Young, wild and Three

Happy 3rd birthday, crazy girl! Little Sophie turned three recently and we had a micro celebration for her, given the circumstances.

As it was September in the Pacific Northwest, we felt an outdoor birthday party would be perfect, considering the government restrictions on gatherings right now. Turns out, the forest fires kept us from breathing safely outside too! So we had to cut our guest count dramatically. Didn’t mean we wouldn’t bake and decorate our hearts out!

I’ve had my eye on this dream catcher theme for quite a while now. And although it may seem a bit like an older girl theme, I couldn’t contain myself.

Found this amazing dreamcatcher on Amazon! It was the perfect size, and the perfect price.

Cake had a handmade fondant dream catcher! The mold kept me in the shape, but then I added some extra cuts and holes to make it more interesting. Also adding some edible gold leaf because we are EXTRA.

You can find this dreamcatcher fondant mold here, and the edible gold leaf here.

Cake pops for the win. Every time.

You’ll see me using these acrylic riser stands all the time, because they can match just about any dessert set-up.

Also added some mini brownies wrapped in this adorable parchment paper.

Custom dress made by La-Z Bee Embroidery!

The macrame backdrop really brought this theme home, you can find it here. And the birdcage decor piece, here.

Enjoy!

A Harry Potter Halloween Birthday

Phew, this year, I mean… am I right? 2020 has taken us all for a crazy spin.

I for one was feeling sorry for the folks having birthdays in March-April, and how bad it would be to not get a chance to celebrate…. because obviously my kids in September and October could have the blowout party they want! Welp! Not so much.

So maybe because of that I felt the need to overcompensate in decor this year, and I’m not regretting it!

We are big Potter fans here, and with my son reading through the books, and his birthday so close to Halloween… it seemed like the perfect match!

We only had a handful of kids come to play outside and celebrate how we could! Masks and sanitizer everywhere. But that also meant less baking for me, so I’m not complaining.

Can anyone put a value on a bucket of dry ice at a Halloween party? It was immensely popular.

I loved this cake! The rectangle bottom was actually a dummy cake because I didn’t want to have 3 tons of cake leftover… but it was fondant and buttercream for decoration.

Paul got to help with making wax seals for the invitations! He was stoked.

Enjoy!

Shabby Chic Baby Shower

Now here is a baby shower for that momma who knows the trends. This adorable shower was brought together for a special mom-to-be, and took place at a local wine tasting room!

Everything about this space was perfect. There was wine, and wine… kidding. But the wine was a plus! The lighting was great, there was a perfect wall that fit our dessert table perfectly! And a large family-style farm table right in the middle of the room. Www.greatwineusa.com

We had most of our staple dessert options available on this table, including the famous macarons, cake pops and mini cherry cheesecake. My favorite thing about these desserts were that they combined together in shapes and colors to make the perfect distribution on the table! Not too much, not too little.

These cake pops were a specific request from the mom-to-be. She had seen this style online and loved the simplicity to it! I do too actually, I’m hoping to create a new post with how to make these shortly.

Hope you like it!

Top 10 Birthday Themes for Girls

Now look… I’m not one to compartmentalize between genders. I’m a firm believer that a girl can do anything a boy can and vice-versa! But you’ll have to agree with me that some themes work better for girls than they do for boys, generally speaking! And this post is highlighting some of our favorites.

10. Hello Kitty

Cuteness overload! I love this theme because it’s so delicate and simple. And so recognizable around the world.

9. Mermaid

Because if we can choose, we will always choose to be a mermaid. We used these fondant molds for the fins and shells, perfect!

8. Peppa Pig

I can’t say I’m a huge fan of the cartoon… but the theme itself was asked by one of our favorite clients, and combining it with a backyard picnic was everything amazing!

7. Vintage Tea Party

As delicate as they come, I love the pastel colors, large paper flowers and sunshine for this event!

6. Colorful Garden Party

And look! There’s Priscilla, Queen of the Desserts in full action.

We bought our big paper flowers here, and they were so worth it!

5. Shabby Chic

The neutral tones and hushed pinks in this theme are my absolute favorite.

4. Princess

Fit for a princess, let’s set the bar high for the next upcoming birthdays!

The table cloth really made this theme pop, you can find it here.

3. Minnie Mouse

By far our most impressive post on Pinterest, this one takes the cake for the most exposure. It was all things delicate and girly, and it swept our hearts away, true Disney style.

2. A Close 2nd… Unicorn Theme

Gaaah I still really love this theme. We have a chance to make it all over again with a different color scheme next month, so stay tuned!

  1. And our favorite… Carousel Theme

Yes, I know I’m biased. But this was such a thrill to do and so much efforts went behind making this our favorite theme ever!

Here’s where you can find the cupcake carousel, they were fantastic for this table.

Whimsical Wedding

Hold your hats, people! This is the romance we’ve all been searching for in a cake.

Featured on Wedding Chicks, this styled photo shoot was a total hit, with the most amazing vendors in town. Check out the article for the full list of vendors and all the amazing photos!

