Allyson & Jason's Glamorous Beach Wedding!

Well, I know some of you think I have taken FOREVER and a day to post this wedding but, honestly, there was soooo much to it and I couldn't whittle down what I wanted to share so, hey, it's my blog and I'll post as many pictures as I want to! ha! (photos donated by both Aaron Wulf and untagged photos by Jillian Mitchell - thank you guys!). The wedding was held October 9, 2010 at Dreams Puerto Vallarta.

Seriously awesome, amazing couples to start off the wedding season - first our multi-cultural sweet as honey couple Adam and Perla and, then, the dynamic, absolutely gracious Allyson & Jason - so blessed! Allyson came and basically told me she wanted BLING she wanted BANG she wanted WOWZERS and I said "SWEET!" Definitely a detail bride, everything she came to me with which she had already chosen was EXACTLY what I would have recommended had we started at the very very beginning (which we sortof did :) ...

Monogram

After discussing it a bit, we decided that the colors would be shades of pink with accents in silver and black. We were going for a hollywood glam but in a bit more vintage style. This was Allyson's design board:

THE CEREMONY

Can I heart heart heart my own ceremony? Of course I can! ;) Nothing says "vintage" to me more than roses, so we selected white roses for Allyson's bouquet - I found this amazing vintage brooch when I was out and about and it ended-up matching Allyson's gown - we had a lot of those "coincidences" going on through-out this wedding which was cherries and more cherries. Allyson had one maid of honor and we decided to do pale blush pink roses to really off-set against her beautiful silver-gray bridesmaid dress. Miniature pale pink roses were chosen for Jason's bout and I am an accent girl - so anytime I can find a cool accent and have a place to put it I do, which is how that beautiful crystal accent found its way on Jason's bout. We made flower girl purses out of beautiful pink hand-beaded lace. The stage was set!

Bridal Bouquet

Bridesmaid Bouquet

Groom Bout

Flower Girl

As guests arrived they were greeted with a sign and some flip-flops to change into so as not to get their heels dirty and full of sand ;).

Hand-painted clear plastic fans with black handles were placed on top of the ceremony programs one of Allyson's friends made-up for her. I wanted an amazing ceremony aisle and I think the boys did a fantastic job ...

All leading up to this absolutely amazing chuppah - seriously one of the prettiest ones I think we've ever done ... the chandelier base, believe it or not, I brought down from the States in my suitcase in pieces and we created it once I got home. I heart heart everything about this ceremony set-up.

THE COCKTAIL

We were intending on having part of the cocktail down below Oceana - but we hadn't really counted on the turtles hatching down there - so we moved it all up underneath the palapa and I think it worked out even better. A sign announced the event being held there that day. Silver vintage looking couches were brought-in, accented with black and pink and silver pillows and silver candle sticks were filled with miniature blush roses and surrounded by candles. We used the maracas as a decoration favor piece ;).

TEQUILA TASTING/ESCORT CARDS

I decided to kill two birds/one stone and we used the tequila shot glasses as containers to hold the escort cards. Signs introducing various tequilas, as well as the history behind it, were perched in silver photo frames.

THE RECEPTION

Six chandeliers filled with roses and crystals lined the center of the reception area. We also had candles with strung crystals hanging off to the side and gray curtains framing the entire space. Table marker names were based on Cold Play songs, as Allyson & Jason have a long history and their relationship story is tied-into Cold Play. Silver candlesticks went down the center of each table as well as floating hot pink roses. I found this amazing black/silver patterned napkins and we perched the hand-detailed crystal place cards inside each fork. Silver chivari chairs were brought up from the ceremony to complete the look.

THE DANCE FLOOR

Unfortunately, I can't seem to get my hands on a good photo of the dance floor chandelier which a local florist, Francisco, was kind enough to lend us. It looked awesome! We also transformed the wall behind the DJ with a cut-out which looked nice during the day but, at night, it was lit-up and looked spectacular. Down below the dance floor a cigar roller was in place along with a small cigar lounge for all to enjoy their cigars.

THE CAKE

I HEART HEART HEART this cake - I found a picture of something similar once and fell in love - I like the simplicity yet the absolute elegance of it and Memo, once again, outdid himself. Many of the crystals adorning the cake came from some old vintage jewelry of Dolores del Rio, a famous Mexican actress.

At the end of the evening Allyson and Jason had a bonfire and an ice-cream gathering out on the beach which was a great, relaxing way to end the evening. It was one of those picture-perfect weddings and I'm super happy we were a part of it. Coming-up Sanyu & Deke's Beach Bohemian Wedding and not long after Jennifer & Kent's Sayulita Vintage Wedding! Forward and onward!

