Real Wedding: Orange and Navy Spanish Romance

I'm currently loving too many color schemes that pair with navy - it's such a fun alternative to black and brown. When I came across this real wedding on the Project Wedding site, I knew I just had to feature it for today's edition of Wedding Wednesday.  The color scheme - navy blue and orange - is just gorgeous for a California wedding.

love, love, love this ceremony location!  {the Wayfarers Chapel}

simple, yet so pretty!

Aren't these table settings just beautiful?  The orange and green flowers just pop against the navy blue table cloth.

The couple used real Spanish tiles as the place cards for their guests. Gorgeous detail!

See what I mean about the colors popping?  This is just beautiful!

The couples night comes to an end with a fun photo booth session!

We hope you enjoyed today's Wedding Wednesday post!  To check out more real wedding inspiration {and ideas}, be sure to stop by the Project Wedding site - there is a ton of information to check out!

Real Party: Kids Candy Coated Christmas Party

Chris from Celebrations at Home put together one of THE CUTEST kids Christmas parties I have ever laid eyes on.  Seriously, I don't know what type of reaction I would have had if I walked into a party designed like this one when I was a kid - there was no detail was left out!

Chris designed this party for her kids a couple of their friends.  They dubbed it the Candy Coated Christmas Party because it was all about "sweet decor and decorating their own Christmas trees (ice cream cones) and cupcakes".

The kids were welcomed to the party with their own place setting, which included a personalized apron, a snowman milk bottle, a decorated cookie on a stick that was adorned with a candy cane wreath.  In addition to all of that, they were given their own bowls of icing and candies to create their masterpiece "Christmas Trees" and cupcakes.

After creating their works of Christmas art, the kids took their party outside for a bit.  After playing in the snow and cold, the were greeted with a hot chocolate bar once inside.  While sipping their cocoa, they were given fun stationery to write their letters to Santa.

Scroll on down to see some of the adorable images from this too sweet Christmas party!

To view more photos of this amazing kids Christmas party, head over to the Celebrations at Home blog and check it out.  If you aren't a follower of Chris's blog already, I strongly urge you to become one - she provides so much great party inspiration and eye candy... you'll fall in love instantly!

Merry Christmas everyone!  We'll be back next week with more party posts!!

Real Wedding: It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year {Christmas Theme}

With Christmas rapidly approaching {I can't believe it's a couple of days away... I should be wrapping gifts rather than blogging, but blogging is so much more fun!}, I thought it was very fitting to feature a Christmas-themed wedding for this weeks edition of Wedding Wednesday.

I came across this Christmas-themed wedding on the Asheville Event Co. blog.  The couple wanted to create a destination weekend for their guests, with their wedding taking place just two days after Christmas on December 27, 2009.  There were so many activities planned for guests to take part in - including skiing and a candlelight tour of the Biltmore House.

Brianne, the bride, chose a variety of Christmas-themed decorations and elements to use for her big day - she collected mini Christmas trees to use as centerpieces, ornaments that doubled as favors and place cards and their wedding cake was created to look like a Christmas present.

Keep reading below for more details and to see the photos taken by Jen Lepowski Photography.

This church is just gorgeous!

In lieu of bouquets, the bride gave each bridesmaid a muff!  Such a cute idea!

Winter accessories for the flower girls hair

A perfect boutonniere to keep with the wintery, Christmas theme.

One of the favor/place card ornaments the couple used for their big day.  The couple also rented a photo booth, and guests were able to take the photos from their photo booth session and insert it into their ornament - brilliant and adorable!

Steering clear of the standard Christmas red and green color scheme, the couple opted for a more classic red and silver color scheme... i think it turned out great!

I am loving this present-like cake!

To read more about this wedding, head over to the Asheville Event Co. blog!  There's a lot of eye candy to take in for other events, too!

I'm hoping to post once more before Christmas, but in case I don't, I wish you and your families a safe and Merry Christmas!

If you have a real wedding or wedding inspiration that you would like us to share on our blog, please contact us at ckeventsmn{at}gmail.com.  We would love to hear from you... and share your event!

My Attempt at Making Candy Cane Cake Pops

I admit, for a long, long time I've wanted to try making the famous Bakerella Cake Pops but have just been WAY too intimidated to do so.  When I came across the post Jenn from Hostess WIth The Mostess wrote the other week about how she tried them for the first time, I got inspired.  Following her recipe and tips I dove right into my first attempt at making a cake pop...

Saturday night I didn't have big plans so I headed to my local SuperTarget and Michaels to purchase all my ingredients - one box of cake, one can of vanilla frosting, one jar of peppermint extract, one box of candy canes and one package of white candy melts (I already had the lollipop sticks at home) - and got started.

