Wednesday 23 April 2014

Falling for You: #Selfie

While dancing was obviously a huge part of our reception, Mr. Waterfall and I knew that we really wanted to offer a photo booth to our guests. And boy was it ever a hit! It was fun for the whole family.

Flower Girl M with her brother JC (my parents' godson) and their parents

We negotiated the photobooth as part of our photography package instead of going with a separate photobooth company, mostly for budget reasons. Jesse and Catherine set up the booth, which was completely automated, and our guests did the rest. It was so easy so use that people of all ages were lining up and striking a pose, from our older guests:

To the littlest ones!

Our adorable flower girls. Seriously, I can`t even deal with the cuteness!

From big groups:

Best Man Tequila and some of Mr. Waterfall's friends

To couples making out:

To guests of the plastic variety. Why yes, I am referring to Ms. Barbara Millicent Roberts, aka Barbie ;)

While some people swear that photobooths are on their way out, I just don`t see that happening. Seriously, the booth was packed all night, even we had to wait in line, and we were the bride and groom!

One of our only photobooth pictures. I wish I had time to do more of everything!

I initially had wanted a photobooth guestbook, where guests could print out their photo strip and stick it in the guestbook, but our photographers pointed out some possible issues, so we decided against it in the end. I do plan to make a guestbook scrapbook eventually with my favorite photos from the booth. We also mailed them to our guests in their thank you cards. Everyone loved getting their photos as a souvenir.

MIL Waterfall and Lil`Waterfall, having a blast!

I made all the props myself, the week before the wedding, with some help from MOH Long Legs, and they really turned out great! We actually made money off the props, since I was able to resell them after the wedding and they didn't cost us anything to make.

Top row, Left to right: Brother GM, Friend C, Best Friend A, BF Long Legs
Middle row, left to right: Friend J, Girlfriend C, MOH Long Legs

Bottom row: Cousin C and BM Tiny

Some people got really creative with their props!

But I think the bunny ears were definitely the most popular!

Exhibit A:

My Godmother, Grandma Waterfall, and some cousins

Exhibit B:

Mami and Papi Waterfall with their friends

Exhibit C:

GM of Doom and BM Tiny

Exhibit D:

Hanging out with my girls! SO much fun.

My only regret when it comes to the photobooth is that we didn't use it more, but then again, I had a blast dancing with all my guests out on the dance floor.

Are you planning on having a photobooth?

All photos courtesy of the amazing Bachmann Photography unless otherwise specified

Miss a recap?

Monday 21 April 2014

Falling for You: Dirty Dancing, Havana Nights

As I've mentioned before, I felt very strongly about incorporating my Cuban identity into our wedding, and naturally, a big part of that is the music. I put together a short list of my favourite Cuban and Latin songs and gave it to our DJ, and he mixed them in seamlessly.

We had some salsa:

Some merengue:

Mami Waterfall dancing with her cousin

And even a little bit of Afro-Cuban flavor mixed in!

So without further ado, grab a mojito, because it's salsa time. Like my homie Pitbull likes to say: Ya tu sabes!

We started off with Celia Cruz' La Vida es Un Carnaval to warm people up, because it's not a Cuban party without it. Azucar!

Mami Waterfall and I singing along

Next up was Cuba Libre, by Willy Chirino and people really started shaking their stuff!

We also played Suavemente by (Puerto Rican) Elvis Crespo, a definite crowd pleaser, especially among our non-Cuban guests.

It was such a great feeling looking around the dance-floor and seeing Cubans and Canadians alike, having a great time, regardless of whether they knew the steps!

Also on the list was La Billirubina by my favorite artist, Juan Luis Guerra. Though he's actually from the Dominican Republic, we grew up listening to his songs. Brother GM grabbed me and we started dancing.

At the same time, Mr. Waterfall grabbed Lil' W. Not bad for an impromptu brother-sister dance!

We also included Ai Se Eu Te Pego by Michel Telo feat. Pitbull, which obviously isn't traditionally Cuban, but we love that song because it played every night at our resort the last time Mr. W and I were in Cuba and it brings us so many nice memories.

BM Tiny and GM of Doom breaking it down

We also really wanted to have a traditional Cuban conga line, and I'm not referring to the cheesy Gloria Estefan song! I chose Anoranza Por la Conga by Sur Caribe and Papi W led the conga line. It was pretty epic.

Even Grandma Waterfall got in on the fun!

One song that I made sure to include was El Niagara En Bicicleta, also by Juan Luis Guerra. I guess you could say that this is MOH Long Legs and my song. Since she lives in Toronto, we've been to Niagara Falls together a few times, and each time, we listened to this song on repeat. Before the wedding, MOH Long Legs and I made a pact that whenever this song came on at the wedding, we would drop whatever else we were doing, and meet on the dance floor...

Notice MOH Long Legs' boyfriend being lifted in the air by Brother GM and his best friend!

For the duration of the song, we got to dance together and sing along, and get some much-needed BFF quality time. I'm so glad we did this!

It`s been quite a few months since the wedding, but looking at these pictures, I still get the biggest smile on my face because I remember how much fun Mr. Waterfall and I had. If only it had lasted just a little bit longer!