CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister Is Married! Inside the 'Fun, Laid-Back' Destination Wedding in Cabo! (Exclusive)

Five months after their wedding was postponed due to a powerful hurricane, Wagmeister and Michael Sigall tied the knot in Mexico in front of 95 guests

Stormy weather couldn’t keep CNN’s Elizabeth Wagmeister from marrying the love of her life.

Wagmeister and her groom-to-be Michael Sigall had originally planned to wed in October 2023 in Cabo, Mexico — a location that they felt had been “meant to be” not only because it was a “magical” setting and the food was “incredible,” but because they had each separately told their friends that they envisioned themselves getting married there.  But fate — and the weather — had other plans.

The pair had already been on location ready to say “I do” alongside their families when a powerful hurricane swept through the area, cutting off electricity at their hotel and evacuating nearby ones. They decided to cancel the wedding 48 hours before guests arrived and postponed the celebration until March.

“In the world of breaking news, I always have to be ready to switch plans on a whim, so this wasn’t totally unusual for me,” Wagmeister tells PEOPLE “In fact, it gave us 5 extra months to look forward to the wedding and it was well worth the wait. It was truly the weekend of our dreams.”

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“They were both very calm and matter of fact and came to the conclusion that trying to force the wedding to happen amidst a hurricane wasn’t going to allow for the entire outdoor experience they had been envisioning during the months of planning,” says their planner, Lynette Dow, owner of Lynette Dow Events. “Once the difficult decision was made, the stress dissipated, and everyone jumped into action to reschedule venues, vendors, hotel and guests – all was handled in three hours!”

Instead, the couple wed in a small, private ceremony at home in LA in front of their families with a rabbi, before they jet off to Cabo in March once again for their wedding celebration. On March 17th, the pair tied the knot at the Acre Resort in Los Cabos. Wagmeister noted that she wanted the celebration to have a “more laid-back vacation vibe” so their families and friends could have fun.

“It was very important to us to have a fun weekend away with all of our friends and family. We both have such demanding careers, and all of our friends have such busy lives that we wanted to make the weekend count for everyone,” Wagmeister shares.

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For her walk down the aisle, the bride wore a “simple and sleek” Elizabeth Fillmore gown with jewels provided by her dear friend Zameer Kassam — who also designed the couple’s wedding bands, which are inscribed with personal messages to each other and symbols that represent their love story.

“I always knew that I wanted a simple and sleek dress, and my bridal inspo was Carolyn Bassette-Kennedy," she says. "My day-to-day style tends to be more classic and understated, but I still wanted to make an entrance on my wedding day."

The wedding was officiated by Sigall’s best friend Daniel, who infused Jewish traditions into their wedding including.

“Before we went to Cabo, we were already technically married – at least, on paper – in a private ceremony at home by my family’s rabbi who signed our Jewish marriage license, which is called a ketubah,” she says. “But we still wanted to bring Jewish traditions to Cabo, like breaking the glass and dancing to the hora, which is a Jewish dance where the newly married couple is hoisted in the air on chairs.”

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The pair hand wrote their own vows and “both cried while reading them,” Wagmeister shares. Though, she noted that there were also “quite a few hurricane anecdotes in our vows” referring to their postponed wedding.

As for the reception, they had a family-style dinner so that everyone could “try everything” including fish, braised beef and roasted chicken. "The cheddar biscuits with honey butter were so delicious, my aunt told me she had five of them before dinner even started. Many guests said this was the most food they had ever eaten at a wedding, which made us very happy!”

They also had a cocktail hour, which Wagmeister recalled was one of “the most memorable moments of the entire wedding weekend,” as they had a classical Spanish guitar player playing live music and guests got to try signature cocktails in their name — the “Michael Mezcalita” and the “Liz Spritz.” The pair also opted for a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting — Sigall’s favorite dessert.

The couple, who met on Hinge during the pandemic and got engaged on Dec. 17, 2022, swayed to an acoustic version of “Feel So Close” by Calvin Harris for their first dance.

“We started with a slow dance, which then transitioned into us jumping up and down as the DJ remixed the song into the techno version of the song,” Wagmeister recalls. “We yelled for all of our guests to join the dance floor – and it took them about two seconds to do so. Watching back the videos, we know we will never forget this moment with all of our friends and family dancing around us. It was pure joy and pure fun.”

The pair said they got to do things a bit out of order, having already honeymooned on the beaches in the Maldives and Bali in November. However, it didn’t matter how they did things, as long as they did them together.

“We both have very similar values, and nothing is more important to us than family. Even though I have a job that requires hair and makeup every day, I’ll always choose a night at home in sweatpants on the couch over a Hollywood work event,” Wagmeister says.

She adds, “We love to cook dinner together and dance around to music in the kitchen and be silly. Now we get to do that for the rest of our lives, and it’s comforting to know that when we come home from work, we get to be with each other.”

Wagmeister adds that she feels lucky to spend her life with Sigall. “We both have very busy careers – myself as a journalist, and my husband as an attorney – so dating was not easy because neither of us has very much free time. As a woman, it was always very important to me to have my own identity, and I’m glad that I did not meet Michael until I had enough life experience – both ups and downs – to really appreciate what he brought to my life, which is a supportive partner and best friend who complements everything that I already had. I’ve worked very hard for my career, my friendships and my financial independence, and the truth is, I had a very full life before getting married. Knowing that makes this moment that much sweeter.”

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