Tag Archives: day of the dead

Carroll & Dan’s Detail-Heavy, Day of the Dead Plantation Wedding

January 14, 2011 in Wedding | Written by

Carroll & Dan were married in October at Walker’s Landing in the Amelia Island Plantation. The day was a celebration of their love for each other as well as their family and friends…and of course it goes without saying that the whole thing was styled to awesome perfection. Their day of the dead theme works SO WELL. I love it!

Bride Carroll told me all about their fabulous day “When we decided to get married, my husband and I knew it would be hard to plan a wedding that would be fun for all of the different types of people in our lives.  Our guests were amazingly diverse – many nationalities and ages – scientists, doctors, lawyers, military officers, government officials, corporate executives, athletes, bikers, artists, punk rockers, musicians, and construction workers.  It was important to try to make all our guests feel included by mixing traditional wedding elements with our own personal flair.  Although we wanted to have a wedding that was unique to us, we also wanted to have a wedding that respected the traditions and beliefs of both of our very different families.  We chose the Day of the Dead theme for a few reasons.  I was born in Mexico and, growing up, our house was filled with images of the holiday.  Also, we wanted to remember and honor our friends and family who have passed away.  For me, it was a particularly fitting way to pay homage to my father who passed away when I was young and to make sure that his memory was a significant part of our celebration.  Also, we got to put skulls on everything, which made us happy.”

“A lot of what we did was DIY and involved help from our friends.  A good friend did the artwork for our invitations.  I made most of the paper flowers with some help from another good friend and a bottle of wine.  My mom, some other dear friends and I also made the sugar skulls ourselves, which was a lot of fun.  We had temporary tattoos made to match the groom’s cake.  Also, my mom and step-dad bought some amazing Day of the Dead artwork in Santa Fe that we now have as decorations in our home.  In the reception area, there was a large fireplace that my mom and god-mother converted into a sort of shrine where we placed pictures of our loved ones who are no longer with us.  It was a beautiful way to include their memories in our wedding day.  They also helped put together the centerpieces.  My mom also hand-stamped the programs with a rubber stamp that she bought in Santa Fe.  Three of our friends volunteered to be the DJs, and with no experience at all, they did a fantastic job – way better than any professional could ever have done.   It was so important to us to have friends and family involved in each aspect of the wedding.”


“Even when we brought in outside help, we tried to keep things personal and unique to us.  Joi Mahon of Dress Forms Design Studio made the dress and bolero jacket.  I cannot say enough good things about her.  Although we never met in person, the dress fit perfectly and was everything that I had hoped for.  She listened to all of my wishes and made the dress of my dreams.  She is unbelievable and such a pleasure to work with.”

“We had Dottie at Chez Lezan Bakery make our cake.  We have been huge fans of hers for years and it was wonderful to have her involved in our wedding.  The cake was perfect. Brooke Raulerson of Artistic Florist did some unbelievable flower arrangements.  We pretty much gave her free reign and she exceeded all of our high hopes.  The flowers arrangements were totally breathtaking.  The bouquets were amazing too.

And, above all out photographers were AWESOME.  Ashley and Greg and Brooke Images were the best possible choice.   There were the perfect mix of fun a professional and I would recommend them to anyone! All in all, the day was perfect.  And so is my husband.  I couldn’t be happier with how things turned out.  It was worth all of the headaches and stress to have a day that made me feel so loved and grateful.”

Aww I love them! Be sure to also check out their super cute day after sesh!

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A Dia De Los Muertos, Punk Rock Wedding Shoot

January 14, 2011 in Styled Photo Shoots | Written by

This awesome punk inspired wedding was actually a faux-wedding – a photo shoot set up by stylist MMD Events, blogger Lauren of Every Last Detail and photographer’s Jeff & Anna Katherine of K&K Photography. They wanted to showcase some awesome alternative wedding styling and they certainly achieved that. I am totally smitten and almost a little upset that it isn’t a real wedding – this looks like the kind of party I want to go to!

“We put together this Punk inspiration shoot with the focus all around the *actual* definition of the word “punk”, courtesy of Every Last Detail’s Wedding Style Dictionary,” explained Lauren. “Pulling inspiration from the Dia de los Muertos (day of the dead), punk rock (of course), a little southern California “border-town-cool”, and rockabilly, we wanted the shoot to evoke what the actual “punk” lifestyle is. Our goal was to let brides know that punk can be pretty- not the cliche dark gothic look. We created a “punk” look that was pretty, colorful, and fun, just like the punk lifestyle is!”

The shoot took place at Tampa Armature Works Building in Florida and pretty much all the clothes were either thrifted or found very cheaply. This just goes to show that with a bit of imagination and creativity you CAN have a really Rock n Roll wedding without breaking the bank. I love this A LOT!

