Mishka Designs' Blog

November, December & January Shout-Outs!

2012-01-18T00:59:00.000-06:00

Holy Cowzers! I knew I was a bit behind but had no idea until I took a look at my shout-outs! I'm so sorry my sweet brides but better late than never ... HUGE congratulations are in order for:

Ivana & Neal who tied the knot right here in Vallarta under the coordination of the beautiful Priscilla from Prisar on November 23rd.

(based on maracas from Jenn & Kent)

Bailey & Liam who said their "i dos" also right here in Vallarta this past November 25th.

(based on White Flowers)

Melanie & Richard who said "yes" at Dreams Riviera Cancun this past December 1st.

(based on Jenn)

Melissa & her groom who tied the knot at the Marival in Nuevo Vallarta this past December 2nd.

(based on Palm Trees)

Pam & Brandon who also tied the knot at the Azul Sensatori Hotel in Riviera Maya on December 3rd.

(based on Palm Trees)

Kevin & Jessica who said their "i dos" at the Bahia Principe Azul this December 8th. I really heart the two-tone color combinations.

(based on Heidi)

Kristen and her love who said their "i dos" at the Dreams Huatulco this December 9th. Unbeknownst to Kristen we included a hand-painted fan because I've never had anyone do such an amazing job of ordering as she did ;). I heart how the fan turned out too ;).

(based on Heidi)

Jade & Paul who said "yes, absolutely!" right here in Las Caletas this December 10th.

(based on Heidi)

Lauren and her groom who tied the knot at the Maroma Resort Riviera Maya this December 10th.

(based on Amanda)

Sing & Kevin who said "i do" at Hotel El Pez in Tulum ALSO on December 10th ;).

(based on Amanda)

Emerald and her groom who tied the knot in Cancun this December 17th. I heart heart the "shake me tags" which Gabi did!

(based on Lacy Romance)

Dave & Vanessa who said "yes, we do" at our very own Playa Fiesta this December 20th.

(based on Talavera)

Erica & Michael who tied the knot right here in Vallarta this December 28th.

(based on Liz)

Dustin & Tiffany who said "i do" at Dreams Cancun this January 12th.

(based on Melanie)

Patty & Jim who said "absolutely!" at Hilton Los Cabos this January 14th.

(custom design)

Kathleen & Sherwin who tied the knot at our very own Las Caletas this January 14th.

(based on Jenn)

And last but not least Trista & Stephen who said "we will" in Dreams Tulum this January 17th!

(custom design)

WHEW! Was that ever a mouthful?! Coming-up more shout-outs (I know, I know!) as many of you are tying the knot end of January and we are working on some really pretty new custom orders as I type :).

And the 3rd Annual WINWIN Winners are...

2012-01-17T23:32:00.000-06:00

Huge Congratulations to Kristen Hunt who is our 1st Place Winner as well to Melanie Friddle who is our Runner-Up!

Many many thanks to all who participated and made this competition so much fun ... we look forward to next year :).

Chris & Jessica's Vintage Fiesta Wedding!

2011-12-28T18:04:00.000-06:00

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 love this chuppah - painted a bright turquoise blue with beautiful handmade papel picado - Omar did an amazing job of incorporating some of the elements popular in Frida's paintings as well as popular Mexican folk art. I asked my sister-in-law, Yazmine, to paint the stained glass circular centerpiece and blew me away how close it came to the original idea.

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 did have a bride and groom table created especially for Jessica & Chris - I love how colorful it was and how intimate - right in the midst of a big dinner party :).

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!

Shannon & Craig's Romantic Beach "i do's"

2011-12-16T00:09:00.008-06:00

When Shannon first emailed me she told me she would be one of the easiest brides I ever had. Well, that can always go one of two ways ... either she really WOULD be the easiest bride EVER OR things would be a bit more detailed than that ;). Turns out, Shannon was by far THE most laid-back, relaxed bride I've ever had and I've had some really relaxed brides! Every time I tried to schedule something Shannon was like "oh, that's okay, we'll just decide when we get there" ;);). Of course, part of it could be that Shannon & Craig were renewing their vows after 20+ years of marriage ;).

Place: Casa Guillermo

Caterer: Casa Guillermo
Minister: Tamara Bradley de Morales

Staff Photographer: Soko

There were a few things Shannon told me she wanted ... one of which was candles on the beach. I loved that entire idea! She knew she wanted the color plum, but was open to whatever suggestions I might have. This is what I came up with :).

THE CEREMONY

I knew the biggest attention would be going into the ceremony, because they really wanted a simple cocktail arrangement for dinner. We lined lanterns down the walkway to the beach and I had the guys make some papel picado bags, as I wasn't quite sure the lanterns would make an impressive enough walk-way ... which they did! So, we put the papel picado bags around the ceremony area.

I wanted the ceremony to look a bit more like you took chairs down from the house and used them as part of the ceremony, so I chose the Versalles, instead of the Chivari. I thought the phrase "From this Day Forward" was really fitting, considering the renewal of vow ceremony - I suppose like a marker ... a continuation :).

Shannon's bouquet was a mix of roses, lisianthius, calla lily, a bit of delphinium and purple filler. I made the bridesmaids bouquets out of white roses and lisianthius.

I'm not entirely sure where the maraca idea came from, but I stumbled across it as I was doing research and I loved the look of it - I think Omar did an incredibly beautiful job with this talavera like flower.

COCKTAIL/DINNER

After the ceremony, everyone walked back up to the villa and we had a small cocktail party underneath the palapa. We had a couple of cocktail tables draped with plum and light blue fabric with a small, beach-like floral arrangement in the same flowers as the bride's bouquet. We strung some Christmas lights up above, placed some floating lanterns in the pool and, wa-la, ready to relax and party :).

We did have a small surprise for the bride and groom at the end of the night with a small firedancer show - but I don't have pictures of that - it involved a lot of fire and dancing :):). Shannon and her group were sweet, kindness personified and completely chill. We are very honored to have been part of their renewal ceremony.

I do have some shout-outs and the photos from Jessica's wedding are burning a hole in my computer and her wedding blog will be coming-up right around Christmas time - nice eye candy to view while you're cuddled around the fire :). Don't forget to enter the WINWIN contest and have the opportunity to win 20 of our hand-painted maracas - the drawing is less than a month away!

Jenae & Trae's Magical Whimsy Wedding!

2011-11-29T22:57:00.021-06:00

In the midst of getting caught-up and I have so much to blog! Jenae came to me nearly a year ago to her wedding day ... but it was Trae who made the first contact - he told me later that he was to find the vendor and Jenae's part was to put it all together ;). There was one thing I knew right away - that, somehow, the college mascot, the Spartan, had to be incorporated somehow - that was the first picture I received of them both - with the college mascot! ;)

Place: Terra Noble Spa

Caterer: Andres from ByB

Bride photographer: the amazing Erin Werner

DJ: Hombres del Negro

Staff Photographer: Fernando Reyes

INSPIRATION BOARD

Jenae & Trae loved peacocks and peacock colors but didn't want a "peacock themed" wedding ... the other request was not to utilize a large amounts of flowers, as Jenae was not a huge flower person. It took me a bit of thinking to tie-in the feel and colors of a peacock without actually using a lot of peacock imagery ... in the end I heart heart what we ended-up with!

THE CEREMONY

After reviewing a lot of footage of Terra Noble, Jenae ran across some pictures from another wedding which had utilized a house next door. It's not often up for rent, but since the caterer and the owner were good friends, we managed to secure a rental for the house for both the cocktail and the ceremony.

I knew I wanted something simple, yet elegant - the scenery itself was already so beautiful, so I wanted to add to the surroundings with just a touch of romance. I had run across a photo of a chuppah by a lake and fell in love with it and that inspired me to "upgrade" it a bit with some beautiful gold crinkle fabric. We used gold Tiffany chairs and had maracas painted with an artistic version of a "peacock" with Jenae & Trae's first initials. I love the shake me tags - some of my favorite tags of all time :). Jenae provided beautiful ceremony programs and the whole ceremony came together in a neat little romantic package :).

