Category Archives: Event Design

Oct 05, 2015

I know dessert stations have been around for awhile, but my sweet tooth is kicking in and I wanted to share some delicious eye candy and maybe these will inspire some ideas for your fall entertaining. Here, individual cakes were offered for each guest, complete with monogrammed chocolate pieces. Photo by Liz Banfield.

Martha Stewart‘s team asked me to help on the wedding of her then assistant, getting married outside of Nashville, Tennessee. This fall flavored dessert table is obviously magazine worthy. Photo by Josh Reeder.

The monogrammed petits fours for the couple were little works of art. Photo by Josh Reeder.

For our bride that had an eclectic aesthetic, a whimsical woodland themed dessert display by Jim Smeal was full of special details. Coconut cakes featured meringue mushrooms, and the pecan pies had graham and marzipan leaves. Other treats included handpainted chocolate quail eggs (served in nests) and mini mushrooms. Photos by Liz Banfield.

This dessert display was full of fun treats like banana pudding shots, s’mores pies, and pumpkin pie with roasted marshmallow tops. Photo by Adrienne Page.

The biggest hits were the individual boxes of “Moose Munch” and mini cherry cheesecakes. Photo by Adrienne Page.

Jim Smeal really outdid himself on this pie display (in lieu of a wedding cake all together). Pecan, Peach Almond, Raspberry Frangipani, Sweet Potato, and Apple Cranberry, and Walnut were just some of the offerings. Doing the tasting for these was pretty amazing! Photo by Liz Banfield.

Something easily passed and still photo worthy at the end of the evening, are personal hot chocolates. Quick and easy, and gives everyone a little sweet satisfaction. Photo by Liz Banfield.

10.05.15 | TARA GUÉRARD
Bridal Style, Cakes, Charleston, Event Design, Event Planning, Food and Drink, Parties, Reception, Uncategorized, Weddings | Comments >>

Oct 02, 2015

William Aiken House Wedding

We’re taking advantage of Flashback Friday and sharing pics from a bright and cheery fall wedding we did at the William Aiken House. Guests received Save the Dates from Lettered Olive featuring custom maps of Charleston with all of the important locations noted.

Bride

Groom

I love the khaki suit option for early fall weddings. It’s usually still warm here in Charleston so the material works well, and the neutral color means it often compliments fall palettes. Plus, who doesn’t love a man holding flowers?

We had fun playing with the colors throughout all of the design elements.

The couple loved that the interior colors at the Historic venue worked with the bright hues of the wedding.

The couple chose a green paisley patterned paper that was used on the invitations and throughout the wedding decor. Centerpieces were placed in cylinders wrapped with the paisley paper.

Printed on the paisley backed paper and tent folded, menus doubled as the place cards at dinner.

This was one of my favorite menus items in a long time… Appetizers were Jalapeno hush puppies with pimento cheese. Something you wouldn’t think always about serving as part of a wedding dinner, but Fish Catering did an amazing presentation and we made fun embellishments.

An al fresco dance floor and lounge welcomed guests for dancing after dinner. Ottomans provided a rest for those needing a break and paisley paper wrapped cylinders were placed around a reflecting pond.

Local Charleston favorite, Peninsula Grill has a famous Coconut cake. Two individual tiers anchored the dessert station but this couple elected not to do a traditional cake cutting.

Dessert selection included mini pecan, pumpkin, and key lime pies, individual pistachio cakes, and chocolate caramel petits fours.

Guests were given freshly baked Krispy Kreme donuts in custom boxes as they left.

The old school Caddy convertible begged for the old school send off of the cans tied to the car. We spray painted them in the wedding colors to keep them photo perfect of course!

10.02.15 | TARA GUÉRARD
Cakes, Charleston, Event Design, Event Planning, Food and Drink, Reception, Stationery, Invitations and Pretty Papers, The Lettered Olive, Uncategorized, Weddings | Comments >>

Oct 01, 2015

What’s Your Bouquet Style?

I always find it so interesting how wedding trends start or come back around again. Just recently I’ve had several brides wanting cascading bouquets again, which I love. Photo by Liz Banfield.

Still a classic and often requested is the all white look. Luckily, depending on the variety, “white” flowers have so many different tones and hues that pairing them together still creates depth and dimension which is important for your photos. Photo by Liz Banfield.

I do love a colorful bouquet as well. We actually usually make two bouquets on the day of for our brides to choose from, especially if I get an amazing selection that are just too good to pass up… I’ll make an all white if that’s what she requested, but then something with some color in case she sees that and falls in love! Photo by Liz Banfield.

This is one of my all time favorite bouquets. Lady Slipper Orchids aren’t typically something you’d necessarily see in a bouquet… This bride’s color scheme was green, white, and black, so we were able to use that to our advantage when designing her flowers. The lily of the valley and huge peonies were just icing on the cake. Photo by Liz Banfield.

I love the classic and romantic take on this hand tied bouquet- just simple cream roses with longer stems and some leaves still on as if was just gathered from a Paris flower market. Photo by Adrienne Page

For a simple but still impactful look, we kept the bouquet monochromatic and still so full and layered. Ask and speak with your florist about using flowers that are hearty enough to be out of water for lenths of time especially when using whites so that the browning and wilting doesn’t show through in your pictures. Photo by Liz Banfield.

Sometimes a more ethereal gathered mix best suites the bride. Keeping some of the flowers’ own greenery gives a more natural feel.

Mixing wildflowers and greenery with more traditional anchor flowers helps keep the bouquet polished and a not a wilted mess, but still the appearance that a more bohemian brides is look for.

10.01.15 | TARA GUÉRARD
Bridal, Bridal Style, Event Design, Flowers, Reception, Weddings | Comments >>