Jenae & Trae's Magical Whimsy Wedding!

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.

Meredith & Spencer's Classic Elegance Wedding!

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!!