Jenae's bouquet was a combination of large and small mums with a crystal broach accent she brought as well as a beautiful crystal hummingbird which was placed in memory of her grandmother.

We also had a ring bearer box for her sweet little nephew! Based off an example the bride showed us on Etsy I thought "we can do a bit better than that" .. I heart heart the box but, um, just realized before posting that I don't have a good picture of it - haha! Trust me - it was awesome ;).

THE COCKTAIL

After the ceremony, guests moved over to the Cocktail area. Since there was some movement going-on (especially to the reception) we had oodles of signs to indicate each of the areas - created to look like chalkboards but with a bit more of an elegant touch to them and each with a touch of artistic peacock "feathers." The cocktail itself I decided to drape with shades of blue and top with a gold vase, filled with a peacock feather and a small sprig of dendrobidium orchid.

THE RECEPTION

With various signs, we led the guests out of the house towards Terra Noble for the reception. I wanted to create the feeling of entering a completely different world - something candle-lit and romantic. We had candles along the lower path, leading guests up the stairs, past the jacuzzi with floating lanterns into the candle-lit reception area where a portrait menu awaited them before entering the reception area.

Before entering the pathway, we provided the guests with escort Mexican cookies, with the college logos of both Jenae & Trae designed specifically for them, in the shape of a heart. At the entranceway (in order to block the view of the guests of the caterer) we had created a huge papel picado peacock - one of my favorite touches at the wedding!

We decided to utilize square wooden tables and filled the middle section with various shades and sizes of blue, turquoise and green glass, filled with water and floating candles. The tallest glass was painted in an artistic, modern view of "peacock feather" with the number of the table painted on - each table had a uniquely painted vase. Each place setting had a gold napkin with a touch of peacock feather and a place card which carried one of the lines from Jenae & Trae's first dance song.

I knew that we needed a "bride/groom" sign for their chairs and love the rustic, yet touch of gold we added to give it a bit of rustic elegance.

THE DANCE FLOOR

Jenae had told me that one of the things she loved was the Christmas parties her mom held around Christmas time and that she and Trae loved alternative, soft lighting. I found the perfect, white flower twinkle light and we wrapped them all around the palapa to give off a romantic glow, along with hanging glass vases, filled with a bit of water and a floating candle. Pillows were done in the jeweled tones of the wedding, and we hand-painted a few of the pillows with a different artistic rendition of "peacock."

MAD LIBS

Jenae had found these really cute "mad libs" for guests to fill-out and I lucked upon a vintage-looking "mailbox" on a buying trip in Guadalajara and we used it for guests to put their mad libs in and then gave it to the bride and groom as a surprise gift!

FLIP-FLOPS

Jenae brought some flip-flops from Old Navy with tags with sizes on them and we put them out near the dance floor - it was truly awesome for the ladies to change into when their feet got tired from dancing in high heels!

THE CAKE

The bride and groom told me that as long as the cake was white with some blue accent, they would be happy with the cake ... I decided to incorporate some of the lines we had used through-out the wedding on the cake with a few of the jeweled tones added - I heart heart the cake :).

THE EXTRAS

This was a night filled with surprises. First, we had a cigar roller ... who encouraged the groom's dad to roll his own cigar and then keep it as a keepsake - super fun!

Then we had Mexican paletas arrive in a traditional Mexican ice-cream cart. Guests could choose from a variety of flavors - my favorite is coffee!

Not to be outdone, the churro station arrived so that guests who didn't want something cold, could chew on something nice and hot and sugary sweet!

Of course, what evening would be complete without firedancers to light-up the night sky and send everyone home with an amazing show?!

There was so much love this month at each of the weddings, and I couldn't have asked for a more incredible couple to start off our wedding season. There isn't anything more fun for a wedding coordinator than to see all the guests enjoying themselves and the love a bride and groom have for each other which spills and splashes with everything they do. True joy...

Next up, Shannon & Craig's vow renewal ceremony and wedding reception! And, in case you are new, please don't forget to enter the "winwin" contest and win 20 of our hand-painted maracas.

Flowers and Unique Colors...

2011-11-28T20:55:00.007-06:00

I'm ready to blog about Jenae & Trae's wedding but need to give some shout-outs first! Huge congratulations to:

Taylor & Greg who said their "i dos" in the States before heading down to Vallarta to have their reception dinner celebration. I just did a few centerpieces and some other floral arrangements - unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of their centerpieces which were tall vases filled with ginger and heliconia and big rose floral balls on top, but I do have one picture of the floral balls. A really beautiful, kind-hearted couple - gracious even when I mixed up the dinner dates!

Ivana & Neal who said "we do" this November 11th here in Puerto Vallarta under the superb guidance of Priscilla & Hector of Prisar Weddings.

Tabitha & Luke who said "yes" this past November 19th in Nuevo Vallarta. I love the color combination of these maracas.

Megan & Mark who tied the knot November 25th at the Barcelo in Cabos.

And last but not least, Erin & Shane who said their "i dos" this November 26th somewhere in Quintana Roo under the guidance of Leanne Marie Weddings. I really heart heart this design.

Next up ... Jenae & Trae's wedding blog! I'm so excited!! And please don't forget to enter the WINWIN contest and win 20 of our hand-painted maracas. Details here!

November Flowers and Feathers...

2011-11-17T17:57:00.006-06:00

The month of November has just flown by and I wanted to get some Congratulations out before the month is over before I know it! So, big huge shout-outs to:

Chanel and her new husband who tied the knot this November 4th at the beautiful Las Caletas. I've always been a big fan of this color combination - just says "fiesta" to me ;).

(based on Kate)

Lee Ann who tied the knot this November 11th right here in Vallarta with Michael & Eva from Vallarta Weddings - Lee Ann seriously sent me the most graphic detailed example of what she wanted that I've ever gotten and I think the end result was mah-ve-lous!

(custom design)

Beth & Chip who said "we do!"this November 12th in Cabos ... I really heart heart these maracas - the color combination and the design - just really pretty.

(custom design)

Shannon & Anthony who also tied the knot November 12th at the Hotel Playacar Palace in Cabos. Love red and blue!

(based on Kate)

Caroline & Jean-Nicholas who said their "i dos" this November 14th Iberostar Grand in Quintana Roo!

(based on Lacy Romance)

And last but not least Katherine & Mike who said "yes!" this November 16th at our very own Dreams in Puerto Vallarta.

(based on Lacy Romance)

Coming-up Jenae & Trae's wedding blog! And don't forget to enter the WINWIN Competition and win 20 of our hand-painted maracas in the January drawing! Whootwhoot!

Hearts and Chuppah-la!

2011-11-06T14:59:00.006-06:00

Hello dear brides - wedding season is upon us and I am soooo excited for what's coming-up!! Meanwhile, we have some big shout-outs to make for:

Alison and her love who tied the know in Las Caletas this past October 20th. Unfortunately, we don't have a picture of the chuppah itself but it looked EXACTLY like the drawing down below :).

Nicole and her beau who said "yes" this past October 22nd in Cabo San Lucas. Elizabeth Schoell was her coordinator and a real sweetheart to work with :).

We have Jenae & Trae's wedding coming-up this Friday and I'm so excited about it I just can't stand it! I've shown the design board on our facebook page but in case you're more of a bride blogger than a bride facebooker, here it is again! Fun!

Don't forget to enter the WINWIN contest to win 20 of our hand-painted maracas - FREE - who doesn't like free maracas? ;);)

1st Maracas of the Season!!

2011-10-20T13:04:00.005-05:00

Hello my dear brides! Our season has just begun and, while off to a slow start, we are gathering speed! Huge congratulations are in order for....

Adam & Kristin who said "i do" at Puerto Vallarta's very own Villa Mia this October 15th. Orange and white were the colors of the day and Kristin chose to do two different designs - lovely!

(based on paisley and palm trees)

Angela & Julio who said their "i dos" at the Now Jade in Cancun. I love the color combination Angela chose as I think it really pops the design off the maraca!

