My First "Official" Wedding Design

I so graciously accepted the task of assisting in the help of designing a wedding by one of my very close friends from college, Laurie Burns. She has an adorable friend, Jen, who hired us on to design and co-coordinate her wedding back in April. Ceremony and reception were both held at Park Tavern, in Piedmont Park. What a gorgeous location!

Our duties for the wedding were to order and design all floral related decor, decorate the venue for both ceremony and reception, and assist with the rehearsal, ceremony, and reception. Not only were Laurie and I EXSTATIC about our jobs, but we had sooooo much fun as guests at the wedding as well. It was such a fun weekend in Midtown. We also got to spend another two nights in our beloved W Hotel. I love that place.

So, for our masterpieces. We had so much fun creating and designing together, and hope to create our own little business one day of event design.

*****

1) Our work space at Cut Flowers the day of the wedding. We worked hard, but had a blast.

We cut, we arranged, we tied, we designed. 7 hours of work paid off!

2) Guest book table in foyer.

3) Guest table seating assignments for reception.

Name cards (courtesy of Lily Pad Paper) placed in a tray of river rocks.

4) Aisle bouquets at the corner of each side.

5) Unity Candle table adorned with pink petals and green orchids.

6) Altar arrangements.

7) Flower Girl basket.

8) Table arrangements lined up on bar prior to ceremony.

9) Our table design for reception. Complete with lime green hydrangeas, pink tulips, green orchids, pink peonies, and fuschia satin ribbons. Lily Pad Paper was also honored to create the table numbers.

View of room before reception.

10) Bride's bouquet (green orchids) and Bridesmaids' bouquet (pink tulips).

11) Blythe and Laurie: two very happy event designers.

"Cheers!" to all of our hard work!

First Experiences With Decorative Cakes

I love to bake, but I am not very good at free-hand painting or drawing. Therefore, I think my cakes taste so much better than they look. I do, though, try to make my creativity flourish in the finish product, and most of the time I am not too displeased.

Here are a few I've recently made...

Drew McGinn's 5th Birthday

Landon Higgins's Baptism

Laurie White's Bridal Shower

Sara Simes's Baby Shower

Key Lime Cake

I was given this recipe from a co-worker at Kennestone. It is super easy and super delish! A perfect summer cake. Tart and sweet, but not too much of either. I love to bake and love a good challenge, but this cake was too easy to stress over. I made it for both my dad's birthday and a summer get-together with friends. It was a hit!

Recipe:
1 (18.25 ounce) package lemon cake mix
1 (3 ounce) package instant lemon pudding mix
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
5 tablespoons key lime juice

Glaze:
1 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
3 tablespoons key lime juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease one 9x1-inch cake pan or one 10-inch bundt pan. In a large bowl, stir together lemon cake mix, lemon instant pudding mix, water, oil, eggs, and 5 tablespoons of key lime juice. Mix well. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Mix together the remaining confectioner's sugar and key lime juice. Pour key lime glaze over cake while still warm. Enjoy!

I Love the "Hunt"

I have become very passionate in antiques and vintage finds. Not only do I love to add this style and design to my current taste, but I have grown to love the thrill of the hunt. Have I ever! There are such little treasures out there, both big and small. And, when I have a little money in my pocket to burn, I love to seek a fabulous find. The more special, unique and sentimental, the better! I love a little french country meets vintage meets classic.

Here are a few of my favorite spots to shop for those unique finds:

*Woodstock Antique Market - Bells Ferry Road, Woodstock

*Fleu de Coup - Town Center, Kennesaw

*Christine's Creations - Downtown Woodstock

*Antiques by Samson and Delilah - Downtown Woodstock

*the occassional consignment store or the Buckhead Goodwill

*my grandmother-in-law's personal collection

Photography 101

About six months ago, Tim surprised me with a rather big purchase - the camera we had been wanting for quite some time. We've been needing a replacement, so we decided to research a better camera, and make the splurge. We got a Canon D3100. I love everything about this camera. It takes amazing photos, and has HD video. I've been taking classes to figure out how to "get out of auto", but it is a little overwhelming. So, yes, I have added yet ANOTHER craft/hobby to my list. And, worth every penny!

Here are a few pics I have taken with it. These are great, but I still have more to learn!

A dragonfly on a string of patio lights.

My beautiful niece, Kyla Marie.

Mallory's "Pinkalicious" potty-training cupcake. I made this for her from her favorite book, Pinkalicious.