Jennifer & Matthew's Old World Rustic Charm Wedding!

This Photo Courtesy of Paulina Ulloa

First of all, where do I start with this wedding at Casa Cosmos?!! I will admit that this was a super fun wedding to plan - Jennifer and Matt have such great energies and spirit (well, who am I kidding - I didn't realize Matthew was so great until a few day's before the wedding because, Jenn girl, you rocked the communication!) .... Jenn had a lot of ideas flying around but it became very evident to me early on that what she wanted was something old-world yet elegant and all I could think was "what fun!"

Before getting started on all the wedding detailed goodiness, I couldn't just select from one photo from Paulina's photo shoot with the bride and groom, so I just had to share these other shots - sooo amazing!

These Photos Courtesy of Paulina Ulloa

Pre-Cocktail

This is where I would usually start with the bouquet, but we had a pre-cocktail to start things off with before the ceremony. I had asked Jenn several things about their relationship through-out our correspondence and caught-on to these two GREAT stories - one about how Matt and their two kids had used a little toy giraffe to bring her the engagement ring, and another about how they met at the Belevedere in Houston and, afterwards, Matt made Jenn and her friends grilled cheese sandwiches - as we were planning on incorporating all of those elements into the wedding, I thought it would be a good idea to share that with their guests so, in case they didn't know those two particular stories in that particular way, they would be in on the surprises as well! (all other amazing photos below are by our photographer, Soco!!)....




The Bouquet

Jenn wanted red rose and touches of green in her bouquet so we mixed-in black magic roses, green roses, green mums and dark red roses .... I found this awesome ribbon and pretty crystal buttons which were a very close match to Jenn's engagement ring and accented the wrap ... one of my favorites ever! The bout was also accented in the same ribbon with crystal accents.



Ring Bearer and Flower Girl

I wanted to surprise Jenn & Matt with another giraffe bringing the wedding ring and brought Matt's son into the surprise as well - he was sooo cute about keeping it a secret ... we painted the giraffe silver, to match the accents and gave him little crystal spots - sooo sweet! For Jenn's daughter, we created a green chiffon flower girl basket with crystal and silver accents - her face at seeing her little basket made it completely worth it! Aren't the kids just beautiful?!!

These photos courtesy of Paulina Ulloa

The Harpist

Just a great photo really - beautiful harp playing in the background as everyone walked down the aisle....



The Ceremony

Because we were going to use the ceremony area later on for the dancing floor, I wanted to make this space into something that would look great during the day and then transform slowly into the nighttime and be romantic and pretty as well. So, first Omar built two wooden trellaces and I accented them with black magic roses and hanging votive candles. Then we draped the entire ceremony area into alternating apple green and chocolate brown chiffon fabric - which was not only beautiful but also served to provide shade - it was cooler in the evening and felt great but, at ceremony time, it was a trifle warm! The chocolate chivari chairs had hand-crafted, hand-painted red fans by Omar with the design from their invite burned into it and chocolate brown handles. Up above we had strung red roses and christmas lights tucked away that, as you will see, would light up the dance floor in a beautiful glow later on in the evening.




The Cocktail/Tequila Tasting

Mariachis played at the kiss and into the cocktail hour which we also combined with a tequila tasting with special tequila shot glasses from Guanajuato for the guests .... I always try to include Don Julio (if you have never tried it, it's a must!) but I also wanted to play around with the couple's love for all things Halloween and the fact that the wedding was on Dia de Los Muertos and I found this awesome labeled tequila called "Chamucos" ("devil") - I mean, who could resist?! Signs explaining the different types of tequila were posted in silver painted frames.




The Escort Cards

Also in the cocktail area, we had put-up a chocolate brown hand-crafted tree with guest's names on the front and hand-drawn accents based on their invites and the table assignments on the back. Below the tree were green apples...



The Reception

Jenn had told me that she envisioned seeing lots of red at her wedding, only she wasn't sure how! So, "lots of red" I thought, "ah-ha!" .... we draped red chiffon fabric all around the reception area, from rafters to floor! She had also mentioned that she would love to see apples adapted into the centerpieces somehow as she kept calling it a "apple green" wedding ... so, I thought it would be great to intersperse green apples into the black magic rose centerpieces which were set into chocolate brown painted adobe bowls. Silver based lanterns lined down the center of the tables. The napkins were a green tafeta and doubled as the table markers - all the names on the tables were based on places important to the couple - Houston for where they met, San Juan where they honeymooned (before the wedding - we know!), Paris where the engagement was to take place, Rome where - well, that one's a secret and, of course, Vallarta where they got married! Lanterns in beaded colors of cream, chocolate brown, red and green lined the reception area.





Dia de Los Muertos

As Jenn had a brother who passed away when he was little, she asked us if we could do a small altar in his memory - We put-up a sign explaining the significance of the various details on the altar so the guests would know and understand that each thing on the table had a representation. We also had a Dia de Los Muertos area for the kids in a private room upstairs with a huge giraffe pinata and a movie on a big screen but everything was so busy we forgot to take photos!



The Kids Table

Speaking of the kids, we had a special table just for them which had black cats as centerpieces and little toy giraffes and tags with their names on them, and jack-o-lanterns filled with toys and goodies to keep them happy and occupied through-out the evening!



Lanterns

I must admit I knew the lanterns would look pretty in the pool, but was a little surprised myself at how beautiful they looked during the day!



The Cake

Ahh - the cake - there's always one thing that a bride just really has to have and, for Jenn and Matt, this was the cake! They saw one they loved one night on The Cake Boss and took a picture of it with their cell phone to send me the picture. I think Memo from Charme improved on the idea (no offense to the Cake Boss - I LOVE his cakes - but this cake -ooooh!!) and this was the result...



Nightscapes

We flipped the pre-cocktail area, cocktail area one last time to make it the cigar lounge complete with a hand-painted sign Omar rocked! based on the famous Belvedere where the couple had first met as well as a groom's cake for the groom's favorite soccer team. Candles sprang to life, twinkle lights came up and it was time to boogie and party - and boogie and party everyone did!! I just realized that we don't have a picture of the maracas we did - such perfect timing - just as the bride and groom finished their first dance the DJ put-on I Gotta Feeling, maracas were passed out as everyone surged onto the dance floor and proved that song right! Later on we had tacos with mexican salsas and, of course, grilled cheese sandwiches!



Fire Dancers

The night ended with an amazing performance by the fire dancers - there was a girl there I'd never seen before and she was absolutely AMAZING!! Seriously unbelievable!!

These photos courtesy of Paulina Ulloa

Next week we will have photos up of Greg & Panida's Romantic Vintage Wedding!