Exclusive: Guerdy Abraira on the Pursuit of Life & Lasting Love

AT A CONFERENCE, a statuesque wedding planner in a petal pink dress and patent leather boots struts her way to the main stage. Her head is shaved, her makeup elegant and her demeanor full of charisma. She takes her place at the podium and addresses a room packed with industry peers, disclosing details about the harrowing past nine months: her breast cancer diagnosis and how it's impacted her personally and professionally. She was at the pinnacle of her career when she heard the news, and her will to survive has given her radiance and glowing authenticity—and a new purpose in life. The vulnerability she displays onstage is met with thunderous applause.

When you ask Guerdy Abraira about the last year, she'll tell you it forever changed the trajectory of her life. In early 2023, the wedding planner turned Real Housewives of Miami star was planning a friend's wedding in St. Barts when she received "the call." After a routine checkup, her doctors had detected non-­invasive cancerous masses, which required an additional biopsy and MRI. That was when an invasive cancerous mass was discovered, hidden behind one of the lumps. "I found out about the invasive cancer the week before I started filming the new season of Housewives," she says. Guerdy reflected on the timing and decided to let the cameras film the harrowing treatment process. The show had already documented the highlights of her life: her marriage, family dynamics, career gains and more. This was an opportunity to show viewers "when things aren't good," she says. "It was to give hope and be aspirational."

That's exactly how viewers received that moment of vulnerability. "She's inspiring and utterly fearless," says Andy Cohen, Housewives executive producer. Her best friend on the series, Nicole Martin, also reflected on that decision. "I always tell G that I don't think I could have done what she did. She shared the most vulnerable moment of her life with us and with viewers," she says. "The amount of strength and courage that she demonstrated was absolutely incredible. It really is a testament to who she is: a classy, strong and determined woman."

Photography by Chrisean Rose,Styling by Rebecca Dennett, Makeup and Grooming by Daniela Gozlan, Manicure by Andrea J. Vieira, Set Design by Cristina Forestieri, Production on Location by Select Services,Creative Director: Nathalie Kirsheh; Photo Editor: Lauren Kill; Writer and Editor: Esther Lee,Dress and cape by Esé Azénabor; shoes by Jimmy Choo; earrings by Ming Yu Wang

In December 2023 at Engage! Summit, a wedding industry conference, Guerdy spoke soon after she had gone into remission. Aware of her health condition (and fame), I didn't expect her to join our cocktail table at the lobby bar in Boca Raton, Florida, the final evening. The theme for the night's gala was "A New Golden Era," which Guerdy nailed in a shimmering Art Deco–style gown. I was at the bar with a few colleagues when Jenny Lewis, chief marketing officer at The Knot, ushered Abraira over and introduced her to the group. They had met by the elevators, and Guerdy had proposed putting herself on the cover. She calls this her inner voice and intuition—she knows exactly when life brings opportunities her way. "I put things out there. Like when I said to the group, 'You should put someone from the industry on the cover…like me,'" she says. "I have no shame. I've heard, 'She's too much' so many times. Well guess what? That's the worst thing you can say to me."

Reality TV viewers (including some critics) will see Guerdy on-screen in full glam and say her life is perfect, because she's beautiful and a top wedding planner and designer. What they miss is that her success is the result of years of discipline, innovation, collaboration and good old-fashioned hard work. It's clear that she's reached this level due to her own grit, drive and originality. "Nobody, and I mean nobody, can take this," Guerdy says as she points to her temple. "You have to know your shit. I could sell anything because I knew my shit."

Guerdy's career as an event planner and designer is a double-edged sword. If you were to shadow a wedding vendor, you'd be surprised at what the role requires. Behind every illuminated reception is a team of people, and every staffer is important to a seamless operation. The planner, the maestro behind someone's biggest milestone, must be agile, a sharp communicator and project a cool demeanor to assure everyone that it all will be fine. Despite the inward chaos, Guerdy was executing events at an electrifying speed and operating at a level of perfection that could only result in burnout. "I also think it's what got me sick," she says.

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Guerdy has planned celebrations for some of the country's wealthiest families, throwing events in places like Palm Beach, Florida; Miami; and the Caribbean. "It was 100 percent word of mouth," she says of her clients and business growth. "People would say, 'You have to call Guerdy. She's fabulous…Mind you, this was before Instagram. They'd book me, sight unseen, and then they'd arrive and be shocked and say, 'You're Guerdy?'" The industry then wasn't exactly known for its diversity.

She started as a fundraiser in events, pivoted to a catering manager role at a hotel and was eventually recruited to run events at the exclusive Miami enclave of Fisher Island. "I saw a dolphin jump up when I was on the ferry to the interview, and I said, 'Yep, this is going to be my place of employment,'" she recalls. Later, a flower shop went up for sale on the island, which fueled her ambitions; she bought it. This allowed Guerdy to operate a business of her own, including an in-house design studio and a team. "That's how I became the party planner," she says.

