Recap: Let’s Continue the Reviews…

Mariachi, Reviews, Vendors, Wedding

Review #2: Mariachi Espuelas de Mexico

As I previously stated here having a great mariachi was important to us and we succeeded by choosing Mariachi Espuelas de Mexico. Although we did not have a chance to truly enjoy their performance because we were whisked away by our photographers to take photos we have heard very positive feedback from all our guests. My parents are still raving about how great the mariachi sounded. My mother even said that one of her friends stated, “Now this is a mariachi!” Her friend is from Guadalajara, Mexico where she has seen and heard countless of mariachis. All the mariachi members were very polite and professional. I wish I would have taken their photo to show you how amazing they looked. Anyone in a search for a mariachi who lives in the L.A./O.C. area should definitely hire this mariachi.

Once again to refresh everyone’s memory we opted for 6 musicians and paid for 2 hours. The best part was before they left for the evening they asked if I had any request and they played my favorite one, El Mariachi Loco.

This mariachi is worth the money we paid for it and we will definitely hire them again for family event. If you don’t believe me or simply want to check them out you should go see them at Super Antojitos 1702 N. Bristol Avenue Santa Ana, CA where they perform there every Friday.

Mariachi Espuelas de Mexico

Leader Jose Luis Yanez
(714) 404-8962
y-yanez@sbcglobal.net

Recap: Let the Reviewing Begin…

DJ, Reviews, Vendors, Wedding

Let me begin by saying that we had the most amazing vendors. Seriously this is not joke they all worked together and it all made for an unforgettable wedding.

Review #1: Shawn Vasquez

Finding the right DJ for our wedding was crucial since we needed someone that was bilingual and upbeat like we are. Our prayers were answered by Daisy13 (Erika) from the the Wedding Bee who sent me a message and recommended Shawn to me. When we first met Shawn we knew that he was unlike other DJ’s my hubby and I had spoken to. Other DJ’s lacked something that Shawn had which was a genuine concern on how we wanted our day to unfold. We not only spoke to him over the phone but he met with us on a couple of different occasions and indulged us by letting us go see him perform before we actually hired him. (Yes, I know we are totally the kind of people that have to do research before we purchase anything.) We were hooked on Shawn because of his attention to detail and his bilingual abilities. Shawn had a wide range of music from rancheras to cumbias and nortenas. He also has your usual hip hop to country range. Before our wedding we were able to give him a list of songs that we liked and he worked from those and made a playlist of the songs for our wedding.

The day of our wedding he showed up on time and dressed professionally. His tie even matched our wedding colors. Since we had previously set a timeline of how our wedding day was going to be we put it in his hand and everything worked wonderfully. He knew exactly when to get us for things like the grand entrance and the bouquet toss.

Everyone at our wedding had a blast and my parents even commented on how great the DJ was. The music was so great and the atmosphere was so fun that only a couple of people left our wedding and the rest stayed and danced the night away. Needless to say Shawn played everything on our playlist and even made room for request our guests had. For the centerpiece raffle the guest played a game to see who would take it home. He made guest interact with each other and made our wedding a blast. Before the garter toss I couldn’t find mine and Shawn said he brought a back up one in case I needed it. I’m telling you this DJ is super organized and had an incredible personality.

Now that I’ve told you all about his skills lets move on to the fun part: pricing. Shawn is affordable and he is willing to work within your budget. I really believe that his services are worth every penny.

Lets move unto the highlights of the evening and why I say he is worth hiring. My hubby and I had decided that we did not want to do a first dance song and we opted to do the Hockey Pockey instead. We never told the bridal party but we did tell Shawn. Once we did our grand entrance Shawn asked the bridal party to form a circle around us and then he started playing our song. Everyone burst into laughter and as the bridal party looked confused everyone began to dance. The thing that I LOVED and ENJOYED the most was that the music was so amazing that my hubby actually danced. This is a huge deal because I LOVE to DANCE and he hates it. I’m telling you I have never danced so much with my hubby. If he can get someone to dance who absolutely hates it then you know he is worth it.

Shawn Vasquez
(323) 868-3772
djshawnv@yahoo.com

What has been your experience with your DJ or the process of hiring one? Was your DJ worth hiring?

