Yellow is the "it" girl!

Wait until you get a look at this blog, my dear brides, and you may just forgive me for being absent so long! I get so involved when I start researching and then the blog becomes this huge thing! I might try taking this in smaller chunks so you don't continue to send me email with "wazzup" in the subject heading ;).

Yellow, my dear brides, is the new "it" this season - or at least it should be! Don't be afraid of yellow! Embrace your inner yellow! And, without further ado, here's the inspiration board....

Can you see my point?! Don't worry - these images pop-up later down below....

Invites

So, let's start with the invites .... in the upper left hand corner we have a whole series of paperworks (invites, STD's, programs) found at Green Wedding Shoes; a very dramatic, elegant yellow and black creation from Dolce Press; upper right one of my heart hearts that I discovered somewhere on Flickr!; underneath we have a really artsy inspiration from Black Eiffel; a golden filigree (Uu Designs); and a stamped, very natural light yellow rustic invite (She Knows).

Starting in the middle, we have face cut-outs in bright yellow (Sway Space); very modern yet elegant grey and yellow invite (In the Clouds Events); and an even more modern grey/yellow combo (One Wed); love these thank you cards in the box at Stylist Events.

Bottom row yellow/navy blue bird theme motif (UU Designs); bright yellow-orange/fuchsia invites (Style Me Pretty); my heart heart heart invite discovered at Quilling by Sandra White; and last this yellow/black combination at Formal Invitations.

Bridesmaids
And, as you know how much I love dresses (and shoes and and and!) I couldn't help but include these great bridesmaid finds ....

Upper right, very beautiful white lace with yellow satin bow (Sexy Red Frame); this retro, yet elegant bridesmaid ensemble (Kenzie Kate); in-between there's a yellow/white bridesmaid ensemble (Bridal Boutique Mr. Penguin).

Smack in the middle we have this awesome blue shoes/yellow dress photo (Green Wedding Shoes); and a very beachy, elegant dress (Tinkled Pink); bottom row we have this sassy golden yellow with purple bust (June Bug Weddings); up top bridesmaids in yellow with flower girl in white with yellow sash (DC Nearly Weds); this great satiny golden yellow dress (Forever 21); and last, but not least, these mellow yellow dresses (Stylist Events).

Bouquets
In case you are still not convinced, here are some flowers - nice bright yellow ones!

Upper left, absolutely lovely calla lilies and what looks like a freesia/rose combination (Lindeman Weddings); I heart heart this dramatic bridesmaids in black with yellow floral ball bouquets (Wedding Bee Pro); in-between we have this nice, soft yellow bouquet (hmm - someplace on Flickr!).

Middle row we start with this yellow/purple bouquet (Fashion Bride); and this great calla Lilly/grass combination (Home and Family Network); in-between white and yellow bouquet (Alieli Florals).

Bottom row very elegant yellow bouquet with champagne wrap and bright, big yellow floral ball (Stylist Events); and ending with this fabulous yellow/white bouquet (Silk Wedding Flower Ideas).

Centerpieces
This is where the yellow truly shines! Such bright, happy looking tables - who wouldn't have a good time? ;)

I'm not sure whether to eat or adore this centerpiece with lemon slices and tulips (Porter House Designs); amazing dramatic black and yellow centerpieces (which, for some reason, remind me of Alice in Wonderland!) (In the Clouds Events); in-between, lemons in a tall glass vase (Yellow Brick Blog).

Middle we have this beautiful, elegant black and yellow tablescape (Think Like a Bride); lemons and green orchids (Lindeman Weddings); in-between white vase with yellow stripes and yellow flowers (Entertain Exchange).

Bottom row heart these white mum floral balls with yellow sashes (Wedding Belles Online); great table marker (love the design and the golden color!) (Stylist Events Blog); and these great yellow/black/white centerpieces (Think Like a Bride).

Napkins
Before we get into the cakes and etc., I thought I would give a nod to two napkin accents I found. Top golden yellow with white design (Stylist Events); and navy blue napkins with yellow ribbon accent (With this Ring).

Cakes

Yum yum! Can't forget the cake!

Top row I love this yellow present cake (Minette Rushing); middle, light yellow cake (Real Simple); I love the color and simplicity of the last cake in this row (With This Ring).

