Top Row: Jeff and Melissa loved the clean lines and floral interpretation of their Kate Spade “Gwinnett Lane” china pattern that. They asked Erica O’Brien to translate the pattern into cake. Erica hand cut fondant pieces colored to match the china and appliqued them to the fondant covering the cake.

Middle Row: Michael surprised Jillian with a trip to Hawaii, where he proposed to her after years of dating. To commemorate their trip and their engagement, they bought matching Hawaiian print shirts. They asked Erica OBrien to create a cake inspired by their shirts.

Bottom Row: Ron and Sarah used elements found in an Indian painting (exoticindiaart.com) to represent Ron’s family’s Hindu heritage

See more of Erica’s brilliant work at Erica O’Brian Cake Design.

Choosing the right vendors is so important that it is really worth the research. Because of this, we are going to be spotlighting the vendors from the Jessica Claire workshop. We asked Erica O’Brien about what inspires her cake designs, and she shared some great inspiration to creation stories with us.

Carl and Serena loved the vintage feel of their invitations, they asked Erica to recreate their invitations for their wedding cake.

Elizabeth and Marcus wanted the inspiration for their wedding to come from their invitation. They loved the idea of a single flower against a contrasting background. Erica OBrien created a handcrafted edible sugar flower to match their invitation.

We love seeing the insight and the inspiration behind the creation of our vendors. A truly talented designer will be able to brilliantly execute the vision and inspiration of the bride and groom into a design that exceeds their expectations. Erica O´Brien has accomplished this brilliantly with these beautiful cake designs.

We will be showcasing the photographs from the other photographers from the  Jessica Claire workshop, to show the different points of view. We will also continue to spotlight the talented vendors that helped us to make it all come together.

Moroccan goblets were tied with tags that read ‘cheers’ in six different languages. Cheers, Salude, Kampai and Prost were just some of the international reminders to sip and be merry! Blue Italian dinnerware with multiple patterns was set upon a white French inspired table and surrounded by blue anemones that had a lavender glow.

The menus were designed for a time when dressing up for fine dining was part of the opulence of a stately dinner, and when food was taken as an art form not to be rushed. They were titled with ‘a night afloat on a wonder boat’. The actual menu of the titanic was incorporated and each course was labeled with ‘Bon Appetite’ in multiple languages from French to Japanese on top of a topographical map for added texture

Vendors: Event Design, Production, Vendor Coordination, Bride & Bridesmaid Styling, Graphic Design: Lollipop Events & Designs / Photographer: Jessica Claire / Floral Design & Groom Styling: Tam Ashworth for Isari Flower Studio and Stylish Silhouette / Hair & Makeup: Vivian Tran, All Made Up / Furniture: Fete Accompli / Dinnerware, Flatware, Flutes & China: Bloomingdales / Gowns: Joan Shum Bridal / Groom Suits: Bloomingdales / Cake Designer: Erica O’Brien Cake Design / Love Quotes Calligraphy Linen: Laura Hooper Calligraphy / Upcycled Vintage Bridal Jewelry, Accessories & Heirloom Jeweled Bouquet: Noaki Jewelry / Bridesmaid Dress: Swoon / Bridal Headpieces & Bridesmaid Bolero Jacket: Alisa Benay / Message Box Favors: Lucky Bug Handmade Paper Delights / Special thanks to Be Inspired Public Relations

For the couple who loves to travel, we were inspired by the lyrics of Frank Sinatra’s “We’ve got the World on a String” We wanted to transport guests onto a fine dining cruise ship from the early 1900’s as they traveled to the Orient, to Africa, to Europe and back again by mixing Moroccan goblets, Parisian tabletops, Italian dinnerware, and even Oriental shoji screens for a romantic trip around the globe.

The ceremony featured sky blue wooden chairs adorned with wreaths of baby’s breath and velvet ribbon while white baroque French loveseats served as the seating for the front row.

The bride and groom were married under an old navy blue nautical steering wheel dressed up with flowers, and stood upon a piece of batik fabric.

Vintage nautical elements inspired us to adhere our color palette to the hues of the azure seas. We blended shades of brilliant blues including sparkling sapphires, indigos and sky blues with metallic silver and high gloss white. Batik fabrics were combined with textiles of damask, ikat, and toile to maintain the eclectic ethnic feel of this worldly fete. Graphical elements were designed as circles to represent both globes and portholes, tying in the “World on a String” globe-hopping theme.

The programs served as a beautiful way to sum up the opulent feeling of globetrotting with your paramour. We pulled from the feeling of luxurious travel in a bygone era and used the lyrics of “World on a String” which were printed on the back of the programs that looked like small globes and even tied with strings to each chair. For the front of the programs we designed a classic nautical porthole. The bride and the captain had their ‘first mate’ and ‘first maid’ by their side as they took the plunge on the voyage of love.

