Elizabeth & Matt's Whimsical Vintage Hacienda Fiesta!

I met Elizabeth's Mom and Dad before I met Elizabeth and Matt and from that moment forward I knew this wedding was going to have that additional touch that I cannot bring to it - it's something that comes with the bride and groom and their wedding party - that special touch of love and warmth and joy which is the cherry on top of a beautiful design and thoughtful coordination.  And I was right - this party was one for the record books and the love was over flowing and the joy was contagious ... and Elizabeth brought me the cutest apron I have EVER seen and had written me the nicest thank you card - and she gave it to me BEFORE the wedding - I was touched beyond measure and so thankful to have this wonderful couple ... they are missed! :)

Place:  Casa Quetzal
Caterer:  Andres from B y B
Bride Photographer:  Jillian Mitchell
Videographer:  Ray from Promovision
Staff Photographer:  Soko the Great
Minister:  Tamara Bradley from Chic Concepts
Cake:  Memo of Charme
Misting Fans:  Mist & More

INSPIRATION BOARD
Elizabeth has a sense of style and she knew what she wanted from the get go ... to quote "We would like the wedding to have an eclectic, vintage, whimsical, fiesta feel to it."  I thought, yes, a bit challenging but I was definitely up for the challenge!!  Once we had Casa Quetzal as the backdrop, everything else started to fall into place.  Elizabeth was torn between wanting a white ceremony but she wanted color as well ... I recommended we start with a soft color palette of whites, creams, natural woods and then, as the night progressed, we started adding in touches of color so that the reception had spots of beautiful color and you really noticed it ... this was the board I came up with :).

THE CEREMONY

I heart smatter and adore this ceremony set-up.  As I toured the villa I realized that the living room would make a fantastic backdrop for Elizabeth and Matt's ceremony with the beautiful architecture and tile on the living room floor - the room really needed just small touches to make it the perfect spiritual place for our whimsical hacienda feel ... We strung white dendrobidiums up above the ceremony backdrop ... I had Omar paint a light white design on top of cream fans so that the design would show up with the reflections of the light.  We had the guests wave papel picado fans with Elizabeth & Matt's names and the wedding date at the kiss.  The bridesmaids carried white and cream lisianthius while we created a beautiful romantic bouquet for the bride with coral amarlyis and white and coral peonies.  The result was gorgeous!

IN REMEMBRANCE....
Elizabeth and Matt had sent wedding photos of their grandparents and parents and we displayed them in silver vintage frames on a side table in the ceremony area with lace covered mason jars.  I heart smoosh this picture Soko took of Elizabeth looking over the photos before the ceremony.

THE COCKTAIL
After the ceremony, guests went out poolside to enjoy the amazing views of Vallarta and listen to the Mariachi.  Cocktail tables were covered with white chiffon fabric with teal vintage bottles and colorful coral flowers.   The tequila tasting was set out on a vintage looking table with a talavera spice rack holding the escort cards.  The tequila shot glasses also doubled as favors and were painted specifically for the bride and groom :).

THE RECEPTION
We had the reception inside the amazing courtyard.  Tables were covered with cream chiffon with a burlap runner and lace overlay.  Vintage teal bottles had been hand-painted to just the right shade and filled with coral, cream and magenta florals.   Napkins were cream colored manta with lace edges and held in place with hand painted talavera napkin rings with the guests name hand painted on each one :).    Candles also dotted the tables to give it a romantic glow as the sun set.  Chandeliers were hung up above the tables and we had white floral lights strung in the iron work going up the stairs.  Elizabeth loves butterflies so, as a touch of whimsy, we created special printed paper and made two toned paper butterflies which were placed in and amongst the reception table florals.

THE CAKE, THE PHOTOBOOTH, THE MARACAS, THE DANCE FLOOR
The cake was based off of a papel picado, vintage feel and Memo, as always, created a masterpiece!  Elizabeth and Matt had met at Match.Com so we thought it would be fantastic to recreate the Match.com logo with face cut-outs for guests to take pictures holding a heart sign with Matt + Elizabeth!  Antonio did a beautiful job :).  Hand painted maracas in shades of teal, magenta, yellow, orange were painted with an incredible papel picado design - Omar hit this one out of the park! Twinkly lights hung over the dance floor. We had originally wanted to hang mason jars covered with beautiful lace over the dance floor but rain was threatening (and, in the end, it DID rain) so we moved the vases inside and filled them with candles instead :).    

I have nothing but great memories about this wedding and the guests who were there.  It was fun, memorable, loving, kind, amazing and I heart smatter the design from beginning to end!  This was an amazing wedding and a great post to end Mishka Designs' blogspot run - all further posts will be made from our new website and blog which I will announce soon - I promise!  I'm so excited about it and I've worked hard to make it facebook friendly, pinterest friendly, blog friendly, etc etc!  Unveiling soon! :)

Jenn & Kent's Sayulita Vintage Garden Wedding!

Well, I got the professional photographs back from both Jillian, who was the bride's photographer (all photos without a logo on them were taken by Jillian), and our staff photographer Soko and WOWZERS are they awesome! Without further ado, here we go!....