(based on Jenn)

Jessica and her groom who are saying their "i dos" today - coincidentally also at the Now Jade in Cancun!

(based on Laura)

Coming-up ... more maraca orders, our first wedding of the season at the beautiful Terra Noble and on and on we go! Don't forget to check out the WINWIN competition which is now underway - win free maracas - who doesn't love that?! :)

3rd Annual WINWIN Contest!

2011-10-15T01:18:00.005-05:00

Like our facebook page and WIN! It's that easy! Click here to see last year's winner.

Same rules as last year but, in case you weren't engaged yet and this is new to you, here's the scoop....

GRAND PRIZE

20 of our simple, two-tone maracas! Like these pictured below (you do not have to choose one of these examples - we CAN design something based on your invites, your dreams, your doodlings)! (For this competition, you have your option of: palm trees, white flowers, lacy romance or kate).

RUNNER-UP

Your choice of either 20 "shake me" tags OR fork place cards (if you are not a bride, you do have an option of winning an original hand-painted fan!)!!

HOW TO ENTER

1. Like us on our facebook page.

2. You send me a message - either comment on facebook or to my email. Let me know that you would like to enter your name in our "WinWin" drawing.

3. If you're already a fan of our facebook page, just send me a message (or leave a comment on the facebook page) and let me know you would like to enter the drawing

HOW TO ENTER MORE THAN ONCE!

We thought it would make things more fun if you could enter your name more than once - so, you could have the possibility of winning both the maracas AND the tags! Here's how to do that!

1. Every friend, relative or stranger you grab on the street who likes our facebook page only needs to send us a comment via facebook or a message to my email and let me know the bride OR the name of the person they are entering for.

It's just that simple!

We will draw names and announce the winners January 15, 2012!

THE FINE PRINT

1. You MUST have liked our facbook page at the time of the drawing but you CAN stop liking us after the drawing (but we hope you still do :).

2. You are responsible for shipping charges, if you are outside of the Puerto Vallarta area

3. We must have 2 weeks to complete the order

4. You CAN add a fancier design, name/date/location, etc. for additional charges

5. You CAN order more maracas, tags/place cards, if you need more

6. If you've already ordered maracas and you are the grand prize winner, you can substitute hand-painted fans for maracas.

7. The maracas and/or the tags/place cards prize(s) can be claimed up until July 15, 2012. If you have not claimed the prize before that date, the prize(s) will be forfeit.

July and September Shout-Outs!

2011-09-08T14:38:00.007-05:00

A few belated shout-outs to some awesome brides! First we have a big congratulations to give to Colleen who tied the knot this past 4th of July at the popular Dreams Riviera Cancun! She chose a beautiful green color for her base and Yazmine did a great job :).

(based on white flowers)

Shout-out to Sara who said her "i dos" this July 21st in Dreams Tulum. We don't get many orders for this maraca but I love the way it turned out and I like the feel of them.

(based on faces)

Congratulations to Marlene who tied the knot this past September 3rd in Playa Carmen. I think her maracas just say "beach beach beach" and "fun" all at the same time ;).

(based on palm trees)

Felicidades to Jenna who tied the knot this September 3rd at the Excellence Playa Mujeres. I heart heart these maracas, which were custom designed based off a graphic she liked (pictured below) and painted by Antonio. If these don't end-up getting ordered again I would be highly surprised :).

(custom design)

I meant to do all sorts of fun design blogs this summer but I was way busier than I thought I would be. I'm still going to try to do something so don't give up on me yet ;).

Shannon & Derek's Fusion Chic Wedding!

2011-07-30T12:54:00.019-05:00

Okay, here it is - the one I've been putting off because that means that the 2010/2011 wedding season is officially over ;). I'm super fortunate to get some awesome shots from Nate Broshot for this blog - he has such amazing energy when he shoots for a wedding and I think it shows in his work!

I have never met a couple as concerned about their vendors as Shannon & Derek - while Shannon knew exactly what she wanted, she never made me or any of the other vendors feel as though she didn't trust us completely and, most amazingly, they were both honestly concerned that everyone working at their wedding had absolutely everything they needed to do the best job possible. This wedding was pure joy to work on from start to finish...

Villa: Casa Serena

Caterer: NAEF

Bride Photographer: Nate Broshot (License to Still)

Videographer: Eduardo Reyes

DJ: DJ Mannia

Minister: Tamara Bradley de Morales

INSPIRATION BOARD

Shannon had given me a very detailed design board and notes of her own about what she really wanted -- something natural, chic and that would infuse her Thai heritage along with a few Mexican touches.

THE CEREMONY

We really wanted to put the focus on a beautiful big tree that the villa had in their garden. So, we decided to not decorate it with anything :). The bride's bouquet was a mix of green cybidium orchids with beautiful dark purple calla lillies. I loved it because it was so different yet fit the wedding perfectly.

Down the aisle we had large glass square bowls with floating white cybidium orchids. There was a grill in the garden and we covered the grill with wood and placed various frames Shannon had brought from the states, along with pictures of the couple of their guests - these were favors. Also interspersed through-out were beautiful wooden elephants. We also provided hand-squeezed lemonade which took front and center :). We had cones with paper that I hand-made (as we don't have access to specialty papers down here :) filled with rose petals for the guests to throw at the recessional.

I didn't have anything to do with their vows, but they were absolutely beautiful - they took a moment and addressed each of their guests during the ceremony - I've never seen anything like it but it was truly heart felt and amazing :). If you want to see for yourselves, this is the video Eduardo put together for them :).

THE COCKTAIL

After the ceremony, the guests followed the cocktail sign down pool side where we had cocktail tables set-up underneath big umbrellas with signs on each which represented a movie that meant a lot to the couple. On the way down there was a table set-up with a "love" poster for the guests to sign. Poolside, there was also a tequila tasting table with tequila the bride and groom had chosen themselves :). In the pool were floating wooden lanterns cut-out with elephants and orchids.

THE VIDEOBOOTH

On the way back up the stairs, we had floating candles on the stairway and half-way up was a little video/photo booth station for guests to stop and record a video message for the bride and groom, or take photos :).

I loved this little area - it was very intimate and colorful :).

THE RECEPTION

We had one big long table down underneath the columns in the villa. We had chosen a sand colored tablecloth with banana leaves going down the center and centerpieces of orchids and fresh cut limes and purple hydrangae in glass vases interspersed with candles and a beautiful dusty gray flower candle which I actually found by accident but heart heart just the same :). I also placed a few starfish to bring in a bit of natural "peach" tone to the table. Shannon had provided these beautiful green woven grass boxes which each held a wooden elephant as a favor for her guests. The placecards were various special Mexican recipes, as our bride and groom love to cook (and eat ;).

THE DESSERT BAR

Shannon & Derek wanted desserts instead of cake so I thought it would be fun to make stands to look a bit like a multi-level cake with the desserts placed around it. I heart heart this area.

THE DANCE FLOOR

Right next to the reception area, was the dance floor - beautiful, multi-colored Chinese lanterns in the bride's colors of woven green, dusty gray purple, white and peach. Scattered around the lanterns were also light weight colorful shells to give the floor a little bit of whimsy.

THE LOUNGE

As the guests were down below during the cocktail, we flipped the ceremony area into a lounge area. Special fabric tops were made for the white lounge furniture in order to give it a bit more of a chic, contemporary feel and we scattered the area with candles.

This wedding was a beautiful way to end our 2010/2011 Wedding Season ... a warm and caring couple, amazing guests, detailed design, wonderful food, great vendors ... in one word: Awesome!

A few more maraca shout-outs are coming-up AND I'm going to do a few design inspiration blogs this summer, seeing as things are pretty calm ... so stay tuned :). And, to all of who made our 2010/2011 season so beautiful and amazing and heart-warming, I think Derek & Shannon said it best....

Oodles of Maracas!

2011-07-15T20:34:00.015-05:00

I can't wait to post the pictures from Shannon & Derek's wedding but first I have OODLES of shout-outs to make for some amazing maraca brides....