"What you see is what you get with Guerdy, in all aspects of her life," says Martin, who hired Guerdy to plan and design her baby shower in March. "She doesn't do anything at less than 100 percent. She is passionate about her events to the last detail, as well as meticulous, well-organized, detailed and innovative." Echoes Cohen, "She's talented, confident and aspirational. Grounded and stylish too." (On her storefront on The Knot, Guerdy maintains a 5.0 rating and accolades from past clients.)

Cancer upended everything Guerdy knew—including what she thought she wanted in her career and life. "It's so easy to feel stuck," she says. "In the weirdest way, my cancer journey helped me see clearly. The skies parted, and I saw my life across different spectrums. Things I didn't have answers for previously, while lying on that bed, literally feeling like I was dying, I saw clearly. You feel like you're on needles when you're going to the bathroom and feeling your bones spasm, as if you're dying slowly. The cancer was a detox. I became a new person based on that whole chemical release: Guerdy 2.0."

Photography by Chrisean Rose,Styling by Rebecca Dennett, Makeup and Grooming by Daniela Gozlan, Manicure by Andrea J. Vieira, Set Design by Cristina Forestieri, Production on Location by Select Services,Creative Director: Nathalie Kirsheh; Photo Editor: Lauren Kill; Writer and Editor: Esther Lee,Crown by Caroline Zimbalist; earrings, stylist's own; rings, Guerdy's own

One of the first requests our team received for Guerdy was to ensure there was a cool space for her on the set of the photo shoot. "I can feel it coming," Guerdy said in a panicked tone in her first outfit. "Fan, please!" Our production assistant hurried over with an industrial-grade fan, which is set by the hair and makeup station. One teammate said that her mother went through something similar during remission. Hot flashes are common for people who've gone through chemotherapy or surgical menopause. Cancer medications can also induce night sweats, as the boundaries of the body are pushed to survive and regenerate. On set, we gave her an extra fan.

Russell Abraira, Guerdy's husband since 2002, also joined the shoot. A Miami firefighter, he's quiet and gentle—observers who didn't know him would think he's a bit brooding, like Edward Cullen from Twilight. The Abrairas are arguably one of the Bravo network's favorite reality couples. At a team dinner that night, our creative director, Nathalie Kirsheh, and I went back and forth on several observations from the set. Often, small interactions between couples can reveal what's happening within their relationship. One such moment was when Russell stepped out in a Brooks Brothers tux; Guerdy looked over as if she wanted to eat him up. We caught the expression only briefly, but there was a palpable chemistry between the two.

"I've been keeping my man satisfied for 28 years," Guerdy said cheekily as she posed in a blush vintage dress from Nardos Archive, which inspired Guerdy to channel a song as she posed. She requested we play "And I Love Him" by Esther Phillips, no fewer than seven times on the speaker. It felt appropriate, though. It was clear she thought about Russell as the photographer, Chrisean Rose, captured the introspective moment.

Photography by Chrisean Rose,Styling by Rebecca Dennett, Makeup and Grooming by Daniela Gozlan, Manicure by Andrea J. Vieira, Set Design by Cristina Forestieri, Production on Location by Select Services,Creative Director: Nathalie Kirsheh; Photo Editor: Lauren Kill; Writer and Editor: Esther Lee,On Guerdy: Dress by Bronx and Banco; shoes by Larroudé; rings by Lady Grey; earrings by Christina Caruso; Opposite: Headpiece by Honor,On Russell: Jacket and pants by Brooks Brothers; T-shirt by Todd Snyder; shoes by Jimmy Choo

The Abrairas were high school sweethearts. During their senior year, a time when life trajectories often start to chasm, Guerdy was worried she and Russell might break up once she moved to New York to pursue her dream to become a ballroom dancer. A conversation in Russell's car at the tender age of 17 kept her in Miami. "We were so young. At that moment, you're thinking, 'If we're able to make it work, why not?'" she says. Had she moved up north, the now-beloved Abrairas might've ceased to exist. "It would've been a big mistake, like Pretty Woman: 'Big mistake! Huge!'" The daughter of a pastor, Guerdy has her own relationship with God, but isn't a churchgoer. ("I pray in my head," she says.) "Me without Russ? God said, 'No.'"

"He's the middle," she says. "We didn't marry for money. We weren't parasites to each other. A lot of marriages are one-sided about power. The man is the one with the money. Russell wants to be with me because he loves me. We never looked outside of our marriage to fix our marriage. I could go to a party and get all dressed up and Russ wouldn't. And I always come home to Russ." Cohen has seen numerous Housewives relationship dynamics by now. Of Guerdy and Russell, he says: "I love their history and their intense connection."

Russell and I chatted briefly while he was on set to support his wife's cover feature. I interviewed him between takes. "The best piece of advice we received as a couple before marriage…" he paused. "Well, we kind of took our own advice. We just followed our hearts, and we knew what we wanted. We didn't have any problems outside of that, but our parents gave us advice: Respect each other, and as long as you love each other, then things should work out."