I spent a lot of time navigating through BluPrint, there is just so much amazing content to give you the inspiration you need, and the tools to make it happen. Their classes are amazing as well for cake decorating.

When discussing what we wanted to do for the cake, many ideas came to mind. But we were focusing on “whimsical”, and “romantic”. We saw a few inspiration pictures of vintage china sets with hand painted details, and I knew I had found the focal point.

I started out thinking I needed some kind of stencil to make this pattern, but it turns out this works so much better free handing it.

Now seeing this come together with the rest of the design, all orchestrated by Elite Events Seattle, and photographed by the amazing Patrick Nied Photography, take a look:

Bouquet by From the Ground Up Floral

Tea Party Baby Shower

Sitting here, dreaming of summer, and pretending we are almost there! It’s been a cold and heavy winter for us here in Seattle, and only thing keeping us going is dreaming of those beautiful long summer days.

That brings me to the memory of this beautiful baby shower! I’m a bit biased to talk about this one, but I’ll do it anyway.

Cue the 80 degree sunny day, a warm breeze, the scent of the beautiful flowers from Pike Place Market, and one very excited, very pregnant lady.

Little miss Sophie was about a month away from entering this crazy world, so we were ready to celebrate P2E style for her arrival. The Tea Party Theme was creeping up for months to be my favorite idea, and seeing it come together was so awesome.

We found a ton of vintage tea cups, pots and saucers, and used them as flower vases, it was so dreamy. To add to the vintage theme, we got these paper plates for the tables.

The pastel colors are so close to my heart, I can’t even.

We had mini cherry cheesecakes, french macarons, cake pops, jello shots, kettle corn, and brigadeiros. Check out these cake pop sticks we used.

And there I am! Ready to POP. It would still be another 5 weeks before she arrives though. I was however about ready that day.

Some of the other products used:

Giant Paper Flowers

Hanging Wisteria branches

Unicorn Birthday

This theme blows me away! I hope it continues to be a trend for birthday parties, because I really want to do it for my little daughter 🙂

We used this topper which was perfect for this size cake! And the results were amazing. We actually have another Unicorn party coming in a few weeks, and I can’t wait to update this post with more pictures!

And once added to the table, it all synced in perfectly.

Here are some of the products we used to make this table perfect:

Unicorn Backdrop

Cake Topper

Gift boxes

That one time I met Oprah!

I may not be quite done shoving this picture in your face quite yet! I’m just still so excited that I had an opportunity to meet this incredible woman.

O83A1424-01

 

I just got back from an experience like none other. Truthfully. I’ve participated in a lot of events in my day, but this one takes the cake as the most unique, most taxing, and most unforgettable of them all.

As the Cruise Ship Startup queen that I’m aspiring to be, I was once again pulled to lend a hand to the team managing the events surrounding the Inaugural Ceremony for the Nieuw Statendam, Holland America Line’s newest beautiful ship.

This one was a different beast altogether, especially with the Godmother being the One and Only Oprah Winfrey. From the beginning, I saw this as equal parts exciting and terrifying. Having worked with high profile clients in the past, I know whats comes with this. The expectation is infinitely higher, and margin for error is below zero. But excitement overtook terror when I realize (till this day) that this was a once in a lifetime kind of thing.

In combination with the Dedication Ceremony, we were handling a 3-day Caribbean cruise in which Oprah herself would be onboard, along with the fabulous Gayle King, and their family and friends. This was also open for sale to the public (although it sold out in less than a day), dubbed as the “Girlfriend’s Getaway Cruise”. Check out her invitation to join her here.

51279574_2186862601336677_5512571884257935360_o

The cruise included a stop in the mesmerizing Half Moon Cay, a private Island owned by the cruise line’s corporation. And as the country froze over in a mad winter storm, we were here, soaking up the warm sun and watching a couple of thousand of friends have a blast on the beach.

The picture below shows about 1,000 ladies doing a yoga session on the white sand beach. Just Breathe was a massive success!

20190131_090918

That same day, Ms. Oprah Winfrey graciously offered to do her show onboard for the guests, “A Conversation with Oprah”. It was such a memorable, personal experience to feel her talking directly to you. Such inspiration! She spoke of how we all have the drive and opportunity to be anything we want to be. That may have been exactly what I needed to hear that day. Here are some photos from the Show, couldn’t beat the front row seats, and probably the first and only time I sat down on this contract 🙂

 

51283556_2186862528003351_1456238266918371328_o20190131_145948

It was an ever-changing, all-consuming environment. Catering to different crowds all at the same time was the juggling show of the decade. But somehow we all managed!

I always say that my job is to create the Illusion of Perfection; events are never perfect, I’ve never seen an event go through with no hiccups or issues. The important thing is to make sure the smile is still on your face, and no one realizes that anything is off script. As one of the team leaders suggested, “If you roll your eyes, make sure your eyes are closed.” This is the first event that I’ve ever almost lost my smile. But a challenge like this taught me so much!

