DIY mason jar lanterns

I've been thinking about our twilight reception lighting and stumbled on these delights. They are porcelain lanterns cast from actual mason jars. It gave me an idea.. what if you just took actual mason jars and painted the inside white. It would somewhat opaque but would probably still allow the candle flame to glow. I may try this out soon~! You can buy these in pairs for $90 on etsy.com from alyssa ettinger design shop. Photo by Jen Sliker.

A treetop reception in Aotearoa

Recently my Kane and I were looking through a book of amazing tree houses architects have designed all over the world. He then showed me a little wonder in Aotearoa. The Yellow Tree house restaurant designed by Pacific Environment Architects in collaboration with Yellow Pages.

It is a childhood dream of living in an enchanted forest. It's organic shape is similar to a spiral seashell, a butterfly cocoon or even an onion!

Unfortunately no reservations are being taken at the moment but around 2,000 people have had a chance to visit it. It is being taken into consideration now to re-open it to the public.

A perfect venue for small intimate weddings! It seats 18 people in the tree house with the catering facilities and restrooms at ground level. It is just south of Honey Centre in Wartworth.

A 60 meter wooden walkway weaves above the forest floor to the restaurant.

View http://www.yellowtreehouse.co.nz for ongoing updates, blog, video and still footage with live web cam images.
Visit http://www.pacificenvironments.co.nz for more information about the architects.

lunaphoto

One of my favorite photo blogs is lunaphoto!  Awesome photography team Mike and Paula Luna are based in San Diego, California but also do destination weddings.  Here's some sweet photos they have taken recently.

Bridal bouquets

So I have been thinking about my wedding flowers lately.. mostly the white ones.. Here are some options other than the ranunculus bouquet above.


Calla Lily
Meaning: Magnificent beauty
Best For: Bouquets and arrangements
Scent: Lightly fragrant
In Season: Spring and summer
Price Range: Expensive
Floral Fact: This large tropical flower is very popular in weddings.


Orchid
Meaning: Love, beauty
Best For: Bouquets, corsages, and boutonnieres
Scent: None
In Season: Year-round -- almost always imported
Price Range: Expensive
Floral Fact: This exotic flower comes in a variety of colors and sizes.


Peony
Meaning: Bashfulness, the American spirit of ambition and determination
Best For: Arrangements
Scent: Lightly fragrant
In Season: Late spring
Price Range: Expensive

*photos and text by theknot.com

Beautiful bridal hats and combs

I feel like I should change by blog title to The Etsy Bride! I've been swooning over these gorgeous hair combs and bridal hats to accessorize a birdcage veil. Very vintage with a feel of being royalty to them.



Popular materials are flowers, extravagant feathers and swarovski crystals.

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Oh la la~! xxoo

Something for a bride to clutch..

So lately I have been daydreaming of beautiful clutches for my wedding day. More of a luxury item but when I noticed you can get one handmade and that can have a personalized message inside, I was hooked. Here are some fabulous ones I found on etsy.com. They are priced from $30-55.



One you can have an initial inscripted and another you can have your vows sewn into! I can't choose between silver or summer white!

DIY wedding cakes

So I have decided I am going to make our wedding cake(s).  The first cake bakery we called gave us a an estimate over way over our budget of $500!  My kane and I have a specific design of cakes we would like to have at our wedding.  Unfortunately it looks like if we want it done under budget, we are going to have to do it ourselves.  So the past two days I have been watching cake demonstrations on youtube and on foodnetwork (Ace of cakes.)  I made a list of supplies I will need..

-Revolving cake stand

-Large round cake pans

-Pastry Spatula

-Fondant Smoother

-Cotton strips

-Flower nail

-Airbrush for frosting

-Pastry knife

Fortunately I live with a Pampered Chef representative so the list might actually be shorter!  Yesterday I bought 4 cake mixes at the store for 4/$5! What a steal! I figure no point in wasting expensive ingredients on the test cakes I bake and sculpt.  I am going to make a batch of vanilla buttercream up as well.  I think I might use fondant on the final cake but I am going to play around and see what works best.

Here's what I've learned so far in cake baking:

 -Always preheat your oven as indicated in the recipe. If cake batter stands beyond ten minutes without being baked, the leavening agent in it will make the batter frothy and will produce an undesirable cake. When pans are filled with batter, they should immediately be placed into a preheated oven.

-Have all ingredients measured out and at room temperature

-Lightly grease the side of the pan according to methods. If you grease the side entirely, the batter will have a hard time clinging onto the pan while baking and will not rise well.

-Fill pan halfway with batter. Raise filled pan to about six inches above a hard surface and allow to drop. You eliminate any trapped air bubbles in the batter that create large holes in a finished cake.

-Quickly spin the pan and allow the batter to cling onto its side. Then quickly place in preheated oven and bake accordingly.

-When cake has finished baking, remove it from the oven and allow it to cool in its pan, on a cooling rack for about ten minutes. This allows cake to keep its shape as it cools off.

love notes, from the editors of PWM

My newest, favorite wedding blog.. from the editors of Pacific Weddings magazine, love notes~!

Check it out~! ;-)

A country romance

There are so many outdoor weddings these days.  I love the wildflowers, the bird's nest and tthe small topiary tree~!

Butterfly inspiration

I have found lots of inspiration on esty.com to include butterflies in a country-themed wedding. From favors to table decorations and more. A delicate touch, just a few accents needed.

Cakelava~!

I struck gold today when I found Cakelava's blog. Cakelava is a cake studio in Kailua, HI that is run by a husband and wife team. Rick and Sasha Reichart. They are known locally as well as nationally for their fantastic specialized cakes! They opened their kailua store in 2004.

Why cakelava? According to their website cakelava.com, "Rick chose the name cakelava because he wanted a name and concept that was based on something Hawaiian, something very beautiful, and organic at the same time, something that expressed his love of art without restrictions, but not so elusive that people wouldn’t understand the reference."

Their cakes can come in up to 17 different flavors!

- chai latte

- broke da mouth

- totally turtle

- peanut butter fudgey

- banana nutella

- the hawaii five-o

- bananarama

- lemon pucker

- guava lava

- hot fudge sundae

- coconut pineapple chunk

- chocolate dream

- strawberries chantilly

- kona toffee crunch

- rainbowlicious

- banana blueberry mascarpone

- local kine special

My favorite:

THE HAWAII FIVE-O

Chunky pineapple cake layers with fresh bananas, mango curd, coconut cream, and shredded coconut. Previously available as a Flavor of the Month only and back by popular demand.

mmm~! Sounds delicious.

Check out their awesome cakes at their blog here~!

Casablanca Bridal & Formals

This past Friday I visited Casablanca Bridal & Formals in Honolulu. It is a gorgeous white, two story building on the corner of Farrington St and Beretania St. The sign by the door reads " By Appointment only" but I noticed they welcome walk-in clients as well. My cousin had booked a appointment for me prior so I could try on as many bridal gowns as I chose.

Upstairs you are greeted with high ceilings, floor to ceilings mirrors and brilliant sunlight shining in. The upstairs is where are all the bridal gowns are and below is more formal wear.

The dress attendants were very attentive and friendly. I was actually the one who chose to stop trying on dresses long before I suspect they would have stopped giving me new dress options. All of the gowns I ended up liking the most were Pronovias gowns from 2009 and 2010. I tried on bridal gowns that were in mermaid and trumpet shapes, which are more slim fitting and sleek. I chose 3 gowns to put on my "maybe" list. I hope to go back this week again to try on some other gowns with one of my bridesmaids.