Merry Christmas with Cookies

Recently I enjoyed the company of others at the new (soon to be open) shop for Sugar and Spice Specialty Desserts, and many of us baked batches of cookies to take home.  These are my delectable morsals – a chocolately dolce de leche combination – topped with Kosher salt.  Yumm-o.  Thanks Shannon, with Flourish who has a great camera and fine eye!  Merry Christmas to everyone… I hope your day is a sweet one!

Lisa & Darren – Happy 1st Anniversary

We wish to give a shout out to Lisa & Darren in celebration of their 1st Wedding Anniversary – October 17, 2010.  Their beautiful home wedding was elegant, intimate and very much who they are.

Lisa’s favorite color is Colbalt blue which was easily paired with shades of ivory and soft pink.  The architecture to the home was French Chateau and the use of the Fleu di Lei design was implemented throughout.  Lisa even found a very cool pair of cuff links which she presented to Darren as a wedding gift.

Wishing continued happiness and best wishes to a great couple! 

Thank you to the incredible Jennifer Dunham Starr with The Memory Journalists for capturing these lovely wedding images, to Carrissa with Sugar and Spice Specialty Desserts for yummy delicious-ness, and to Sarah of Cuttings Floral Design for all the beauty.

Wedding Peeps and a Baby Shower

A great friend in our wedding industry, Nicole (Jackson) Shebl is having a baby boy – Little Johnny, this fall.  Before Nicole “retired” to become a wife and mommy, she worked with Dynamite Weddings and with The Memory Journalists.  Recently we enjoyed throwing a baby shower for Nicole… who looked positively darling, fashionable, and hasn’t gained a pound (brat!).  And that Baby Bump will be one bundle of joy!

The co (tri)-hostesses were Aimee Carroll with Real Weddings Magazine and Carissa Jones with Sugar and Spice Specialty Desserts; these ladiesknocked it out of the park with decor, beverages, luncheon food and scrumptious desserts.  Shannon with Flourish created unique floral arrangements… so much talent when a bunch of wedding and event professionals put their heads together! 

And, I was the Game Master (hey, somebody has to organize the dreaded games… and I wore the pin so as to not hear the complaining)!

We started with everybody being given a container of modeling clay so they could create an image of a baby.  Check out all the entries; it was tough for Nicole to select her favorite (all will be saved for a shelf in the baby’s room).

Another game was done blindfolded. I read a detailed made-up story, as the girls drew the story!  It was very funny, and the winning picture was framed to be hung. 

We had a great lunch, and delicious desserts, talked, laughed and enjoyed making ridicous ohhhhhs and ahhhhh sounds as Nicole opened her gifts.

Above is Wendy Sipple and Aimee Carroll of Real Weddings Magazine – below is Shannon Cosgrove-Rivas of Flourish and Carissa Jones of Sugar and Spice Specialty Desserts

Jennifer with The Memory Journalists brought her trusty camera and clicked away during the shower… thanks Jen!

Ashley & Sean’s 1st Anniversary

I can’t believe it’s been one year since Ashley & Sean said their “I dos” at Granite Bay Golf Club!  August 22, 2009 was a wonderful day with a  fabulous theme of “Hot August Nights”  –  no detail was left unturned.  The vibrant and “hot” colors of red, oranges, fuchsia and yellows were played well.  Katie with Ambience Floral Design created the fun, bright flowers and the ribbon spheres, and also installed the stunning red backdrop for the ceremonial alter.  We  repeated the backdrop behind the fabulous dessert table featuring yummy confections by Carissa of Sugar and Spice Specialty Desserts.

 Sean is a firefighter (more “hot”), and so I had him cut the wedding cake with his fireman’s axe (quite a surprise for Ashley), plus he arranged for a vintage fire truck to whisk them away at the end of their reception. Mother Nature even provided a brilliant sunset for the evening.  Thanks to Jordan of Jordan’s Photographic Designs for capturing all the fun and beautiful moments!

  It was a great wedding!  I hope the First Anniversary is celebrated in Hot August Nights style.  Happy Anniversary Ashley & Sean! 

Becca & Dustin – More! (Part 2)

Because of Beth’s (True Love Photo)  extreme  photographic talent, and never missing a design detail, I have so many fantastic pictures to share of Becca & Dustin’s June 19th home wedding.  Sit back and enjoy!    Becca envisioned a little bit of Southern Elegance (she and her sister spent a few Saturdays on  ladders hanging  Spanish Moss from the trees), and wanted to upscale the vibe by adding lots of color, crystals, and hanging lanterns.  Check, check and done!

Tables were named and peacock feathers added to compliment the table linens selected.  It’s always a pleasure to work with the great gals at Celebrations Party Rentals.  And thank you so much to my pal Sarah with Cuttings Floral Design for the perfectly coordinated flowers.  Love ‘em!

