Owen Gerber always had a crush on Jane Zachar in high school in Westchester County. “At the time, I didn’t stand a chance,” the vice president at Canal Group, an alternative asset manager based in Miami, admits. “But I like to joke that I manifested this.”
Years later, in 2019, Jane, who works in product management for a tech startup, was living in San Francisco at the same time as Owen’s older sister, Chase. “Jane and Chase were connected through mutual friends, and I immediately asked my sister to put in a good word for me,” Owen says.
“Owen and I grew up just a few minutes away from each other,” Jane explains. “I was in Bedford, New York, and he lived in Pound Ridge. I had been at Greenwich Academy since preschool, and Owen started at Brunswick in high school. We had English class together and remember running into each other around Bedford, but we never dated. After college, I became friends with his older sister, who very slyly planted seeds that Owen had a crush on me in high school.”
Then, in September of 2020, Owen’s roommate George—who had also gone to high school with them—ran into Jane on his way back from dinner and invited her to a housewarming party later that night. “She actually came,” Owen says. “I seized the opportunity and asked her on a date.”
Four years later, Owen proposed in August 2024 during a sunset picnic overlooking the Douro River in Portugal. “The funny part is I planned the picnic, so I really was not expecting it to be the proposal,” Jane jokes. “Owen had gone around me with the hotel to coordinate a photographer and a special bottle of wine, so he somehow managed to surprise me inside my own plan.” Owen worked with his mom to reset her engagement ring—a beautiful emerald-cut diamond—and added side stones. “It felt so special and personal that he had reimagined something from his family for me,” Jane shares.
Their wedding was held nearly two years later on April 18, 2026, in Nayarit, Mexico, at Siari, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve, and Nauka, the private club community next door. “I had visited Nauka years before when my parents first decided to buy a property there,” Owen explains. “When Jane and I first started planning, the hotel was under construction, but we visited together anyway a few months after our engagement, and Jane fell in love with it too.”
The property felt intimate and secluded, tucked into a cove with a long stretch of beach and surrounded by the mountains and jungle. “Beyond how breathtaking it was, the Siari and Nauka teams were so warm and genuinely excited to host our wedding,” Jane remembers. “Even though there was still a lot to finish on the property, once the timelines started to come together, it was the easiest decision.”
Planning meant navigating language barriers, construction timelines, and all of the extra layers and nuances that come with doing so from afar. “When Owen and I first started, we knew we wanted to work with event planner Kat Ferguson at Little Creek,” Jane says. “Owen’s sister had worked with them for her wedding in Whitefish, Montana, so we had seen firsthand how thoughtful and talented they are. During the process, we also got to know the Siari and Nauka teams and watched the property come to life in real time. By the time the wedding weekend arrived, it felt like everyone had been on the planning journey with us, and that made everything all the more special.”
