Happy Holidays!!

We've had a wonderful start to the 2009/2010 season and we just wanted to thank you so very much! We are sooo excited for what is yet to come.... love, Mishka

MarToca Beach Garden Grand Opening!

Well, here it is - the photos from the MarToca Beach Garden Grand Opening in Bucerias! When Jimmy (the owner and all-around cool guy!) asked us to participate we were hesitant - mostly because we are a small "mom and pop" (or rather, brother/sister-in-law!) operation and don't have oodles of money to spend on such fun opportunities! But Jimmy found a way to help us with costs and we had such a great time - and such an amazing venue!
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Then Memo from Charme (who, as most of you know who follow the blog! :)) agreed to decorate a cake for us and to donate yummy, nummy pastries to accent the decor space and then Jimmy asked us to decorate a Margarita area just for him AND, then, Michael Amici - an awesome new photographer in-town and all-around incredible person (also he's very good at stringing orchids!! ;)) - said he would also take some pictures for us (all pictures donated by him!! thank you Michael!) AND our flower vendor, Juan Carlos from GDL said he would donate some of the flowers .... well, anyway, kismet was in the air!
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Mishka Designs & Charme....
So, this was "our" area ... Omar and I wanted something that would represent "us" as well as showcase Memo's incredible pastries ... I wanted something beachy, yet elegant - to really accentuate the MarToca space but in a graceful, airy sortof way ... so we decided on white dendrobium orchids, pink cymbidium orchids and strung crystals, along with the crystal chandelier we had originally designed for Britt but just done a little differently would be amazing up-top. Then we had our entranceway with some larger crystals and strung orchids to greet guests as they entered. We really did want to showcase Memo's work, so we placed pretty pink chiffon cocktail tables, accentuated with black ribbon in the middle of the area and round hand-painted batik pillows and our logo in swarovski crystals with a white lounge for guests to sit back and enjoy the amazing sunset! And, of course, you have to have floating lanterns in that amazing pool!

If I was designing this for a wedding, this would probably be the dance/cake area and we would add a few more candles to really give it a great romantic glow.

MarToca Margaritaville....

Jimmy had seen the rose balls we did for Greg & Panida's wedding as well as the lamps - so he knew he wanted those for sure - the rest he left to us! It took me a bit to figure out the angle I was going to take this little area but, once I saw this amazing grey chiffon, I knew! We did 10 rose balls (that's close to 1,000 roses!) with crystals and 20 hand-painted glass candles as well as accent pillows for this very chic upscale Margaritaville ... Just one of those spaces that looked amazing during the day and gave you a cozy, warm feel at night!

The People....

It's rare we ever have time to take photos at an event - but this was a fun event, not really a working event, so we were able to get a few pictures in .... this next photo is Memo and his wife Lucy (charme) - AND this picture was taken by me, not by any pro ;).

Next up, we have a fun group shot .... Omar and I with Memo from Charme and our good friends Tamara and Patti from Incredible Weddings.

We were fortunate enough to have Nikki & Roland, our fun, sweet couple whose December 5th wedding we were lucky enough to coordinate/design, attend the cocktail!

And, lastly, I couldn't resist putting-in this picture - I just love it! Me and Tamara (Incredible Weddings) .... and now you know .... I am a Corona girl ;).

Fun Fun aside, MarToca really is an amazing place, if you want something that's beachside, beautiful and amazing but weren't really looking to have your event at a villa! Two thumbs up! :)

Just Red and White Please!

A big shout out goes to Consuelo who said "I do" last Saturday, December 19th in Cancun! The important note to her with her maracas was that they were red with white lettering! We decided to also surprise her with a calla lily that she'd wanted but was a little out of budget :). Unfortunately, seems like a few maracas got broken in transit - booo to our shipping carrier!!

Here are the maracas:

Since I still have to wait for Nikki & Roland's photos until after Christmas (boo! ;)), and I have some great photos back from the MarToca event guess what's coming-up? You guessed it! :):)

Sneak Peek MarToca Grand Opening Video on FB...

It was a fun-filled evening last Thursday with all sorts of goodies for brides .... free food (De Santos and Plush Catering!), free drinks, tequila tastings, yummy desserts (Charme and Los Chatos), great music (Enlace) and the list goes on and on!! While I work away on Nikki & Roland's blog I thought I would share a sneak peek video of MarToca Grand Opening over at From the Inside Out (FB - oh yeah! ;).

