Mishka Designs

Awesome - thanks for sharing! I need stuff like this from time to time

Quote: Originally Posted by froggie1013 I did a search for this and few things popped up, but not whole lot. I'm getting married at a private villa, so we have the pool all to ourselves. I'm looking for some ideas for decorations in and around the pool area for an evening/night time reception. I really need pictures because I'm definitely a visual person. TIA. We usually float lanterns, although we've been known to float birdcages with candles in them . You can either go to my gallery or I have a set of photos available on flickr. Flickr: Mishka Designs' Photostream You might also try a search on the wedding bee ... Favorite Wedding Resources Weddingbee The Wedding Blog. Any questions, lemme know!

Quote: Originally Posted by norskheather Hi everyone, So now that the hard part is over and we've chosen the destination, I have to start on the decorating. My fiancee and I would like an elegant theme, but we are getting married on the beach in the Dominican and our reception is at a poolside terrace, so we would like it to be casual-elegant (does that even exist?). Does anyone have ideas of colour schemes or themes outside the normal shell, sand castle, etc? Thanks so much! It does exist!! ... First, I have a gallery, you might take a peek at with various themes. Second, here's a new event we just did that has the seashell idea incorporated into it, but not in a "seashell theme" sortof way: Mexico Chic! Wedding - a set on Flickr And, lastly, when I'm designing for someone's event, I ask them oodles of questions - what makes your event so super great and fantastic, is incorporating things that really mean something to the two of YOU personally. The types of questions I ask my brides are things like: what kind of music do you like, what kind of music do you like together, what are your favorite colors, what's your favorite vacation spot, what event did you go to that you loved and what did you like about it, etc etc etc. The point is to figure out what makes the two of you a couple and what you both love to do together - from there, your theme will emerge! And, if you want to incorporate the local culture (in your case the DR) I would do a search for photos for the DR - every day ones, cultural ones, artistic ones - so you can fusion your "couplehood" and the culture together! I think monograms are a great idea if you love monograms! If that's something that you have in your life on a daily basis. But, if it isn't, then what else do you love together? Is it travel? Is it music? Is it movies? Is it eating out? Are you a fun couple? A romantic couple? An adventurous couple? I.E. I had a couple who told me that they loved to travel and, everywhere they went, they liked to buy artistic paintings that represented the area they were at as their souvenir. So, we had an artist come and paint their ceremony as it was going on and offered little paintings of Vallarta to their guests as favors, that their guests could choose which ones they wanted. (this was all a surprise - I'm all about surprises!). It was a big hit! Another couple traveled all over the world but their favorite place was Italy. They sent me a link to their website and, through-out their gallery, were photos of them in Italy. So, I brought Italy to Mexico! We had a long, long table for their reception table with wine bottles filled with roses and old-fashioned water glasses filled with candles. I saw a water bottle that showed-up in one of their photos and took that label then graphic designed their names and information on it for the centerpieces. The sections of the table were named after places they loved to travel together. ETC ETC ETC. My point is, once you find the focal part of you as a couple, that's where your theme and colors and ideas will emerge and it will be even more special because the wedding is all about the two of you! Any questions, just let me know! :)

Quote: Originally Posted by pryzeless Thanks. Do you think this also applies to the Riviera Maya area? You know, I'm not sure. I've never been over in that area before. But what I would recommend is listening to your coordinator (if you have one) or even finding a forum for locals who live there and asking them. I'm sure the RM is the same as here - there are all sorts of coordinators and providers here and all of them want the same thing - for you to be super happy with your wedding and their work. As a designer, tents are not my favorite things but I would MUCH rather someone have a tent and be protected from the sun/rain than to have them supremely unhappy because they are sweating and wet and I would venture a guess that the providers in the RM feel the same way . However, if you were in PV, for example, I see your wedding date says October - you go back to having a 50/50 chance of it raining. If you were in PV, I would probably recommend just keeping a close eye on the weather starting at the end of September and, then, based on the history of the rains, make a decision as to whether you wanted to include a tented area or not . But, I don't know how the RM works in terms of climate.

Quote: Originally Posted by amyh Thank you Mishka! I have to admit, I am one of those brides who has been warned time and time again about the rain and "hotness" in July. I have finally gave in and will rent a tent for our reception, however, our guests will have to live through the heat during our 4pm hour long ceremony at the Parroquia de Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe. Hey at least I'm providing hand fans! LOL. You're funny! The nice thing about the church is that it's inside, so your guests won't have the sun beating down on them! And, I think, even if by some miracle it doesn't rain on your July wedding (I find that highly unlikley, but stranger things have happened , I think all of you will appreciate having some protection from the sun! The only thing I might recommend (and you might already be doing this so, if you are, just ignore me is to have cold water available to your guests after the ceremony that they can take and drink on their way to your reception.