Middle row I also adore this yellow cake with white flowers (Martha Stewart Weddings); more golden yellow with white flowers with cool cartoon looking black car topper (Italian Lakes Wedding); heart heart this individual cakes with initials (somewhere on Flickr!).

Bottom row - starts with two golden yellow/purple cakes ... first one (The Sugar Syndicate); second one (somewhere on Flickr!); underneath a yellow-orange cake with white (Anna Whitford); I love this next cake but am not overly fond of the cake topper (Yellow Brick Blog); top a light yellow cake with white ribbon (very elegant, me thinks!) (Pink Cake Box); and bottom a white cake with yellow paper lace (Whipped Bake Shoppe on Flickr!).

Design

In case you are still unsure, I went out to find design inspirations for yellow and found these!

Top left, this dress is just so dramatic and Spanish flair looking! (M-A-Belle); this was wallpaper, but I loved the texture and the design - could really do something great with this as a focal idea (Black White Yellow); loved this lounge area and could see this on the beach next to the dance floor! (Stylist Events).

Middle Row, loved this sunshine artwork (Michelle Geller); great yellow/black votives (Pepper Mags); heart heart this black lantern/yellow lamp motif (Lili Vieira de Carvalho).

Bottom row, fab shoes underneath a white dress! (Christian Lou Boutin); Underneath the shoes we have this great yellow/black lantern and yellow lamp (More Ways to Waste Time); heart heart this lighting affect (think dance floor dear brides!) (Project Wedding); and great inspirational wrapping paper ... top yellow cherry blossoms (Ph Designshop); bottom elegance found at The Cinderella Project.

As if trying to convince you that yellow is a GREAT color for a wedding wasn't hard enough, I've set my sights on another inspiration for next week ... perhaps July is mission impossible month ;).

Belated and Then Some!

I thought this would be a relaxing summer but I've been oh so wrong! But I'm back on the bandwagon now dear brides and promise oodles of good stuff from now on ;).

First, a big shout out goes to Rebecca who was married waaaayy back June 6th! Also, we found photos of Danielle's maracas.

Rebecca

Rebecca wanted one of our most famous designs the "lacy romance". So, that's what we did, along with "shake me at the kiss" tags.

Danielle

And, harking back to the Zen and Not so Zen blog, we finally found a not so great photo of her maracas ;).

Next week I think we might have an example of Isabel's huppah but, if not, I will do a design board (delinquent I know I know!).

Elegant Beachside Wedding!

Well, the 2008/2009 wedding season has come to a close and we ended it on a wonderful high note! This bride and groom were so awesome to work with and so very gracious and the biggest shout out goes to Britt & Aaron who were married last Saturday at Dreams!

Britt is training to be an architect, so she had a very fine eye for detail and a real passion for textures - we exchanged over 180 emails over the course of 9 months! What made working with Britt so much fun was her passion for all of the above, yet a complete willingness to let me work organically, the way I work best, and because of that I was able to really create something fun and unique!

THE INVITE

Britt's invites were super cool - unfortunately, I don't have the complete invite she sent me because I had to give pieces of it away here and there (to Memo from Charme for the color of the cake, to the owner of our arts and craft store for the color of the ribbon, etc.!) but the first photo was the invite idea and the scanned photo was the actual invite. Her actual invite came in a really awesome transparent envelope with the same red coral design, super cool!

THE DESIGN BOARD

This was the design board I worked off of to find the materials I needed for their design. Some were pictures Britt had sent me, or selected from our private online gallery or things I'd found on the internet after I understood the look and feel Britt was going for. Her colors were acqua blue, white and touches of red and silver (although her bridesmaid's wore mango!).

THE BOUQUETS

Knowing how much Britt loved texture and had requested flowers a little different than the norm, I made her bouquet with red anthuriums, red peonies, red roses and berries. Each of her bridesmaids had a different bouquet - some with white anthuriums, some with orchids and calla lillies, some with white roses and delphiniums, mums, tuberose, ranunculus - you get the idea! I wanted a peek of color in the wraps to represent the touches that were in the wedding. I'm quite happy with the result! :)

THE CEREMONY

We wanted to keep the ceremony fairly simple, to really emphasize the beautiful ocean and beach and the rocky enclave in the background. Britt & Aaron wisely chose silver chiavari chairs. We had a white petal ceremony aisle and then edged that with gerbers, as Aaron's favorite flower were daisies! Britt had first requested palm frond fans but I told her I think we could do something even better and I do believe Omar created something super beautiful with the red fans and white bird/sunset cut-outs! A whole head of a rose was encased in acqua blue netting for rose petal throwing later and Britt requested some reserved seating, so we created signs based on her invite.