Belated beyond belated shout-out goes to Libby who tied the knot at Dreams Riviera this past May 24th. Her mom did the ordering and did a fantastic job :).

(based on laura)

Also super belated shout-out to Rose Marie who tied the knot this past May 27th at the famous Dreams Riviera Cancun. :)

(based on white flowers)

Shout-out to Lesley Watts who ordered a papel picado chuppah and said her "yes" this past May 29th ... unfortunately, I don't have a photo of - just saw a peek at it and it was pretty :).

Also to Lea who said her "i dos" in beautiful Las Caletas this past May 30th.

(based on Kate)

Congratulations to Kelli who said "absolutely" this June 4th at the Now Sapphire in Cancun. Her maracas were based off her invite and I love it! Good job Yazmine!

(custom design)

Felicidades to Jamie and Daniel who tied the knot this June 5th in Playa del Carmen.

(based on the kate)

Shout-out to Jacqueline who said "absolutely" this past June 11th at the Palmilla. Our contact was Amy Abott and she was a doll to work with...

(based on jenn)

Congratulations to Erin who tied the knot this past June 14th at the Hotel Royal Sands in Cancun.

(custom design)

Shout-out to Ashley who said her "i dos" this June 16th in Cancun.

(custom design)

Felicidades to Erin and Ben who exchanged vows this June 17th at the ever famous Dreams Riviera Cancun. Love the colors!

(based on paisley)

Shout-out to Shalon who said "yes!" this June 18th ... actually I'm not sure where she said "i do" but the maracas were shipped to Calgary! Love Calgary! Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of her maracas :(.

Congratulations to Christine who exchanged vows with her sweetheart this June 18th at Dreams Cancun.

(based on palm trees)

Shout-out to Lauren who tied the knot at the Valentin Imperial Maya Resort & Spa in Playa del Carmen this June 18th.

(based on kate)

Big congrats to Samantha & Damon who said "yes" this June 24th at the Now Sapphire Riviera Cancun.

(based on palm trees)

Shout-out to Melanie & Tanner for tying the knot this June 25th at The Royal in Cancun. We based her maracas off this really cool turtle and also created some custom made cigar boxes - good job Omar!

(custom design)

Felicidades to Lindsay who said "absolutely" this July 2nd at the Now Jade Resort in Puerto Morelos.

(based on mattie)

Congratulations to Mary who tied the knot this past July 3rd at the Secrets Maroma Beach Resort in Quintana Roo. I love the colors on these maracas...

(based on kate)

Shout-out to Jessica who married her love this July 3rd at the Moon Palace in Cancun. Her sister, Rebecca, ordered the maracas and did a fantastic job :).

(based on jenn)

Felicidades to Kristin who said "yes" this July 9th at the Ceiba del Mar Beach & Spa Resort in Puerto Morelos.

(custom design but based off kate)

Congratulations to Leigh Ann who tied the knot this July 9th at Secrets Maroma Beach. Unfortunately, our camera died and took her pictures with it, evil thing! ;)

Shout-out to Monica & Matt who said their "i dos" this July 10th at the Azul Sensatori Hotel. Her maracas were quite original - beautiful peacocks for the girls and a filigree design for the men. I think Yazmine did an amazing job on these maracas!

(custom design)

Okay - whew! That was quite a list!! Now to work on Shannon & Derek's wedding blog :):).

Rose & Miguel's Big Fat Mexican Wedding!

2011-06-07T20:33:00.034-05:00

Okay, okay, that wasn't the original title ... the original title was "Rose & Miguel's Mod Spicy Yelapa Fiesta" but I think Rose's alternative title fit the bill better ;). I had fun planning and designing this wedding from start to finish - Rose just has one of those vibes that makes everything brighter and prettier and ... well, rosey ;). And it helped that she knew what she didn't like and what she did like so that, when we got down to designing business, it didn't take me long to be inspired....

Place: Yelapa, Hotel Laguinita

Coordinator: Patti from Chic Concepts

Caterer: NAEF

Staff Photographer: Francisco

INSPIRATION BOARD

Rose's first design words were, "I imagine a magical Mexican beach wedding. An Indian and Mexican inspired decor." And, wa-la, here it is!

THE CEREMONY

I can't say the ceremony was design driven so much was it was Shaman driven. Rose's Shaman had very specific requests as to how the chairs needed to be set in a circle specific to north/south ... but the rounded chuppah was Rose's idea and she just wanted some tin stars in there - of course! I love the lace fabric overlay ....

Rose had two bouquets - one which had to have certain colors in it for the ceremony and the other which was her bouquet which was miniature white roses and casablancas, inspired from one of our other brides, Ashley :).

THE COCKTAIL

Since we were using such a big space for the ceremony, cocktail and reception, I knew I wanted a way to direct the guests which would be easy to follow. We came-up with a walkway from the ceremony to the cocktail and the cocktail to the reception made-up with hand made luminaries which we cut Rose & Miguel's initials - interspersed between were floating roses in galvanized tin which we painted a bronze color. We also had chalkboard signs directing the way and I love the added mementos that Omar put along the sides.

The cocktail area itself had a big sign announcing the cocktail area, cocktail tables draped in turquoise blue and tied with raspeberry ribbon, floating roses in the middle and hanging raspberry curtains to block off the area a bit and keep everyone congregating together around the tables :).

THE DINNER

As guests made their way along the luminary path towards the reception, they were greeted with a large chalkboard with escort cards and a beaded necklace or bracelet favor. Since we had so many tables, I decided it would be best to simply number the tables to make it easier to find their table.

Rose really wanted the tables to compliment the natural elements and the beach, so I decided to do white chiffon overlays and let the wedding colors of turquoise blue, raspberry and orange be bright accents to draw the eye but not overwhelm. We had a solid color rose arrangement with bamboo leaf wrapped around the bottom in glass vases, a Moroccan candle lantern, turquoise blue water glasses and turquoise blue napkins adorning the tables. In order to assist the waiters with who was eating what, we trimmed the bottom of each water glass with ribbon. Table markers were chalkboards with the table number. Place cards were hand-punched with an eyelet trim and held in forks.

This area is pretty dark at night, so we lit the area with various oxidized tin stars in glass, with colored glass beads and hand-punched - it looked awesome!

THE CANDY LOUNGE

Probably my favorite area of the entire evening, Rose had wanted a candy bar. And she had wanted a lounge. So I decided to combine the two into one area. We had Moroccan inspired and Indian pillows adorning the lounge furniture, bowls painted bronze and filled with yummy candies, both traditional like Rosa y non-traditional like Jelly Bellies, nuts, suckers, you name it :) and wooden spoons and plastic bags for guests to fill an take with them if they so choose. We had some beautiful hanging Moroccan lanterns and oodles of candles. Heart heart heart!

THE DANCE FLOOR/PHOTO BOOTH

Since the groom loved and wanted a lighted dance floor I knew that it wouldn't make much sense to put oodles of candles overhead - they would just get lost. What we needed was something big and eye-catching and I fell in love with this Moroccan lantern as soon as I saw it!

For the photo booth we decided to recreate the way Miguel had asked Rose to marry him - scuba diving! We had little chalkboard bubbles for guests to write their thoughts and add to the merriment :).

LATE NIGHT TACOS

Rose provided some yummy tacos later on in the evening, so we strung some pretty paper Chinese stars, moved the cocktail tables under the large palapa (um no photos of that - but it was cool ;) and gave the party goers a place to gather and chow down later on.

Designing and creating a wedding in such a remote place was definitely challenging - and inspiring and empowering and the end-result was a beautiful wedding in a very private space for an amazing, kind-hearted couple - and working with Patti, one of my bestest girlfriends, only made the whole experience that much more dear to my heart. Heart heart!!

Coming-up next I have a few more maraca shout-outs and then Shannon & Derek's blog with photos from the oh-so-talented Nate Broshot. Stay tuned!

April showers bring May maracas!

2011-06-01T14:11:00.012-05:00

Oodles of shout-outs to make before getting to Rose & Miguel's wedding blog :).

