Category Archives: Food and Drink

Mar 12, 2019

We love revisiting some of our past weddings… Today, pretty pastels and pattern play were the name of the design game here, with photos so pretty from Corbin Gurkin. Bridesmaids dresses in the lovliest shade of not quite lavender and not quite violet from Jenny Yoo at Bella Bridesmaid.

The bride wore a Monique Lhullier gown and elegant flats from Dolce and Gabbana.

Our beautiful bride carried a cascade of phalenopsis orchids, roses, and fern fronds. We were overjoyed when we found the perfect blue and white bird themed fabric at fabric.com, we used it as a photo wall back drop, to make pillows, and cover the bar.

The blue and white papers designed by Lettered Olive made a statement with colored stock, pattern, die cut shapes, and letterpressed motifs. Our wedding welcome bags were filled with local cheese biscuits, handmade chocolate, and wine all in a custom Charleston map tote featuring all of the weekend locations noted.

The ceremony was held at one of my truly favorite local churches, the French Huguenot Church.

After the ceremony, guests tossed rose petals on the couple exiting the church, all to the tune of a local gospel choir.

Playing off of the cascading orchid bridal bouquet, the bridesmaids carried a fluffy and colorful mix of roses, orchids, and lilacs.

I always advise my clients when developing our timelines, to allow themselves to steal away some private time with the photographer, in order to capture images like these.

Long tables were dressed in custom linens with patterned toppers, while the smaller squares were dressed in all blue and white. I love that our bride let us play with all of these patterns and colors!

The flowering cake by Jim Smeal, resting atop a bed of greens made for a drop dead centerpiece in the after dinner lounge.

The after dinner lounge had a glamorous and feminine feel, and lots of thoughtful touches- one of my favorites was the phone charging station designed with the wedding hashtag signage. Oh, and the sliders on pretzel rolls by PPHG, were a HUGE hit!

After a quick change and pretty sparkler send off, the couple departed by a vintage Rolls Royce ready to “Skip Down the Aisle” Together…

You can see more of this wedding on Charleston Weddings

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

Feb 26, 2019

The Personal Touch

photo by Liz Banfield

There are many ebbs and flows in weddings as years go by, we find ourselves being asked by clients to design different elements all the time, but one thing stays constant and that is making each one personal. Here are just some of the ways we have personalized our events for our clients (aside from the obvious in the printing areas i.e. invitations), so hopefully this will trigger some thoughts or ideas for you. Above, a jazz band led our couple out to their send off, a nod to the “second line” tradition in New Orleans, where they met. photos by Tec Petaja

This was one of my favorite touches at this wedding… The father of the bride had an impressive wine collection that he had been working on over many years. So, we built a display as one of the centerpieces of the dining room. The bottles were served up in labeled decanters and guests were encouraged to help themselves during dinner service.

photo by Christian Oth Studios

One of the easiest places to add personal touches is in the wedding welcome gifts. For our couple, marrying in Palm Beach, but from Texas, lots of custom elements filled this goodie bag. A filled beach bag for guests to enjoy while in Florida, perhaps not having packed one seemed like the perfect choice- along with turkish towels in the wedding colors. Texas shaped corn chips and Texas salsa were just some of the snacks included along with Florida salt water taffy… all of these little thoughtful details go a long way to personalize your weekend for your guests. photos by Corbin Gurkin

For this Southern beach wedding at home, lots of playful touches were woven throughout. The mother of the bride and bride herself gave us their favorite quotes from movies, books, etc. and we used them to jazz up pillows on the lounge seating, cocktail napkins, and coasters. Guests loved seeing and seeking out all of the different ones throughout the party. top photos by Tec Petaja; bottom photos by Liz Banfield

Many of our clients love seeing details featuring their dogs incorporated into their wedding.. Water bottles featuring our couple’s Frenchie on the label were included in the wedding welcome bags and served up again at the reception. Another couple’s two Australian Shepherds made their first appearance on the save the dates, and then again in custom take home cake boxes we called “doggie bags”…

photos by Corbin Gurkin

Of course, one of the easiest and most traditional ways to personalize your day is with a monogram. Here, the first initials of our bride and groom were design elements all throughout the design. First on a floral version greeting guests at the front door, then on aprons worn by the cocktail servers, and mixed in on pillows throughout the lounge seating.

There are so many other ways and details that can be personalized, so share with us any that you have done or are planning to do!

2.26.19 | TARA GUÉRARD
Entertaining, Event Design, Event Planning, Food and Drink, Gifts, Parties, Reception, Stationery, Invitations and Pretty Papers, The Lettered Olive, Uncategorized, Weddings | Comments >>

Feb 04, 2019

In Celebration of Champagne

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 >>