Houston’s Own Royal Princess Gets Married in a Dreamy Mexico City Wedding: Engaged After Just Six Weeks, Couple Enjoys a Fairytale Day

It all began as a whirlwind romance for Houston’s Princess Tatiana Galitzine, the effervescent daughter of Princess Maria Anna Galitzine and Prince Piotr Galitzine. Her mother, Maria Anna, is the daughter of Archduke Rudolf of Austria, who was the youngest son of Emperor Charles I of Austria and Empress Zita of Bourbon-Parma, and her father, Piotr, is a Russian aristocrat.

The stunning Galtizine, who inherited the delicate features of the Habsburgs, was working long hours as an architectural designer at Gensler when she caught the eye of investment banker Guillermo Sierra, a Wharton grad from Mexico City, whose office building was adjacent to hers. One day, after their trips through the revolving doors aligned, Sierra struck up a conversation.

On their first date, the conversation flowed, and they realized they had the same friends and had been at the same parties. They were engaged six weeks later.

“After our first date, I knew he was the love of my life, and so did he,” Tatiana says. “He proposed shortly after. And I said yes straight away.”

To appease their traditional families and provide ample time to plan the lavish celebration, the couple enjoyed a long engagement. The 420 guests began touching down in Mexico City for the international nuptials on a Wednesday — jetting in from Europe, Russia, New York. With family and friends scattered all over the globe, Tatiana and Guillermo knew the majority of guests would be traveling to any destination they selected.

They opted for Mexico City, as it combined both of their heritages: It’s Sierra’s hometown as well as the city where Tatiana’s relative, Maximilian I of Mexico — the only monarch of the Second Mexican Empire — lived and reigned from 1863 to 1867 with his wife, Charlotte of Belgium.

The titled guests included Tatiana’s grandmother, Archduchess Anna Maria Gabriela of Austria; Princess Maria Laura of Belgium; Princess Theresa of Liechtenstein; Archduke and Archduchess Simeon and María of Austria; and Count and Countess Riprand and Maria-Beatrice of Arco-Zinneberg.

All the Wedding Details

Tatiana and Guillermo had planned a five-day affair filled with tours of historic sites (the Teotihuacan Pyramids, Maximilian I’s residence Chapultepec Castle, Museo Nacional de Antropología e Historia), drinks, dinners, and brunches at special places such as Club de Banqueros and La Hacienda de los Morales.

But the highlight, naturally, was the wedding itself, with both the ceremony and reception held on Saturday at the 18th-century Colegio Vizcaínas de San Ignacio de Loyola, a Baroque building that occupies an entire city block in Mexico City’s historic center. The Russian Orthodox ceremony was performed by five priests, including the church’s Archbishop, who flew in from Chicago.

A Russian opera singer performed in the interior courtyard, which was lined with a red-carpeted aisle. As per tradition, guests remained standing during the ceremony (exceptions are made for the elderly, disabled, and young). As attendants, two groomsmen held crowns above the bride and groom’s heads for the duration of the ceremony, and three children, including Guillermo’s son Sebastian from a previous marriage, carried religious icons.

The bride wore a Ysa Makino lace gown from Mia Bridal, with a long-sleeved lace overlay for the reception. The crowning glory was her grandmother Archduchess Anna Maria Gabriela of Austria’s tiara, carried on a plane with her from Belgium. Equally for aesthetics and security purposes, the tiara was woven into a braid atop Tatiana’s head.

Guillermo wore a traditional morning suit. Tatiana carried two all-white bouquets — one for herself and one to place in front of the Virgin Mary. Tatiana and Guillermo exchanged rose-gold wedding bands — a tradition for the Galitzine family — and with that, they were wed, and ready to celebrate.

The couple placed a bottle of Russian vodka and Mexican tequila on each table, encouraging guests to toast both heritages. In European fashion, guests were seated at tables separately from family and friends (with the exception of married couples) to encourage the formation of new friendships.

The bride and groom departed from the lavish five-day affair for their honeymoon in Hong Kong and Bali. But this event was just one in a year of weddings for the Galitzine family: Tatiana’s brother Dimitri was wed in Brussels in June, and her sister Maria’s Houston nuptials were in September.