To compliment that Southern feel,  The Zebra Club, our fun and accomplished bartending service, created Mint Juleps.  Hummmmmm (oh, I only sampled!)

This picture has histoy to it… Beth and I have been setting up this shot for a few years.  Becca and Dustin enjoy a great cold beer… thus their toasting goblets were filled.

And, have you ever seen a wedding cake that followed with the theme so beautifully?  Carissa with Sugar and Spice Specialty Desserts really outdid herself!  What a focal piece!

Becca ‘s mom and dad love to garden and the entrance to their property had a long driveway lined with all sorts of flowers.  Daisies, cosmos, dahlias and a beautiful crop of just beginning to bloom sunflowers.

I gave Becca the suggestion of making a bride & groom scaregrow, as it seemed so fitting with the garden.  She had the best time shopping in thrift stores for what she referred to as “the ugliest ’70s style wedding gown.”  Rather than a top hat for the groom, they used a Billibong logo baseball cap.

After a scrumption and plentiful buffet dinner prepared by Bravo Pasteria, wedding cake, fun at the photo booth (complete with goofy hats) by Jensen Films, then the dancing began, under the light of paper lanterns.  Doug & Dara with Music on the Move added some wonderful special touches and a little interactive frivolity, and then the p-a-r-t-y dancing began.  Crewful at 10:00?  NOT!

Thank you Becca and Dustin, and also your wonderful families.  It was a delight to work with you over the year.  I’m going to miss you!  You’re great parents to baby Coralynne. Enjoy your wedded life and your beautiful family.  Also a huge thank you to all the vendors who worked so hard and so caringly to create a fantastic day for this couple.

Let Them Eat Cake!

And more on the cake subject… (pardon that the photos below were taken with my little digital camera)
I recently attended a wonderful event called Let Them Eat Cake – a delightful Marie Antoinette/French inspired afternoon at Antiquite Maison Privee in mid-town Sacramento. Kristine Smith of Wish Bridal organized the event – wonderful concept!Brides sipped glasses of champagne and walked around the cakes on display and then judged the magnificent, unique designs of several bakeries. The masterpiece above was created by Sugar and Spice Specialty Desserts.
The above is the fun top of the elegant cake by The Sweetest Things bakery.
The elaborate design above was by Village Cake Shoppe… such detail!
The attendees selected this awesome cake created by River City Cake Co. as the winner for overall design concept. Congrats Tanya and staff! The stunning cake on the left was by Sweet Cakes by Rebecca and again, on the right is by Sugar and Spice. I’m sorry that I missed photographing a lovely creation by Shelton’s Wedding Cake Designs. Pastry Heaven showcased this fun design.

Each bakery displayed even more beautiful creations at their individual tables, and offered samples to taste. The sweetness in the room was very evident! So yummy. And the guests went crazy over all the small bites and individual desserts that Carissa of Sugar and Spice was offering. I had a huge need to eat French Fries after the event!

Merry Christmas… say it with cookies!

Merry Christmas / Happy Holidays everybody! I hope your day will be a joyous one. I will be sharing these cookies, after the traditional dinner this evening, along with many others that were made at the most fun cookie baking party organized by Carissa of Sugar and Spice and… Last weekend, she invited a whole bunch of us to cram into her kitchen to bake – and did we bake! Carissa was very organized but still the yelling for “who took the salt?” – “has anybody seen the measuring spoons?” or “somebody check the oven!” Cranberry and champagne added to the merriment.

This is Carissa checking the progress of the strawberry preserve filled pinwheels.

And the steady hand of Katy Baker of Adagio Events. Good teaching, Carissa.

How does Allison Stahl look so glamorous while rolling out dough?

I certainly look like I’m tense, or concentrating very hard on these soon-to-be Snickerdoodles.

There was no need for hand sanitizer in this kitchen!! Cerra (Carissa’s business intern) obviously needed to taste before continuing on!

There are many other photos but I’ll leave you with these. Shannon with Flourish made no cookies… she was the one actually taking these pictures!

Merry Christmas!

It's all in the {French} details – Lisa & Darren – Part 2

After just 10 weeks of planning, Lisa and Darren held their fantastic wedding at their newly purchased home which is of French Normandy architecture. There were many lovely design touches throughout the house, and I particularly zoned in on the fleur de leis that adorned the windows, wallpaper and wrought iron.When I learned that the newlyweds would be travelling to New Orleans for their honeymoon, the wonderful continuous thread of a theme started to develop. The fleur de lei design would be a subtle embellishment throughout! Lisa found these fantastic cuff links and presented them to Darren as a wedding gift!

Sapphire blue and ivory were the colors to this wedding, and Darren loves iris. A perfect flower for this color palette.

