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Archive for the ‘Weddings By Theme’ Category

When it comes to creating a beach wedding cake that will wow your guests, consider the location of your wedding and use the local landscape and scenery as your inspiration.   Will you be getting married in a more tropical setting full of hibiscus flowers or a more nautical setting near a cliff-side lighthouse?  Take a cue from your surroundings and you are sure to have an impressive cake.

Seashells
Without a doubt, the most popular motif for a beach wedding cake is seashells.  Television shows like Cake Boss demonstrate just how creative and talented cake bakers across the U.S. are these days.  If you give your baker some shells that you love as inspiration, they should be able to create similar “shells” out of marzipan, chocolate, and other tools at their disposal.  I’ve found that it is best to try and get the shells to look as natural as possible using colors that you find on the actual real shells.

Besides shells, you can consider using other sea creatures on your cake as well.  Things such as sand dollars, starfish, and seahorses always tie in well with a shell and beach-inspired cake theme.

Sandcastles
If you’ve ever been to Virginia Beach during the sand castle building contest or to the malecon in Puerto Vallarta, you’ve seen some of the amazing sculptures that can be created using beach sand.   You can have your baker create an elaborate sand castle cake just for you.  They simply use brown sugar to create the “sand”.

Tropical Flowers
You can always choose to keep your cake classic and simple by utilizing some tropical flowers such as hibiscus, bromeliads, birds of paradise, etc. around the base of your cake.  You can also get your baker to create edible tropical flowers out of gum paste, marzipan, or icing for the top and sides of your cake.

If you are having difficulty choosing a cake design, I recommend looking around online for inspiration.  Below I’ve put together a collage of some of my favorite beach cake designs….maybe one of them will be just what you want for your big day!

Photo Credit:
1. Seashell Wedding Cake, 2. “Coral and Shells” with ruffled cupcakes, 3. Seashells & Bows Wedding Cake, 4. Mindy’s Beach Cake, 5. Beach Theme Bridal Shower Cake 2, 6. Chocolate Sea Themed Wedding Cake, 7. Beach themed Seashell cake, 8. Sandcastle Wedding Cake, 9. beach wedding cake

If you are having a beach wedding or seaside event, then you’ve realized that there are endless possibilities when it comes to wedding favors.  In the photo collage below, I’ve pulled together some of my favorite choices that cover the gamut of beach styles from casual to elegant. 

Having a casual beach wedding?  Flip-flop themed favors are the perfect choice  for a casual wedding.  Choose from personalized lemonade packets, luggage tags, notebooks, and place card holders that all feature a flip-flop motif.  And don’t forget about the margarita or cosmopolitan drink mix favors.  Personally, I can’t think of anything better than digging my toes into the sand, kicking back on a chaise lounge and sipping a margarita on a sunny beach in Mexico.  Aaaah, wish I was there right now!

Want a more upscale feel at your beach wedding?  Favors featuring a seashell motif can have an elegant feel if you choose the correct item.    I suggest glass coasters, candles, or Adirondack chairs that can do double duty as the place card holder.  You can find hundreds of favors online that incorporate a seashell theme including several of the items in the photo below.

Personalize It!  I always think that adding your names and wedding date to a favor makes them extra special for your guests.  When it comes to personalized beach wedding favors, there are many great options including candy jars that you can fill with your favorite candy (like gummy fish for example) and then add a personalized sticker with a palm tree or flip flop design.  The margarita or lemonade packets that I mentioned previously can also be customized with your names and date.  But I have to say that my favorite personalized favor for beach weddings are the miniature bottles of sunscreen.  They come in tons of color and theme choices and best of all, their labels are printed with your names and wedding date.

Beach Wedding Favors from Wedding Favors Unlimited

If you are having a spring or summer wedding, chances are that you’ve already found the perfect venue for your ceremony and reception….a lakeside gazebo, a garden arbor covered in purple Wisteria or sweetly scented Jasmine, the city’s botanical garden, etc.  However, you may not have chosen all your accessories or decided how to set the stage for your guests to be wowed at the reception.  One of the great things about an outdoor garden reception is that you can use the natural surroundings to set the tone, backdrop and color scheme for your tablescape.  While perusing the Weddingstar accessory catalog, I found this great photo of a table set for a garden party.  I love the combination of natural green and outdoor elements.

Here’s how you can create this beautiful garden party tablescape:

A lovely wooden teak table covered with a natural tablecloth provide the base for the tablescape.  Use simple pots filled with local grass varieties such as purple fountain and pampas grasses along with wildflowers such as daisies, snapdragons, cosmos, or guillardia to create stunning natural centerpieces.  By using a love bird theme, you can pull in elements such as mini love nest birdhouses and love bird salt and pepper shakers.  Simple white ceramic plates provide the place setting base, but elegant crystal stem toasting flutes provide a bit of sparkle against the otherwise natural base.  A top each place setting is a organic green woven box that was filled with candies and then tied with a palm reed.   Natural polished stone place card holders are cleverly slotted so that they hold a place card perfectly at each place setting.  Finally, oil stainless steel torches can provide some light once evening begins to settle in. 

