From the moment I had our first conversation, I knew Monica was excited to see what we could do. Her wedding theme was a little different from most brides I've met. It wasn't a specific color theme nor was the wedding going to go for your typical glitz and glamour style. Instead her and her fiance, Danny, wanted to celebrate their family's homeland. Their theme was Cuba Nostalgia.

Photos Courtesy of J. Garcia Photography

They wanted to travel back in time before the 1960's, when the revolution began and communism took over what was once a beautiful island. Being of Cuban descent, I have only heard how beautiful and lively Cuba was during the 1940's and 50's. Monica wanted to bring the theme clearly to guests without being tacky or too literal. What we came up with together was fabulous.

For her place cards, we created a graphic of two dominoes. If you are not familiar with the game, take a look here. It is common in a Cuban household that one at least have a "deck" or set of Domino pieces or "fichas". Each domino is like a playing card, showcasing a set of numbers between zero and twelve. In the design we created, one domino was to signify the table number while the other had the guest's name. Monica attached rustic skeleton keys to each place card that doubled as a bottle cap opener. The keys would be used later at the reception when guests were treated to large Coke bottles, like the ones purchased from the Bodegas in Cuba. If a guest was confused about their table number, they could take a look at the back of the place card and find "Table __" written on the back.

On each table, there was a black frame that had a larger domino with the corresponding table number. We also created one for the Sweetheart table that was appropriately filled with hearts.