Be sure to also check out the FAB video after the ‘jump.’ Gotta love the Elvis dude!

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Adam & Barbara’s Day of the Dead, Cemetery Trash the Dress Photo Shoot

November 23, 2010 in Bridal Shoot/Trash The Dress | Written by

Adam & Barbara’s trash the dress shoot is like nothing I’ve ever seen! Day of the Dead make up fused with an awesome cemetery location made for something pretty special. The bride did the make up “It was a trial and error process,” she explained. “I looked up make up designs online and tried different ones to see which would look best with my (and my husband’s) facial structure, without looking too cluttered.  Since it was right before Halloween, I could find cream makeup almost anywhere, and picked up a few tubes, and some extra just in case I ran out.  I applied it with paint brushes, which helped so I could layer it on without it looking too thick. I had to apply three layers of white to give it a true white appearance, and if I hadn’t run out of time, I would’ve applied more.”

The couple, who said their wedding was a bit of a ‘toned-down’ version of them, wanted to do something really dramatic and something they’d always remember for their post-wedding shoot. “Our wedding was very calm, very pretty, very “toned down” from the route I would normally go,” Barbara continued. ”We met at a Hot Topic store, started dating at a Halloween party, and got engaged at a rock Concert in California, but I wanted our families to feel comfortable, so I opted for only a few things that were on the darker side (mainly, the table that held my seating chart, which had Beetlejuice figures of “Barbara” and “Adam” and a twisted looking votive tree).”

“I wanted to do a Trash the Dress shoot because… well… you only live once, and I wanted to do something that I could remember, and look at the pictures down the road, and say “I’m glad I did that, that was so much fun”.  The Day of the Dead seemed like it would be really fun to do.  We wanted to do something completely non-traditional, something a little off-the-wall, something with a bit of shock value (which we definitely got when we went into town with the makeup on, plenty of stares, scared children, it was really funny), and this was the perfect opportunity.  We were actually planning on changing out of the Day of the Dead stuff and do a normal Trash the Dress shoot halfway through, but… it was too much fun, so we decided to stick with it.”

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Jesikuh & Chris’ Day of the Dead & Graffiti Trash the Dress

November 2, 2010 in Bridal Shoot/Trash The Dress | Written by

Photographer Michelle met recent bride Jesikuh through a mutual friend. Jesikuh had always wanted to do a trash the dress/bridal shoot as she and her husband Chris didn’t have professional photographs taken at their wedding and – in fact she didn’t even have her own wedding dress! Luckily a good friend was happy to give her their dress to do what she wanted with it for the shoot. 

Jesikuh just wanted some amazing pictures of her and husband that really told a story about them as well as showcasing their edgy style.  After discussing locations, the team decided that the Pala de Luz Mission in Pala, CA would be cool as their was an old cemetery there. Both Jesikuh & Chris are big fans of the”Day of the Dead” styling so they brought a mask they had made themselves to pose with.  The shoot concluded with Chris graffiting the dress!

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Day of the Dead and Lots & Lots of Lovely Balloons

July 28, 2010 in Wedding | Written by

Beatriz & Ricardo got married early this month in Cartagena, a colonial city on the Caribbean coast of Colombia. Born here, Beatriz knew she wanted to return back to this special place to get married. They had a gorgeous civil service a few days before the wedding. “Weddings tend to be so cookie cutter and sooo traditional, we were sure we didn’t want that” the bride told me. “The first tradition we broke was not getting married in a church, we decided to just have a civil ceremony; but a friend of us told us that civil ceremonies were so plain and that we should do something special, so we decided to go to the notary to get married in Bogotá a few days before the actual wedding in Cartagena and to have a very special ceremony.”

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Ribbons, Pom Poms & Papel Picado – Roxana & John’s Amazing Fiesta Wedding

July 13, 2010 in Wedding | Written by

Roxana & John’s incredible Mexican fiesta wedding was shot by the amazing Katherine O’Brien with a Holga, a Hasselblad and a Polaroid camera. The results are not only magical, but give a really unique and different perspective when looking back. In fact looking at these awesome images is almost like a crazy, exciting acid trip…in a good way of course!

The bride, a costume designer, custom-modified her dress with dress with ribbons, rhinestones and a favorite brooch that was her Great Aunt’s. Her groom wore a gold western belt buckle with the initial S for a bit of extra personality.

The couple added lots of fantastic details to suit their papel picado theme (a natural fit given their Texan roots) including tissue paper flowers lining the railings and tables, a custom card box in festive colours that looked like a wedding cake and grosgrain ribbons tied to the cedar arbor with fleur de lis topped markers. They also used Mexican loteria cards as escort cards which they clipped to a red ribbon hanging on an old wooden door. They then put matching cards on each table with a cowboy boot filled with wildflowers as the centrepieces. The wedding cake was topped with a Day of the Dead Bride and Groom.

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