2 Pesos - Stamps Can be Marvelous Things!

A big shout out goes to K8 who tied the knot last Friday! I wanted to go but I had a teething baby to contend with and, just like the rest of you, must wait for wedding photos.... but, meanwhile, here is a little preview of a few little goodies we put together for her....

Kate wanted something that was romantic but distinctive to go along with her aqua/red motif so I went searching the internet for inspiration and I gave Kate her choice of various designs. This is the one she chose...

Kate's Design Inspiration

As fate would have it, she had a girlfriend who actually owned this stamp! So, she was able to have her friend make welcome bag tags and ceremony programs using the stamp motif. They looked like this:

Stamped Ceremony Programs and Tags

(not done by us but super kewl anyway!)

I had the task of making the stamp into a useable graphic which was a fun challenge! I erased and colored away and put touches of the stamp into her menus, place cards and shake me tags for her maracas. They looked like this...

Menus

Place Cards

Shake Me Tags!

And, finallly, Omar and I discussed what would look best and came-up with the following design which I think really takes the cake! He's so crazy talented!!

Maracas

Next week will be a full on blog on the color scheme of red, orange and teal, submitted by a BDW bride!

2 Pesos - Starfish unlike any other...

A big shout out goes to Joy & Derrick who were married this past January 17th! I am sure they are honeymooning it away in style in the Riviera Maya!!!

Joy came to me last September and wanted some maracas which somehow could combine her super kewl, slightly beachy STDS with her more romantic, whimsical invites (I was told both were done by Sarah Sprouille of Sprouille Designs!).

Joy's Super Kewl STDS

Joy's Whimsical Invites

Her colors were chocolate brown, celadon (even I had to look that one up!!) and yellow gold. Omar and I put our heads together and this is what we came-up with...

Joy's Super Kewl, Whimsical Maracas!

My favorite part of this maraca is the handle - I thought it would be great to have the design repeated on the handle and I love how Omar managed to pull it off :):)!!

Since I believe we need to wait until after her wedding before revealing a bride's design, next Tuesday we have K8's blue, red and white wedding project which was also super fun!

Sign on the dotted line...

Well, I bet you thought I'd fallen off the face of the earth but, no, I've just been extremely busy my dear brides and coordinators! I'll be able to show you some of the projects I've been working on soon, but, in the meantime, here's something I thought was super fun - alternative Guest Book ideas! I'm not a huge fan of a guest book and sign on the line please, so I wanted to try to find other, fun alternative ideas. Some of these ideas have been out there for a while and, while still fun, don't give me the goose pimples that some of these new, more original ideas have done!

TRIED AND TRUE

Well, I think these 3 ideas have been out there for a bit and, while they aren't truly my favorites, I think, for the right bride, they are still good ideas. On the left we have a signed picture frame for guests to sign their name and some wishes - the idea of which, of course, is that you will later put one of your wedding photos inside to be displayed (Brides Treasures). In the middle, we have a signed platter - I liked this one because it was a little different than just a typical white platter (The Unique Monogram). And last, of course, the signed floral vase (In a Pink Box).

The rest of these I think deserve their very own space!

TEN-ISH

Polaroids/Photo Area

I put this down as number 10, not because I don't love love it (which I DO DO!) but because it lies on the border of the tried and true ... that's Polaroids ... I've seen this done a couple of times at weddings and guests always get a kick out of props and playing around - making things fun fun! The parasols were found at The Bride and Groom and the fun background collage at Style Me Pretty.

NINE

Caricature Portrait

A slight take-off of the picture frame idea is this caricature done of the bride and groom and then guests signing around it - I think this is a great idea for Vallarta because we have a number of popular caricature artists right on the malecon - so it's something you can do when you arrive and, wa-la, quick, easy guest book idea! (Caricatures Ireland) I had a quick, second idea for this - I think, for a smaller group, what fun it would be to have a caricature artist do portraits of your guests and then either take a polaroid with the portrait and the (polaroid for you - the portrait for them as a favor) OR have them sign the potrait and, later, when you get home, scan their portraits for your book and send them back to your guests with a thank you note.

EIGHT

Artistic Guest Book

(but done in a different way!)