Huge congratulations and high 5 to our WINWIN winner, Veronica, who tied the knot this past May 6 in Tulum.

(based on the Carolina and the Joy)

Shout-out to Melissa who said her "i dos" at the very popular Dreams Riviera Cancun this May 8th. We based the maraca design off her monogram and I like the end result.

(custom design)

Congratulations to Lovey who said "yes!" this May 13th in Dreams Los Cabos. Her maracas were based off her invite (which I'm sharing just a piece of - I really love them!).

(custom design)

Big shout-out to Jenifer who said her "i dos" this May 14th in Cancun. Her maracas also had menus for the rehearsal dinner and reception.

(custom design)

Congratulations to Tyanne who tied the knot this May 15th at Las Caletas. She sent us a photo of a converse shoe for the color of the maraca and every time I look at the order it makes me smile.

(based on lacy romance)

Shout-out to Sam who said yes to her love this May 20th at Puerto Vallarta's very own Sheraton :).

(based on Palm Trees)

Congratulations to Mougeh who said her "i dos" May 29th at the La Amada Hotel. I heart heart these maracas, which were based off her invite. Jazmine did an amazing job.

(custom design)

Shout-out to Cheri who tied the knot this May 21st at the Excellence Riviera Cancun.

(based on Missy)

I heart heart these maracas as well - congratulations to Jaime who said her "i dos" this May 24th at Dreams VillaMagna. Her whole color scheme just looks so refreshing and yummy ;).

(custom design)

Congratulations to Amy who said her "i dos" May 24th in Puerto Morelos. I heart heart the "live. laugh. love." she put on the back of her maracas. We also wanted to thank Amy from the bottom of our hearts for donating books to our Brides Without Borders program - thank you thank you thank you!

(based on the talavera y palm trees)

Shout-out to Courtney who said "yes" to her love this May 26th at Dreams Tulum. I heart heart this design and would heart it even if the artist hadn't been my husband ;). She also had programs and menus :).

(custom design)

Congratulations to Amy who tied the knot this May 28th in Las Caletas.

(based on palm trees)

And last but certainly not least, a big congratulations to Jill who said "absolutely" this May 30th at the Excellence Playa Mujeres.

(based on Amanda)

Coming-up Rose & Miguel's wedding blog and a few more shout-outs (of which I didn't have pictures yet ;) ...

Design in a Box - Rehearsal Dinner, Cancun

2011-05-24T17:55:00.013-05:00

Well, I kept hoping I would be able to get some real pictures of this project, which we sent to Cancun but I know photographers can take a while to edit :) and didn't want to end the season without a shout-out to Cathy whose son tied the knot with his bride this past March :). Cathy was quite persuasive and I loved her ideas, so we agreed to do a "design in a box" for the rehearsal dinner which she hosted at the Grand Velas in the Riviera Maya. I heart the invite, which was designed by Flights of Fancy.

And I heart the design of this event and can't wait to ramp it up a bit and actually do a whole wedding based on it :).

The Cocktail

We sent cocktail overlays of "yute" - a fabric similar to burlap but a lot softer, as well as wide turquoise ribbon to tie around, along with silver tin stars which we recommended she tie the escort cards to (the photo is an example :) and recommended that they be placed in middle of the cocktail tables as centerpieces. We also recommended scattering yellow mum heads around the stars to complete the look :).

The Reception

I found this picture, I think at the Knot, of a cigar box with this beautiful floral display. So, that was the inspiration photo :). We sent her the cigar boxes and we used the tops of the cigar boxes as the table markers. Table overlays were also sent and they were for the table runners which was also yute. Included in the "package" ;) were glass vases and candles wrapped with yute and saffron colored napkins, as well as tall, skinny Moroccan lanterns, complete with candles :).

We also sent along some "bride" and "groom" signs as well as a beautiful lasso to hang on the two chairs - I took a photo of it but it didn't turn out well ;).

We also had little gift bags for the kids filled with goodies and an awesome donkey pinata which my daughter fell in love with and I think would have kept if she'd had an option :).

We also sent hand-painted maracas for the guys, special painted maracas for the kids (pictured up above) and fans for the girls. I'm including a photo of my favorite fan but the sandalwood fans were the ones actually requested :).

It was a super fun project, although admittedly difficult to not be able to control the execution of the design as I love for everything to be perfect :). We can't wait to see the final photos and thank Cathy for challenging us with this fun opportunity!

Kris & Luke's Vintage Beach Wedding!

2011-05-17T23:56:00.021-05:00

Kris & Luke had a small, intimate affair at the beautiful Casa Guillermo this past May 4th. Hailing from Australia, you would think the planning would have been difficult but it wasn't at all and Kris was a sweetheart from start to finish :). Kris had oodles of inspiration photos and her own little blog of ideas and it didn't take me long to figure out what we needed to do and I was so very excited...

Villa: Casa Guillermo

Bride Photographer: Amanda Forbes Photography

Staff Photographer: Soko

Catering: Casa Guillermo

INSPIRATION BOARD

Key words that Kris mentioned over and over were "vintage", "beach", "romance", "vintage valentine's", "vintage posters." Heart all those words!

THE CEREMONY

I know I say this all the time but I can't help it - I love weddings and flowers and all things Vallarta brides - okay, so, with that said, I heart heart this white/cream peony bouquet. I added-in a touch of scabiosa and dusty miller and, seriously, hearts! For the groom, I again choose some scabiosa, a small purple peony head and a tad of dusty miller. The other bouts and posie bouquets all had similar touches with a tad of white hydrange. The bridesmaid's bouquets were white hydrangae and sterling silver roses and we sewed some of the beautiful beaded fabric we used for the napkins (which you will see later on) to their wraps.

Kris had sent me a really amazing, romantic picture of a couple sitting on pillows on the beach and I knew this had to be our ceremony set-up. I was over the moon happy when I presented the idea and Kris was like "oh yes, let's do it" because I knew it was a tad avant garde and not for everyone ;). We painted the chuppah a white-washed white and decorated the front with purple hydrangae and a beautiful embroidered vintage looking lace fabric hung in the background. Purple peonies and dusty miller lined the ceremony aisle in hanging glass jars.

We also had hand-cut papel picado inspired fans (based off the bride's invite) waiting in a basket by the stairs. And a pretty foot washing station, complete with rose scented water.

CUTENESS ALERT!

I couldn't resist putting in these two pictures of the cute ring bearers and little flower girl - they were awesome!

THE COCKTAIL/DANCE AREA

The cocktail area was decorated with silver crystal chandeliers, flowing purple chiffon fabric and the cocktail tables themselves draped with cream chiffon and my sister-in-law, Jazmine, took my idea a bit further and sewed purple embroidered embellishments to the top. Floating purple peonies made-up the tables.

Kris' mom had brought us some vintage little valentine's from the States. I thought it would be sweet to make escort cards out of them, so, we cut them up a bit and created some very vintage looking large valentines which we hung on ribbon with each person's name on them and the name of their table on the back. We were also given some vintage photographs of the family which we also created into our own version of vintage Valentines and hung between the escort cards. Here in Vallarta we don't have access to all the cool scrapbooking paper and tools you have up north. So, I had to create my own paper and I love how this project turned out :). After dinner, we moved the tables and opened the space up for some fun dancing!

THE RECEPTION

Lanterns dotted the pool, the pattern, again, cut in a similar pattern to their invite. Kris' mom also brought us these amazing travel posters and, since they had sent the measurements ahead of time, we knew how to mount them :). I draped the tables with a light blue chiffon and my other sister-in-law, Gaby, sewed the embroidered fabric to wrap around the candles in hues of green, cream and purple. The napkins were a soft cream and wrapped with a beautiful beaded purple strip of fabric. Floating white peonies were interspersed between the candles. Place cards were hand-punched to resemble doilies to complete the vintage feel.