Usually, we've recommended two different approaches to this: Approach A: 1. Bride and groom enter reception area, give first dance 2. During dinner, toasts are made 3. After dinner, cutting the cake. While cake being served, bride dance with dad/groom dance with mom followed by fun dance for all (or invite the group to join-in) 4. Sometime during middle of dance craze, bouquet and garter toss. Approach B 1. Speech by Dad to thank everyone for coming to wedding (opening up the reception) 2. Toasts during dinner 3. Cutting of the cake, while cake is being passed around, first dance by bride and groom 4. Followed by bride dance with Dad/Groom dance with mom and invite for rest to join in 5. Bouquet/garter toss We've usually recommended to not do the group party dance, until you've gotten the other dances out of the way, only because everyone starts revving up to party and it feels a little unnatural to stop everything so you can do the dances. However, it might be a good idea, if you think it would be nice to give everyone a break. party party party

Hey guys! I meet with various coordinators through-out the week and there's a common theme that runs amongst them re: brides and summer here in PV ... so, I thought I would give you the honest, low-down truth (in case you are considering a wedding in the summer). I'm sure most of you have read about how our "rainy season" starts mid-May and runs through mid-October. What that means to you is this: 1. Starting mid-May to the end of June you have a 50/50 chance of getting rained on. When a coordinator recommends covering it's to protect you as well as the coordinator. I think it's fair to not have covering, as long as your guests know that it might rain and that the area won't be covered. If your guests don't know that, personally I think it's slightly unfair to your guests. But that's just my own personal opinion. 2. Starting in June-the middle of October beach ceremonies are HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT (did I say they were hot?). Even if you're planning a 15 minute ceremony, you have to keep in mind that your guests will have to be seated before you come down the aisle. So a 15 minute ceremony easily becomes a 30-40 minute ceremony and it's grueling hot on the beach in the sun with our humidity. I'm not saying "don't have a beach ceremony" in the summer, but I just want you to really understand that it is hotter than blazes out there and what sounds romantic turns into you, your groom and everyone else sweating. You would be super surprised if you knew how many brides heard these stories before but insisted that they would be just fine and their guests would be just fine only to be 150% upset on the day of their wedding that they were so hot and uncomfortable. 3. Actually, from mid-May to mid-October you are guaranteed to sweat if you're having a beach ceremony and, more than likely, a reception without air conditioning. 4. From July-September we all GUARANTEE that it will rain on your wedding day - it rains EVERY SINGLE DAY. Usually in the afternoon starting around 3ish or so. And when it rains, it POURS. 5. It's quite possible that this downpour will make it through to mid-October. But not a guarantee. 6. If you're having your wedding here in the Summer I highly recommend that you advise your guests to drink plenty of gatorade, in addition to water. For those of you from humid climates, you already know this, but for those you from dryer climates, the humidity will suck out all your electrolytes, so you need to replenish those so you feel better! And the chances of dehydration increase in the summer with the additional problems of drinking too much alcohol . If you have any questions about any of this, please let me know! I love Vallarta and enthralled with weddings and I just want you guys to have the best possible outcome and experience, no matter where you're having your event or how you're having it. :)

Here's more info: "Club Mañana - South Side - 290 V. Carranza. Tel: 222-7772 Vallarta's newest gay club is an open-style Hacienda with dancing in the indoor air-conditioned disco as well as on the outdoor patio area. International guest performers, strippers and drag queens perform regularly. Beautifully appointed and now one of the most popular places in town with dancing inside and out. Just around the corner from club Paco Paco and down the street from the Senor Frog's store. DJs Ramses and Alex. Stripper shows nightly at 11:30 PM; inquire about other shows or special guests. Cover. Sun-Thurs, 9pm-6am; Fri and Sat, 9pm-8am "

Congratulations and welcome to the forum!!

My recommendation is that you go to the gay club "Manana". They have a stripper show sometime after midnight (I haven't been in a while, so I'll have to ask my friends for details) that lasts for about an hour or so (and the strippers are pretty H-O-T). Anyway, it's one of THE hip places to go (if you don't have a problem with the gay scene) - they have an indoor area which plays more latin pop music (and has the stripper show) and an outdoor area that plays more club/techno music. Although the club is mostly gay, you won't be alone - there are a lot of people you go there for the good music and the festive attitude.

