Can you believe it? We're already up to our 7th month of Wedding Vendor Challenges. This month the color palette is navy blue and yellow with the theme being a bridal shower tablescape with a dessert display. Today I have an amazing photo shoot from California at an amazing venue and tomorrow we move to Michigan for a super unique venue and set-up. Today's photo shoot is without a doubt spectacular and just wait until you see the venue - on the rooftop with a pool!!!!!! And, what a view, LOVE THIS!!!!! The team today consists of Miriam of Glam Candies, Samantha of Papermints, lovely patterned linens and gorgeous florals from Unforgettable Events, beautiful photos by Jessica Elizabeth Photography, sweets by Eileen of Cucamonga Cakery.

Miriam joins me now to discuss her ideas behind today's featured shoot which I know you are all going to go CRAZY for - just wait until you see the details - AMAZING . . . {ok, a few hints of what's to come... life preserver donuts, blueberry mojitos, seashell topped cupcakes - and so much more}

First, I would like to say that I am very big on teamwork. I believe teamwork played a key role in the success of this inspiration shoot. Since the entire team is fairly local, I did not want to shoot on a day that the entire team would not be available. With everyones hectic schedules, that was the most challenging part of coordinating and planning this inspiration shoot. I really wanted to give the entire team the opportunity to be on-site, collaborate together and be hands-on in order for everyone to put their best work forward. Once we finally settled on a date for the photo shoot, it was smooth sailing (pun intended) minus the sleep deprivation.

For this Modern Nautical inspiration photo shoot, I provided my team with the design concept and guidance for the inspiration details. This amazing team that I have had the pleasure of working with in real-life really got my vision and helped me turn my vision into real-life or faux-life.

Inspiration Element # 1 . . . A chic hotel: The AVIA hotel in Long Beach is a very chic, contemporary, seaside hotel with a gorgeous view. It was absolutely perfect for a modern nautical theme. The tablescape and dessert bar were set up poolside on the rooftop overlooking the Queen Mary harbor. The pool cabana's are covered with triangular shades that look like sails and we wanted to naturally capture sailboats in the backdrop.

Inspiration Element # 2 . . . The color palette: The Navy and Yellow color palette allowed for a new take on nautical. For a bridal shower, I really wanted to soften it up and make it very feminine and pretty so I added subtle hints of peach and light yellow.  I also wanted to keep things very crisp, clean and modern with white. I really wanted to do something that hadn't been done before with nautical.

Inspiration Element # 3 . . . Latticework (an ornamental criss-crossed framework, an arrangement of crossing laths or other thin strips of material): I really wanted to incorporate latticework because it lends a crisp and modern vibe to the design. I really wanted latticework to set the vibe at this venue. On the tablescape, we displayed lattice vases/lanterns with yellow candles (I purchased them at Kohl's department stores) and paired them with a navy and white lattice fabric table runner (I purchased fabric at Joann Fabrics).  Samantha really nailed this concept throughout the paper details.

Inspiration Element # 4 . . .  Mixing and matching different textures and prints: The specialty linens played a big role in adding texture. Cristina provided us with gorgeous Italian satin floor length linens in white that we used for both the tablescape and dessert bar. For each place setting, we used two napkins, a navy and white striped linen over a yellow placemat and a yellow charmeuse satin napkin tied with twine as a napkin ring that added a little pop. We also used  a lot of burlap, twine and rope to decorate our props and vessels. The cabana curtains from the AVIA hotel also softened up the space. Oh and I freaked when I found the most perfect two tiered navy and white a sailboat dessert stand at Homegoods.

Inspiration Element # 5 . . . Nature in Flowers: Cristina created three beautiful flower arrangements set in wooden box vases for our tablescape. The flowers were especially important in adding the soft and romantic, feminine elements and in enhancing our accent colors in our color palette. The flowers included: white hydrangea, white stock, cafe o le (peach) hybrid dahlias, white lisianthus, white roses, yellow billy balls, yellow tulips, yellow lemons (halfed). We also sprinkled a few blooms throughout the dessert bar. Fruit consisted of blueberries, lemons, peaches & mint leaves. The sea was showcased with sailboats, life preservers, coral, seashells, sand dollars, starfish & sand.

Inspiration Element # 6 . . . Sweets: Lemme just tell you, everything we do at Glam Candies / Miriam Corona Events is sweet. We must find a way to make anything sweet! In this photo shoot we had a lot of fun incorporating candies into the bridal shower via the candy bar invitation (designed by Samantha), we also displayed a blue and yellow ring pop at the bride-to-be's placesetting for a little eye candy, and we added blue rock candy to our signature Blueberry Mojitos. I also made homemade blueberry parfaits to go with the lemon and blueberry fruit tarts from Cucamonga Cakery. Cucamonga Cakery also baked the cutest life preserver lemon flavored mini donuts, sailboat sugar cookies, white chocolate seashell cupcakes and our navy cake with coral. Our little wooden sailboat held m&m's inside.

