Shout outs Beginning of November...

November has been a crazy crazy month and it's not even half-way through! We do have some shout-outs to do so here they go!

Beautiful Orange and White

Big Congrats goes to Tara & Dave who tied the knot at the RIU Vallarta this past November 2nd. Tara sent me her invites (HEART HEART!) and asked us to do maracas, menus, wedding programs and place cards based off the invite ...

Everything together

Maracas (heart heart! Awesome job Omar!)

Menus

Ceremony Programs

Place cards

Orange and Pink - Always in Style

You're going to be seeing a lot of the Kate in this blog post - last year our most popular design was Lacy Romance and this year it's hand's down, the Kate! Big shout-out to Melissa for tying the knot with her love at the Grand Riviera Princess this past November 4th. Melissa added her initials to the popular design to personalize it and make it her own :).

Flowers with Magenta & Chocolate Touch

Congratulations to Megan & Ian who said "i do" in Las Caletas this past November 5th. Megan sent her invites which I think are just really beautiful and Omar worked some magic and created these HEART HEART maracas!

Last Year's Runner-Up WINWIN winner

Ashley entered our WINWIN contest last year - and, while she didn't win, she had so many entries that I decided she needed some sort of prize! Congratulations to this big sweetheart who tied the knot with her love November 5th at Le Kliff. She chose the super popular Kate design and we also painted a matching fan as her "thank you for having so many entries" prize ;).

Gerbers in Red and Lemon Green

Shout-out is in order for Kim and Dave who said "we will forever" this past November 6th at one of my favorite villas, Casa Cosmos. Kim chose the Amanda in her colors of red and lime green and I think they turned out really pretty.

Fuschia and Orange Kate

And, last but not least, congrats are in order for Monica who said her "i dos" at the Hotel Las Palmas in Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo. I've never been down there, but heard it's beautiful - so we'll wait for her report :). She chose the popular Kate in her wedding colors of orange and fuschia.

Coming-up photos of Allyson & Jason's wedding - and I mean it this time!

Adam & Perla's Colors of Mexico Wedding!

Date: October 2, 2010

Place: Hacienda Camino del Mar

Rental Agents: Boutique Villas

Photographer: Paulina Ulloa

Caterer: ByB

Cake: Memo from Charme

It took me a bit but here we are! Adam & Perla were an AMAZING couple to start off the 2010 wedding season! Being part of a multi-cultural relationship I completely understood when they both wanted to really combine the best of both worlds while, at the same time, really show-casing the colors and flavors of Mexico. They sent me first their invite, which I love:

While their main colors were bright orange and light blue, Perla also wanted to include a few more colors so that the event was a bit more colorful - so we added-in touches of yellow and red and a turquoise blue in order to accent the main colors. This was the inspiration board:

THE CEREMONY

We decided to utilize papel picado to introduce each of the different areas of the party, so we started off with a papel picado sign to indicate where the ceremony was to be .... I used gerbers, sunflower, circus roses, wax flowers and pin cushions for Perla's colorful bouquet. The bridesmaids had similar flowers but I accented theirs more with red and made them a bit smaller.

They both wanted the ceremony decor to be more about the beach than anything else. So, still considering the papel picado idea, Antonio created this amazing wooden chuppah and then we spiced it up a bit with bright colorful flowers. Adam's favorite flower was a sunflower so I thought it would be really beautiful and simple to use sunflowers to decorate the aisle.

THE COCKTAIL

Since we were going to be doing a lounge, station dinner, instead of a sit-down dinner, we decided to utilize high cocktail tables in the Hacienda. I love using pinata bases and filling them with flowers and, as an added Mexican artisan touch, we added-in metal frames of Frida and her artwork ... Perla loved the tin can centerpieces we did for Sara y Nick but I don't like doing the same thing twice if I can help it - so I thought we would use similar cans but punch holes in them and use them as candles instead- they looked awesome at night and were pretty decorations during the day! :) For the "guest book" we had a caricature drawn-up of them with space on the border for guests to write their well wishes. In the cocktail pool we placed their initials with flowers. I lucked out and found this amazing embroidered look patterned fabric with birds and Perla & Adam's colors and we peppered the lounge furniture with it and, of course, they had a Mariachi band to lead the guests from the ceremony to the cocktail area. Lovely!

