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 can't even begin to express how lucky I am to work with such amazing vendors each month. And, the designs for the wedding vendor challenge this month have totally blown me away. PLUS, pink and purple happen to be my favorite colors :) Today, I have a spectacular display from Kim of Something Floral and the most creative idea for guests favors. Wait until you see!!!!! Let's get started and I'll turn the blog over to Kim as she explains her design ideas behind this shoot as well as the flowers that she incorporated . . .

This sunny, summer afternoon bridal shower was set in rural Michigan, at a private residence in their picturesque walnut grove where tall trees provided shade. And, a hint of sun with yellow rays of light peeking through the lush green leaves created natural spotlights across the grounds. Orchid patterned invitations from Papermints set the mood for stately elegance and provided a visual hint to guests that there would be more orchids and purple, pink, and grey to come at the shower.

I wanted the welcome/guestbook table to coordinate with the dining tables but not replicate them exactly so while I used a table of the same size and shape, I chose purple as the dominant color, pink as the secondary color, and silver as the accent. The table linen was a standard, polyester table cloth in plum, but I wanted the table to have some "wow factor" since it was the first table guests would see when they arrived and it would set the mood for the rest of the shower décor. Therefore, I surrounded the edge of the table with realistic, faux/permanent, Phalaenopsis orchids in an eggplant color. I wanted to pull visual focus to the top of the table, where the guestbook, favors, and welcome cookies were displayed, so as to not complete with those items, I used orchids in a color close to the linen color.

The welcome/guestbook table also contained a cookie stand brimming with petite butter cookies which were decorated with dainty pink and violet roses. Metallic paper doilies were added to each later of the clear stand for a hint of silver. Miniature, faux/permanent, violet Phalaenopsis orchids were placed and suspended in the center pillars of the cookie stand for an extra pop of color and to enhance the orchid theme.

Besides the impressive display of orchids around the edge of the welcome/guestbook table, other flowers accented the center of the table. A variety of artisan-crafted earrings, custom created by a local jewelry designer, were offered to guests as favors. After guests arrived and signed the guest book, they were encouraged to select a silver gift box (tied with pink satin ribbon) and their favorite pair of earrings from the 40+ pairs on display on a jewelry holder floral arrangement. The jewelry display arrangement consisted of two, ivory jewelry holders that were first painted silver to match the shower's color palette, and decorated with two layers of fresh roses (Thrill variety), spray roses (Blue Moon, Majolika, Hot Majolika, and Lovely Lydia varieties), violet and lavender stock, and salal. No surface was left undetailed, as the base of the bottom layer featured pink striped ribbon and three rows of hot pink sequins. Two stems of realistic, faux/permanent, candy striped, Phalaenopsis orchids were floral taped together and placed in the arrangement in the center of the earring holder so that the earrings spiraled around them. 

For the primary tablescapes, I chose grey and silver as the dominant color, purple as the secondary color, and pink as the accent. Since the topper would be most visible to shower guests, I splurged on a grey and silver one that was both embroidered and sequined while choosing a standard, more economical, plum, polyester tablecloth as the base linen. Silver, satin pillowcase style chair covers were used to coordinate with the silver and grey topper, and the chair cover backs were accented with hot pink, ruffled, millinery rose accents. The napkins were plum, polyester to coordinate with the base linen, and instead of using a standard napkin ring, I opted to make napkin rings using a beautiful, hot pink, pleated satin and velvet ribbon that I purchased from a fabric store. The satin pleats of the ribbon coordinated well with the satin border on the table topper and satin chair covers, and the velvet added a surprising (for summer) touch of lux that was perfect for an elegant shower. A beaded brooch was pinned to each napkin ring for a hint of sparkle, and a darling, moss-covered table number sat atop each dining table to help guests find their assigned location.

