Guest Post on Inspired by This

Filed Under Food and Drinks | 4 Comments

When the team over at Inspired by This asked us to share what inspires us, I had to think. How could I explain in one post what inspires our team. I didn’t want to do a post on pink flowers or ethnic patterned linens, or our favorite gowns this season. I wanted to share something that is a bit more timeless. And by timeless I mean not writing about the trends that we are adoring right now. We wanted to share what has and ALWAYS will inspire us, which is the art of food and incorporating it into the table design. We are ultimately masters at designing beautiful tablescapes, but at the end of the day the whole function/purpose is so that people sit down and dine at them. We want people to feel comfortable and enjoy the experience, and we think that food styling really adds to that experience. So we wanted to share our guest post over at Inspired by This today, because I love this topic. Here is a sneak peek and then you can hop on over to Inspired by This to read the rest…

We are inspired by food styling: tables that look like people are supposed to eat at them. Not so overly manicured that you are afraid to set them with food. As event stylists we love to integrate food into the tablescape (Leila knows this VERY well from when we designed her wedding.) We feel that we are selling an experience, and the experience at a dining table is to DINE.

Weird concept! We are not Pottery Barn display artists selling furniture or plates, we are selling laughter, celebration, and fun at the table. All of this surrounds the time honored tradition of eating. So we like to honor food by celebrating it and integrating it into the décor of the day.

Carefree, effervescent, lived in, a table should not be too composed. Just like a brand new pair of sneakers isn’t comfortable until worn a few times, we like our tables to feel thrown together (in the most beautiful way of course. And of course each element is placed to perfection, but it shouldn’t necessarily look that way!) When you think back to some of your favorite dining experiences, often you think back to family dinners, your mom or grandma cooking your favorite recipe in the kitchen, one that you now cook.

It is those kind of memories that we like to evoke at events. The feeling of sitting around a table with friends and family in a relaxed environment and ultimately celebrating, and we think integrating food into the tables adds to the feeling. We have a few favorite food stylists that inspire us, but one of our favorites is Leesa O’ Reilly.

Hop on over to Inspired by This to find out our favorite inspirational cookbooks! Do you like integrating food into your table scapes? What inspires you??

May

27

Aisle Style: Peek-a-boo. Oh what a shoe!

Filed Under Aisle Style, Weddings | 9 Comments

There is one element on your wedding day that is a fabulous ‘g-rated’ peek-a-boo surprise. I cannot contain my joy when I see a wedding gown and then ‘wham’ a foot peeks out from underneath the gown encased in a stunning shoe! Those ever-so-fabulous shoes will be your sidekicks on your big day. They will be the element that are tapped on the floor as you anxiously wait for the 5:00 pm ceremony start time, then they will walk your pedicured toes down the aisle to your love, they will be swung around as he lifts you with joy, and later they will carry your feet across the dance floor for your first dance with your father and your love. They will pose for photos alongside your grooms shiny shoes and proudly peek out from underneath your gown as your best friend gives her speech.

SOURCES: Vivienne Westwood via Max wanger, Flats Ashley Garmon via Once Wed, Blue shoes via La Style Unveiled , Purple wedges via Rockn’roll bride,Glitter shoes The Parsons Photography via Rockn’rollbride, Green shoes via Green Wedding Shoes; Cameron Ingalls Photography, Silver Jeffrey Campbell shoes Jagger Photography, Red shoes by Orchard Cove Photography, Yellow shoes by Jose Villa Photography, yellow shoe pair via Get Married; Jonathan Canlas Photography

Your shoes will also take a few moments to themselves to steal the spotlight away while they elegantly pose for photos. They are definitely not camera shy and will have their red carpet moments as they perch upon books, kiss each other (for the toe-to-toe pose), they will turn away from each other for the (heel-to-heel pose).

