It's Getting a Little Hairy In Here!

Well, I know I don't typically ever get to help anyone with their style, but I do love hair styles - some of these I've actually had done myself for parties (meaning I had someone do it TO my hair, not ME actually doing it with my own two hands!).

There's something to be said for a simple, sophisticated do. I really love the soft braid/waves in this first picture and this retro look I think would be super chic with a feather and a little jeweled clip. Underneath we have these great semi-bee hives, although of the three, I think I like Sarah Jessica Parkers the best.

Still going with the "less is more" theme, we have this really amazing braided do up top. I really love this middle do with braid underneath the bun - I think the combination is really striking. And, lastly, a combination of braid and wavy curls, worn by Heidi Klum.

Alright, now we're getting to the good stuff! After scouring the web, I realized I'm an adornment kind of girl, so you'll have to excuse me if so many of these photos have THINGS in the hair! We'll start by Going Greek! I had this done for a party (by Elle Salon here in Vallarta) and it turned out fabulous with gold ribbon I brought from the States - I can easily see this done for a bride, with the right ribbon/jewels. Top left, we have silver string with pretty jewels, in the middle we have my favorite Grecian hair example - when you look close you can see a combination of pretty ribbons, and I love the Grecian look with curls at the end of this row. Underneath, pretty silver ribbons, and double black headband with teased look.

Moving onto flowers in the hair - something quite popular down here by the ocean! I like the simplicity of these miniature roses in the first picture, I think this sculptural hair do is interesting (although not sure how practical it would be for a wedding), I heart heart this floral creation but am a little concerned as to how it would hold-up down here in the humidity! On the bottom row, I think this very simple, wavy hair style is a very classic by the ocean do and love the feel of it. I think the middle floral french braid is very different and could be very striking (those are not real flowers). And I think this last photo is very smooth and classic.

I had to do a section on tiaras. I had a tiara, although it certainly wasn't what I had planned on or thought I would do but, then, ended-up falling-in love with one and just had to have it! I think this first photo is very romantic and whimsical and the next photo has a real nice, soft look to it as well. On bottom, I think this is a great look for a short-hair bride. And last, I know this isn't probably a tiara, but a clip, but it COULD be a tiara and, anyway, I think this is also a great look for a short hair bride.

Of course, I saved my favorite section for last. These are actually what inspired me to do a blog on this in the first place - clips! Oh how I adore thee! I heart heart this first hair style - I'm not sure what it is I love about it the most - I like the combination of curls and braid and pretty clips - I think this would look great with a veil down below. I think this middle hair style with clips is also great, but I don't think a veil would look good for it - those clips would definitely replace a veil. And the last picture in this row is also great - brings back a 1940's, 1950's vibe - super fun! I would have loved to see how this hair style (silver bun) looked like from the front, but couldn't find a picture. This next picture is also a really great bun with a few little pearl pins. Great side ponytail with clips, although I don't think it would be for me - I would be too worried about getting hot; also LOVE these clips on the red hair do and love the hair do - although, again, I'm not sure how well that would hold-up as the night goes on; and lastly, I love this hairdo and big floral sparkly clip - something I think would look well with a veil or not.

Next week I'm going to do a design board on a really odd color combination (olive, pink and blue!), but I think it's going to look amazing!

Yeah for the Red, Orange and Teal!

I bet you thought this post would never come! I was starting to wonder myself ... well, here it is. I know the color is officially "teal" but some of the blues in this post are - well, not exactly teal - so use your imagination!

PRINTED MATERIALS

This was one thing there was a plethora of in this color combo. On the far left we have orange menu on orange napkin on top of blue glass plate (The Knot); next I'm not sure what these were used for but I think they could make some really great invites (Elizabeth Anne Designs); and at the end of this row I LOVE this orange flower combo with blue ink printed menu - very chic! (Tastefully Entertaining). Next row we have these blue and white whimsical flowers which I heart (J Creations) and this way bold/modern red/teal invite from Pink Lily Press.

The two patterns (in blue and fuchsia and olive and orange) are from Paper Laces. I know this box and napkin really could have been under favors or something like that and, while love the combo, also really loved the print (even if it's small and hard to see - you get the idea!) found at Project Wedding. I heart heart the last invite on this row - I love the blue design, large orange flower and the texture - super amazing! (Tastefully Entertaining). I think the word overlay on top of this orange invite is also a pretty swell idea (Tanger Greetings); teal monograms still very hip (Pink Design Events). Really pretty blue cards (The Knot); of course am always a big fan of swirls and dips and curlies (E Bride Connect); great large orange flower invite (Pink Lily Press) and last, but never least, I love when there are combos - when a design is taken and there are elements of that design but not the exact design and I think this invite set really captures that (Favor Ideas)!!