I did the kid's table a bit different. We had bags waiting for them on each chair with their name on it with coloring books, crayons, a Mexican toy, some fun party string and Luke's parents brought the kids a few toys and mementos as well from their native Australia :). We also placed a fun, balloon inspired centerpiece to the kid's table to make it a little less "adult" and a bit more kid friendly ;).

The maracas were brought-out during the dancing - sunsets seemed to be fairly important to my bride and groom so we decided to do something that would represent Vallarta with a sunset painted behind one of our most famous historic landmarks - the church of the Virgin de Guadalupe :). Omar pulled out all the stops on this design!

THE CAKE...and ICE-CREAM

Memo, of course, never ceases to amaze with this beautiful rendition of the bride and groom's favorite cake design. Unfortunately, we don't have a picture but, as the cake was being cut, we also had a hand-pushed ice-cream cart come out with yummy cold Mexican paletas (ice-cream bars) in flavors ranging from strawberry to coffee to lemon and beyond....

I loved every notion about this wedding and the intimacy of it only made everything that much more endearing. Absolutely amazed that Kris was doing her finals while we were planning the last details of the wedding and was such a complete sweetheart through-out - that is multi-tasking at its finest :).

Coming-up we have Rose & Miguel's wedding blog and a few more maraca shout-outs, so stay tuned ;).

Kim & Lanny's Elemental Love Wedding!

2011-05-13T21:31:00.014-05:00

Man, where do I start? :) Kim & Lanny were one of those couples who just oozed love from the moment I met them - not the gooey kind of love ;), but more a steady, easy, here we are kindof love. They met in high school and had been together ever since, so maybe that was part of it. They tied the knot this past April 12th in Dreams PV and this is what it looked like...

INSPIRATION BOARD

They really wanted to incorporate being married by the ocean and an acknowledgment of their native ancestry into the wedding - it was a lot of fun to go back to some beachy roots - although we live in a very popular wedding area by the beach, we don't often do a lot of weddings which incorporate beach elements :).

THE CEREMONY

I had a lot of fun with this ceremony. I decided to do her bouquet out of green hydrangae, circus roses and orange tulips with a beautiful turquoise necklace as an accent piece for the wrap. The groom's bout were little tulips. I wanted the orange colors to really pop, so I decided to go for a more natural palette so that the strung roses on the chairs would stand out more and the chuppah with flowing sand, champagne and white chiffon fabric. We incorporated a seashell blessing ceremony into the ceremony itself, and the guests were invited to choose a seashell, to bless the couple with their well wishes and then they all went down to the ocean and threw their shells back. Since we had decided to incorporate the elements (wind, air, fire, water and we added "alma" or "soul" as a 5th element) to the entire wedding, Antonio designed these amazing hand-crafted wooden fans with Aztec and Mayan symbols representing the elements drawn on them on one side and the word "love" on the other.

THE RECEPTION

They had decided to skip the cocktail, so guests went back to their rooms for a little break, while the bride and groom continued to take pictures with their photographer. For the reception, I wanted the color to be vibrant and completely in tune with the natural beach surroundings. So, we had turquoise chiffon overlays and apothecary glass jars (which I actually brought down in a suitcase from the states!) filled with orange tulips, sand and a white pillar candle and seashells and floating circus roses. We surrounded the reception area with tall bamboo poles and hanging lanterns with candles!

The escort cards were polished rocks with each guest name and table seating painted on and table markers were large rocks placed in the middle of the table with the names painted on for each of the elements. Maracas also were painted with the elemental symbols in the bride's wedding colors of orange, sand and turquoise. Napkins were a natural sand manta and place cards had a photo of the bride and groom on one side and a fun pictionary game (the bride and groom's favorite game!) on the other side, based on the bride and groom ;). Each table also had paper and pencils so they could play the game during the reception, if they wanted :). The bride and groom provided turquoise jelly bellies as a sweet favor which we placed on each chair.

THE DANCE FLOOR

I wanted something simple but that would really look beautiful at night. I told the boys I wanted a lantern with three poles overhanging and beautiful large Chinese lanterns. I loved it! One of my absolute favorite things happened this night ... we had swapped out the bride's IPOD for our own to play "Great Balls of Fire" and I thought the song that would follow was of a similar nature so I told the boys to keep the IPOD running. But to my surprise the William Tell Overture came on - but the bride's guests, already in a circle on the dance floor, did not miss a beat and started galloping across the dance floor - each person from an opposite side galloping to meet each other in the middle and end-up on the other side. It was one of the funniest, funnest most spontaneous things I've ever seen at a wedding and looked completely choreographed - which I knew it wasn't ;). I thought they would get tired half-way through but they danced the entire song - it was awesome!

THE CAKE/REMEMBRANCE TABLE

Both the bride and groom had people very close to them pass away and they wanted their presence at the wedding. So we put their photos on the cake table with a remembrance candle for each one with the cake in the middle. The cake was, of course, from Memo and he did an amazing job of combining one of the bride's favorite design cakes with the elemental symbols we had been using through-out the event. Gorgeous!

The bride, groom and all their guests were so amazingly kind, generous and sweet - it was a true honor to be part of their beautiful day!

Coming up Kris & Luke's wedding blog, followed closely by Rose & Miguel! :)

Palm Trees, Leaves and Custom Designs!

2011-05-13T20:19:00.007-05:00

Quick shout-outs before posting Kim & Lanny's wedding blog :).

Congratulations to Emily who said her I Dos at the Barcelo this May 4th. Emily also ordered the same place cards we did for Ghadeer's wedding - match set :).

custom design

Happy Birthday is in order for Maya & Olivia who turned 3 this past 5 de Mayo - sooo beautiful - the maracas and the girls :). Their design was based on this plate ;)....

custom design

Congratulations to Jenny who married her love this past May 6th in our very own Puerto Vallarta.

palm trees

Shout-out to Ursula who said "yes" this May 7th at the very famous Dreams Riviera Cancun.

heidi

Shout-out to Janelle who tied the knot this May 9th at the Dreams Puerto Aventuras Resort & Spa in Cancun. Her colors were very pretty and very reminiscient of the Ocean :).

palm trees

Congratulations to Winter who got married this May 10th - also in the famous Dreams Riviera Cancun. She sent us a talavera pot and we based her custom design from that - I love the final product that Israel painted for her :).

custom design

Coming-up we Kim & Lanny's, Kris & Luke's & Rose & Miguel's wedding blogs and some more shout-outs for maracas!

Beautiful Color Combinations

2011-04-29T17:41:00.013-05:00

Before this month gets away from me (how fast did April fly by?!) we have some shout-outs to do :).

First, a BIG BELATED shout-out to Amelia who tied the knot way back March 11th - it just took FOREVER to get the photos but I LOVE how they turned out :).

(based on custom design done for Amy YoungBlood)

Big congratulations to Tiffany who tied the knot in Cabos this past April 8th. Her coordinator, Leslie Bost, was a big pleasure to work with as well ... we took the Kate and the artist (Jazmine) did a different rendition of it and I love how it turned out :).

(custom design - based loosely on the Kate)

Shout-out to Tammy & Matt who said their "i dos" this April 13th at Dreams Tulum! Again, we just had a lucky month, because their coordinator, Aurora Garcia, was also amazing!

(based on the Jenn)

Congrats are in order for Kirsten who wed her man this April 14th at our very own Dreams Puerto Vallarta. I even took this photo myself ;).

(based on the Palm Trees )

Congratulations to Valerie who said "you betcha" (or we're guessing something there abouts ;) this past April 16th at the Hilton in Cabos. And, again, her coordinator, Gabriela Cobian, was super nice :).

(based on the Kate)

And lastly but certainly not least, a huge shout-out to Melissa who said her "i dos" in Cancun. I love how her maracas turned out ... very sweet bride!

(based on the Kate)

May is going to be an incredible, over-the-top busy month so I will blog when I can to try not to get behind with my shout-outs ... also the photos of Kim & Lanny's wedding are in and if I get a wee moment I will try to post! Good-bye April ... here we goooooo.......

Month of Flowers!

2011-04-07T23:34:00.007-05:00

Well, I realize that the months of April/May are not going to get any less busy so, without further ado, here are the shout-outs (a few most belated!) to some of our beautiful brides...