I know, I know - I'm not a big fan of books - but I love the retro/artsy look of this one - and, in my head, you fill it with cool stuff - like postcards of vallarta with guests signed signatures or something! (BridalWave TV)

SEVEN

Vintage Book

I think what a fun idea for those who love to read - So, you take a vintage book or an oldie but goodie, or perhaps a coffee book about Vallarta or Mexico or one of your favorite poems - the sky's the limit! - and then you have guests sign the book at your wedding. Sortof like a yearbook, but much more stylish ;). (Wrens Nest)

SIX

Poster

I'm a big fan of artistic posters - I've only purchased a few, but I'm super picky - I like ones that are colorful, yet portray the place I am visiting. This is a more scroll/poster idea but I also like using perhaps a poster that you both really love - either of the place you got married, or a photo that you both adore (or perhaps an artistic photo of the two of you!)...oodles of ideas here! (Live Journal)

FIVE

Puzzles

For the puzzle lover what could be better than a puzzle guest book! Of course, if you lose one of the pieces.... (MGC Puzzles)

FOUR

Photo Collage

An off-shoot of the Polaroid idea, you have your guests taken a Polaroid and sign it and then make a photo collage later which you display. (Pickos)

THREE

Framed Wallpaper

I'm not entirely sure what I think of this idea but it was so truly original and creative, I just had to put it! You buy wallpaper (Graham & Brown), put a cardboard backing, place it in a frame put a bunch of color pens and wa-la guest book! (Wedding Blogdig)

TWO

Guest Cards

I mentioned postcards up above, which I do think could be a great poster/scrapbook idea - these are guest cards that you have guests fill-out something personal about you and your groom and later place it in a book. I believe this original idea is from Guest Book, but I found this at Greg & Cailin.

ONE

Personal Photo Book

So, you are probably wondering what made it to numero uno! I'm a HUGE HUGE (did I mention the HUGEST EVER?!!) fan of photos so I was in love with this photo book idea from first sight - if you've had engagement photos taken, you bring your book and have guests sign your book. I heart this... (Marta and Dewayne)

I've decided during the busy season that 6 blogs is too much - so I will be doing 4 blogs a month and one of those will be a 2 pesos ... I love hearing from you, so thank you for your emails and I will get to your questions soon, I promise!

2 Pesos - Undies...

Hello my dear brides! I'm sure you are probably wondering what on earth I'm talking about NOW ... I PROMISE when the holidays are over I will be back to my old wedding and event self, but first I wanted to tell you about a tradition we do over here on New Year's Eve, that actually I started doing when I lived up top, i.e. the good US of A!

UnderWear

So, it's related to your undies, i.e. underwear, i.e. in Spanish "calzones" (you should have heard everyone laugh when I told them one time I wanted to make calzones for dinner ... whole other meaning over here!). I don't know who started this tradition, but it goes like this: on New Year's Eve you wear either yellow underwear for work, red underwear for love, green for money and white underwear for luck. They must be a gift given to you (you don't buy it yourself), so hubby and I usually give each other our theme for the year in our stockings :). I know it sounds CRAZY but I've been doing it since the first year I met my husband (and the next year we tied the knot, so to speak!). Now, I'm not saying it's the underwear for sure but I figure it can't hurt!

Juicy Couture

GRAPES

The other tradition is related to grapes. Each guest gets 12 grapes to represent each month and, at midnight, you eat each one and make a wish for the upcoming year. We have a full house this year so we will be buying oodles of grapes!

Los Miller Blogspot

So, if you want to incorporate a little Latin flavor into your New Year's Eve tomorrow, I say go for it and I wish you all the best, most beautiful upcoming year (and weddings!).

Again, any questions or comments re: weddings, anything wedding or Puerto Vallarta related, just post me a line to amishkadesigns@yahoo.com with "two pesos" in the subject heading!

2 Pesos - Happy Holidays!!

I will be back to my normal programming soon, I promise dear brides! For many of you, someone else is the official "Christmas maker/going home to" in your family but for me and my family here, on this side of the border, I AM that person and it's a lot of work!

In the meantime, enjoy the holiday season with your loved ones - for many of you this will be your last Christmas as a "single" person or for some this may be your first Christmas as a married woman! For me, this is my first Christmas as a mom and it is sweet! Feliz Navidad, my dear brides and coordinators and a happy happy new year!

TwitterPated...Tweet Tweet!