CENTERS and BOUQUETS

This was not an easy color combination to find good photos - which is always fun to me to actually create IRL, because you know you're doing something a wee bit out of the ordinary! I imagine this first photo (Grand Tradition Estate) with teal napkins and teal wine glasses! Can you see it?!! Favor boxes are next and, while not a big fan of fake flowers (actually no fan at all), I actually do see the beauty in this idea (Budget Dream Weddings). I really like this bouquet - I like the greenery combined with the orange roses and the red berries. Add a teal wrap and, wa-la, awesome! (Wedding Bouquets). At bottom we have blue glasses with orange flowers for centerpieces (add some red flowers for a bit more spice!) at E Bride Connect. Very interesting red roses/feather center - in a teal box with some orange accents would be quite striking (Project Wedding). And lastly this is a great shades of orange bouquet which could quite easily have some red accents and still get the same effect (The Knot).

CAKES

By now I'm sure you know how much I HEART cakes! I do realize this white cake isn't blue, orange OR teal, but I love the accent of white throw in there with all that color and I love this cake and it's my blog, so there! ;) (Tastefully Entertaining). Next we have this really unique blue and red cake (add a strip of orange ribbon and all your colors are there!) (Pink Cake Box). At bottom we have a very interesting blue with orange textured/patterned cake (E Bride Connect) and lastly, teal and chocolate brown (which could very easily be teal and red with an orange overlay on the cake table) from Favor Ideas.

KEWL STUFF

Okay, so I admit I've been stumbling over myself to get to this design board! I can't really define why but I heart heart these shoes with a wedding dress - it's just a fantastic touch (The Knot). I hesitate to put this because I don't like putting in things that we probably can't get here in Vallarta, but pic and idea is fab - I love boxes of all kinds and I think this retro blue box is awesome and I would love to get that as a favor at a wedding! (Once Wed) Ya'all know I love wraps and this one is no exception (Elizabeth Anne Designs). This invite is just "wow" - imagine teal where it's gray and red stones where there are white stones (haha! this is how I think all the time!) (Social Frog)... Of course blue fans rock - especially if they had a red design painted on them! (The Knot) Blue china is just awesome - can be done here, but expensive (Kim Vallee); up above we have this great blue/orange flower garter (Project Wedding) and underneath these stamps - heart heart heart! (Zazzle) Lastly, love sassy bridesmaids with great blue dresses, red bouquets and red shoes! (Project Wedding)

Next week might be tackling hair, believe it or not - not something I get asked about often, but love anyway .... OR I might share some sneak peeks of one of the wedding designs that has kept me from posting :).

Chocolate and Ivy Lacy romance....

Don't chastise me, dear brides and coordinators - we've been super busy working on an upcoming wedding which is turning out AMAZING - but as a result, I'm horribly delinquent writing to you! A BIG shout out goes to Scott and Carrie who were married April 11th in Las Caletas!

INVITES

As a twist, both the bride and groom got into the maraca deciding action, as they chose which design they liked best. They did send us their invites which we loved and were excited to copy, but really wanted the Lacy Romance design which we have done before as an example.

CHOCOLATE AND IVORY LACY ROMANCE

We also did little name/date/location tags which Omar freehanded into the computer and I played around with to look just so! I'm pretty pleased with it, if I do say so myself!

As we have a slight lull in the action, I will be posting ideas again - I miss them too and I've been collecting things I've seen online just to share with you - just haven't had the time! So, I will do my best to make a big blog full of ideas to say "thank you" for checking-in even when I've been a bad blogger! Ya'all rock!!

Copper Lillies and near Talavera April Fools!

Hello dear brides and coordinators! A BIG SHOUT out goes to Jen who was married (by me, no less!) April 1st and to Megan who tied the knot April 3rd ... and nearly got an accidental belated April Fool's joke!

Copper Lillies

We met with Jen when she came down on an earlier trip - a real down-to-earth bride with an easy smile! She sent us her very own design board as an example of what she would like to see on her maracas.

Jen's Design Board

After talking about it, we discussed with Jen that we were a little worried that the tone of copper she picked might not be the right tone on a maraca - so we switched the background color to ivory and the design to copper and this is how it turned out!