Thinking things over…

Wedding
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Now that the wedding is over and I have time to process the event through my head I came to realize that the only thing I regret is not taking any pictures myself so I could share them with you. This week I plan on recapping more of what went on “backstage” before the wedding and I also plan on reviewing my vendors who where completely AMAZING.
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….and Now Table Numbers! Pt 2

DIY, Table Numbers, Technology, Wedding

Okay like I’ve previously mentioned we decided to go with the photo and number combo for our table numbers. I just couldn’t help myself but the tricky part was trying to figure out how to add the numbers on there. If you’ve been following my journey you must know that I’m a trial and error kind of girl. I first attempted to add the numbers using acrylic paint, then I moved on to playing with the paint program on my pc, followed by going to the store and looking for vinyl numbers, and after much frustration I went back and realized that the individuals before me that had done such a task used Adobe Photoshop. The problem was that I didn’t and still don’t own the program so to get around my little problem I downloaded the FREE 30 days trial.

So, here is what I did for those of you that don’t have time to experiment with it but remember that I’m not a professional and I’ve only had the program for 3 days.

First go to file and open the file where your photo is kept in. Once you click on it the photo should be right in front of you.

Then go to “layer” and add a new layer. Click okay. Then go to the text icon (that’s the one with the capital T on the left hand side). Click where you want to add the number at and play around with the font and size until you get what you want.


To add dimension to our numbers I clicked on the different “styles” on the right hand side. I used the one that made the numbers 3 dimensional.


Once I did that I went into “layer” section and in the “layer style” I added “drop shadow”, “bevel and emboss”, I changed the “color overlay”, and I also changed the “gradient overlay”. After all that is done this is my final product.


In my first attempt I made the numbers orange but thanks to my HBoO help I changed it.

Before:

After:
Here are our table numbers:


I added orange card stock that I had on hand and glued them to a white canvas I had cut down to fit the easels. The photos are 5×7 and I love how they look on the easels. I’m glad we went with the blue ink since it pops out and catches your attention.

Once I finished all the numbers I uploaded them to Costco Photo Center and for $5.99 I had all my table numbers. Oh and for those of you who are wondering I bought the easels at the Art Supply Warehouse for $1. 89 each.

So what do you think of my table numbers?

We have table numbers….Pt 1

reception, Table Numbers, Technology, Wedding

In my journey to become the Mrs. I have found myself developing more technical skills than I ever thought a bride could use. Like I previously mentioned here I learned how to use illustrator to make my diy map for my invitations. When I first began doing my table numbers I wanted to do something creative with the canvas that I bought from Art Supply Warehouse but after trying different things I decided that it was too time consuming to paint all the numbers by hand.

I decided to go a different route after seeing my fellow blogger August15bride‘s table numbers. How amazing are these?

Or how about Mrs. Tiramisu’s table numbers?

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I knew that I wanted to use some of our pictures to enhance our tables and make it even more personal. Next time I will tell you how I accomplished it and show you our table numbers.

Are you going to have table numbers? Where did you get your inspiration?

I’ve been so busy…

DIY, Flowers, Wedding

I’m trying to finish up some project before the big day and haven’t had time to blog about anything lately which is terrible since I have so much to share with you guys. I do plan on telling you about my diy centerpieces, my escort cards, my seating chart and final guest list. I hope that in the next couple of weeks I can share more details. Until then I leave you with a couple of photos of our trip to the L.A. Flower District.


Are you DIY your centerpieces? If you are where are you getting your flowers? Have you ever visited the LA Flower District? Do you have any advice to me if you’ve visited the L.A. Flower Distict?

The final numbers are in…

Wedding

After much arguing back and forth between myself and family members we have a final number.

103 – Adults
3 – Children
7 – Infants

113 -Total
+2 – Bride and Groom

115 -Grand Total

These are our confirmed guest and the final number we are sticking to.

I’m happy with our number and I hope everyone shows up to our wedding. Now that we have a final number I can move on to our seating chart, escort cards, and table numbers. I plan on sharing more with you as I go along please be patient with me.

Did anyone try to add more people to the rsvp card then the number of people that were invited? How is your final number looking/coming along?

I really love our colors…

Inspiration Boards, Wedding

Whenever people ask me what my wedding colors are and I reply blue and orange they automatically think of either the Florida Gators or the Miami Dolphins.

I have nothing against both teams but it surprises me how people can’t picture those colors together.

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Our orange is a tad lighter and brighter. Our blue is more like an aqua blue than anything else. I’ve previously shared with you some color Inspiration Boards to show you what I’m talking about.

Today I came across another inspiration board at Wedding Cabaret that features our colors. Isn’t it amazing?

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Has it been hard for people to see your vision of color? What do you think of Orange and Blue as wedding colors?