Okay here's the deal on Villa Las Palmeras. It is a nice villa - although not as nice as some of the other villas. Like a middle of the road villa. The two drawbacks that I see to Palmeras are these: 1) the bathrooms didn't use to (as of last year - they could have changed this by now) have doors on them - they had swinging half doors (like old-time bar western movies). and 2) when we would have an event there we ALWAYS ran into the problem with them running out of water at somepoint in the evening. Now, I don't think that was so much a problem with guests just staying there and using water normally. But, when everyone was trying to get ready at the same time (thus take showers at the same time) and, then, using the bathroom all night long, it did become a problem. With that said, I think, if you know those things ahead of time, then you're better prepared and understand that part of the reason for the price being a little lower than other villas is that it's a little more rustic than other villas. But, on the other hand, the big palappa downstairs is nice and comfy and I think the pool always looked really inviting and the staff was rumored to be fantastic. And they have a great view from the upper terrace. So, that's my 2 pesos worth .

Congratulations and welcome to the forum!

Quote: Originally Posted by JaimeLynne It was difficult to find someone to speak with about having a WD there, but finally a lady came over to speak with us about it. She was speaking in Spanish so it was a little hard for me to gather everything. We exchanged cards and she said that she would send me all the info but I have yet to hear from her. Well, that's disappointing (although, unfortunately, not surprising!). Isn't it a cool place? Aside from Le Kliff, I think it has one of the most original set-ups here in Vallarta. We don't go there often (a little pricey), but when we want a special night-out, that's often where we end up .

I know you have a map that shows the resorts - but I thought I would share with you where I go whenever I need to find streets. It's my absolute favorite online PV map. Puerto Vallarta Map Maps You just use the zoom tool to zoom in and get the street names and the arrows on the side to move around the map.

Quote: Originally Posted by cuata2pink Does anybody know of a babershop in PV to cut my fiance's hair? Please let me know any info. THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Virginia I'm not ignoring you, I promise! I've just had a busy week. The place I told you about is about 5 blocks east of the Sheraton - I believe she charges $50 pesos (about $5 dollars) for a man's trim. How you get there....right across from the Sheraton there's the stadium el estadio) ... it's really a track and field with a space in the middle for soccer. The street you want runs RIGHT ALONG the stadium on the south side. It's called "Brasilia". You follow Brasilia east about 5 blocks. The salon is RIGHT ON the corner of Brasilia and Bolivia, right across from the Stadium. She's super nice - does not speak any English. Just ask her: "Cuanto cuesta (cue is the "que" sound in "question" - so "que-eh-sta") para un corte (cor-teh) para hombres?" I hope that was helpful! I didn't see any place else close by but I've been to her before (before my hubby was a stylist) and she's pretty good and her rates use to be amazing.

Congratulations and welcome to the forum!

Congratulations and welcome to the forum!

Congratulations and welcome to the forum!

Congratulations and welcome to the forum!

Quote: Originally Posted by MissLucky7Bride Mishka - I am totally inspired! I will be researching Villa Crescencia for possible wedding reception!!! You're a late night person like I am! . Villa Crescencia is a great villa!! You might also try Villa Mia, Villa Celeste (I adore this villa, but it's a more rustic, mexican style), Quinta del Mar (love this villa too, but it's HUGE), Casa Angela - maybe Villa Encanto, although that's out more in Nuevo Vallarta. Let me know if you have any questions!

Congratulations and welcome to the forum!

Congratulations and welcome to the forum!

Quote: Originally Posted by milejilo BEAUTIFUL!!! do you only do work in PV? please say you can work in RM and cancun area =) thank you =). I do only work in the state of Jalisco - with all our equipment that would be quite the drive to Cancun!! . My cousin got married a few years ago in the Cancun area (I couldn't go, unfortunately =(), and she said it was absolutely lovely!

Quote: Originally Posted by Alyssa That is a gorgeous event!! i wish you were on Big Island! Me too! I've never been to Hawaii before! Can't wait to see your pics!

It was really great! And guess what? I was WRONG - that part is suppose to fly in the sky and then fall back to the ground - only not into the crowd! There were 10 castillos and a ton of big banging sky ones -lasted about two hours ... wish you guys could have seen it .