SHOES OPTIONAL

At the end of the wooden walkway, we set-up a washing feet area, complete with citrus scented water which we had put ice in earlier in the day to make sure that guests could cool down. Chocolate brown pitchers accented in blue were set nearby to pour water and a basket if towels in white and acqua blue were set nearby to dry. The area was also decorated with tuberose, white roses and delphiniums.

GUEST WISHES AND COCKTAIL

Guests made their way to the Gazebo where 4 cocktail tables draped in acqua chiffon and tied with red ribbon were waiting along with platters of cheeses. Tucked in the corner was a sign for Guest Wishes and little cards for guests to fill-out. I wanted to do something entirely different, so the cards requested that the guests choose a date they would like the couple to comply with their wish (hopefully something romantic!) ... the guests then sealed the cards with a silver sticker and dropped into a bowl filled with orchids and coral.

TEQUILA TASTING LOUNGE

In one corner of the transparent tent (in case it rained and also for the dance floor, which we are getting to!) we set-up a lounge area with 4 of the most popular tequilas. Talavera shot glasses were on display for drinking and doubled as favors. Signs were created to explain the different kinds of tequila, so guests would have some background information. I had already bought the fabric when Britt wrote and asked me to please not make the pillows matchy matchy, which made me laugh as I promised her I wouldn't ;). White pillows were decorated with mother of pearl beads, red and white wavy lines represented a touch of red (and in keeping with the bride's love of the idea of waves without incorporating something beachy) and my favorite pillows had acqua netting over white with red birds - a nod to the bride's invite which had two birds on the back. There were also silver textured vases and acqua painted blue candles!

THE RECEPTION

We covered the tables with acqua chiffon and placed silver napkins accented with red ribbon and mother of pearl - also doubling as necklace favors which guests donned later in the evening. Glass vases filled with coral and exotic red flowers (anthuriums, ginger, roses, heliconia, etc.) and, in-between, hand-painted vases with different scenes of red birds, coral, and sunsets. Placecards were modeled after RSVP's which had a sunset and wavy lines representing the ocean with guest's names and where they were from.

THE DANCE FLOOR

My absolute favorite was the dance floor .... Britt wanted guests to have the feeling of dancing under the ocean so we created an area with hanging orchids, roses and casablancas with cracked glass vases and a white fringe chandelier decorated with sparkling crystals. I think the pictures really speak for themselves.

THE CAKE

Again, copying the idea of waves with the blue and white lines in the cake, off-set with orchids and hand-created red birds swooping along. It also happened to be delicious (I got a little piece!).

A SPECIAL SURPRISE

When I'm creating, I come up with all kinds of questions - some of which the answers are incorporated into the design. When I read Britt's response to my question as to how she and Aaron had their first date, I could tell that it was a very, very magical moment for her. So, I asked Britt to have Aaron please send me his version of their first date - which involved Aaron making sundaes for her and her sister. I then created a little card in their words about their first date and asked Dreams if they could also send out chocolate sundaes along with the cake when it was cut and the little card. Well, it happened even better than I imagined because, right before they cut the cake, Britt's sister gave her toast - and it was ALL about their first date and the sundaes Aaron had made! As she was talking, waiters were bringing out the sundaes - I would love to say I had orchestrated that, but it was truly fate! When guests returned to their tables, they found the cake, the sundaes and the cards. The expression on Britt's and Aaron's faces when they say the surprise made that the cherry on top of a beautiful night!

BEAUTIFUL NIGHT

THE BOSS

Now you know who the "real" brains of this operation is! ;)

I have a few more maraca orders to show you and then it's back to design inspirations all summer long before the start of the 2009/2010 wedding season which looks like it will be a really good one!

Zen and not so Zen....

A big shout out goes to Danielle who was married yesterday in Las Caletas! I was going to show off the maracas, of course, but somebody stole my camera with the photos in them (NOT so zen!)! So, you'll have to use your imagination. However, I didn't want to NOT blog and congratulate Danielle.

