honeymoonin'

I am a lover of designers. I love walking off a cruise ship or onto a resort with my big Louis or Coach bag, but the past few years I have been a fan of the no name, vintage-inspired items. Take this Welcome Weekender by Star Bags on etsy. It's big, beautiful and its embroidery is stunning. Plus, as I always say the bigger the bag, the smaller the hips....

Candy Bars and Chaos!

I have had to edit this post slightly but one day, when old and retired I will publish a book about our weddings here in Spain and our funny renditions. It is already in the making and I think will outsell the Driving over Lemons about life in the sometimes not so real part of Andalucia, the famous Marbella!

We have had an extraordinary start to 2011 with some beautiful weddings which we will blog as soon as we get the photos but also a chaotic time as well as we headed into our busiest time of year. Our wings have been flapping frantically and our magic wands have been waved to death as we suffered one disaster after another.

Firstly a not so old car of mine decides to die, apparently it needs a new engine and is now gracefully retired, we hope in Guaro with Mick the Mechanic. So I am going to become a proud white van man now and am planning on a pimp the van shortly with fairy wings and glitter dust :)

Lo and behold, things come in threes and Marbella decides in it's full glory before the summer starts to have the most horrendous storm I have ever seen here, deluge is putting it mildly, but the unfortunate thing for me is I live with a Frank Spencer, for those of you that are too young to remember this character you need to google him.

So in the middle of the night at 2am last week, with 12 inches of icy water against our upstairs terrace doors, he decides to open them?! Needless to say a mini tsunami swept through our house, I don't think I have ever seen so much water apart from on the beach, so many mops, buckets of water and towels later at 4am in the morning I left him to it and went to bed as we had a wedding the next day.

Reeling from tiredness, but excited, we swept off to our storeroom to load up everything and guess what, another flood, our store room was full of brown muddy water, 20cm high and raining down on our parasols, fabrics, you name it, it was soaked. But weddings cannot wait so off we went to the Hacienda San Jose to create a lovely wedding but back that evening to start cleaning up. We had three more weddings last week and I had a house and garden completely full of parasols being cleaned, fabrics drying out, wet cardboard boxes, you name it and it was hell for me being such a clean organised freak!

Anycase all normality has been restored with much wand waving and very helpful parents :)

We loved our candy bar this week we set up in the Cortijo Bravo, I drove past Elviria this weekend to see another one of our weddings in full swing which was a lovely feeling and we created a fabulous shabby chic wedding for Sarah with some die for centrepieces filled with peonies and pink hydrangeas.

The Fairy Godmother of the Costa Del Sol has certainly been up against it this past week but the magic has finally been restored as we move forwards into June to create some spectacular weddings so watch this space :)!

Red, White, and Blue Poppin' good time!

Have a Safe & Happy Memorial Day!

Cake Pops...making every event just a little cuter.

cake pops by elleDESIGNS



cake pops by elleDESIGNS



red and white: yellow cake covered in white chocolate
blue: vegan vanilla cake covered in vegan vanilla frosting

 

cards pretty enough to frame

I love making cards, but what I love even more is walking into a new nursery and seeing the card I made framed on the dresser. Why not get a little creative and instead of buying one off the rack, personalize it and make it too pretty or personal to throw away. Use your scrapbooking things, paintshup on your computer, or as my artsy Aunt Laurie always does, she draws a beautiful picture. Here is one of my favorites for our friend's baby shower.

Fun Begins on the Costa Del Sol!

I have to confess I love weddings, now there is a surprise! The fun and silly season is here on the Costa Del Sol and has begun in earnest, which is hugely exciting.

We have got off to a wonderful start with some fabulous weddings, photos to come, and all our new ideas that we have all been working hard on all winter are now coming into fruition.

I just had to share this photo with you though, from Jeremy's new photo booth which BTW was supposed to be a 5 minute pop up job, but having watched Jeremy and Jenni on Sunday, I am sure it took at least 10 minutes of wrestling but sure it will be a sleek job within the next month ;)

But well worth the 10 minute wait as the photos are brilliant and such fun, you must check out the link http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jeremy-Standley-Photography/54532672389 to see what fun was had with this photo booth, a must now I think for any wedding here!

We also created a fabulous candy bar, amongst many other things, and did make the hotel staff, I am sure quite alarmed when we started jumping and clapping excitedly as we switched the fairy lights on, it was a bit like the Oxford street Christmas lights, perhaps not quite the same but we were thrilled.

I have to also mention whilst on this blog subject, that this wedding was at the Cortijo Bravo in Velez Malaga, the staff at this hotel were absolutely charming and helpful.

Our thanks to Moira at Perfect Spanish Weddings for being a huge supporter of our wedding styling, flowers and decoration service and to Rob the DJ for constantly and tirelessly keeping our weddings on their feet, in fact I have yet to meet a man that can eat so many liquorice allsorts in one night along with Jeremy ;) That is a feat believe me!

