Category Archives: Entertaining

Feb 04, 2019

photo by Corbin Gurkin

What is a wedding or other special celebration with out Champagne (or sparkling grape juice which can be styled the same way)!!!! Here are some of our favorite ways to serve up, set out, or celebrate with bubbly!

photo by Liz Banfield

One of our “signature” Soiree designs is adding dendrobium orchids to glasses of champagne. It gives it a pretty and extra special finish, and they are food safe of course. A tip to help keep lines down, is to have servers ready and waiting for guests with trays of champagne, red, and white wine, or even waters so that not everyone has to rush the bars.

photo by Tec Petaja

A classic and favorite of mine, is a pairing with caviar. For a wedding cocktail hour, we had a lovely serve your self caviar station with servers standing by with chilled champagne… It was part of the guests’ favorite element to the party.

For many of our bride, we worked with Lettered Olive to create champagne collars for our clients based on the wedding paper design. It adds an impressive couture touch for guests.

Probably the easiest and sometimes the prettiest way to serve up the sparkling, is by adding fruit or another edible ingredient (lavendar, rosemary, strawberries, etc) or creating a champagne cocktail that calls for flavorful additions.

photo by Liz Banfield

A big hit at some of our weddings has been adding a complimentary dollop of sorbet to a glass of champagne as an after dinner finishing touch.

photo by Liz Banfield

Even just a beautifully hued sparkling Rose champagne can be all it takes to add a special touch. Here, a champagne tower is created by nesting boxes stacked with glass toppers in gradual sized squares to allow for spacing of the glasses.

2.04.19 | TARA GUÉRARD
Entertaining, Events, Flowers, Food and Drink, Parties, Reception, Uncategorized, Weddings | Comments >>

Jan 28, 2019

A Rehearsal Celebration

Sometimes the rehearsal dinners, welcome parties, or Post Toasts (as we are now calling them more often) from our weekends are too sweet not to share. Carleton and Gael married at her family home in Birmingham, Alabama in an affair with a Southern chic feel and French notes, as a nod to the groom’s heritage. For the intimate dinner, our bride rocked a pairing of Brandon Maxwell pants, and a Remy Brook top, looking amazing next to her tux clad groom. Photos by A Bryan Photo

For rehearsals, when possible, we set up seating so that all of the family members and other participants can get a feel for where to sit and to make sure we have it all covered- sometimes people forget that Aunt Susan needs to sit up in one of the front rows!! It also really helps with spacial planning for the actual ceremony and alter.

Leading into the wedding, we try to incorporate hints of whats to come in different ways into the rehearsal dinner design. Here, sleek seersucker linens provide a palette for the layered French garden tablescape.

Custom printed vellum menus wrapped around French baguettes, and were tied off with butcher’s twine and a fresh sprig of lavender. A baker’s tier of pastries was mixed with gathered blooms and antique glass votives for an unexpected centerpiece.

As always there are many emotions and special moments with loved ones, so I can’t impress more to consider having your wedding photographer there to capture those moments over the entire weekend…

1.28.19 | TARA GUÉRARD
Bridal Style, Entertaining, Event Design, Event Planning, Parties, Photographers, Rehearsal Dinner, Stationery, Invitations and Pretty Papers, The Lettered Olive, Uncategorized | Comments >>

Dec 17, 2018

DIY Holiday Tabletop Ideas

photo by Nickie Stone

With the holidays quickly creeping up on us, we’re sharing a few tips and modifications on designs we do for our clients that you can easily do at home for your holiday tabletops. Feel free to leave any questions or comments you may have if not covered here.

For this first takeaway, I love the idea of a roll or bread piece served on the plate with a name “flag” in it- something so simple and easy that is just a nice little touch for guests sitting down.

photo by Corbin Gurkin

This I love as a sweet touch for all of the upcoming holidays, a fresh sprig of rosemary laid out on napkins, you could also tie together a small bundle of fresh thyme with butchers twine in lieu of rosemary.

photos by Adrienne Page

We used this concept to display escort cards for a wedding dinner, but for a smaller gathering or dinner party, taking corks that you have around the house or from what you will be serving and placing handwritten name cards at each seat would be just so.

photo by Liz Banfield

Now, this is a really easy one – one even the kids could get involved with… finding a leaf or piece of greenery from the yard and writing names with metallic markers on them is truly a simply elegant design.

photo by Liz Banfield

I’ve been seeing different variations on this our and around a bit, but for the glam hostess, finding agate slices is fairly easy these days. Painting or writing with white or metallic on them for menus or place cards also makes a sweet take home surcie for the guests.

photo by Adrienne Page

Lots of ways you can do this at home… Finding different vessels from around the house and filling them with small bouquets of flowers, or greenery makes for a pretty addition to to a formal table, and it also means you can do less in the center. You could also use thing ribbon or twine to tie name cards around the vases.

photo by Corbin Gurkin

This idea would be a nice detail for a buffet type setting where it’s hard to find a lot of decor opportunities. Pre wrapping the silverware in cloth napkins will make it easy for guests to carry along with a full plate. Wrapping them with pretty paper, scraps of special wrapping or wallpaper will give it a finished touch.

photo by Gayle Brooker

For a simple, lovely, inexpensive, and easy centerpiece idea- purchase phalenopsis orchid plants at your local store (Trader Joe’s has great ones!), and put them in pots covered in moss. This is such a small task but really gives a formal and elegant touch… You could even spray paint the pot to match the color scheme.

photo by Liz Banfield

For a client whose rehearsal dinner fell on New Year’s Eve- we took silver strands from decorations we purchased online and decomposed them… tied to each each seat with name cards gives a festive feel!

12.17.18 | TARA GUÉRARD
Entertaining, Event Design, Event Planning, Parties, Uncategorized, Weddings | Comments >>