When I shifted the topic to Guerdy's cancer, she was in another area with our makeup artist. A crew, including our videographer, surrounded Russell to capture content. The question hit him suddenly; he was there celebrating his wife's cover and remission, but then paused and put his head down as he got choked up. "At first, you don't believe it," he said of her diagnosis. "You don't have time to prepare for that type of thing. But we worked through it, and I did my best to make things easier on her. That was my main goal."

We were at lunch in Miami's Aventura Mall the day after the shoot when Guerdy and I revisited that moment with Russell. The spread included a tuna pizza, several rolls (she likes a yellowtail), short-rib gyozas, bigeye tuna with the tartare on top, shishito peppers and other dishes. (She recommended the restaurant.) "The choking-up moment, I watched it four times yesterday. I started crying," she said. "I cannot believe that. He hasn't talked about the cancer to a lot of people. I can also count on my fingers the number of times I've seen him cry: when our oldest son, Miles, was born and then, this moment." I responded that our team walked away from the set and said, "That man loves her."

"It's a mystery for both of us too," Guerdy said. "We just stare at each other. We're very good flirts via text messages. Russell wrote me handwritten letters when I went to school in Spain. He's a good flirt, especially when writing." Viewers witnessed a softer side to Russell in the last season of Housewives of Miami. There were moments when he would tell his wife he wished he could take the cancer himself, or he'd dote on her day and night while she was bedridden. "He's a very interesting person. He's so dimensional. He's fascinating to me," Guerdy said at lunch. "I actually feel like I respect him more now than I did in the beginning. There could've been a sense of complacency, but then, once you fall in love again with that person—I think once we had kids, it was like, 'Oh my God, this is so deep.'"

There was a third time when Guerdy saw Russell cry. In the initial phases of her treatment, she dealt with a blood clot complication. She told Russell that it made her want to give up and succumb to cancer. "And Russell said, 'You can't do this to me. I need you. The kids need you. But I need you,'" she said, as she started to cry. "He teared up then too."

Photography by Chrisean Rose,Styling by Rebecca Dennett, Makeup and Grooming by Daniela Gozlan, Manicure by Andrea J. Vieira, Set Design by Cristina Forestieri, Production on Location by Select Services,Creative Director: Nathalie Kirsheh; Photo Editor: Lauren Kill; Writer and Editor: Esther Lee,Dress by Naeem Khan; earrings by Perry Street through Rocksbox,Opposite: Gloves by Wing & Weft; earrings by Lady Grey

Fans and the industry should expect a different version of Guerdy moving forward. Now in remission, she is screened every six months for cancer, a somber reminder that every day is a gift. "I'm coming back stronger, better, faster. I'm being selfish from now on," she says. "My purpose in life now is to Guerdify the world, one mission at a time. I don't want to be associated with just weddings or just cancer. My mind, body and soul are about beauty, health and more. I can speak to all of them as a professional and as an expert, because I've lived through it, and I've done it."

While she plans to stay in the celebrations space, she is weighing her next steps as a wedding planner. In the meantime, she's focusing on her investments, including an on-demand beauty app called Ring My Belle. "I've been in this industry for many years, and there's been a big void in many of the top cities for some strange reason in offering glam services," she says. "We are stepping in to fill the gaps of demand. We'll go worldwide—just wait and see."

At lunch, Guerdy raised her glass of Whispering Angel rosé and proposed a toast: "To life coming full circle, and to an inevitable path. Everything is meant to be. I feel it in my soul." She said, "I meet people, and I know what to do. It's a spiritual thing where I know things are meant to be in life. If you listen to signs, you know. When someone is in front of you for a reason, how is it that I'm meeting you now, how is it that I'm having this conversation? When you know, spiritually, this is the way. Like a Jedi."

Photography by Chrisean Rose,Styling by Rebecca Dennett, Makeup and Grooming by Daniela Gozlan, Manicure by Andrea J. Vieira, Set Design by Cristina Forestieri, Production on Location by Select Services,Creative Director: Nathalie Kirsheh; Photo Editor: Lauren Kill; Writer and Editor: Esther Lee,Cape by Esé Azénabor; earrings by Ming Yu Wang

Credits:

Photography by Chrisean Rose, Styling by Rebecca Dennett, Makeup and Grooming by Daniela Gozlan, Manicure by Andrea J. Vieira, Set Design by Cristina Forestieri, Production on Location by Select Services, Creative Director: Nathalie Kirsheh; Photo Editor: Lauren Kill; Writer and Editor: Esther Lee

This story first appeared in the 2024 Celebration Issue of The Knot Magazine. More exclusive imagery of Abraira, as well as fascinating features and planning advice can be found in our latest issue. Buy a copy or subscribe here (one for you and one for your engaged bestie).