The shiny silver croc embossed tea table was set with clocks displaying time zones from Paris, Toyko and New York. The table was labeled with a sign that said “time for tea”, guests were served teas from China, France and England in multi patterned tea cups.

The bride and groom sitting area, was created for them to have a moment to themselves, and was framed by an oriental shoji screen that had pieces of maps of where they had traveled together.

The map was labeled with flags that depicted the locations of their ‘first kiss’, ‘crazy adventure’, ‘got engaged’, ‘fell in love’ and many more experiences. The French baroque chair was even accented with a handmade American flag pillow with aqua velvet stripes, a Moroccan stool served as a table, and the area was surrounded by delphiniums placed on the ground resembling an overgrown English garden.

Vendors: Photographer: Jessica Claire / Event Design, Production, Vendor Coordination, Bride & Bridesmaid Styling, Graphic Design: Lollipop Events & Designs / Floral Design & Groom Styling: Tam Ashworth for Isari Flower Studio and Stylish Silhouette / Hair & Makeup: Vivian Tran, All Made Up / Furniture: Fete Accompli / Dinnerware, Flatware, Flutes & China: Bloomingdales / Gowns: Joan Shum Bridal / Groom Suits: Bloomingdales / Cake Designer: Erica O’Brien Cake Design / Love Quotes Calligraphy Linen: Laura Hooper Calligraphy / Upcycled Vintage Bridal Jewelry, Accessories & Heirloom Jeweled Bouquet: Noaki Jewelry / Bridesmaid Dress: Swoon / Bridal Headpieces & Bridesmaid Bolero Jacket: Alisa Benay / Message Box Favors: Lucky Bug Handmade Paper Delights / Special thanks to Be Inspired Public Relations

We started with the ‘Voyage of Love’ guest seating area. We decided that we would like guests to use navigational compasses to direct them to famous ports around the globe. The ‘Voyage Du Amour’ seating sign would be framed and placed onto a rod iron easel and surrounded by vintage globes.

We designed each seating card in the shape of a circle to resemble both the shape of the world and a port hole. Each table would be named a different port that each guest would be directed to sit at.

The programs were also designed into the shape of a circle and even the best man was called the ‘best mate’ on them! We took inspiration from Frank Sinatra’s “I’ve got the world on a string, I’m sitting on a rainbow, got that string round my finger, what a world what a life I’m in love”. We put these lovely lyrics on the backs of the programs, and took it a step further by tying a string to them so they could be hung off of the ceremony chairs!

Topographical maps were used as a textured background behind many of the designs. We made multiple ‘Voyage of Love’ signs with old ships, planes, trains, automobiles and even a tricycle!

The ‘Time for Tea’ sign was also designed into a circle shape and would be set onto the tea table that would have teas from Japan and England and would be placed amidst clocks that would be set into different timezones from around the world! Guests would be able to see the times  in Paris, Tokyo, and England as they sipped their hot teas from gorgeous china.

The wedding menu “A night afloat on a wonder boat” (on left) had each course labeled with ‘Bon Appetit’ in multiple languages from around the world. We used the actual menu featured on the Titanic for an elaborate tasting of what life was like when dining was the nights destination.

The circles on the right, would be the tags for the dessert and liquer/wine pairing station. We would pour different liquers into beautiful decanters and pair them with cookies and treats. French Cognac would be paired with French Petite Palmers, Chines Bai-Jui would be paired with fortune cookies, Hereford Apple Apertif from England would be paired with English Lemon Tea cookies, and many more fun pairings!

We also designed tags that said ‘Cheers’, ‘Prost’, ‘Salud’, in eight different languages that we would tie around the guests wine glasses!

Sources: (Elle Decor, Elizabeth Dye) We were particularly inspired by the elegance of old cruise ships. The days when you would dress up in your fur stoles and gowns to eat in the formal dining room, followed by swirling around the dance floor to the sounds of a live band.  The days when you would pack your finest belongings into gorgeous leather steam trunks to travel for days and days before arriving to your destination.

We were also inspired by the orient, the azure color of the ocean, and all things indigo. We wanted to incorporate different patterns from Asian floral designs to traditional English toile. Deep rich indigos would make an appearance alongside globes, maps and clocks labeled with time zones from around the world.

After pinning down a design concept, we needed to bring our dream team of vendors on board. Amazing vendors are the most crucial part of having a successful event. An event can simply not occur without the talent and passion of an entire team. For every single event we do, we start with inspiration boards.