Art Deco with a Touch of Glam...

Thank you for being so patient! It's been a very busy time for us here and I'm not blogging the way I would love to do!

A CHANGE
So, here's our February 15th creation. Before I walk you through the design, there was a change we wanted to note - a few days before the wedding the bride decided that she wanted to utilize the Hacienda's antique candleabras to really recreate a Hollywood Glam look and, as nothing we can make in Vallarta can replace $60,000 antique candleabras, the wedding table was changed! The Hacienda is a very beautiful venue and, as you can see on the left, the candleabras have a very distinct look. The photo in the middle was the actual look of the table on the wedding day and the photo on the far right was the Art Deco centerpiece that we created.

Art Deco

This was, by far, the most difficult wedding I have ever designed, mostly because the materials that we needed were not readily available here in Vallarta! Ostrich feathers were shipped in from Mexico City, Art Deco broaches were flown-in from the United States, crystals were sent via courier from Guadalajara! There wasn't a detail of this event that was easy - even the roses were carefully selected for their color and ordered months ahead of time (over 1800 roses!!). Sometimes working in Vallarta can be a very difficult process as often times I find something I love only to be told that they only have 7 and I need 30 and nothing can EVER be ordered (if you are a coordinator you are laughing because you know what I say is true - if you are a bride, ask your coordinator and give them something to laugh about ;).

Anyway, the task was Art Deco with a touch of Glam, colors of champagne with shades of pink and accents in gold and black. I spent months researching Art Deco to make sure that I would capture the look just right. This was our inspiration page:

And here's what we came-up with!

CEREMONY

The Hacienda is really beautiful and has many frescos, so we wanted to do something that would add to the ambiance and not clash. So, the bride wisely chose gold chiavari chairs and we accented the aisle with over 1,000 roses in shades of pink and cream. I realized that we had enough flowers to add a ceremony aisle that the bride had wanted but decided not to do due to costs, which made us happy we could do that for her. (all photos by Socorro Sandoval)

BRIDAL BOUQUET and GROOM BOUT

Not quite what I had in mind, but still beautiful, was a bouquet of cream roses and ostrich feathers, accented with a broach from the groom's grandmother and champagne ribbon.

THROW BOUQUET

We mimicked the bridesmaid's bouquet, only the broach was different - this was the original intended broach for the bride's bouquet. One of the prettiest throw bouquets we've ever made!

WREATH

The bride requested an orchid wreath for her departed father so we made one with over 30 stems of dendrobium orchids and placed on a seat reserved in memory of him.

COCKTAIL

The cocktail was to be super simple, so we strung and hung over 6 dozen roses from the water fountain. Escort cards were accented with swarvoski crystals which were later handed to host and hostesses to seat guests for dinner!

CENTERPIECES

I knew I wanted fabric for the centerpieces to bring-in a texture and give it a shine that paint could not do and to replicate some of the old Hollywood 1940/1950's film sets. The difficulty was finding just the right color, which I managed to do and was lucky enough to find just the right amount (we bought all they had!). To give it a bold statement and the leaning towards art deco, and also to empahsize the broaches, we added a stripe of black ribbon. Ostrich feathers accented the beautiful bouquet of roses at the top and pink crystals hung from the feathers. I based the centerpiece off the idea of a dress and the bride's bouquet! To light-up the crystals at night, we added candles which had accents wired with gold and crystals in black and pink.

ACCENTS

I fell in love with this fabric the instant I saw it for the color and texture, as it's not every day Vallarta gets fabric like this. Menus accented with ribbon, a feather and swarvoski crystal accents were to be placed inside. We found, quite by accident, gold accents which were very similar to the bride and groom's invitation. It seems an older couple who use to own a craft store decided to retire and sold some of their unique things to one of our vendors! Sweet! We utilized the accents with different color ribbon to indicate who was eating fish, lamb or vegetarian.

CAKE

Omar, the ever talented, spent days creating this cake topper which mimicked the insert the bride and groom had created for them from an artist in New York city. The final touch was, again, swarvoski crystals to accentuate the bride's dress and the groom's shirt. And Memo, from Charme, of course did an excellent job of recreating the art deco image from the invites and utilizing our special find of gold accents with black ribbon!

ON THE WAY OUT

We utilized over 220 candles, all accented with gold wire twisted by hand and black and pink crystals and placed in various nooks and crannies - one of which lit the way for guests as they ended their evening of frolic and fun!

Next week I PROMISE the inspiration board for orange, red and teal....and then we have some unique maraca and fan orders to share so tune in!