Inspiration Element # 7 . . . Paper Details: Samantha designed the candy bar invitation in a white and navy lattice print and added a nautical touch in the rope frame similar to our table runner. She used contemporary block fonts on the dessert tags. The escort cards were created with solid blocks of yellow and navy with horizontal stripes which was repeated on the "sweets" banner that hung above the dessert bar.  She also designed a few themed signs for our dessert bar, "Sail Away with Me" and "Leave your sweet wishes for the bride-to-be" in addition to the mini "bride-to-be banner" that hung from the bride-to-be's chair.

Inspiration Element # 8 . . . A little bit of vintage: The pinwheel map banner was a last minute add. I bought individual sheets of map paper at Joanne Fabrics and really wanted to make paper sailboats as placard holders. Those didn't work out so I ended up making the pinwheels instead. I took to my hot glue gun and glued them onto burlap to create a little pinwheel map banner for our dessert bar. I also made mason jar candleholders.

And, there you have it - one of the most amazing nautical inspirations. There's so many DIY elements in this shoot that you can easily re-create at home for any event {pinwheel map banner, mason jar candles holders, addition of the blue and yellow ring pop as napkin ring}. And, I even have one more for you . . .

DIY GOODIE: Blueberry Parfaits - this has to be the most genious presentation of a parfait I have ever seen. Yogurt filled glasses, topped with ground up graham crackers {to resemble beach sand} and fresh blueberries. And, then a spoon is tied on with twine. You can simply pick one up and you're good to go :)

And, lastly I have to leave you with some parting words from Miriam:
With so much inspiration, it was a matter of finding the right balance to bring all of the design elements together. I didn't want to do too much of just one thing. I wanted to incorporate some the details (like our vintage map pinwheel banner) in a subtle way. If it got too nautical, I toned it down and added more chic, if it got too blue, I brightened it up with yellow. I also wanted everything to look as natural as possible.   

I hope that this inspiration shoot will inspire many brides-to-be to think outside of the box and be creative in blending design elements together. I believe it is especially important to keep the groom's ideas in mind to find the right balance in mixing traditions, cultures and styles.

A sweet thanks to Best Wedding Sites for this amazing opportunity and to the super talented crew.

Vendors:
Event Planning, Event Design, Styling, Rentals, Candy & Dessert Bar:
     Miriam of Glam Candies / Miriam Corona Events
Specialty Linens, Floral Design, Styling, Rentals:
     Cristina of Unforgettable Events   
Paper Design, Styling:
     Samantha of Papermints
Photography, Styling, Venue Coordination:
     Jessica and Robert (husband and wife team) at Jessica Elizabeth Photography
Venue:
     Mandy of AVIA Hotel Long Beach
Desserts:
     Eileen of Cucamonga Cakery

I am excited to continue the Wedding Vendor Challenge Photo Shoot today with a beautiful romantic picnic with the Golden Gate Bridge as a backdrop. This shoot took place at the Crissy Field Picnic Area in San Francisco. As I mentioned in yesterday's challenge post, I asked vendors across the US and Canada to team up and create an intimate Valentine's Day dinner tablescape for two with a dessert display. I supplied a color palette for all vendors to work with and for this shoot it was red, honeysuckle pink {the Pantone color of the year} and grey. I also asked each team to provide at least one DIY design.

Team Two features the talent of Jacin of Lovely Little Details who not only co-planned the shoot, but she provided the on-site styling and design as well as the cupcakes, cookies, doily wrapped sandwiches and all props. And, even more talent included Tara of Cut the Cake Designs who created all the paper goods, Miriam of Glam Candies who also co-planned and provided concept collaboration and of course, Gladys of Gladys Jem Photography for providing the gorgeous photography.

Jacin was so clever to use a quilt as a tablecloth - it softens the setting and makes the romantic picnic more cozy and inviting.

This is just the cutest packaging - a wrapped PB&J sandwich in wax paper with a paper wrapper and tied with twine. When upwrapped, you end up with the sandwich wrapped in a large doily and sealed with a heart sticker. Super sweet!

And, aren't the following paper placemats the sweetest? One reads "You and Me Forever" and the other reads "Will You Marry Me?" Simply set the table and hide the wording with the plate and then after dinner, when the plate is lifted, the question is revealed.

How about all those food tags? You're in for another treat today as Tara has created them as a download for you. Simply print out Tara's food tag pdf after downloading via this link from Scribd, trim and attach to your edibles and you're all set. {the download link is directly underneath the item title in the right column}

A huge thank you to Team 2 for continuing the week with amazing inspiration and another lovely tablescape and wonderful paper goods. Be sure to stay tuned all week as I have lots more wonderful designs coming your way.

Wedding Vendors:
Co-planner, concept collaboration, on-site styling/design: Jacin of Lovely Little Details
{as well as cupcakes, cookies, doily sandwich wrappers, all props}
All paper design and concept collaboration: Tara of Cut the Cake Designs {blog}
Co-planner, concept collaboration, and inspiration photo provision: Miriam of Glam Candies {blog}
Photographer: Gladys Jem Photography {blog}

PS: See the Wedding Vendor Challenge from Team 1 here.