Biggest belated shout-out goes to Paula who tied the knot all the way back March 8th! Our new resident artist, Jazmine, created this beautiful rendition of the ever-famous Kate...

Congratulations to Cassandra who said her "i dos" this past March 12th at a new resort for us, the Gran Caribe Real Resort & Spa in Cancun :).

Shout-out to Zoe whose maracas were ordered through her savvy wedding coordinator, Brenda from BesoWeddingDesign ... Zoe & Scott tied the knot in Cabos in colorful style :).

Congratulations as well to Menaka who said "yes" this past March 15th at Dreams Riviera Cancun - we're becoming fast friends with the wedding group over there :). If you haven't noticed yet, there is quite the "floral" theme that went on this past month ... but wait ... there's more :).

Shout-out to Sherry Hurley who tied the knot right here in Vallarta, March 19th.

Congratulations to Amanda who also tied the knot here in Vallarta, at the Decameron this past March 30th.

Congrats to Kristin who said "absolutely" :) this April 2nd at the Dreams Riviera Cancun. Her invites were pretty cool and the maraca colors were based off of them...

Shout-out to Kristy who also tied the knot at Dreams Riviera Cancun this past April 4th. She chose the Jenn but wanted a hibiscus flower - I love the color combination and this new style ....

And last, but not least, is a shout-out to Amy who said "i do" today at the Azul Sensatori in the Riviera Maya - her invites were pretty different too and I love how the maracas and the tags turned out (maracas by Omar and tags by Gaby).

Coming-up ... wedding flowers, Kim & Lanny's Elemental Love Wedding and oodles more maraca shout-outs ... if I missed your favorite bride, it's because I'm waiting on photos! :)

Ghadeer & Pancho's Modern Elegance Wedding!

2011-03-11T17:42:00.017-06:00

Ghadeer & Pancho tied the knot at Casa Serena this past February 12th. Their story is incredible, but I don't feel it's mine to tell - suffice it to say, to survive all they had to survive just to be together really made this wedding day amazing and incredibly special. When love is involved, it's amazing what you can accomplish.

Villa: Casa Serena

Photographer: Paulina Ulloa

Staff Photographer: Soco

Catering: ByB

INSPIRATION BOARD

This amazing couple were set to marry a year earlier in a different location but, days before the wedding, circumstances completely disrupted their wedding day. So, Ghadeer came with many things already in place - her colors, the bridesmaid dresses, her ideal decor - we just added a bit more color in order to add a bit of spicy Mexican flavor to a very elegant idea.

THE CEREMONY

The bride wasn't big into flowers, so we made all the florals very minimal but with a bit more emphasis on clean lines and colors. Her bouquet was made of baby's breath - normally not one of my favorites but, I have to admit, when it's the only thing in the arrangement there is a wild pretty to it. The bridesmaids carried small bouquets of purple statice flowers. We decorated the chuppah with baby's breath and curly willow and off-set the ceremony area with tree branches with a touch of flowers. I think it fit the scene and the couple perfectly :). We supplied fans in case anyone needed them for the sun, but it was actually a fairly cool day - but they were still pretty ;)...

THE COCKTAIL

After the ceremony, everyone moved upstairs poolside to the sound of Mariachis playing up on the balcony. Ghadeer had chosen a really pretty fingerprint tree for guests to put their prints and sign their names. We had a small tequila bar with signs explaining the significance of each tequila. Lanterns dotted the pool - some with designs inspired by the groom's tie. The pillows were a mix of pattern and I pulled a line from the bride and groom's first dance that I thought was just beautiful and had them printed ... it said: "I'm Lucky I'm in Love with my Best Friend, Lucky to have been where I've been, Lucky to be coming home again." We had little signs pointing the way to the cocktail and, then, later to the reception area.

THE RECEPTION

After the cocktail, guests were invited up top of the villa - on the way they were greeted with an escort card tree - escort cards were made out of natural fiber paper in the shape of a leaf with their names printed on them. I really heart these cards! Upstairs the guests were greeted with large wooden square tables - centerpieces were branches and purple dendrobidium orchids along with smaller floral arrangements in purple and green and, of course, surrounded by candles. Each napkin was tied with a wire brown twine and another leaf - purple this time - with the guest name served as place cards. Table markers were larger purple printed leaves with the number printed on. The bride and groom had a sweetheart table out on the edge, and I heart heart how the entire set-up turned out.

THE FOOD

The bride and groom chose to do the reception food in a station style manner - there was a tacos de canasta station, a grilled fish station, a salad station, to name a few. The food was delicious!

THE AFTER PARTY

After the reception, guests were invited back down to the pool area, where lanterns were lit-up, a cigar roller was ready in the groom's very own "Denver Bronco's" cigar lounge area (his favorite team and part of their story). The dance floor, again, one of my favorites - was two big arches, with wrapped curly willow and orchids around it and twinkle lights and in the center we placed a pinata lamp - knowing the pinata was important to the bride, we created two - one that was beautiful and looked nice in the middle of the dance floor and, then, one that was similar but smaller to be broken by the guests. We had over 300+ candles going up the stairs, lanterns around the pool, candles in the lounge area - super pretty. And, of course, our famous maracas - this time based on the couple's wedding invitations :).

THE CAKE

Memo pulled out the stops again and created a beautiful and yummy cake - lemon chiffon cake with raspberry filling - num!

It truly was a beautiful evening and hopefully was a a beautiful beginning to a couple who really overcame incredible obstacles to get to this day - the day they were able to finally say their very own vows in the way they wanted to do and say and celebrate with friends and a family who loves them both.

Next up - some more maraca shout-outs and oodles of weddings that I'm SUPER SUPER excited about...

A twist on a palm tree, lacy romance, and starfish!

2011-03-05T12:36:00.004-06:00

Biggest belated shout-out goes to Tara & Andy who said "yes yes yes" this past February 10th at the ever popular Dreams Riviera Cancun. They had a really cute logo and Antonio really got the spirit of it, I think :).

Shout-out to Kelly & Allison who said "i do" February 24th ... well, honestly, I'm not sure where. The maracas were picked-up and ferried away last month ;). Jazmine was the artist for these palm trees and I heart how they turned out.

Congratulations goes to Stephanie who tied the knot at Playa Fiesta this past February 25th. I actually got to meet her which was a real treat - a real sweetheart :). She chose the lacy romance and Israel did a beautiful job.

And another Congratulations to a Dreams Riviera Cancun bride, Amy, who chose the Julian but with her own distinctive colors - I heart this design anyway and I think her colors just gave it a neat, unique spin.

Up next is Ghadeer & Pancho's wedding blog!

Palm Trees, Talavera & Star Fish!

2011-02-22T23:34:00.001-06:00

The biggest, most belated shout-out goes to my super patient bride, Bonnie, and her new husband, Garry who tied the knot this past February 4th at the Palladium Hotel in Punta de Mita! They went with the palm trees in orange and white and Israel put his own special touch on it :). Bonnie was also our runner-up "winwin" winner and Israel painted her a matching fan :).

Shout-out to Cassidy who said her "i dos" this past February 11th in Cabos. She sent us this beautiful talavera artwork and Omar did a heart heart job ;).

Congratulations to Missy & Brian who were married February 19! Missy wanted an exact replica of a monogram we had done a unique design for in her colors of purple, white and silver.

And another congrats to Melissa & Adam who were also married February 19 at the Westin. They chose the "heidi" in the same colors as the original and Jazmine rocked it!

Up next ... Ghadeer & Pancho's wedding blog!

Palm Trees, Lacy Romance, Coconuts, Seashells and Paisley!

2011-02-09T16:41:00.005-06:00

That's right - oodles of shout-outs to give and I need to do it quick like because I know we'll have another wedding blog next week full of this Saturday's photos :).

The biggest, hugest (is a word, if I say so ;)) shout-out goes to Amy who tied the knot waaaaaaaay back January 15th but I had to wait ages to get her photos :).