Each place setting on the primary tablescape consisted of antique china and antique crystal. Silvertone placecard frames accessorized with pink crystals held orchid print placecards and marked each guest's reserved seat. Instead of a formal dessert table, bright pink frosted cupcakes wrapped in silver, crystal and sequin accented cupcake wrappers (made from silver metallic, paper doilies), were placed at each guest's table setting atop silverplate pillar candle stands.

The main tablescape centerpiece was a two-layer, topiary style design created in a tall, silver, ceramic vase and featured realistic, faux/permanent, eggplant, raspberry, and pastel pink Phalaenopsis orchids cascading from the top while the base of the orchid stems were surrounded by fresh roses (Thrill variety), spray roses (Blue Moon, Majolika, Hot Majolika, and Lovely Lydia varieties), violet and lavender stock, and salal.  Phalaenopsis orchids, frequently referred to as moth orchids because of their bloom's shape, add a touch of elegance to any setting. They are pricey (both fresh and realistic, high quality faux), but their arched multi-bloom stems are graceful and sophisticated, and only a few stems are needed to add panache to an arrangement.

ADVICE FROM KIM: A mixture of fresh and faux florals were used together throughout this photoshoot to demonstrate the option and versatility of using both together. I frequently suggest this option to our clients who have a favorite flower that will be out of season at the time of their special event and also to clients who want pricey floral varieties in their bouquets and arrangements but who don't have the budget to use pricey blooms throughout their décor. One word of caution, however. When mixing fresh and faux/permanent botanicals, it is absolutely critical to use the most realistic, highest quality permanent botanicals available, as a person's eye will naturally be drawn to anything that looks out of place in a bouquet or arrangement. Low quality flowers are not realistic and will stick out like a sore thumb, especially amidst fresh flowers. If you want faux flowers to be believable and to mix harmoniously with fresh flowers, they MUST look realistic.

DIY GOODIE : How-to create your own cupcake wrappers from paper doilies with a bit of bling

Why buy cupcake wraps when you can quickly and easily make your own? Here are the materials and tools you will need, which can all be purchased at your local craft or baking supply store:
• 10 inch paper doilies in the color of your choice (silver metallic shown in the example)
• Cupcake papers/liners in the color of your choice
• Flatback crystals, rhinestones, sequins or other decorative items and trim
• Scissors
• Hot Glue Gun
• Glue Sticks
• Optional: Stapler and staples, double-sided tape, or scrapbook adhesive squares
(if you prefer instead of the hot glue gun)

Vendors:
• Styling, Coordination, Floral Designs, and Cupcake Wrapper Designs: Something Floral / Something Spectacular, Warren, MI
• Stationery and Paper Goods: Papermints, Studio City, CA
• Photography: Urban Fire Studio, Center Line, M
• Linen Rentals: Fabulous Events, Waterford, MI
• Earrings / Jewelry Favors: Shining Moment, Clawson, MI
• Silvertone Earring Boxes: Notable Notions, Los Angeles, CA
• Moss-Covered Table Number: White Tulip Boutique, Connecticut
• Silver Paper Doilies, Magenta Metallic Cupcake Papers, and Royal Icing Flowers: Heinrich's Decorating Nook, Center Line, MI
• Petite Butter Cookies: Jonesville Bakery, Jonesville, MI
• Cupcakes: Kroger, Hillsdale, MI
• Earring Stands, Napkin Ring Fabric, Napkin Brooches, Pink Photo Guest Book, and All Frames (Placecard and Welcome Table): JoAnn Fabrics
• Guest Book Pen: Hobby Lobby
• Location, antique china, and antique crystal glassware: Private Residence, Hillsdale, MI

Today I have a couple of fun and unique items that have recently launched from amazing artists/designers. One is the Ruffled Cake Favor Boxes {also available in pink} from Pamela of Party Starters. You can pre-fill each of the 24 cake slice shaped boxes with small candies or other tiny trinkets. You can even place this "cake" on a cake stand and let your guests fill up their own slice of cake with candies as their take home goodie "box". The white ruffled cake favor set also serves as a unique decoration for the dessert buffet. The set includes a white outer ruffled wrap to hold everything together. 

