I love this wedding design so much and the couple involved that it's hard for me to post and say "adios" to the whole experience ;). Jessica was big into fashion and that whole world so patterns and visualization was a very big deal to her and she taught me A LOT with her own wedding dress selections (she had 2!), her daughter's flower girl dress (so super cute), the varied patterns and designs for her bridesmaid dresses and the amazing decorative ties the groomsmen and groom carried off. It's not often I have a bride who says "let your creative self go - I'm all for it" - much like letting an artist into a studio and giving them thousands of colors to choose from in order to create their picture. I knew we would hit it off when Jessica sent me their invites - a replica of Frida & Diego Riviera's wedding photograph! And, of course, to top it off, Chris & Jessica are completely heart people - when I first met Chris, the day before the wedding, the first thing he did was give me a huge hug and tell me how happy he was to meet me. Sweet! And Jessica is just light and warmth incarnate.
Place: Hacienda Camino del Mar
Caterer: Andres of ByB
Bride Photographer: Vallarta's very own Elizabeth Lloyd aka photographer rockstar
DJ: Hombres del Negro
Flamenco Guitarists: Latcho & Andrea
Staff Photographer: Soko the Great
Minister: Tamara Bradley de Morales of Chic Concepts
Cake: Memo of Charme
INSPIRATION BOARD
We needed something vintage, something colorful, something artistic and artesanal, a nod to Frida Kahlo but not about Frida Kahlo ... and this is the end result design board...
THE CEREMONY
Jessica had really loved a scene in the movie Frida where Frida and her friends are having a dinner party - once we established that this was going to be the feeling we wanted for the wedding, I realized that I wanted to have pops of color for the ceremony but utilize a variety of chairs and chair colors - to continue the feeling that you just brought down the chairs from your house to have the ceremony.
I had ordered some special wedding bubbles from Etsy but they didn't arrive in time so the team swung into action and my other sister-in-law, Gaby (I did mention, right, that the business is a family affair ;) created these awesome cloth covered bubbles with cute heart tags. Antonio worked hard on the milagro heart wooden fans and we had a picture perfect ceremony set-up.
Jessica had sent me this amazing photograph of a big red floral bouquet and I knew I wanted that deep rich, red color but a bit more wild floral look to it. I found the heart charm on her bouquet on a trip to Tonala in Guadalajara. I don't think we have a picture of the matching heart we also placed on Chris' bout.
Jessica had told me that she didn't care if the bridesmaids held flowers or not or if they just had flowers in their hair and I thought having them carry signs, representative of the signage we had through-out the wedding, would be perfect. When they lead Jessica to the ceremony the signs read "Here Comes the Bride" and when they left, they flipped their signs around to read "Happily Ever After." ;)
Ruby looked beautiful in her flower girl dress - Jessica had mentioned wanting a butterfly bouquet for her and I found these amazing beaded butterflies and we created some butterflies made out of loteria paper - Omar did an amazing job and I heart heart the end result.
THE COCKTAIL
After the ceremony, we led everyone back up to the Hacienda for cocktails up at the main house. Jessica had brought a pretty poster which we laid out for guests to sign. We hung memory boards along the cocktail area and placed pictures which Jessica and her family had brought to share. I do believe it was as much fun for us to see as the guests :). We had hand punched metal tins with bright paper flowers for cocktail centerpieces. That was actually a last minute purchase I saw when I was out and about and fell in love with. And, of course, colorful papel picado banners.
THE RECEPTION
After the cocktail, we led everyone up to the roof top - I've always wanted to do something up there - it's so beautiful - but just never had the right event. We used mismatched tables and couches to create a very intimate dinner scene. Centerpieces were bright talavera pots filled with miniature roses, ranunculus, mums zempazuchil and alstromeria. We had colorful wine bottles topped with colorful candles and spots of talavera tiles laid on the table. Tables were covered with lace table runners. And, of course, mismatched chairs and sofas covered with pillows representing the bride's colors and love for pattern. Dinner was set-up in stations so that people could go and get tacos al pastor or carne asada quesadillas right as they were made.
We had been talking about a scene from The Princess and the Frog (seeing that we both had 3 year old daughters, well, it makes sense ;), and we both had loved a scene with bright colored bottles hanging in the trees. I had some beautiful colored bottles made and then asked Yazmine to put her artistic touch on some of them with various patterns and colors. We turned them on just as they started their first dance and the "oohs" were awesome to hear :). As the dancing went into full gear, we passed out colorful maracas with a gold painted milagro heart and their names and date on the back.
They wanted a cake that looked absolutely edible (even though, in reality, is not real ;) and Memo did a fantastic job - both with the cutting cake and the actual cake which was absolutely delicious!
THE PHOTOBOOTH
I heart heart this photobooth - it was a lot bigger than I had imagined it to be but that worked out well as people loved to cram into it all night long and take wild and crazy pictures.
This wedding was so much fun to design and create and the open heartedness of the couple, along with their guests, was the cherry on top of this yummy ice-cream sundae.
Coming-up I have OODLES of shout-outs to maraca brides so more maraca pictures will be here soon, I promise! And don't forget to enter the WINWIN contest to win 20 of our hand-painted maracas - contest drawing is January 15th!