After bringing together our overall design direction with our inspiration boards, we put together what we call our creation boards. The creation boards have the actual flowers, vases, dinnerware, decor and furniture we will be using for each section. We will create a separate board for the lounge area, the dining tables, the ceremony, etc.. in addition to a site map. This helps us stay on track and gives our vendors a clear vision of the design.

Fashion Creation Board: This is an example of our fashion creation board, we knew we wanted to use one of Joan Shum’s stunning designs and an elegant ivory chiffon bridesmaid dress from Swoon. We wanted to accent these gorgeous gowns with upcycled vintage jewelry from Noaki Jewelry, and could not wait to debut her one-of-a-kind vintage jewelry brooch bouquet! After gathering these talented fashion vendors, we put a creation board together of all of the pieces with our gorgeous model couple.

Dessert Creation Board: We automatically knew that we wanted to bring Fete Accompli on board for rentals, they have the most innovative and unique furniture rentals around! We were particularly excited about using their three tiered white high gloss buffet for our “around the world” dessert pairing. We filled six crystal cut glass decanters with wine and liqeur from different countries and paired each one with a pastry or cookie from that same country.

The Cake: We also immediately contacted Erica O’ Brien to design the cake. She is one of the most brilliant cake designers and we could not wait to work with her. We gave her the general design direction of the color scheme and travel elements and she ran with it!

The Dining Table: Finally, for the dining table we knew we wanted to mix some Spode and Kate Spade dinnerware patterns from Bloomindales. Our piece de’ resistance would be a table runner with hand painted calligraphy that had famous love poems in Italian, French and Spanish delicately painted on it. We called Laura Hooper of Laura Hooper Calligraphy and started conceptualizing this design.

The Setting: We also designed all of the stationery and paper design, the ceremony site with hand painted blue chairs and an old nautical wheel acting as the chandelier for the day, a place card seating area, a sitting area, and a tea lounge!

The rest of the week we will be sharing more information about each vendor, we will showcase Jessica Claire’s photos, and we will show the photos from some of the other photographers in the workshop. We will also point out each detail that really made this shoot cohesively come together.

The Bridesmaid Dresses: Dress your maids in these unique and chic ‘Queens Crouquet Ground’ custom party dresses tinted in any color for the bride who loves wearable art. Choose from any color including antique pink, blushy peach, light aqua periwinkle or give each gal a different hue! by Ouma; $325.00

The Jewelry: Wear a Titanopsis necklace, cut from a sheet of metal and then cast in bronze, this succulent inspired piece invokes the quality of hand wrought artifacts of an earlier period, by Prismera Design; $106.00

Wear layered cherish bangles.. These delicate yet sculptural pieces are best worn layered and are now available in sets. Pile them on and combine the bronze and sterling silver bangles for a stunningly unique look with your gown, by Prismera Design; sets from $130.00 – $250.00

The Setting: Set the table with handmade plates created from vintage plates and stencils, DIY instructions via Bloesem.

A true Indie-pendent bride will be sure to serve her guest fair trade coffee from stylishly hand illustrated ‘to go’ coffee cups sure to make those boring Starbucks cups envious.

A “message in a bottle” – The Police, made it’s way into this romantic day…

Cake Table – Another love ‘note’ made an appearance with “How sweet it is to be loved by you” – James Taylor. The table was adorned with a peach cake accented with textured flowers and an antique silver pitcher filled with a wild gathering of peach and rose toned blooms. Also making an appearance were sweet little ants on a log made of gourmet chocolate truffles.

A Book of Love was also propped on the sweets table, with another love ‘note’. “I love it when you read to me and you, you can read me anything. I love it when you sing to me And you, You can sing me anything The book of love is long and boring And written very long ago It’s full of flowers and heart-shaped boxes And things we’re all too young to know But I love it when you give me things And you, You ought to give me wedding rings And I, I love it when you give me things And you, You ought to give me wedding rings” – Peter Gabriel, Book Of Love

Gift for Him: Serenade your sweetheart with this great gift idea: make a piñata out of old music sheets! Really play up the love ‘notes’ theme by having him channel his inner child and hit the piñata until actual love notes flutter to the ground! Love was literally floating in the air with this gift. Handwritten notes like “will you be my valentine?”,  favorite love song lyrics and inside jokes will make this the most personal and thoughtful gift you could give, while allowing your sweetheart to channel his inner child. Ren and Kiptyn could not contain their giggles as he wore a pink velvet blindfold while blindly swinging.

Gift for her: Her heart was fluttering as gave her a key box with a note that said ‘you’ve got the key to my heart – pull here’. At the end of the pink velvet ribbon she found her gift, a gorgeous vintage bracelet.