And, Samantha of Papermints has added these visually stunning love-inspired wall prints to her online boutique. These typographic art prints offer various modern typestyles that are gently stacked to showcase a newly married couple with their wedding date and even the city or state and venue on some of the designs. Each original art print is professionally printed on matte archival-safe photo paper and comes in 2 sizes, either 8x10 or 11x14. I'm loving the colors and of course the typography in these prints.

Ending the week of Valentine's Day Wedding Vendor Challenges is a spectacular shoot from Aleah and Nick of Valley & Co. Their inspiration for this Valentine's Day challenge was to create a non-traditional feeling for a sweetheart dining table. In true Valley & Co. fashion, Aleah and Nick staged their teak table and chairs on Mission Beach. It was a beautiful, cloudless day and the sunshine was shining - don't you just wish you could leave everything behind and jump right into these photos? With all the snow we still have to melt up here in upstate NY, this shoot makes me long for summer. Since Aleah and Nick enjoy spending their Valentine's Day relaxing on the beach or riding their beach cruisers, they thought "what better place to shoot our inspiration than on our beach?" I couldn't agree more :)

Joining Aleah and Nick with Team Five {and the last of the Valentine's Day Wedding Vendor Challenge photo shoots} was Elle G. Photography, Ariela of RBK Creations for the stunning fabric button floral bouquet, Samantha of Papermints for the beautiful paper goods, and Lydia of Sweet Lydia's for the yummy mini smores.

For Aleah and Nick, Valentine's Day is subtle and comfortable. And, in their own words I will let them explain their table design . . . "We dressed our teak table wtih a crisp white linen and lined it with a simple satin runner to give it a pop of color. Vintage French plates from Nick's parents and antique spoons from Aleah's grandmother flanked our place settings. Old candlesticks added a touch of glamour to this otherwise coastal table. Our fabric flowers were carefully placed in a simple white vase."

And, just like the other shoots this week, I have another downloadable goodie for your from Samantha of Papermints. She has made her recipe cards available to you. Simply print out the recipes cards from Scribd, trim and you're good to go. {the download link is directly underneath the item title in the right column}

And, as I wrap up this week's AMAZING Valentine Inspired Photo Shoots, I will leave you with Aleah and Nick's advice . . . "When creating your Valentine's Day table, get creative and step away from decor purchased down the Valentine's Day aisle! Look to your own stock of heirloom pieces and create a look that's comfortable and timeless."

Wedding Vendors:
Wedding Planners: Valley & Co.
Photographer: Elle G. Photography
Fabric Button Bouquet: RBK Creations
Paper Goods: Papermints
Mini Smores: Sweet Lydia's

Words can't express how thankful and appreciative I am of all the vendors that helped make my first Wedding Vendor Challenge such a success. I've had so much fun working with you all on this week's feature and I look forward to working with you all again on future challenges. For all vendors - the March vendor challenge is underway and filling up - so if you'd like to be placed on the list as teams are formed, please complete this form so I can collect your information.

Today is Day Nine of the Handmade Holiday feature on my blog. Today's spotlight is on Samantha of Papermints, who has a new line in her etsy shop, Papermints Printables, for the crafty DIY bride or the creative party hostess featuring printable partyware & social stationery. The new designs include printable dessert bar & food labels, party toppers, staw flags, gift tags, mailing labels, and note cards. Plus, Samantha's main site, Papermints, will be feauturing printable wedding stationery which includes invitations, reply cards, save the dates, and thank you cards.

Printable Black & Red Tags & Labels set, $10

Printable "Everlasting Love" tag & "Best Wishes" & "A Sweet Thanks" flags set, $15
Printable Vintage Western Tags & Labels set, $10

Printable Save the Dates, $30

You can find Papermints here: online shop | etsy shop | twitter | facebook

*** A Handmade Holiday is a showcase of handmade items that could
be great holiday or wedding gifts, or even just used during the holidays.

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