Inspiration Board
Jenn came to us blooming with ideas and rearing to go - and I have over 300 photos to prove it ;). I loved the challenge - to create a Vintage garden feel wedding BUT with a Mexican touch to it ... the challenge in a third-world country is that we don't have hardly anything you could call "vintage", as we use every single thing up until the last drop is squeezed out ;). So, we had to recreate the feel of Mexican vintage and my team did a holy cow amazing job!
The Bouquets & Bouts
We were working with a color palette of turquoise, coral and berry ... I wanted the flowers to look neat and tidy but also an upscale version of having just picked them from the garden ;). I found Jenn's bouquet accent piece in the States this past summer and fell in love with it and had to have it to complete the look along with the bout pin I found for Kent - I just think those little accents really make the flowers just pop.
For the bridesmaids - I knew their dresses were coral and I wanted to bring in a berry color palette without it being too bright and found out that I could order these amazing purple/silver grey roses which I think really accents the berry roses ... I honestly love them against the bridesmaid dresses :).
The Ceremony & Cocktail Lounge
Don Pedro's Palapa is a rather large space but we needed to combine the ceremony area and have it also work as a cocktail area - also I thought it would help to set the mood a bit more if we did the seating more of a garden-like, lounge feel, as opposed to doing the standard rows of chairs ... so, we combined the two areas! I also realized that we needed to bring in some plants to make the area a bit more ... well, like a garden! We twisted flowers into the gazebo and placed two large trees to hang overhead with bouganvilla trees in beautiful colors of coral and berry dotting the landscape behind. Right before the bride was to walk down we created an aisle with rose petals - I knew it would be pretty but seriously the colors up against the grass just popped and blew me away! The pillow fabric we got for the pillows might look like it was bought at the same store but it actually wasn't - heart heart all over the place! We had two lamp posts to light-up the area later in the evening and turquoise talavera pots filled with berry and coral flowers, surrounded by turquoise and plain mason jars filled with candles.
Of course, one of my favorite accent pieces for this area was the vintage looking coke and corona wooden boxes that we made - with a cooler inside! Bright Mexican bird cages were filled to the brim with either flowers or candles and I'm hard pressed to say which one I liked better .... and, of course, cannot forget the metal bird votive candle holder with the beautiful blue turquoise vases.
Escort Cards
I found all these vintage looking knobs and thought "wouldn't that look amazing on a portrait frame type structure?" (or, okay, something along those lines ;) ... the cards took me forever to do and I discovered that embossing is a wee bit hard on the palms, but absolutely heart heart the final look.
Reception
We built milk boxes and painted them with the names of dairy companies we have here in Mexico to give the tables a very vintage, yet mexican, feel. I filled them with bright flowers in corals and berry tones and we created table markers that looked like old advertising signs for products that we have here in mexico ... other than Guinness - the couple had a sweet story about Guinness in how they met so we had to include that too, of course! :)
Unfortunately, neither photographer got a good shot of the table runner which was this beautiful white embroidered floral fabric on top of a coral chiffon. But aren't these napkins amazing or what? When I saw the fabric I knew they were a must! We tied the silverware together with ribbon and attached the place cards which had a little poem the bride had seen and really liked. Mason jars filled with candles (a few turquoise, a few plain) also dotted the tables, between the centerpieces.
We created little vintage "mr. and mrs." signs to hang on the back of the bride and groom's chair and, honestly, I just heart heart everything about this entire wedding ;).
The Dance Floor and Cake
If I tell you where I got the idea for the dance floor you have to promise not to laugh ... my daughter was enthralled for a while with Disney's Princess and the Frog and there's a scene in there ... anyway, the point is, the dance floor had mason jars which we painted with glass paint and it was absolutely beautiful and romantic and heart hearts floating everywhere at night.
I wanted the cake to be reminiscent of the "long ago" but in a garden - well, I knew it needed to be a bit smaller - I found this wonderful glass cake stand and Memo recreated a lace work pattern and, of course, the cake was yummy yummy yummy - they had a vanilla with kiwi, strawberry and peach filling and this to die for chocolate cake with almost like a chocolate truffle filling - YUM!
And, of course, can't forget the maracas which were passed out during the dancing - we needed something with a bit of a flower to it but not something too "girly" so Kent and his boys wouldn't mind shaking them around - I think our guys hit on a good combination ;).
Photo Booth
This was, by far, one of the most creative, off-the-wall ideas I've had in a while ... I wanted the boys to make a gazebo like structure that we could hang a two person swing from later - I mean, who doesn't love a swing? And they did it! We also had hand-painted wooden signs to add to the festivities. After the ceremony, the photo booth sign went up, the polaroid came out and a lot of fun was had (especially as the night wore on and guests donned props provided by Jillian), let me tell you - well, I don't have to tell you - you can see for yourself! :)
I knew this blog was going to take me a while to do but had to get cracking on it because Soko just told me that Meredith & Spencer's wedding photos are on their way and I have some shout-outs to give to early 2011 brides - also don't forget to enter the
WINWIN drawing which is this Saturday, Jan 15th! .... Jenn & Kent's wedding was a beautiful way to end the fall portion of our season and we thank them both for being so creative and inspirational!
