JPress Designs: Real Weddings: Lauren + David

Puerto Rico, baby!

Thats's right - Two of my very good friends were married in Puerto Rico over the New Year and we had the extreme pleasure of joining them! But before we get to the trip photos, and wedding deets - let's do the invitations.

Lauren is an interior designer herself, so she knew exactly what she wanted for her invitations: a classy yet artistic invitation with art deco elements. Her colors were coral, emerald and gold. Since she was having somewhat of an untraditional wedding, we decided that the layout should be untraditional as well (tri-fold). I designed the art deco emblem for the front using their initials and carried the background pattern design throughout the design.

Deco Wedding invitation now available on my Etsy Shop. Click here for details.

Now on to the good stuff! Puerto Rico is pretty damn cool. People kept saying I was still in the United States, but I didn't believe them - it was too tropical and warm for all that!

The view from our hotel.

Being the adventurous type that we are, Jonathan and I decided to go on a few mini-adventures once we arrived. We drove to the exact opposite corner of the island (which only took about 2 hours) to Guanica Dry Forest Reserve. Since it was New Year's day, the park was closed, but we hopped the little gate and hiked on up the Fuerte Trail to Fort Caprón. There wasn't any info on the fort once we go there, so I'm not sure of it's history - but it offered some great views of the bay below.

Fort Caprón

panoramic view from the top of the fort

The next morning we went to El Yunque National Forrest, which, in my humble opinion was very underwhelming. It was super crowded (see below photo) and all of the trails were paved... It was the first time I've ever been to a tropical rain forrest, so that was kind of cool... I guess.

ugh... too many people!

That afternoon we went into Old San Juan (which was great). Had I had the day to do over, I would have skipped El Yunque and spent all day in Old San Juan. The architecture was very reminiscent of Spain (brightly colored buildings, cobblestone streets) and being on the tip of San Juan (geographically ), it offered some amazing views.

On to the wedding! The ceremony was (supposed to be) on the beach, but it was threatening rain so they performed the ceremony in an anteroom in the hotel. It was a quick one and I didn't have a chance to snap any photos. After the ceremony, we went up to the rooftop lounge, Mist, where the reception was held. We had pretty much the whole rooftop to ourselves (which was nice). Lauren brought table runners and centerpieces with her (in her corals and emeralds) to match the existing decor.