Unique Bridesmaid Bouquets....

A big shout out to Valerie who was married December 7 in the Riviera Maya. Valerie loved the white tiger lillies we did for Britt way back when, but she had a unique twist to her maracas - she wanted to utilize them as her bridesmaid's bouquets and we can't wait to see if she did and how it looked! As always, Omar rocks the design :).

We just got the pictures back from Nikki & Roland's wedding AND yesterday was the grand opening for Martoca where we did a couple of designs to showcase our work as well - so pictures and videos will be forthcoming :).

Before & After Video of Nikki & Roland's Vibrant Mexican Wedding!

Well, I just couldn't wait, had to share NOW! Story and all coming-up but, for right now, here's a sneak peek on Facebook of the Before and After video of Nikki & Roland's wedding Dec 4th....

Silver with a Pop of Red!

Big congratulations are in order for Jill who tied the knot at Dreams PV this past Friday, December 4th! Jill's colors were silver/grey/ivory and white - she said she was hoping to surprise her groom (as he was poking at what he called "bland" colors ;)) with a pop of red bouquet ... so, I thought a silver maraca with a nice pop of red would be perfect! I think Omar did a great job and I love the tags with the little red flowers all over ... pop of red indeed!

On another note, we had a FANTASTIC wedding last Saturday with Nikki and Roland after enough twists and turns that make a Mexican telenovela look bland! But I will fill you in on all when we get the pictures back from Soco ... although, if you look, there might be a little teaser video posted in FaceBook in the next few days ;).

Beach Club Grand Opening AND Great Cause!

NEW BEACH CLUB!

I can finally blurt this out!! MarToca is an amazing new beach club/garden opening in Bucerias with a beautiful beach, infinity pool, grass, trees, flowers and available to rent for weddings! Seriously nothing like this in Vallarta (not attached to a Villa - and, even then, nothing with this much space!)! We were lucky enough to be asked to participate in their grand opening which is happening next Thursday (Dec 10th) from 5-10 p.m.

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WIN A WEDDING!!

There's also going to be a raffle held to benefit the Center of Education (for Sports and Social activities) and you're not going to believe this! $10.00 usd enters you into the raffle to win a wedding worth $10,000 usd!!

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FUN!!

So this party has the marks of everything grand - free food, free drink, amazing view, win a wedding and meet some of the best wedding vendors in Vallarta AND all in support of a great cause!

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GET YOUR INVITE!!

If you are in town or will be in town during that time and would like to come, please send me an email and I would be more than happy to send you an invite!! So fun!!

Panida & Greg's Romantic Vintage Wedding

End of January this year, Panida & Greg were all set to get married in May at Villa Mia and we rushed in a whirlwind of planning .... only to be derailed a few days before the wedding date by the Swine Flu that Never was (here in Vallarta!). I know they were disappointed, but they took it all in stride, the vendors all agreed to postpone the date to November and we waited - and it was worth the wait!! I knew Panida was funny as all get out from our email correspondence but I had no idea what a firecracker she was until we met a few days before the wedding (and, of course, still funny as anything!)

Greg was the initial contact and he and Panida wanted something vintage in black and white with red accents - of course, I adore all things vintage so I was completely smitten from day one! Panida sent me their invites and we were all smitten again!

After answering some questions and going over some private on-line galleries with Panida, I had the inspiration I needed for their design board!

The Bouquets & Bout

While I realized this wasn't a crystal, crystal, bling-bling type of affair, I realized that a few accents could go a long way. I wanted to do something simple yet elegant for Panida's bouquet and decided to use all black magic roses with just a few well-placed crystal accents along the bottom. Panida's sister was her MOH and she wore a black dress - so the perfect compliment was an all-white bouquet with white roses and statice flowers. Greg's bout had a crystal accent from Panida's bouquet (and we also utilized this accent later on for their cake!). (all photos by our own photographer, Soco!)

The Ceremony

Greg had mentioned that he came from a Christian background, so we decided the perfect thing to do would be to recreate an open-air chapel - especially since the surroundings were so beautiful - I had seen one once in Arkansas - made of glass - and that was our inspiration! I hand-painted a stained glass cross for the top, we used white chivari chairs, and white roses and statice lined the aisle in tall glass vases. We accented the ceremony with a black magic rose petal aisle and hand-made black paper fans with red handles served as both a decoration and to cool the guests from the setting sun. They had told me that "Georgia on My Mind" was one of "their songs" and, as they weren't using it for their first dance, I thought it would be appropriate to have Omar paint a few lines in white - I loved them (and I think the guests did too - it was hot at ceremony time!)