Congratulations to Claudia & John who said "yes yes yes" January 29th in Puerto Morelos with a little lacy romance going on - I really like this combination - was completely different from anything we've done before :).

Shout-out to Sharon & Bret (knot tied February 4 at Playa Fiesta) who has the funnest sense of humor - notice their initials on their coconuts - hahaha - cracks me up just looking at it again....

Congratulations to Lindsay who said "Absolutely!" Feb 5th at The Tides in Zihuatanejo. We tried several versions of these seashells before finding the one that was just right!

And a warm shout-out to Valerie who said "i do" February 6th at the Excellence Playa Mujeres Resort and a big thank you to her hotel coordinator, Yamina Bermudez, who went way beyond the call of duty and helped us out with a minor shipping issue!

Couple more shout-outs coming up my sweet brides and then it's time for Ghadeer & Pancho's wedding this Saturday! Just feels like the time is flying past :).

Meredith & Spencer's Classic Elegance Wedding!

2011-02-01T20:55:00.013-06:00

Oh wow - where do I begin? I had the great pleasure of working with both Meredith and her mum as Meredith shared her and Spencer's vision and her mum wanted to put in little special touches which Meredith wanted, but didn't want to go over her mum's budget. The end result was an absolutely spectacular wedding - elegance, surprises, little touches and lots and lots (and lots!) of love!

WHERE: Hacienda Camino del Mar

CATERER: Andres from ByB

CAKE: Memo from Charme

PHOTOGRAPHER: The amazing Eric (who has yet to send me pictures, btw!)

(all pictures down below are by our awesome staff photographer, Soco!)

THE CEREMONY

In order to accommodate older guests who might have a hard time getting around on the beach, the decision was made to keep everything up at this amazing, beautiful villa. I decided to flip the ceremony space and also utilize it for the reception area which meant, in Mishka terms, that we could WOWZER the area because, hello, we would be using it twice! Honestly, Meredith & Spencer are such a laid-back, easy going couple that their love for elegance and simple beauty did catch me a bit by surprise - but I absolutely loved everything they sent me and it didn't take me long to figure out what we needed to do!

We spent hours stringing roses and carnations together and then hung them up above the ceremony area. We also hung them up almost entirely above the area next to the pool, as we were planning on putting the reception tables there after the ceremony. We placed gold chivari chairs off to the side, and the boys painted these really beautiful paisley maracas with their initials on them which we placed on the chairs, along with "shake me at the kiss" tags.

In memory of Meredith's grandfather, we placed his photo along with a carnation garland and, of course, the cherry on top was a paper mache replica of their dog, Tim whom the couple has a penchant for dressing up in funny costumes and taking pictures of him ;). We also had some Skype action going on - for the groom's brother whose plane was not cooperating in getting him to the wedding and for Meredith's Grandmother who was unable to come - love Skype!

The bride's bouquet was a mix of ranunculus, lisianthius and carnations, dotted with beautiful gold rimmed crystal accents in a gold accented holder. The groom had a ranunculus and a carnation with a gold crystal accent.

THE COCKTAIL

After the ceremony, we moved everyone into the casita for cocktails and appetizers. Cocktail tables were draped in shades of turquoise blue chiffon and adorned with a small carnation arrangement. We had a small lounge with pillows in blue, gold and a few lace pillows. I absolutely heart heart these colors. We found-out that the local University of Hawaii pub (where the couple are going/ have gone to school) was named Manoa and some awesome family member took a picture and sent it to us so we could replicate it but in the bride and groom's colors and named our cocktail/dance area after it ;).

THE RECEPTION

Back to the main Hacienda we go where we've set up round tables with elegant turquoise blue overlays with small gold crystal accents on the corners. Large white and cream carnation arrangements in the middle were surrounded by gold painted candle vases. Gold napkins stand upright tied with the place cards which hid various hot salsa bottles, a nod to Spencer's love of all things hot and spicy! Strung twinkle lights only complete this romantic look, along with the floating multi-colored lanterns floating in the pool.

THE DANCE FLOOR

I know I know - I keep heart hearting my dance floors but I can't help it! This was simply "wow" with over 30 gold lanterns with pillar candles and hanging glass turquoise and white hearts floating over the area - seriously romance floating everywhere! Judy (mer's mum!) surprised the couple with an amazing live Cuban band and a DJ for later in the evening.

THE CAKE

And, of course, what event would be complete without an amazing Memo cake! We had to bring everyone to the roof because Judy had one more super awesome surprised for the couple - fireworks! Seriously, I WANTED it to happen but could not have planned the timing better - as soon as they cut the cake, off went the fireworks - heart heart heart all over the place (and I was having a heart attack, slightly worried that it wouldn't happen JUST LIKE THAT - woohoo!). They ordered a different flavor from any cake we've had before - a vanilla and pineapple cake and it must have been good because they ate it all up!

Absolutely AMAZING way to start off this New Year and working with this special couple (and their daughter - the cutest flower girl ever!) and the love they shared for each other and their family - well, just heart heart hearts!

Next up - a slightly belated shout-out to a beautiful maraca bride and some new brides who have said their "i dos" this past weekend .... then, in a few weeks, we have Ghadeer & Pancho's nuptials at the beautiful Casa Serena!!

Mexico and Florals!

2011-01-24T23:58:00.005-06:00

I have a couple of shout-outs to make and then guess what? Meredith & Spencer's pictures are in!

First congratulations goes to Carolina who tied the knot in Las Caletas this past January 15th - She chose to do half based off her STD and half off her monogram - I love both but will admit a tad partiality to the Mexico based design - it's just .... awesome!

And our second shout-out goes to Sabrina who said her "i dos" this January 19th at the Grand Palladium in the Riviera Maya. She based her maracas off the Amy, but in her colors of purple and green and cream - I loved the original but really did like this different take.

Up next ... Meredith & Spencer's design details!

2011 WINWIN ... WINNER!

2011-01-16T21:33:00.007-06:00

Big drum roll please! Our First Prize Winner is ......

With over 180 votes by friends and family I can't say I'm super surprised by the outcome, although last year I do believe a late entry with one vote was our winner ;). Congratulations Veronica and if you could please email me so we can talk about your wedding date and your maracas :).

Our Second Prize Winner is......

Bonnie also had a huge turn-out of friends/family but I swear I didn't fix it this way - my husband actually did the drawing as our impartial judge ;). Bonnie has already ordered some maracas with tags but she has the option of 20 fork place cards OR a hand-painted fan to match her order :). If you could please contact me Bonnie to let me know what you would like to do :).

Thank-yous to everyone for entering and playing along with us this year ... we will do it again next year, around the same time so, if you are newly engaged and not getting married until next year, just put it on your calender ;).

I'm also planning little give-away surprises this spring, so keep your eyes open ;)....

First Shout-Outs for Jan 2011!

2011-01-16T00:48:00.005-06:00

Our very first shout-out for 2011 goes to Amy Youngblood who tied the knot with her groom at Las Caletas this past January 2. I love the maracas Omar came-up with to go along with a graphic that she sent us...

Big congratulations to Lucy who said her "i dos" in Sayulita January 8th ... she wanted the Megan design but with an orchid flower instead and Israel created these beautiful renditions :)....

Shout-out to Courtney who also said "yes" on the same day but at the Secrets Maroma Beach resort in Cancun. These maracas are actually the very first painted by the newest member of our team, Jazmine who is also, yes, part of our family ;). I think she did a fantastic job!

And last but not least, Congratulations to Mattie & Julian who entered nuptial bliss on January 8th.well, honestly I'm not sure where - we dropped the maracas off at Dreams PV, however ;). And, yes, my heart heart goes to these maracas - I think they are just truly unique and different from anything we've done before and the artist (Antonio) really did a beautiful job. Even if he is my husband ;).

Coming-up, Meredith & Spencer's wedding blog, some more shout-outs from this weekend and I will also be posting cut-off dates for spring maraca orders (mostly will affect April/May brides ;) ... OH and, yes, announcing the winners of the WINWIN contest!