A Lovely Testimonial As Our Weddings Start for 2011 in Marbella

Carla and Laura

Where do I start, I want to thank you both so much for a fantastic day, but not just that, also for a wonderful and enjoyable planning experience, which I must admit I am missing now it is all over!

From your ideas right through to your reassuring presence on the day, everything you did was efficient, discreet and our day passed off without a glitch. I smile when I think back and I am sorry it is all over, I would do it all again in a flash.

Both of you were super speedy with responses to my late night emails and whacky requests. You were in immediate contact from our arrival at Finca Maroc and a great support in the build up to the big day. Although I did not see you Laura on the Sunday- you definitely made your mark and when I came back from my beauty session the place looked almost as pretty as me :) !!

Carla, you were never far away, all day you were a supportive presence and I never had to think about anything that you had not already managed to perfection.

One of my favorite wedding moments was the look on your face, Carla, when a glass got broken on the table, my friends and I are still laughing about it as it was priceless!!! It was the only time you looked like you weren't in control all week - but so funny!!

Caroline and Karen made me look and feel beautiful, so beautiful in fact my own children did not recognise their mum! I appreciate their very hard work, their patience with our wacky requests and last minute extras - like Grandma's hair. They went so far to help me into my dress and a multitude of other jobs beyond the norm, so cool and calm and nothing was a problem.

Fiestasol were a big hit, everyone loved the food, all our guests savoured new things and enjoyed the perfectly mastered favourites. Heather and her staff looked great, again so cool and calm, informative about the food they were serving and so unobtrusive, even when they came to collect the tables the next day in what looked like an Aqua Park!

I will email the other suppliers, Natasha, Gary and Mijas Villas and copy you in and send some photos on when I get my act together :)

Love your pets!

Pet Announcments, Pet Birthday Cards, Pet Stationary

and more from Polka Dot Design.

In a survery according to  APPA National Pet Owners Survey, we in the U.S. spend over 4.5 Billion on our pets in 2009 and it rose to 4.7 billion in 2010. Complaining about the economy, bicycling instead of driving to work, buying store brands instead of organic,  but when it comes to that wet nose on our cheek and the little guy playing with our shoelaces, only the best! As the biggest animal lover on the planet, this makes me more than happy! Check out these adorable paper products from Polka Dot design for more ways to induldge.

vist them at www.polkadotdesign.com

http://www.polkadotdesign.com/

minnie mouse fun.



happy 2nd birthday minnie mouse style.

minnie mouse cupcak es by elleDESIGNS



minnie mouse cupcak es by elleDESIGNS



 Everything from the bows to the ears are handmade from sugar! Yummy!

The Chocolate devil's food cake was vegan, the icing was not. But, no one knew the difference. Vegan chocolate is quite delicious!!

happy mothers day!

happy mothers day to all the mommy's in the world!

give her some flowers...the sugary sweet kind.

vegan vanilla berry cupcakes

Tie the Knot Tip: Wedding Website

There are many things I learned while getting my Wedding Planner certification. Surprisingly enough this wasn't one of them, but I feel one of the most important. I tell all my brides to get one: a Wedding Website (or blog, but most people aren't familiar with blogging yet). It's free and it really gives guests and family a chance to get to know you, him and both as a couple. The groom's side might not know that the bride is an amazing dancer, and the bride's side might not the groom is an award winning chef.  Guests feel involved, up-to-date in the planning, and they feel like they get to know you better which makes them feel more involved at the wedding. It seems more personal to them.

Our wedding website has been updated since, but for an example the address is  http://www.mywedding.com/mikeanddani/ I updated it with wedding pics and honeymoon photos and plan on updating it on any moves, future babies...etc. There were pics of the parents of the groom and bride, maids and men, etc..so everyone could get to know them.  I have photo galleries of our lives, how we met, and our engagement. There was a section on the wedding so everyone knew what to expect, how to dress, etc. Even music playing that set the tone for our wedding. 

I put the link on the save the dates and the invitations. Alot of people looked at it and used it as a resource and I received so many compliments. I say this all the time, and I will say it again, this is the first party you and your husband will be hosting as man and wife, make it a good one! What better way than to make it feel more personal and everyone feel more involved.

Here are some options:

theknot.com

mywedding.com*what I used and loved

weddingwire.com

weddingwindow.com

Happy Wedding Planning!

 

You lovebirds!

Cake Toppers have gone from the {said in very serious voice} elegant man and wife-in top hat and gown-holding each other-crystal figurines, ....to {back to my girly, energetic voice} adorable, quirky, and different! Thank Goodness!! What better way to keep the "love" theme with lovebirds! Here are a few I found that are simply adorable! The first picture to the left is the cake toppers from my own wedding from lillybonbon on etsy. When they arrived they were so cute I reordered them for my candy buffet too.

Not just for Weddings anymore either! Put them on top of your cupcakes or cakes at parties & showers! What a great keepsake from the event.

Emilie friday

TheCupcakeGirls