Where: Don Pedro's Palapa, Sayulita

When: Thanksgiving! 2010

Coordinator: The awesome duo Kerry and Enrique from Sayulita Wave

Photographer: Uber-cool Jillian Mitchell

Inspiration Board

Jenn came to us blooming with ideas and rearing to go - and I have over 300 photos to prove it ;). I loved the challenge - to create a Vintage garden feel wedding BUT with a Mexican touch to it ... the challenge in a third-world country is that we don't have hardly anything you could call "vintage", as we use every single thing up until the last drop is squeezed out ;). So, we had to recreate the feel of Mexican vintage and my team did a holy cow amazing job!

The Bouquets & Bouts

We were working with a color palette of turquoise, coral and berry ... I wanted the flowers to look neat and tidy but also an upscale version of having just picked them from the garden ;). I found Jenn's bouquet accent piece in the States this past summer and fell in love with it and had to have it to complete the look along with the bout pin I found for Kent - I just think those little accents really make the flowers just pop.

For the bridesmaids - I knew their dresses were coral and I wanted to bring in a berry color palette without it being too bright and found out that I could order these amazing purple/silver grey roses which I think really accents the berry roses ... I honestly love them against the bridesmaid dresses :).

The Ceremony & Cocktail Lounge

Don Pedro's Palapa is a rather large space but we needed to combine the ceremony area and have it also work as a cocktail area - also I thought it would help to set the mood a bit more if we did the seating more of a garden-like, lounge feel, as opposed to doing the standard rows of chairs ... so, we combined the two areas! I also realized that we needed to bring in some plants to make the area a bit more ... well, like a garden! We twisted flowers into the gazebo and placed two large trees to hang overhead with bouganvilla trees in beautiful colors of coral and berry dotting the landscape behind. Right before the bride was to walk down we created an aisle with rose petals - I knew it would be pretty but seriously the colors up against the grass just popped and blew me away! The pillow fabric we got for the pillows might look like it was bought at the same store but it actually wasn't - heart heart all over the place! We had two lamp posts to light-up the area later in the evening and turquoise talavera pots filled with berry and coral flowers, surrounded by turquoise and plain mason jars filled with candles.

Of course, one of my favorite accent pieces for this area was the vintage looking coke and corona wooden boxes that we made - with a cooler inside! Bright Mexican bird cages were filled to the brim with either flowers or candles and I'm hard pressed to say which one I liked better .... and, of course, cannot forget the metal bird votive candle holder with the beautiful blue turquoise vases.

Escort Cards

I found all these vintage looking knobs and thought "wouldn't that look amazing on a portrait frame type structure?" (or, okay, something along those lines ;) ... the cards took me forever to do and I discovered that embossing is a wee bit hard on the palms, but absolutely heart heart the final look.

Reception

We built milk boxes and painted them with the names of dairy companies we have here in Mexico to give the tables a very vintage, yet mexican, feel. I filled them with bright flowers in corals and berry tones and we created table markers that looked like old advertising signs for products that we have here in mexico ... other than Guinness - the couple had a sweet story about Guinness in how they met so we had to include that too, of course! :)

Unfortunately, neither photographer got a good shot of the table runner which was this beautiful white embroidered floral fabric on top of a coral chiffon. But aren't these napkins amazing or what? When I saw the fabric I knew they were a must! We tied the silverware together with ribbon and attached the place cards which had a little poem the bride had seen and really liked. Mason jars filled with candles (a few turquoise, a few plain) also dotted the tables, between the centerpieces.

We created little vintage "mr. and mrs." signs to hang on the back of the bride and groom's chair and, honestly, I just heart heart everything about this entire wedding ;).

The Dance Floor and Cake

If I tell you where I got the idea for the dance floor you have to promise not to laugh ... my daughter was enthralled for a while with Disney's Princess and the Frog and there's a scene in there ... anyway, the point is, the dance floor had mason jars which we painted with glass paint and it was absolutely beautiful and romantic and heart hearts floating everywhere at night.

I wanted the cake to be reminiscent of the "long ago" but in a garden - well, I knew it needed to be a bit smaller - I found this wonderful glass cake stand and Memo recreated a lace work pattern and, of course, the cake was yummy yummy yummy - they had a vanilla with kiwi, strawberry and peach filling and this to die for chocolate cake with almost like a chocolate truffle filling - YUM!

And, of course, can't forget the maracas which were passed out during the dancing - we needed something with a bit of a flower to it but not something too "girly" so Kent and his boys wouldn't mind shaking them around - I think our guys hit on a good combination ;).

Photo Booth

This was, by far, one of the most creative, off-the-wall ideas I've had in a while ... I wanted the boys to make a gazebo like structure that we could hang a two person swing from later - I mean, who doesn't love a swing? And they did it! We also had hand-painted wooden signs to add to the festivities. After the ceremony, the photo booth sign went up, the polaroid came out and a lot of fun was had (especially as the night wore on and guests donned props provided by Jillian), let me tell you - well, I don't have to tell you - you can see for yourself! :)

I knew this blog was going to take me a while to do but had to get cracking on it because Soko just told me that Meredith & Spencer's wedding photos are on their way and I have some shout-outs to give to early 2011 brides - also don't forget to enter the WINWIN drawing which is this Saturday, Jan 15th! .... Jenn & Kent's wedding was a beautiful way to end the fall portion of our season and we thank them both for being so creative and inspirational!