Jen's Maracas

Jen also wanted a huppah - she had read the blog about huppahs written by Vallarta's very own Tamara of Incredible Weddings, and sent us pictures. The day we went to put her huppah up it was very very windy - so, in order for things not to flap around we needed to tie them down fairly well. This is the example and her huppah!

Jen's Huppah

Talavera April Fools

Megan really liked the talavera example we had on created before for our photo shoot but we wanted to do something a little different. I asked Omar to create a different pattern but didn't like the look of it so I asked him to do something based on the talavera design example we had used before. I normally don't have time to send maraca photos to brides before I send them off, because we work right up to the due date. But this time I took a picture and sent it to Megan - only to figure out that the colors were wrong! Omar had mixed-up two of the orders!! Luckily, Megan caught the mistake (and was sweet enough to say she would accept them the way they were - but I would have none of that - her wedding colors were turquoise blue NOT turquoise green and that's a big difference!).

April Fool Maraca

While this is not something I would ever like to happen again, I do think the added color gave a better definition to her maracas and they turned out better than they would have the first time around!

Megan's Maracas

Inspiration to April Fools to Megan's Maracas!

I've been working on some beautiful designs for an end of April/beg of May wedding and end of May wedding but I promise I do still have the design board I promised eons ago and will post that next week as we have a small break in the favor congo line!

Beachy with Class!

A big shout out goes to Brit who was married last Saturday in Las Caletas! We did a whole set of things for her, as you will see - all super fun!

INSPIRATION

Brit did send us her invites but told me she didn't really want something based off the invites (other than the colors) - after discussing it a bit as to what she would like to see, I remembered an invite that I loved which was very colorful but super kewl - Brittloved it too and, thus, started our inspiration for her wedding sets!

Maracas

The first thing Brit ordered were the maracas. She wanted the colors of yellow, orange and an orchid/fuschia color. We decided to put the white tiger lily on it for the biggest effect and this is how they turned out!

MARACA TAGS & NAMES/DATE/LOCATION

The bride really wanted to have the names/date/location on the maracas but it was a little over her budget - so, instead, we offered to do tags on some and she decided to do the print on others. The inspiration for these tags (and, as you will see, the place cards as well) came as I was struggling to find something that would be beachy but not too "beachy" - I wanted something artistic, yet also classical when I ran across this graphic image and realized it was perfect! On the other side of the tags I put a tiger lilly water color and I really like the effect. Also taking oodles of time was the font - I must have looked at over 100 different fonts before deciding this was IT! And you thought picking a dress was hard! :)

PLACE CARDS

When I asked Brit how she would like her place cards she was really laid back and basically told me to just do something kewl!! So, I thought place cards on the forks would look nice (and as I knew the wedding was outside at Las Caletas, I thought that would ensure that they wouldn't blow away). I really liked how they came out - as I was playing with font colors I accidentally did the two-tone and decided there was some kewl factor there!

HAND PAINTED FANS

We were just going to do sandalwood fans with ribbon and accents but, when we went to order the fans, it turns out that they are stuck in Mexican customs right now and nobody in Vallarta had any! So, we had to do some quick thunking and we suggested to Brit that we could do some fans based on the same theme as the maracas with a slight twist and she agreed! I'm actually glad it turned out this way because I think they turned out awesome - actually a product of my husband, rather than Omar!

Next week we have Megan's maracas to share ... we've been so busy and I promise I've been scouting the web for ideas - but they have mostly been for my bride's weddings and, of course, must keep those under wraps until we unveil! If you are eager for me to get back to cool decor ideas I will be back to that at the end of April when we have a little break before we go into May and are oodles busy!

Lovebirds and the Tropics....

We've been incognito but not lazy! A big congratulations goes to Gilda and Jade - both of whom were married this last Friday the 13th! I'm very fond of Friday the 13th as it was also the day I got married!

LOVEBIRDS

Gilda first asked me to do some fans with the swirl, similar to previous blog postings, but in her colors of white and silver (white, silver and a touch of red were her colors!). But, then, she told us that lovebirds had a real meaning to them and they would like to include it somehow, if they could. This was the information she sent us....

So, Omar and I put our heads together and decided to combine the swirl idea with the lovebirds and this is what resulted!

Tropical Flowers

Jade sent us her invites and wanted to know if we could do something similar in her colors of fuschia and orange.

I told her that, when you put a strong color on top of another strong color you need a lighter color to balance it out. So, she decided to do half orange and half pink with a white design and this is what Omar pulled out of his hat!

Next week we have Britt's design - it's completely unique, not like anything I've ever done before, so hopefully you'll tune back in and see how it turns out!

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!