If you check out Oprah’s Instagram, you’ll see her during the Pajama Party we organized onboard, as she handed out Tequila Shots to the gang! It was quite a sight to see.

I’ll write more about the Dedication Ceremony later, as it’s a completely different experience for me, and should have it’s own post! Stay tuned.

Oh and hey, here’s that picture of me again with Oprah. 🙂

O83A1424-01

 

 

Minnie Mouse 1st Birthday

Here’s another one of our favorites! 1st birthdays are so special, and you have the opportunity to really go all out without anyone judging you 🙂

Minnie Mouse is a common theme for 1st birthdays, it’s cute and classic, and everybody loves it. I particularly like this version where we use the pink and gold color scheme.

IMG_7253

Check out this adorable cake topper that we bought online here, it added such a beautiful touch to this cake!

My favorite fondant of all time can be found here. Satin Ice has the best consistency and taste, and they come in so many different colors and in large quantities too.

The party took place at the Burien Community Center, and they have an amazing space that is a complete blank canvas! So great to set up parties here.

IMG_7265

We made the centerpieces with our Silhuette Cameo machine, and they turned out great. Guys, if you’re on the fence whether or not to purchase your Silhuette Cameo machine, just do it. The possibilities are endless and if you do parties often, you get that money invested back effortlessly.

IMG_7269
IMG_7271

The time came for us to really make an organic balloon arch, and we loved every minute of it!

Some of the desserts included French Macarons (obviously), cake shooters, sweet popcorn, cake pops, and meringue cookies. We also brought back the brownie bites that were such a huge hit at our last party!

IMG_7272

We created this minnie silhuette with hoops and floral, and it was such a great addition to the table.

IMG_7261

Enjoy!

IMG_7257
IMG_7247

You can find the links to some of these items we purchased online, to recreate your own amazing dessert table:

Popcorn Boxes

Gold Sequin Table Cloth

Balloon Garland Kit

Sequin Balloons

Vineyard Wedding charm

Folks, there’s nothing quite like a summer wedding at a vineyard. Late sunsets, warm afternoons, and cheery people! Especially here in the PNW, these are welcomed feelings.

Let me set the stage for you.

Gilbert Cellars winery, a few hours outside of town (Seattle), will feel like a whole new world! If you’ve never been, please go there one day. It’s so charming and lovely! As we cross over Steven’s Pass, we already feel like a million miles away from the hustle of the city. Yakima welcomes us all with open arms and sunny skies.

8.18.18BrockandPierre-Wedding-8559

Cue our lovely, amazing, handsome, boujee couple, B&P. #bandpsittininatree are pretty much the loveliest people you’ll meet.

Wedding Night -7648

I don’t have a wedding planning background, I have to be honest with you. But I love it, and I love making dreams come true! Because that’s exactly what this is. The stress and workload that comes with it, it’s all for one goal. To make the couples dream a reality.

Cue in incredible photographer Matt Rommel , who can capture the most amazing candid photos! The essence of that day can be seen through his lenses, much much farther than what you’ll see in choreographed poses and rehearsed timelines.

8.18.18BrockandPierre-Wedding-8618

So much detail! So much intensity captured in the moment.

8.18.18BrockandPierre-Wedding-8516

I have to be honest again, if you’re a local, you’ll know that the most common thing we will see in the summer in the Pacific Northwest is the massive amount of smoke from the wildfires surrounding us. And it was a very real thing we were concerned with for this amazing summer August day. But you know what? Somehow, miraculously, the smoke cleared out for the wedding, and the little that stayed behind helped bring some drama to the photos! The day after the wedding, it looked like we were on a different planet.

untitled-04551-Edit-Edit

And now, the desserts. Grooms wanted to focus more on variety on the dessert buffet then actually serving cake, so we went hard on the bite-sized options. French macarons, Brazilian Truffles (Brigadeiros), amarula cupcakes, meringue cookies, chocolate cake shooters, and cake pops for days. Check it out:

untitled-03935untitled-03902untitled-03900

 

You ready for the cake? ….

 

untitled-03882untitled-03886

We wanted to go with something modern and different. And this is what it came down to! The tall first layer gave us the opportunity to make a rare design with rice paper and edible gold. The ragged flakes of sheets reminded us of the mountain range that surrounded us from all sides.

Second layer brought in the bold navy blue of the wedding theme, as well as gold leaf as an accent.

And the top final layer was simple white fondant with thin gold stripes to add the modern touch. The flavor was vanilla with an Amarula buttercream (South African groom needed a touch from home. If you don’t know what this is, please stop what you’re doing right now and go buy it.)

 

8.18.18BrockandPierre-Wedding-8882

Also, have you seen these amazing Protea flowers? Native to South Africa, we wanted to incorporate this in the decor to honor one of the groom’s heritage. Talk about unique and striking!

Wedding Night -7369

And as customary, here are a few more shots from this magical evening:

 

 

8.18.18BrockandPierre-Wedding-8090