What a beautiful way to celebrate your garden nuptials with a small group of family and friends!

A romantic adventure! Whether you’re embarking on an adventure that takes you across the pond or one that takes you across the country, make sure you’re giving your guests plenty of time to plan for your destination wedding. Send Save the Dates ASAP and have your wedding website printed on them too. Your wedding website will be “command central” and a much needed resource in getting valuable planning info out to your guests.

Once the Save the Dates are sent begin brainstorming ideas for bringing the flavor of the destination into your wedding invitations. What is it that you love about your destination? Perhaps it’s the beauty of the area, the culture, the weather, the food…  Incorporate that special design or motif that resonates with your style and the locale. Sprinkle it throughout your wedding stationery. From the Invites to the RSVP and Enclosure Cards, to your Favors and Thank Yous, your wedding look will be consistent and you’ll generate incredible excitement with your guests about traveling for your big day!

Enclosure Cards are your Friends! Use them to include pertinent info: currency, airport and shuttle, average temps, reception times, local attractions… What else?

Welcome Baskets help guests feel special and right at home! Have them waiting in the hotel rooms when your guests arrive. Here are a few ideas of what to include:

• welcome note
• a wedding itinerary
• tickets to a local attraction
• toiletries: lotion, cotton swabs, sunscreen, travel sewing kit, mini-mani set, clear nail polish
• for the guys: shavers, shaving lotion, shoe polish
• Mini champagne bottles
• water bottles

What else?

Happy Planning

Destination Wedding Invitation

Image: wedding invitation design by MagnetStreet Weddings

Spring is just around the corner which means that it will soon be time for the cherry blossoms around the Washington D.C. tidal basin to be in full bloom. It just so happens that Spring is the season when brides choose cherry blossoms as the central theme for their wedding. These days brides incorporate cherry blossoms into the reception centerpieces, bridal bouquets, wedding favors and of course, the wedding cake. Traditionally, cherry blossom cakes feature brown stems with light pink to almost white blooms on the branches that meander gracefully up and down the cake tiers. Recently though, many brides are still using the cherry blossom motif, but they are incorporating other colors such as purple, teal green, light blue, and mauve into the color scheme for the cake.  Below are just a few of my favorite cherry blossom cake designs (be sure to scroll to the bottom to find the resource link for each photo in the collage).  If you are utilizing this theme at your wedding, be sure to check out this Cherry Blossom wedding idea lens at Squidoo for tons of great ideas for dresses, decorations, cherry blossom wedding favors, and more!

Image Resources:
1. Asian Inspired Cherry Blossom Wedding Cake, 2. Red Cherry Blossoms Wedding Cake, 3. Purple Cherry Blossom wedding Cake, 4. Stacey’s Cherry Blossom Wedding Cake, 5. Cherry Blossom Wedding cake, 6. white cherry blossom wedding cake, 7. Cherry Blossom Cake, 8. Wedding – 4-tier cherry blossom, 9. Cherry Blossoms and Pears Wedding Cake, 10. Cherry blossom wedding cake, 11. cherry blossom wedding cake, 12. Blue Cherry Blossom Wedding Cake, 13. Cherry Blossom Wedding Cake 2

If you’ve selected Valentine’s Day for your nuptials, then you are likely a true romantic at heart. Injecting that romance into the ceremony and reception can be accomplished in many ways. For example, choose a romantic location for your wedding such as a local bed and breakfast, castle or even a winery. When it comes to a color scheme, red is synonymous with Valentine’s Day and using it in all aspects of the wedding is a great way to infuse a bit of romance. As you can see in my inspiration board below, I like wedding dresses with red accents or red bridesmaid dresses at a minimum. A classic black tux with a modern red tie pairs perfectly with the color scheme. Red roses are the obvious choice for Valentine’s Day flowers, but there are plenty of other red flower choices if you are on a tight budget (we all know how outrageously expensive roses can be around Valentine’s Day).  Be sure to use candles throughout the reception area to add some romantic ambiance.  You can also see on my inspiration board that I love the idea of a classic white and red wedding cake covered in red scrollwork….why not choose red-velvet as the cake flavor?  Creating a red or pink custom cocktail for your reception guests is a fun idea.  I love pomegranate martinis!  Finally if you want to give your guests a little thank you gift, consider small heart-shaped boxes of chocolate or white gift boxes filled with conversation hearts.  Just add a red ribbon and a personalized custom hang tag and voila!, you’ve got the perfect wedding favor.

