo was a pineapple with our initials inside it. We wanted something evoking the Caribbean, and we loved it as soon as Clym sent it to us. We tried to incorporate lots of local imagery as well as nods to our varied family backgrounds—hence the Swedish and French flags as Chris is half-half, and the Swiss and American flags for me.
Photo: Alex Bramall2/40Mill Reef is a very traditional, old-fashioned club and I love its timeless charm. It’s my paradise, and where I met my future husband. I wanted to share it with all my closest friends.
Photo: Alex Bramall3/40I am a big water person. When I’m in Antigua, I make sure to swim as much as possible, and the beach at Great Deep Bay is the place I go in the mornings and evenings.
Photo: Alex Bramall4/40If you ask me, the beaches and views from Mill Reef are some of the most beautiful in the world! It sits on the east side of Antigua, so it is fortunate to have lots of wind all year round.
Photo: Alex Bramall5/40Friday afternoon was spent on the beach with our guests enjoying each other’s company. This was a tender moment after our post-lunch swim.