The texture of Ren’s soft pink hued Alisa Benay gown dreamily resembled the fluttering love ‘notes’ of the delicate pinata.

For dessert Kiptyn was given a bowl of sweet passionate peaches that read “You’re the cutest thing that I ever did see, I really love your peaches want to shake your tree” – Steve Miller Band

Pinata DIY - blow up balloon (the oversized balloons work best), soak newspaper strips in water and glue, then cover the balloon in them. Cut music sheets into squares and curl the ends of them around a pencil (this will give them the curled shape). After the balloon dries, cover it in the cut music sheets. Pop the balloon and cut a small section to fill up with the love ‘notes’. Reattach the cut piece and cover it with the music sheets.

This day truly hit a high note!

• Event styling, coordination, bride styling, stationery: Lollipop Events & Designs
• Floral Design: Isari Flower Studio
• Photography: John Schnack Photography
• Gown & Head Piece: Alisa Benay
• Jewelry: Noaki Jewelry
• Groom Styling: By Tam Ashworth for Stylish Silhouette
• Cakes: Truly Scrumptious
• Makeup by Jennifer Budner
• Gourmet Chocolates: Dallmann Confections
• Hair Styling – Orange Blossom Salon; Jamie Rosa 760-889-5062
• Special thanks to Kiptyn Locke
• Special thanks to Leila of Be Inspired PR
  

Between both posts, how many song lyrics/love ‘notes’ can you count that made an appearance into the day?!

The Bachelorette’s, Kiptyn Locke was our groom in training for this special Valentine wedding shoot with a little help by our gorgeous model, friend and stand-in-bride, Ren. Helping to make single ladies out there swoon and beg cupid for a just a little pinch…

The Setting: For this Valentines Day Inspired Soiree we created a romantically wild seaside garden with overgrown roots, driftwood and birch wood in a forest of twisted trees overlooking the pacific blue. This was truly a sweetheart table for two. The white washed wood and birch leg table was covered in anemones, spray roses and dusty miller leaves. Simple candles, sticks, shells and old keys were placed in the center for a dreamy, romantic effect. The menu sang it’s own love song with items labeled:

To Drink: Love Potion #9 “I didn’t know if it was day or night, I started kissing everything in sight” – The Clovers
To Eat: Cheeseburger in Paradise “Heaven on earth with an actual onion slice” – Jimmy Buffet
For Dessert: Cherry Pie “Tastes so good make a grown man cry, sweet cherry pie” – Warrant

To maintain the wild seaside garden setting, instead of placing all of the arrangements on the table we placed a birch log on the ground covered in pale peach carnations, dusty miller leaves, tulips and ranunculus.

Ren was blushing in pinks with rosy cheeks. Cupid shot her with his arrow as she clutched a bouquet of tulips, carnations and orchid root, while wearing a dreamy ruffled peach hued gown and adorned with rose quartz jewelry.  Kiptyn wore a cream suit and chocolate brown bowtie while looking debonair with a boutonniere of petite champagne roses with branch accents and a bleached peacock feather.

A rustic teak trough on the side of the table was propped on a moss covered frame and served as the wine bucket. A decanter was perched on a sea of beach rocks and filled with strawberry wine with a hand written love ‘note’ tied with twine around the neck that read “My first taste of love oh bittersweet, green on the vine, like strawberry wine” – Deana Carter

Even the tree was adorned  and accessorized with a blushing bouquet and a fan made out of old music sheets.

• Event styling, coordination, bride styling, stationery: Lollipop Events & Designs
• Floral Design: Isari Flower Studio
• Photography: John Schnack Photography
• Gown & Head Piece: Alisa Benay
• Jewelry: Noaki Jewelry
• Groom Styling: By Tam Ashworth for Stylish Silhouette
• Cakes: Truly Scrumptious
• Makeup by Jennifer Budner
• Gourmet Chocolates: Dallmann Confections
• Hair Styling – Orange Blossom Salon; Jamie Rosa 760-889-5062
• Special thanks to Kiptyn Locke
• Special thanks to Leila of Be Inspired PR

Photography: Sarah Yates

What made these Save the Dates so unique was the way it was read. To add a level playfulness about it we created a vertical belly band that covered all of the event information below. When the recipient held the piece in their hand they read “SAVE” from the foiling on the card and then on the belly band it read “your memories for toasting”, “your voice for laughing” and “your feet for dancing”. Then when the belly band was removed you would read the entire title of “Save the Date”.   How about some other fun ideas you could translate this design into? Like “SAVE: Water…drink champagne!”