Valentine’s Day Wedding Inspiration Board by WeddingBlogger on Polyvore.com

Items in this set:
Timeless red and white wedding dresses
Real Weddings: A Romantic Red Wedding: Glowing Candlelight, $5.99
Wedding, Red, Bridesmaids – Photo by Bella Bridesmaid – Project…
Manassas Cakery – red scroll wedding cake – Wallpapers – Mobicious
Wedding Obsession – Your daily dose of all things wedding

Create a truly exotic and stunning setting at your wedding by combining both Eastern and Western elements in a lush, rich color scheme.   When it comes to the color scheme, Indian weddings traditionally incorporate bright pinks, reds and purples (white is considered the color of mourning so it is not part of the Indian wedding tradition).   Indian wedding dresses normally feature elaborate beadwork and intricate embroidery and the bride wears an extensive collection of accessories such as necklaces, rings and hair ornaments.  This same color scheme and ornamentation can be carried through to the reception tables where bold colors, many flowers, and sparkling accessories can be incorporated. 

In the photograph (from the 2009 Weddingstar Catalog), you can see one of my favorite decorated Indian wedding reception table displays.   Purple silk table cloths with sparkling gold table runners are covered with beautiful place settings that incorporate gold charger plates, gold silverware, and red napkins with beaded napkin rings.  A large colorful flower centerpiece anchors the table and a bit of sparkle is added with gold and white love votive candles, an exotic golden beaded lac box place card holder, and beautiful red place cards.  Finally, a lucky wooden elephant favor is presented to guests as a little thank you gift that they can take home. Simply stunning!

For even more great Indian wedding favor ideas and accessories, visit Wedding Favors Unlimited!

Although wedding cakes are not considered a traditional part of an Asian or Eastern Indian wedding ceremony, they are becoming increasingly popular as western traditions are infused into the traditional Indian celebrations. Typically, Indian wedding cakes incorporate elaborate designs and intricate details with Henna patterns. As you can see in the montage of photos below, the Indian wedding cakes that I found online not only incorporate traditional patterns and designs, but also vivid colors that are associated with traditional Indian weddings such as red, purple, bright pink, and orange. 

Image Resources:
1. the henna wedding cake., 2. mehndi inspired cake for traditional indian themed wedding. The top layer is gluten free, 3. “Roshini” in purple and gold, 4. india wedding, 5. Henna Cake, 6. “Jani Paisley” – May 2, 2009, 7. Indian wedding cake, 8. mehendi passion (7), 9. cake at the wedding venue

When it comes to winter wedding cakes, there are many unique and unusual cake toppers that incorporate the winter wedding theme. Consider the skiing couple shown in the photo below for example. This clever cake baker used round coconut-covered cake layers to act as the “snow” for the skiing wedding couple. By tilting the final layer, it looks as though the couple is skiing down the slopes. What a cute idea!

Other options for winter wedding cake toppers include things such as snow globes, wooden or metal sleds, and even crystal winter scenes. Hand-blown crystal cake toppers and decorative snow globes are keepsakes that can be cherished by the couple for years to come.

If you are a bit more whimsical, find a cute penguin or snowman couple that could sit atop your cake….or have your baker sculpt whimsical winter characters to top your wedding cake.  Finally if the groom is a sports fan, you could consider using mix and match bride and groom cake toppers where the groom is dressed as a hockey player (like this hockey player cake topper from Wedding Favors Unlimited).  When it comes to winter wedding cakes, the possibilities are endless!

If you are having a wedding during the Autumn season, then having a wedding cake that incorporates all the fall colors is a no-brainer. The fall color palette is one of the most popular choices for color schemes this season so brides are carrying those traditional fall colors such as gold, brown, orange, reds, and bronze through to their wedding accessories and bridal flowers as well. When it comes to the cake, you can choose to incorporate these colors directly into the icing and fondant colors or you can choose to use them more subtly as accents or in the cake accessories.

 Since fall is traditionally harvest time in the United States, many cake designers will incorporate shafts of wheat, sugared apples, or pumpkins into a fall wedding cake.  However the most popular way to incorporate fall is through the use of autumn leaves constructed from fondant, sugar, marzipan or modeling chocolate.  Baking artisans have gotten so good at their craft that the leaves can look real in many instances.  You can even consider using real fall leaves on the cake table that surrounds the final masterpiece. 

In the photo below, I have presented 16 of my all-time favorite fall cake designs.  I hope that they provide you some inspiration when you are trying to decide on the color scheme and style for your seasonal wedding cake.  And don’t forget that when it comes to the cake flavor for a fall wedding, you can break from tradition and go with something more seasonal like a pumpkin or apple spice cake or a chocolate cake with caramel pecan filling.  Don’t be afraid to try something a little different!  And if you are still looking for wedding favors, check out these autumn leaf wedding cake candles….they are amazing.

Want To See These Cakes Up Close? Here are the links to the individual fall themed cakes:
1. Autumn Leaves Wedding Cake, 2. Autumn Wedding, 3. autumn fruits&folliage, 4. An Autumn Wedding Cake, 5. My Sister’s wedding cake, 6. Autumn Birthday, 7. “Ceci II” – for Nicole and John, October 25, 2008, 8. Fall Wedding Cake, 9. Leaves wedding cake, 10. Autumn Wedding Cake, 11. Wedding Cake, 12. Autumn Leaves Wedding Cake, 13. Daniels Fall wedding, 14. Fall Wedding Cake2, 15. Nicole’s Wedding Cakes, 16. Autumn Wedding Cake