These were her cool invites (the Zen!) and the maracas were based on them!

On another note, Britt's wedding on saturday was fab and we should have pics this week and we'll be all ready for show 'n tell ... then it's back to design inspirations all summer long!!

Tropical Flowers and Palm Trees...

A big shout-out goes to Allie (married May 22nd at the Riu) and Yanell (married May 23rd in Careyes)!! Although these two brides didn't know each other, both had chocolate brown and a tropical theme in their weddings!


TROPICAL FLOWERS
Allie first came to us just wanting something super simple and asked to choose a design we had already created. But, once we saw her invites, we knew we could do better than that!

Allie's Invite

Utilizing the colors in the invite and inspired by the flower, this is what Omar came-up with!

PALM TREES

Yanell had a palm tree motif in mind which I knew we could do easily. What came as a surprise was the color - she wanted the main color sage. I thought that would be super simple, especially since she sent me (via computer) a color sample. But, when I printed the sample, what printed out and was on the screen did not match AT ALL! Because the order was so soon to the date, I didn't have a lot of time to go back and forth. So, we had to make our best guess as to "sage" .... I was nail biting up until we received a wonderful email from our bride informing us that they loved the maracas and everything was hunky dory! :)

Yanell's Sample

And the winning color and palm trees!

Next week we'll have photos of the wedding we have been working sooo hard on for months and months! We've come-up with some fab ideas and I can't wait to put them all together for our bride!

Bridesmaid Dresses that REALLY can be worn again!

Still planning big design board surprise but have wedding first so here are more dresses! :)


I've been to a lot of weddings down here and probably can count on my hand the number of bridesmaid dresses I really do think will be worn again (and that work well in the heat and humidity!). When I look for dresses like these I ask the question "could I wear flip-flops with this?" .... if the answer is "yes", it's a keeper! (Keep in mind I didn't say WHAT KIND of flip flops ;)).


So, here are some dresses (and some places) I think would work well down here and most of these won't break most banks!

More Formal

I thought I would start with this category, since I found less I liked here - NOT that I think you shouldn't go formal, if you want - just that I think finding a good formal dress that is also a good beach dress is not as easy as it sounds!

First up, love these bridesmaid combos I found over at PerfectBound. Light, airy, formal, distinct - just really great.

Runner-up is this taupe dress I found at Anthropologie. Similar, of course, to the dresses up above ;).

Worth a mention - Still short, but completely different style is this flapper-inspired dress at New York and Company. Again, I'm thinking "light, airy"...

A Bit More Casual

So, going a bit more casual, love this brown dress from Anthropologie. It has sortof an ethnic vibe to it and I can see bridesmaids all standing in line with bouquets of white flowers breathlessly waiting to hear you say "We do!" ;).

Second Runner-up in this category is this sleeveless patterned dress, also from Anthropologie. I definitely think you have to be careful with patterns, but I think this one isn't a bad pattern - would be nice to have 1 or 2 bridesmaid's in this dress with the other bridesmaid's in complimenting colors/styles.

Beachy Yet Elegant

Of course, you know I saved my heart hearts for last!

Second runner up - Comes in more than one color, just a very simple, flowy strapless from Victoria's Secret.

First Runner-Up - Again, patterned dresses - I found these two in completely two different places and realized later their patterns were similar! Guess I know what I like! ;) I love the long, flowy nature of these dresses - can see them as great dresses for walking the beach at sunset. First dress from New York and Company, second dress from Forever21.

Second Place - I know it sortof has a 70's thing going on, but I just like the look of this fabric - if it feels the way it looks, I bet this is one fun dress to party in! (Victoria's Secret)

Before showing you my number one pick for bridesmaid dresses, I thought I would show you a bride dress/bridesmaid dress combo that I think would be awesome for a bride who wants to go more natural, carefree. I found these dresses at JCrew and would LOVE to see one of you decide to go for some yellow. Yellow rocks!

And now, drum roll please, the number one bridesmaid dress comes from....Victoria's Secret! Not only does this dress come in multiple colors, but you can wear the SAME dress in multiple styles - so, same color for your bridesmaids (if you want) but they can do it in a style that most flatters them! winwin!!

I have NO IDEA what I'm blabbing about next week so I won't even pretend to try - but I'm sure it will wedding related ;).