The Tamesis
Before a childhood friend introduced tech entrepreneur Dan Haddad to Inward founder Sofia Alva, she declared the two were “too similar not to meet.” Dan finally decided to reach out and took one of Sophia’s online courses on manifestation, healing, and the divine feminine during the 2020 pandemic. Naturally, she felt a destined connection, which Dan describes as “something magnetic, familiar, and ancient.” Months later, when the two were finally able to meet in person, “what started as friendship naturally turned into love,” Sofia describes.
Over the next few years, as their relationship grew, so did the couple’s lives. The two moved in together, and Dan quit her job in the tech industry to create Riise, a meditation membership space and an adaptive drinks company. Their next major life change will occur in April 2024. Dan joined Sofia after a spiritual retreat in Bali, spending a few days in a villa in the middle of a rice field. “Everything was so peaceful and time seemed to slow down,” Sofia recalls. On their first night, at sunset, Dan proposed. “She was shaking with nerves and joy,” Sofia describes. She said yes, and the newly engaged couple spent the evening celebrating on the beach in Uluwatu. “It felt like a dream,” she recalled.
While the couple decided to first have a union ceremony at Burning Man in September 2025, Sofia and Dan also wanted to celebrate their marriage with friends and family in Mexico. “We knew it wasn’t going to be a traditional wedding,” Sofia shared. Rather than hosting multiple events, the pair planned their entire schedule in one day. “From morning to night, every moment was carefully planned,” says the bride. “The emphasis is on depth, not quantity.”
The couple married on October 25, 2025, at El Nido de Quetzalcóatl, an architectural park and Airbnb on the Naucalpan hills outside Mexico City. “This space was designed by Mexican architect Javier Senosiain, a visionary who believed that architecture should flow like nature and free us from the idea of living in a box,” explains Sofia. “The space itself is like a living sculpture, inspired by the serpent god Quetzalcoatl, a symbol of creation and transformation. It feels like a perfect reflection of our relationship.”
Since the property was not designed to host events, the couple had to take extra steps to realize their vision. “My project manager became our in-house planner and we worked with Zelemonia – an incredible production team and close friends – who helped us bring everything to life,” said Sofia. “When the day came, it felt like it had walked into our imaginations.” Since both men have design backgrounds, they both pay a lot of attention to aesthetics. “Every color, sound and smell has an intention,” Sophia said. “We created a name for our celebration, The Haddalvas – a combination of our last names – and we built an entire visual identity inspired by lucid dreaming and self-expression.”
This vision also translated into the day’s dress code. “We sent everyone a mood board filled with colour, feathers, glitter and movement. Everyone interpreted the theme in their own way and it turned into the most incredible visual symphony,” says Sophia. “It feels like a living art installation.”
