The Wedding Day - The details

What I liked the most about planning our wedding was thinking about all the hand made decorations that I wanted to make. I loved doing many of these things before the wedding. I used a few websites for inspiration but always thinking of a Colombian theme.

Since Cali is warm, I knew that we needed to provide fans for the ceremony. I got enough just for the girls. A few days before the wedding I needed help to cut ribbon for the fans and the candy. I was very lucky to have my mom, my sisters, my sisters in law, my friend Ana, my mother in law, and Andre's nieces helping me the days before the wedding. They also helped me cutting paper and making the cones for the rose petals, making signs, and writing the names for the tables. I posted some of these pictures in a previous post about the ceremony.

Table by the chapel with the fans. Photo Credit: Efeunodos

The chapel ready with the cones filled with petals. Photo Credit: Efeunodos

My mom embroidered the ring pillow for us. Photo Credit: Efeunodos

Between my mom and sister in law did the sign. Photo Credit: Efeunodos

Just 2 days before the wedding I was told they could not do the center pieces with the flowers that I wanted because they were too heavy. I had to switch from Heliconias to Anthuriums and ginger. At this point all I cared is that they were red. They allowed me to keep the heliconias in the arches and the railing at entrance to the reception.

Entrance to the reception. Picture by my mom

The center pieces. Photo credit: Efeunodos

Photo credit: Efeunodos

The box for the cards. Photo credit: Efeunodos

The candy bar was probably what everyone loved the most. We had chocolate cupcakes, M&Ms, M&Ms dark, all kinds of kisses, Swedish fish, and gummies. We also added typical candy to the table. My mom got melcochas and macetas. Melcochas are a chewy caramel in a stick. Macetas are what godsons get once a year from their godparents. It is a tradition in Cali to give and/or receive a maceta June 29th. A maceta is a wood stick with lots of candy, pin wheels, simple toys, and lots of colorful papers. We had 2 that helped decorating the table. My mom ordered more candy made with only red paper. For the table, I made signs with stickers and put them in ikea frames. I got 5 white frames for $5. I got the heart shaped containers and the to go bags at Jo-ann, the craft store, in February when all the valentines decorations were out. I also got the cupcake towers and the serving scoops at Jo-ann. My friends with kids took everything home for their parties. Nothing was wasted after the party.

Photo credit: Efeunodos

Photo credit: Efeunodos

Photo credit: Efeunodos

Photo credit: Efeunodos

Photo Credit: Alan Falcony

Maceta. Photo credit: Efeunodos

My cousins happy to see a maceta again. Picture credit: my cousin's camera

I wanted to do something fun for our thank you notes. I did this hearts a few months before the wedding. They were very easy to do. The photographers loved them and I told them they could keep them. I was honored that they liked something that I made to use in their future wedding pictures. After we took the pictures I didn't see them again, and sadly they disappeared after the party.

Photo credit: Efeunodos

Photo credit: Efeunodos

I love dancing and I love heels, but I always end up dancing with my shoes off. Many times, I go out with flip flops in my purse. One of my pet peeves is that I hate having my feet dirty. That is why I bought several pairs of cheap red flip flops from old navy. The event coordinator hid them because he considered them "bad taste". After Andre's sister broke one of the heels, I pulled them from under the table where he hid them. All the other girls were also happy to take their shoes off. I don't care if it was bas taste, we wanted to dance and we needed them. Plus, they were not that ugly! I made cute tags to go with them!!

I got 13 pairs of flip flops. Photo credit: Efeunodos

A couple of years ago, I went to a wedding and they gave us shot glasses to hang around our necks. I loved it because you don't have to share the glass with anybody else. Plus, they were rustic and went with the theme. I got 60 of them in December. Michelle, Andre's sister, wrote our names and the date in every single one of them.

I love the Colombian flag to hang around your neck

The photo booth was a lot of fun!!! My mom is a great painter, and I love her friend Henry Tejada's style. He did a huge mural for me when I was in high school that was Cali related. I asked him to do something similar for the wedding. He did a painting that I will keep, and out of that we did a banner to be used as a photobooth background. I loved it. It was meant to be for 2 people so the pictures with more are not that great. The lips and mustaches were a lot of fun. Those were very easy to do. I got some foam from the kid's section at the craft store to cut into some funny shapes. First in making the shape in paper, and then using that pattern with the foam. I got some wood sticks and I took them to Cali to assemble them with hot glue. All of these things would not have been possible without the help of my mom and our families!! I love details and making them together was fun! All the photos below were taken by Valeria and Juan Felipe from Efeunodos.

us

Andre and his beautiful sisters

Andre and his gorgeous nieces

With my friends from school

with my best friends from Cali

Andre and his best friends from Quito

with my dearest (best) friends

with my dear friend and her husband - I was at their wedding at the same place 3 years ago

My parents

My friends from India loving Colombia

My cousin and her daughter

All of my cousins having fun

My friends eating candy from the maceta

with our photographers :)

Now I can finally post the BEST pictures: from the party!!!