Favor ideas especially for Vallarta...

Favor ideas! Who doesn't love that?! What I love about favors is the opportunity to personalize a gift from the bride and groom really specific to them as a couple - the options are endless (and fun!). I really prefer to try to stick to favor ideas which are either a) something the guests will really use or b) something that is more artistic or interesting so that the guests might be more likely to display it. I don't see favors as simply another thing someone has to throw into their suitcase and hide away somewhere!


First, I wanted to address favor ideas which are used often in Vallarta, but I wanted to share a way to look at these with a different "spin" on them! For example, maracas are a crowd favorite but by personalizing them with a hand-painted touch representing the bride and groom, makes them even that more special.

MARACAS

Another popular favorite is the famous Puebla Talavera (or the other various "knock offs" which are still beautiful, but as we know not quite up to Puebla standards). Something I like to do sometimes is to integrate the favors into the design decor. In this example, the water glasses were replaced with talavera favor cups!

TALAVERA FAVORS

On a similar theme of integrating the favors into the design, we've taken logos which are very important to the client (without them knowing it!:) and integrated them into useful favors such as embroidered handkerchiefs, embroidered napkins and hand-painted fans!

EMBROIDERED HANDERKERCHIEFS, NAPKINS AND HAND-PAINTED FANS!

Along with tequilla, sweets are also a fairly common favor requests. For these particular favors, we made specially designed labels with guest's name and dinner seating as well as incorporated it into the cocktail decor of the event itself!

SWEETS

Then there are the more "unusual" favors such as retro Puerto Vallarta t-shirts for a retro wedding, hand-painted carnival masks, silver butterfly charms and artistic scenes of Vallarta from local artists.

ONE-OF-A-KIND FAVORS

OTHER IDEAS
I also wanted to point-out a few favor ideas which I found while visiting two of my favorite websites http://www.favorideas.com and http://www.myweddingfavors.com/. Some of the ideas on these sites are really great ideas that won't break the bank and something which might be useful should it match the personality of your particular bride and groom.

LUGGAGE TAGS
I love the idea of luggage tags! Many's a time when I wished for a fun, creative set of luggage tags to really distinguish my luggage from everyone else when it came time to pick up my luggage. Of course, here in Vallarta, as we have a lot of destination couples, I think luggage tags even make more sense for their guests! Here are two very different ideas for luggage tags which I found online:

FLIP FLOP LUGGAGE TAGS

These luggage tags are under $3.00 a piece! I think, for a laid-back wedding, this might really work.

CRUISESHIP LUGGAGE TAG

This particular set is more at expensive but still comes in at under $4.00 a piece. I think these are pretty elegant and the price isn't ridiculous!

BOOKMARKS
I think bookmarks are also a good idea and there are so many options to choose from. We haven't made any yet, but I have oodles of ideas for just the right bride and groom. Meanwhile, I found these bookmarks with a seashell theme at BySerendipty for under $3.00!

MAGNETS
I know not everyone loves magnets like I do, but I'm sure you'll have some clients who do! I found these magnets at http://www.myweddingfavors.com/ ... of course, these are projects we can do here, but I think, at $2.00 a PACKAGE it's a hard price to beat!

COASTERS
Useful and great, especially if done well! These coasters at http://www.myweddingfavors.com/ are under $3.00 each.

So, that's all for April mid-month ... if you there is something about decor that you're interested in but just don't have the time, just let me know and I'll see what I can find and put it in a subsequent blog!

Finding design ideas outside of wedding sites!

Hey everybody it's finally here!! It took much longer than I thought it would but what's important is here we are!! Once again, if you would rather not be part of the mailing list for the blog (or if you have subscribed to the feed for this blog), just let me know and I'll be sure to take you off the list - no questions asked!

So, for our "blog launch" I thought I would discuss finding inspiration in places OTHER than wedding related inspiration. For example, one of the weddings I did a while back I titled "Retro Pink." The bride wanted something 60's retro but done in an artistic, fun way. I went scouring the web and I found a designer who had created these designs (unfortunately, I don't remember the name of the designer at the moment but if you happen to see these and know who it is, please let me know so I can credit them properly!):

I knew this design would be PERFECT for her wedding and started the rest of the inspiration for this particular event. We didn't base the whole event so much on this design, as we utilized it to accent several key pieces, i.e.

Ceremony Aisle

Centerpieces

And then we chose to place a few gerber accents in other small portions of the event such as:

Favor Accent Sign

And sequins to accent other portions of the event such as:

Napkins and Glass Accents

The sequins on the glasses were also utilized to indicate who was eating chicken and fish!!

Ceremony Backdrop and Other Accents

So, inspiration can come from any place, any where - just keep your eyes peeled for things you see every day and then consider utilizing them in different ways.

And, remember, if you don't have time to put the little details in your events but your clients would love to have them, we are here to work with you to ensure your client's events are amazing!