Here is how they turned out:

I am content with how they turned out, however I need to practice my dipping skills a little more. When I molded the cake mixture into little balls, they were nice and round, but when I dipped them, the chocolate made them look a little crazy (I loved the tip Jenn gave about adding the crushed candy canes on top to take away from the imperfections of a not-so-perfect cake ball).

What else did I learn from this whole cake pop experience?
1. It's a very long process - do not start at 9 p.m. because if you're a slow worker (like me), you will be up until all hours of the night trying to finish (3 a.m. to be exact!).
2. If you are adding peppermint to your cake batter (prior to baking it) for extra flavor... do not measure it out over the bowl - that peppermint extract comes out fast! (Thankfully, the cake pops still tasted good... I think some of the peppermint flavoring baked out.. whew!)
3. Mix, mix, mix your frosting and your crumbled cake like crazy!  I didn't get enough frosting for the cake on the bottom of my bowl and it was hard to form the balls.  If you have too much frosting (which happened toward the top of my bowl), the cake balls become very sticky to form and don't hold their shape as well.
4. Make sure you have enough room in you freezer to fit the cake pops in after you have inserted the lollipop sticks - sticking them in the fridge for 15 minutes isn't long enough and the stick will start to slide out when you're tapping excess melted candy off (if you don't have enough room, be prepared to wait a long while so they can firm up to be able to dunk in melted candy).

Be sure to head over the the Hostess blog post if you haven't read her story about her experience making these awesome candy cane cake balls - I must say, hers turned out much better looking than mine!

I can't wait to make these again for an event... but like I mentioned, next time, I won't start the baking process at 9 at night... it will be an all day affair! :)

I'd love to hear what tips you have for making cake pops?  Do you have a cake pop horror story??

Real Wedding: Modern and Intimate Chicago Wedding

We're spoiling you today - two Wedding Wednesday posts in one day! Whew!

Have you ever checked out Junebug Weddings web site?  I haven't visited the it in a while, and I can't believe how much I have been missing out on!  There is so much great wedding goodness to check out, it would seriously take you days to take it all in {I spent hours on it last night looking at their real weddings}!  I have bookmarked so many of the real weddings featured on the Junebug site, don't be surprised to be seeing a lot of them featured in the Wedding Wednesday series!

So - on to today's feature wedding.  Lynne and Garrett, a very gorgeous couple, had a bright color scheme for their big day (a scheme that I just adore by the way) of white, silver, navy and hot pink.  The wedding took place at The Wit Hotel in Chicago. They wanted their wedding to have an intimate feel, so they kept the guest list to 65 of their closest family members and friends.

I love this quote the bride gave regarding the small, intimate wedding they planned {which also happened to be a destination wedding for the couple and their guests}.

"Although it was difficult to keep the list so small, it allowed us to enjoy the day.  Your wedding day goes by so quickly... some of my best memories are being part of the party after the lights went down instead of trying to get to every table to say hello.  Our guests were away for the weekend and ready for a great time.  Nobody had to get to work in the morning... what a great atmosphere!

Scroll down to see the beautiful photos taken by Chris+Lynn.











Stunning, right?!  I just love, love, love the color scheme they chose for their special day.  Head over to the Junebug Weddings blog to read more information about this fabulous wedding!


We'll be back next week with another real wedding and/or wedding ideas!


If you have a wedding or product or services related to the wedding industry, that you would like have us feature on our Wedding Wednesday series, please contact us today - ckeventsmn{at}gmail.com.

Invitation Love - Captured Moments by Amy Leigh

Normally for Wedding Wednesday we post a real wedding, but today I thought I would mix it up a bit and throw in some invites.  Keeping with the wedding theme, I thought I would feature a wedding invitation designer whose work I adore!  I came across Captured Moments by Amy Leigh's Etsy shop and was drawn to her work - it's so creative!  I love that she has a variety of designs in her shop - designs that will fit any theme or mood for a wedding - anything from an elegant to a modern wedding.

Check out some of my favorites below!

I always love a grey and yellow color scheme - this little birdie design is just too adorable, too!

I really enjoy checking out non-traditional, fun wedding invites.  I love the carnival feel of this one.

How perfect would this be for an outdoor backyard wedding that's held under a large tree?  Too perfect.

Another non-traditional invite, this would be the perfect invite for theatre lovers or anyone who's hosting their wedding at an old theatre.

Hot pink and black - one of my all time favorite color combos... just had to throw it this in there!

White and black weddings hold such a classic feel... these are just gorgeous!

These would be perfect for an outdoor wedding in the Spring.

This set would be perfect for a fall wedding - I'm thinking around Thanksgiving??

Simplicity is always beautiful.  Love the simpleness of this set.

Head over to the Captured Moments Etsy shop to check out her other great designs and pricing!  

Be sure to check back later for the Real Wedding feature for today's Wedding Wednesday!