Invitations!

It is official they are out!  It is so exciting we are just under the 2 month mark now!  I wanted to share with you an image that are our dear friend and resident Hopkins Blue Jay cartoonist drew for us (we both played sports at Johns Hopkins which is where we met).  I made a custom stamp out of it to personalize our envelope.  For all you Brides out there it was really easy to do yourself on zazzle and the best part is if you don't like how they come out they are returnable (just make sure to weigh your full envelope before ordering).  

I also wanted to show off our gorgeous calligraphy done by our family friend.  As a thank you, I made her a peach tart with an almond struesal topping :)

Tara Keely at Lovely....

For all of you brides out there Lovely Bridal Shop is having a Tara Keely trunk show next week.  I am super excited to be apart of the event on Thursday.  I am creating a cupcake and cake pop tower that I will be sure to share with you next week!  Details are below and every bride should come!

Wedding Salon Bootcamp

Last week the Wedding Salon hosted a fabulous event at Mark Ingram's Bridal Shop.  I was honored to be apart of a panel of experts who spoke to newly engaged brides about the industries latest trends.  

Some of the panelists included; Shawn Rabideau Events & Design, Mark Ingram Bridal Atelier, Greenwich Jewelers, World Yacht and more. Below are some tips and trends from me and the experts!  

• Continuous cocktail party receptions with stations, small plates and appetizers are becoming very popular.
• Always start your planning process with a budget.  Having a planner is key and can really help you keep on track and relieve the stress.

• Having two dresses is a very big trend, the first dress will be more formal and the second dress will be fun/sexy and casual.
• You want to make sure your dress makes you feel like yourself.
• The total time for your dress can take between 6-8 months.
• Not everyone is having a wedding cake or if they do it is smaller and they and choosing to spend on a dessert table instead.
• Smaller items like mini cookies, cupcakes and cake pops are definitely the most popular.

My table :)

smores..............

Second to ice-cream smores are favorite summer dessert, but you don't make them as much as an adult (which is why there is a smores cookie on my menu).  Since my nieces were in town I thought it would be a fun activity for them and I could be a child again and enjoy some smores :)They had curlers in their hair since my shower was on Sunday :)

Since the smores were so good, I started to think about other ways I could make a smore since one is not always in front of a fire.  So I made a smores k-pop with marshmallow mixed into a vanilla cake dipped in chocolate and coated in graham cracker crumbs.  

Then I made a smores pie pop filled with marshmallow and chocolate and a little graham crumbs.  Finally I made a smores push pops with crushed graham crackers, chocolate ganache and fluff (note: if I do again I would use my graham cookies).My smores cookie :)

Cakes

Over the last month I have been asked to create some fun new cakes that were a challenge for me but a lot of fun to design as well!  

The first were 2 two-tier cakes for birthdays.  One is for an older woman so it is more simple and romantic and the second one was for a little girl's first birthday.  

I have also started to expand my personal tags and have been making them for non-wrapped cake pops and cupcakes as well.  If you are a someone who wants to personalize their dessert but does not like fondant, they are great!

This next project was for a grooms cake.  It is of Nantucket where to groom has a house (on vestal street), his Dad owns a shop (Murray's), the groom owns a company (Castaway) and they got engaged (Wauwinet).

The last cake was for a little boy who loves the Backyardigans.  I cannot take credit for the design of this cake because they sent me a picture of what they wanted but I was happy that I was able to produce this for them!

Fourth of July Weekend!

I hope everyone had a wonderful long weekend, I was excited to finally get to the beach!  I wanted to share with you some Birthday Fourth of July themed cake pops and a lovely dinner I had with some great friends!

We rented a beach house with some friends and so I made these for the birthday boy in the house :) (it got a little damaged in my car ride out east).

A little boy turned 1 on the Fourth and celebrated his birthday with his Aunt!

When I got back to the city I continued the celebration with some great friends!  My friend Caitlin made a fabulous shredded Zucchini with Gruyere Pizza and a Bok Choy Salad.  I brought a Blueberry Galette.  I love the summer :)