The Cocktail

We placed cocktail tables, covered with white chiffon and tied with black ribbon around the pool. Serving as centerpieces, Panida had requested place cards for her guests that they could take and place themselves at whichever table they chose to sit at. We used a similar design from her invite and accented the clips with crystals. As a nod to Panida's Thai heritage, I found a Buddhist tradition wherein guests would tie a white ribbon around the couple's wrist and bestow a blessing upon the newlyweds - so we incorporated that into the cocktail area as well and left them out so guests could continue to bestow blessings all night long!

The Reception

When I think 40's vintage, I think lounge, elegant, posh, glamour without going over the top - I knew right away that lighting would be important and then "whammo" the "light" went on and I knew we had to do some fab lamps! We were going to paint designs onto the lampshades but, as luck would have it and as the wedding was now postponed, it gave me time to go up North and find that amazing fabric as well as those amazing large crystals which hung down from the middle of each lamp!

Panida had just asked that the bridal table be different, somehow, than the rest of the tables, so we inverted the color scheme - white on black, in lieu of black on white. Each of the hand-painted vases had crystal accents which sparkled with the candlelight and were filled with black magic roses. Embroidered napkins based on the invite drawing made for a dramatic tablescape, I think! I LOVED the mr. and mrs. ribbon I saw once online and had our embroidery shop make a matching pair and it looked just the way I wanted it to! I do think, over-all, this is one of my favorite reception designs - I loved the smaller 6 top tables, the draping chiffon to give a more elegant, simple feel - adored the bold design of the vases and the napkins and I think the lamps were the cherry on top ;). But enough blah blah from me - you be the judge!

The Pool

Of course, we had to have lanterns floating in that amazing pool! The view was absolutely beautiful and the lanterns just accented something already amazing all on its own!

The Cake

What wedding would be complete without an amazing cake from Memo of Charme?! When Panida told me how much she loved this cake I was super happy .... we were planning on surprising her with some sock monkeys as they were an important part of Panida & Greg's story ... and, then, Panida said, "Can we have the sock monkeys" and I'm all "shhh - you just leave all that to me!!" ;) I think Omar did an amazing job - we put sunglasses on them because, I'm not sure if you can see it, but Panida had sent me a great photo of she and Greg in sunglasses and I remember thinking "that is a GREAT photo - MUST use it!" You can't really see it from the photos, but the same accent from Greg's bout and Panida's bouquet is on the top hat ;).

Dance Floor and Nightscapes....

One final detail - we lined the dance floor with big, black magic rose balls with a hanging crystal and twinkle lights - it looked absolutely beautiful for their first dance! There were three other elements that didn't make it into pictures - the Cuban band (which did an amazing job!), a flaming coffee station and fire dancers - it was a lot packed into a wondrous evening and it was a joy for us to see everyone sitting around tables later on in the evening happily talking about the night!

We really couldn't have ended this crazy month in a better way - all of our couples this month - from Mindi & Morgan to Jennifer and Matthew to Panida & Greg - were absolute joy and their guests were seriously GREAT guests - when everyone is so wonderful, it makes us want to work harder and do more so a big thanks really is due to our brides and grooms and their guests for helping us love and enjoy what we do - from coordinating to the designing to the decor and beyond!

We have a little break before our next event, so I do think I may be able to sneak-on an inspiration color scheme or something next week! So, keep your eyes peeled....

Purple, Orange, Red and Yellow and Into the Sunset They Go!

A big shout out goes to Emily who was married Saturday in Las Caletas and Liz who tied the knot in Zihuatanejo!!

Emily wanted our ever popular lacy romance maracas in festive colors of orange and purple and some "shake me tags" to boot .... this was the result! :)

Liz sent us her invites - I've never seen orange so vibrant before and what an inspiration! She wanted some menus and place cards for the rehearsal dinner and, then, maracas with name tags for the wedding the following day. The colors were orange and yellow for the rehearsal dinner and orange and red for the wedding. Because the orange was so vibrant, I decided that a grey tone to the menu and place cards would look better and really make the orange and yellow stand-out - I think it worked! :)

Liz's Invites

Menu & Place Cards for Rehearsal Dinner

Maracas

I'm still working on the photos from Panida & Greg's wedding - should be up tomorrow! hurray! :)