A Selena Inspired Cinco De Mayo Party

Kunbi O / Wednesday May 5, 2021

It’s that time of the year again! It’s Cinco De Mayo! And this Selena-themed shoot is everything and more. The attention to detail, the colors, and themed cocktails and menu cards are so delightful! Even though we have smaller numbers at events and gatherings do not always mean smaller celebrations! Go big or go home we say!

From Beijos Events:

My love for Selena and her music runs deep! I fell in love with her when I was in middle school, sadly near her untimely death. I would listen to her music on repeat!!  The movie with Jennifer Lopez was (and still is) everything and I just finished watching the series on Netflix a few months ago. I still love her music to this day and play it often, luckily I’ve found a few friends who feel the same! Sabrina of Golden Arrow Events & Design and Jesi Haack feel the same way about Selena so I enlisted their help!  Along with Jessica Lynn Photo who even wore a Selena shirt to our shoot!  She captured it all perfectly!!  We decided we should do a Selena tribute with this beautiful shoot. It’s the perfect way to kick off all of Cinco de Mayo!  Anything for Selena!!!

The song Como la Flor inspired us with all these vibrant colors and florals. It’s one of my favorite Selena songs, along with many others, so we had to pay tribute! Sabrina and I collaborated on the design and styling for this one, I love working with her and bouncing ideas back and forth. Jesi is responsible for that pretty Mexican paper floral backdrop you see!  I loved the invite design by Kaylyn at Pirouette Paper. A little bit 90’s, a little bit Tejana, a whole lot of Selena!! And the rose wax seal just makes it!!

Of course, we played with Sweet Salvage Rentals’ amazing pieces! They are some of my favorites, and those black chairs, white rustic table, and colorful rug were the perfect balance for this one. All of the pretty tabletop pieces were from Hostess Haven. I again used black here because it reminds me of that edgy side of Selena and her amazing style. Who can forget that iconic black studded leather bralette and hat she wore?! She was always ahead of her time!  This was the first time I had worked with Alana of Florae who did all of the incredible floral arrangements. Alana knocked our socks off with her beautiful work! She even got most of the blooms from the flower fields the day before, love that! She also did a few custom vases with pom-poms, it was all just so fun!   I mean, you’ve gotta go all out with flowers at a Como la Flor shoot!!

You better believe our friend Malisa of Creative Amme created the most perfect details for this shoot. These flower drink tags have got to be one of my favorites ever!!!  Malisa also did our pretty place cards and the signage. We used Selena’s own autograph as inspiration for the font!!

On to the food and the cocktails!! And if you’re like me, then you know this is the best part… I love Mexican food and I LOVE margaritas!! Everything is from Tempo Cantina, a delicious Mexican restaurant, and bar with various locations throughout Southern California. Everything they brought was extra delicious and the cocktails were amazing!!! I can’t wait to go visit in person!

Onto dessert!! We have lots of fun desserts for this one, starting with Paletas!!! I’ve had my eye on Paleta Please for a while now, their cart is just so adorable! We had to bring them in for this shoot!! Plus, those paletas were the talk of the town at this shoot!!  We even had a special visitor, Jesenia (owner of Paleta Please) daughter Alexandra!!! She was our mini Selena and we all were basically dying over her cuteness!! I can’t get enough of her in this infamous Selena outfit. If only I could pull that outfit off myself, haha!!  There’s always time for a pretty lounge and more dessert, right friends?! We kept the color explosion going here and added colorful textiles to my favorite Sweet Salvage Rentals chairs. Our incredible desserts by Sugar Crush Sweets were displayed on a bright turquoise table and all the colors played so well together. The dessert signage by Creative Amme was Dreaming of You, and I’ll be dreaming of this pretty shoot for a while!!

Vendors – Design & Planning – @beijosevents & @goldenarroweventsanddesign / Photographer – @jessicalynn_photo / Rentals – @sweetsalvagerentals / Florals – @florae.co / Tabletop – @hostesshaven / Backdrop – @jesihaackdesign / Invite – @pirouettepapercompany / Details & Signage – @creativeamme / Catering – @tempokitchen / Desserts – @sugarcrushsweets / Paletas  & Mini Selena – @paletaplease