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!!

MarToca Beach Garden Grand Opening!

Well, here it is - the photos from the MarToca Beach Garden Grand Opening in Bucerias! When Jimmy (the owner and all-around cool guy!) asked us to participate we were hesitant - mostly because we are a small "mom and pop" (or rather, brother/sister-in-law!) operation and don't have oodles of money to spend on such fun opportunities! But Jimmy found a way to help us with costs and we had such a great time - and such an amazing venue!
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Then Memo from Charme (who, as most of you know who follow the blog! :)) agreed to decorate a cake for us and to donate yummy, nummy pastries to accent the decor space and then Jimmy asked us to decorate a Margarita area just for him AND, then, Michael Amici - an awesome new photographer in-town and all-around incredible person (also he's very good at stringing orchids!! ;)) - said he would also take some pictures for us (all pictures donated by him!! thank you Michael!) AND our flower vendor, Juan Carlos from GDL said he would donate some of the flowers .... well, anyway, kismet was in the air!
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Mishka Designs & Charme....
So, this was "our" area ... Omar and I wanted something that would represent "us" as well as showcase Memo's incredible pastries ... I wanted something beachy, yet elegant - to really accentuate the MarToca space but in a graceful, airy sortof way ... so we decided on white dendrobium orchids, pink cymbidium orchids and strung crystals, along with the crystal chandelier we had originally designed for Britt but just done a little differently would be amazing up-top. Then we had our entranceway with some larger crystals and strung orchids to greet guests as they entered. We really did want to showcase Memo's work, so we placed pretty pink chiffon cocktail tables, accentuated with black ribbon in the middle of the area and round hand-painted batik pillows and our logo in swarovski crystals with a white lounge for guests to sit back and enjoy the amazing sunset! And, of course, you have to have floating lanterns in that amazing pool!

If I was designing this for a wedding, this would probably be the dance/cake area and we would add a few more candles to really give it a great romantic glow.

MarToca Margaritaville....

Jimmy had seen the rose balls we did for Greg & Panida's wedding as well as the lamps - so he knew he wanted those for sure - the rest he left to us! It took me a bit to figure out the angle I was going to take this little area but, once I saw this amazing grey chiffon, I knew! We did 10 rose balls (that's close to 1,000 roses!) with crystals and 20 hand-painted glass candles as well as accent pillows for this very chic upscale Margaritaville ... Just one of those spaces that looked amazing during the day and gave you a cozy, warm feel at night!

The People....

It's rare we ever have time to take photos at an event - but this was a fun event, not really a working event, so we were able to get a few pictures in .... this next photo is Memo and his wife Lucy (charme) - AND this picture was taken by me, not by any pro ;).

Next up, we have a fun group shot .... Omar and I with Memo from Charme and our good friends Tamara and Patti from Incredible Weddings.

We were fortunate enough to have Nikki & Roland, our fun, sweet couple whose December 5th wedding we were lucky enough to coordinate/design, attend the cocktail!

And, lastly, I couldn't resist putting-in this picture - I just love it! Me and Tamara (Incredible Weddings) .... and now you know .... I am a Corona girl ;).

Fun Fun aside, MarToca really is an amazing place, if you want something that's beachside, beautiful and amazing but weren't really looking to have your event at a villa! Two thumbs up! :)