THE RECEPTION/DANCE FLOOR

After the cocktail, we opened the doors into the Casita - we had more food stations in this half and a bit more lounge furniture along with a huge dance floor, as they had hired a local Cuban band and I knew it would fill up quickly (which it did :) ... We filled the dance floor with various colors and sizes of Chinese lanterns and, of course, had our famous maracas which we passed out during a fun song for guests to shake and dance with. In this pool we had papel-picado like lanterns floating in the pool. I loved this space but, yes, heart heart the cake - Memo did an AMAZING job with what I asked him to do - to give you an idea, you'll see the example I gave him and, then, what he did with it - HEART HEART!

WHAT I GAVE MEMO:

WHAT HE DID

Coming-up in the next couple of days I will have a VERY different wedding to show - Allyson & Jason's wedding which took place the very next weekend - crystals, roses, glam ... fun!

Don't forget to enter the WINWIN contest to win 20 of our hand-painted maracas - the drawing will be January 15th.

October Maracas!!

Well, my dear brides, as you've probably noticed I'm BEHIND - this season has started off with a bang so now I'm going to do my best to catch-up to the maraca brides who've tied the knot in this blog and, coming-up this week (I promise) you're going to get a real treat - awesome photos of both Adam and Perla's wedding AND Allyson & Jasons!

Unusual Palm Trees

Big Congrats goes to Becca & Whitney who tied the knot in Isla Mujeres this past October 15th. Whitney wanted us to do something similar to her invite - I had a hard time saving the invite, so it's sortof small, but I promise the maracas look just like it ;).

Pretty Orange and Pop of Fuschia

Huge shout out to Julie & Nick who tied the knot October 19th at the Azul Beach Hotel in the Riviera Maya - Julie's been a maraca fan for quite some time and she did a great job of ordering her Kate maracas - she wanted strong pops of color for her maracas and I think these probably hit the spot!

Tropical Blues and Pink

Congratulations are in order for Kym and Bryan who chose to tie the knot October 19th at the ever-popular Dreams Riviera Cancun. There is always a maraca design that makes me go 'wow' and this is one of them - she wanted the maracas to look like her monogram and Israel pulled it off! I heart heart these maracas!

Pretty Hibiscus in Purple

Gisella came to us a while back and wanted something similar to her invites but a little different. I was happy to help her come-up with an idea - especially since she and her groom tied the knot on my birthday, October 23rd, here in Vallarta! I love the little hibiscus flowers....

Kissing Seahorses

Big shout-out to Oksana y Andy who tied the knot this past October 30th in the Riviera Maya. I think Antonio did an absolutely, over-the-top job on her maracas which were based on her monogram below - heart heart heart!

We have some more brides tying the knot this week and I have photos coming-up from our past two weddings and we have more weddings this month and, holy cow! don't forget the WINWIN contest (win 20 free maracas - who can resist?) and this season is just taking off!

Chuppah, Palm Trees and Flowers!!

We have a few shout-outs to some brides which happened while we were busy decorating Adam y Perla and Allyson and Jason's respective October weddings (photos coming soon - I promise!)...

First, a big shout-out to Renee who tied the knot this past September 30th at the Dreams Riviera Maya resort! Renee chose the popular Palm Trees design in orange with white lettering and shake me tags :). I think they turned out quite tropical!

Second, a big shout-out to Judith's daughter, Elizabeth, who tied the knot with her groom in Massachusetts - a first for us! We don't have a picture of the papel picado in the actual chuppah, but I can't wait to see one :). I think it turned out beautifully with the dogwood branches and flowers...

Third, a shout-out to Adrienne who tied the knot with her groom at Dreams Puerto Vallarta - at the same time, no less, that Allyson & Jason tied the knot on the beach up north! Adrienne chose the second version of the Kate and I love the colors - very festive!

Coming-up ... photos of both Adam & Perla's wedding and Allyson & Jason's wedding these past two weekends!

Become a Fan - Win Maracas - WINWIN!!

Well girls, here it is again - our annual "WINWIN" competition. 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).

*Note: the awesome red and white maraca photo in the middle is from Elizabeth Medina's website!
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. You become one of our fans 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 becomes one of our fans on facebook 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, 2011!

THE FINE PRINT

1. You MUST be a fan of our facbook page at the time of the drawing but you CAN withdraw from being a fan right after the drawing

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 May 31, 2011. If you have not claimed the prize before that date, the prize(s) will be forfeit.