Papel Picado

Remember how I told you that I unexpectedly found wedding items from my inspiration board? Well, on a recent trip to Mexico we picked up quite a few wedding goods and ideas, one of them being something I happened to include on my inspiration board. While visiting the city of Guadalajara, Mr. Tortolito and I took a day trip to the nearby town of Tlaquepaque. We had done some research on Tlaquepaque before going on our trip because we heard that it was a one-of-a-kind artisan town; a treasure chest full of Mexican goodies. We were on the hunt for some authentic pottery, but had no luck in that respect. We did not, however, come out of our search empty handed...



One morning in Guadalajara, we jumped on a city bus, paid our 50 cent bus fare and embarked on a bumpy 30 minute ride to the outskirts of the city. Once we started seeing signs that indicated we were nearing our destination, I was getting a little suspicious. There was nothing exciting about our surroundings at first. The bus kept driving through dusty streets decorated with colorful walls and taco stands...but nothing screamed "artisan town" to me. We asked a couple of kids on the bus where the artisan shops were at and they told us that we had to get off at an upcoming stop and walk a couple blocks. We followed their directions and from one street to another the town went from a normal looking pueblo to fancy avenues lined with high end art stores. It was much more nicer than I had imagined. Yes, the town was like a treasure chest and the art stores were beautiful, but they almost felt exclusive. They were the kind of stores where you're not allowed to take pictures inside. Who does that? And in Mexico?! Well the stores in Tlaquepaque did.

Here are some pictures from the outside of a couple of the shops since I was scolded for even pulling out my camera inside one store.

They sold cool stuff like this..


and sweet textiles like this..

I guess we didn't do enough research because we quickly learned that this town was full of tourists. But these were like interior designing, jewelry collecting, art aficionado-ing type tourists who were there to buy authentic Mexican goods at cheap prices. Compared to American costs they were cheap, but everything was imported from different regions in Mexico so was all sold at a markup. What we were specifically looking for was marked up way more than what we knew the original prices were. So, we spent the day going from shop to shop looking for the best deals and browsing.

We came across a shop that sold a variety of artifacts and souvenirs. Inside, there was one thing that caught my eye. Hanging from the ceiling were lines of hand cut paper in all colors. I noticed that there was one in white...for weddings!

{photos taken by permission from the nice shop lady}

We learned that these decorations are called papel picado. We were told that they were hand cut by a man from Tlaquepaque. I think this would be such a nice touch for the wedding decorations. I've always seen pictures of papel picado but it is typically really colorful, which is pretty, but I think too much color would overpower any other decorations we decide to use. The white is soft, light, and obviously meant for a wedding. Plus I love all of the little messages cut into the paper!: "Felicidades," "Vivan los Novios," "Nuestra Boda" On top of all that, it was cheap (probably because they weren't imported from another region)! At about $3/pack we picked up a handful of these. I'm not sure where we will hang them at the reception yet, but they will be somewhere, adding their Mexican touch to the overall feel of the party.

Have you ever come across sweet wedding finds unexpectedly?