SOURCES: Irregular Choice Shoe via Ruffled blog; Blink Photography, Lanvin Shoes via Ruffled; Annie McElwain Photography, The Parsons Photography via Rockn’rollbride, Badgley Mischka Shoe via Style Me Pretty; Vero Suh Photography, Silver Shoes Simply Bloom Photography, Pink shoes by Sarah Yates Photography, Flats Jonathan Canlas Photography

May

26

Totally Traveled: Fodor’s & Frommer’s

Filed Under Dinner Parties | 5 Comments

Global glamour. You have traveled, you are a bohemian, a nomad. Your passport has been stamped so many times you had to order another book and your e-mail inbox is constantly flooded with travel deals from Orbitz and Travelzoo screaming 20% off if you come here and 35% off if you go there!! Your bookcase looks like a tribute to Fodor’s and Frommer’s with each country alphabetized. You love your collection of rich textiles from the orient, have a collection of Russian nesting dolls from eastern Europe and shells from the seashores of Hawaii. Remember when you studied abroad and picked up those batik napkins in Bali and then went on to Europe where you tasted wines in the regions of France, Italy, and Spain? You love all of these elements and want to bring them all into your dinner party. But how?

DECOR: Throw a dinner party and mix all of your favorite decor elements onto your tablescape. It is a-ok to mix batik napkins with Morroccan plates and Italian wine goblets. Soften the mixture of prints and patterns by adding giant, lush peonies and ruffly sweet peas in various shades of pink.

ON THE MENU: Serve a menu of French farmhouse vegetarian dinner with light colorful dishes including chilled zucchini soup and pan seared apricots and figs alongisde refreshing Italian spritz punch and African wines. Oh and don’t forget your collection of Russian nesting dolls! But instead of stacking them onto your tablescape decor, turn them into dessert cupcake pops!!

DRESS THE PART: Wear a romantic mexican maxi party dress skirt with embroidery.

Sources:

- Russian Doll Pops
- Miles Redd
- Romantic mexican maxi party dress; $280
- Vintage batik fabric; $5.00
- Bouquet

May

25

Inspiration to Creation: Hammocks & High Tea

Filed Under Inspiration to Creation | 6 Comments

Hammocks & High Tea is a lovely home goods store “inspired by life and fusion of the tropics.” Upon seeing their gorgeous table ware and lovely textiles of place mats, tea towels, and napkins we had to find out where they derived their ethnic inspiration from. We were smitten with the collections from Ikat and Sumara to Mayan and Linden and asked them where they obtained their global inspiration from. First, here are some of our favorite pieces from the collection… One of our favorite pieces are their new tea towels that are large enough to use as a runner on a small table!!

Karen Young of Hammock & High Tea shared some of her inspirational photos with us, and then showcases the product that was derived from it. For the Saree collection Karen has “collected beautiful bits of saree fabric for years, and fell in love with this one about 6 years ago. I turned to it for inspiration when I was looking to modernize the traditional saree designs, and tried to bring the three dimensional texture of the beads to life.”

Karen was also extremely inspired by travel for her Mayan collection, “Spring was inspired by travel and the fact that cultures across the world have similar textiles, textures, and flavors. I found that this rhombus shape has been around for centuries and is present in patterns from Turkey to Tunisia, Portugal, and Mexico.”

The trends this year on the runway this year are all about global glamour and inspiration. We love the idea of bringing these ethnic elements and dressing tables with these textiles for weddings, dinner parties and showers!

May

21

aisle style: neither hair nor there

Filed Under Aisle Style | 7 Comments

You spent months poring over magazines and tearing out the pages of models posing in your dream gowns. Next, you scheduled appointments at your local bridal salons and gathered up a gaggle of friends and family to go dress shopping. You tried on gown after gown and finally your audience of onlookers (including the sales staff, grandma and your childhood bestie) oooohed, aahhhhed and nodded their heads in final approval of ‘the one’. Phew. You had found ‘it’. ‘It’ was what would cause you to drop some tears on, some major dollars on, and a few pounds so you could be your ideal weight while wearing ‘it’. Your grandmother gave you her perfect pearl earrings, and you had already gone shoe shopping and found the most splendid stilettos in a shade of blue with a satin bow on the heel. You just e-mailed your makeup artist a photo of Kate Bosworth pouting in a perfect pinkish peach shade of lipstick and are feeling really good about your overall look when you realize you have forgotten one detail. The finishing touch…. Your bridal veil. But alas! You don’t want to wear a veil so what on earth should you do??!!