Sarah with Cuttings created all the florals, as well as custom making this great ring pillow happily carried by Lisa’s son (and because he was old enough, it was O.K. to tie the real rings onto the pillow… something I do not recommend for the young ring bearers!)
The guest count was 36… so intimate, so perfect and so Lisa and Darren. Just very close family members and special friends. Guests sat at three long tables.
The exquisite menu cards, printed on shimmery paper, included the fleur de leis design.

I surprised Lisa & Darren with hand-made pearl studded initials to mark their chairs.

The remarkable Carissa of Sugar & Spice incorporated fantastic gold stamped fleur de lei patterned paper to line the dessert platters and plates – a perfect touch. She also had cute ribboned signs made to identify the flavors of the many small bites. The salted carmel truffles were poured into fleur de leis shaped molds. Fantastic!Beautiful wrought iron candle towers adorned the buffet table.

I was thrilled when Lisa & Darren took me up on my suggestion to have a strolling table-side magician entertain the guests during the cocktail hour. What a riot! Guests were laughing, amazed, stumped and so curious.

Darren spent some time in Japan, and Lisa has Japanese heritage, so they gave as a favor, a lovely wrapped box with unique saki cups. I love this photo… Jennifer with The Memory Journalists is just Thee Best. She set this shot up perfectly.
Merci, Lisa & Darren for allowing me to help you with your wedding planning. It was a perfectly lovely day. Laisser le Bon Rouleau de Temps!

Lisa & Darren Wedding Photos – Part 1

I am thrilled to give you a sampling of Lisa & Darren’s wedding photos. The Memory Journalists presented me with a disk of a few of the fantastic images. Jennifer Dunham-Starr is such a delight to work with… and she has her eye on every detail – thus these great photos (come back for Part 2!).
Lisa and Darren were a great couple. They gave me their color scheme, thoughts, and feel, and then I ran with it. Lisa is a doll and was so easy to work with, and equally mellow on wedding day. The wedding was held at the couple’s beautiful home; this awesome circular staircase was begging for some cool photo ops.

The color scheme was ivory and sapphire blue (Lisa’s fav color). Sarah with Cuttings created this thick, lush wedding arch and the fabric swagging that lined the ceremonial path.

We sat their guests under the portico in the backyard, at long tables. Conversation, excellent wine, and fine dining was the order of business!

After dinner, guests were welcomed into the formal dining room to watch the ceremonial cutting of the cake. Lisa has a wonderful sweet tooth, and thus we commissioned Carissa with Sugar and Spice to create an awesome assortment of small bites (chocolate was most important, as well as Darren’s request for fruit tartlets.) So pretty and yummy!

I really enjoyed the tenderness and love between Lisa & Darren . Their first dance was very sweet. I think they forgot guests were watching!

Thank you for the opportunity… and with just a 10 week planning schedule, the outcome was wonderful!

More details to follow on another day. Come back for more!

Hot August Night-Part 2 (it's all about Sean!)

Sean is a fireman… every girl’s dream guy ! He is enthusiastic, fun-loving and so happy to marry his true love, Ashley. I thought I’d give some special recognition for Sean’s involvement at this fantastic wedding held in August (on a fairly hot night!) at Granite Bay Golf Club. More photos of this vibrant wedding were posted last week.

Sean and I cooked up a surprise for Ashley. When she reached for the lovely cake knife at the cake cutting, Sean reached under the table to pull out his very clean, highly polished fireman’s ax. Look at Ashley’s expression!

Even funnier, is Sean’s expression as they actually did cut the cake with the ax. Pure joy! This whimsical cake was designed by Sugar and Spice and…

A very special moment during the reception was the inclusion of a bagpiper and drummer from the Sacramento Fire Department Pipes & Drums Corp. These two musicians marched into the reception room, just ahead of Ashley & Sean. The crowd went wild with applause, cheering, and quite a few had tears in their eyes. It was moving, touching and Sean was beaming with pride.

At the perfect moment, the newlyweds enjoyed some quiet time on the golf course and took photos in front of a great sky-on-fire-sunset.

When we detailed the music with DJ Doug LeVine of Music on the Move, Sean told him that he had a special song to end the evening with -For Those About to Rock (We Salute You) by AC/DC. At each one of the four canon-like sounds within the song, the crowd was surprised with four confetti launches – WOW! (Thanks, Doug!!)

Ashley had envisioned a sparkler exit, but Sean, being the cautious fireman, felt a bit uneasy about that, and so we compromised with a pathway of candlelight (contained in glass).

And finally, what better send-off but to leave the wedding reception, riding on the back of an antique firetruck from the Rocklin Fire Department.

Have a wonderful life you two. Your wedding was spectacular (in Sean’s words… “Epic”) and most memorable!