I first stumbled across this a while back and thought it was a great idea - but must admit that I would prefer to take it a little less literal. But, anyways, this is where the inspiration for Love Birds came from - these two great collages. The first from Best Wedding Sites and the second from Tastefully Entertaining.

INSPIRATIONS

PRINT

Let's start with print, a very good place to start ;). I love this first design, even if I'm not terribly enamored with the colors which was found at MindyWagner. Underneath it we have this beautiful 3-D invite (Letterperfect) and next to it a very organic/artistic invite found at Wedding Bee. Underneath that we have a more 1930's place card approach (Wedding Bee), this beautiful red/gold rendition from H2Cards and last but not least this more scrapbook crafty appeal from Shazanne Crafts.

TABLES AND THINGS

I love love this floral, organic centerpiece which I stumbled across at June Bug Weddings. Underneath it we have this ornate birdcage surrounded by flowers found at Joyful Weddings and Events as well as this fun, playful place setting also found there in the middle up top. Down below a very Autumn/nature feel at Wedding Bee and what Love Bird wedding would be complete without it's share of nests! From top to bottom: Joyful Weddings and Events, Isn't She Lovely and Here Comes the Guide.

ODDS 'N ENDS

I also heart heart this pink lovebird up top from The Handcrafted Wedding. There's just something sweet yet sassy about her! Up top we have these fun bird napkin rings (Kaboodle), down below this fun bird mint tin (Wedding Things) and wooden birds ordaining the ceremony aisle (IStockPhoto). Love bird garter (Etsy - a Pete Rene Design), birdcage down below and very large (almost larger than the flower girl!) flower girl basket (Wedding Bee) .

CAKES

Ahhhh - ceramic love bird topper (Wedding Resources) followed by a yellow/brown love bird cake (Joyful Weddings and Events). Birds nest with roses (1812 Hitching Post) and my FAV this beautiful cake which was a take on the invites found at Pink Cake Box. I also like this very artistic take with the bright blue and bird accents from Isn't She Lovely.

That's all she wrote folks - I have oodles of ideas for next month's blog but not sure which one I've settled on yet, so it will be a surprise to me too!

2 Pesos - Posadas, etc....

Well, one of you did write me re: a topic and I PROMISE to get to it because it's a good one ... but this time of year my head is full of three things - upcoming weddings, maracas AND CHRISTMAS! I Love Love Love Love (did I say "Love"?!) Christmas. And Vallarta, IMHO, is THE place to be at Christmas time. I already told you about the Virgin de Guadalupe (which we just finished - I went downtown 3 times to eat my fill of tamales and atole - yum yum!!). So, now I wanted to tell you about Posadas!

Technically, the Posada is a Catholic tradition here in Mexico and Latin America. I participated in a traditional one when I lived in Mexico City. So, what the Posada is suppose to be is a representation of the troubles the biblical Mary and Joseph had in finding an inn - children go from house to house asking for lodging and being refused until they get to the house where the party is. There's a bunch of recitation that goes back and forth and, then, finally they let the kids in, they swing at a pinata and everyone eats tamales and "punche" (some sort of fruit punch with a wee bit of "spike" to it). If you want the whole lowdown, this has a great breakdown of the story: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Las_Posadas.

In Vallarta, however, Posada, for the most part, stands for "Christmas Party." I know North Americans have somewhat of a tradition of returning to the family for Christmas but here it's taken super seriously. So, in order to celebrate with your friends and co-workers there is the Posada! Starting from Dec 12th onward Vallarta is a crazy, crazy whirlwind of Posadas and Christmas Cocktails. Just this week alone we've been invited to 4!! Anyway, because of that, it's hard to find anybody to do anything - everyone is in a festive, merry spirit and most of the coordinators will tell you that business pretty much comes to a halt until after Jan 2nd.

I thought I would just share with you some of the photos of the street decor I saw while out and about (which I took just for you, btw!) as well as the Santa set-up in our one and only "mall", Liverpool.

If you were here, I would be making you cookies like I will be doing this weekend - here's a photo to show you up what my kitchen will look like this weekend!

I AM working on the regular blog - just so much to do! But I will get it up tonight or tomorrow, I promise!! Again, any questions re: weddings, wedding decor, etiquette, Puerto Vallarta, etc. just send me an email with "2 pesos" in the subject line and I promise to get to it! amishkadesigns@yahoo.com.