Planning a Wine Country Wedding, Part 3: Where did you get that?

As an event designer, one of the questions I’m asked most by both clients and wedding guests is where I find all the unique elements — from the perfect dinner chairs to the adorable ring bearer’s pillow — that make a couple’s wedding uniquely them. For wine country weddings, you typically want thoughtful details that beautifully bridge both rustic and elegant looks. Here I share some of Esla Events' favorite sources.

Paper Goods

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The Aerialist Press. They offer beautiful designs – both house and couture collections, and are two of the nicest people you will ever meet, who are inspiringly passionate about what they do.

Little Miss Press. She offers beautiful stationery design AND stunning calligraphy. Getting your invitations designed, printed, and addressed all in one spot? Can’t get any easier than that.

 

Materials & Special Touches

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Save on Crafts. For all you DIYers out there, this is a gold mine for materials. From candles to moss to baskets, this national site’s warehouse is located just down south in Watsonville, so getting your items is very quick and easy.

Pressed Cotton. One of my new favorite sites for special little details. The products are tastefully done and well curated.

BHLDN. While some items are overpriced, sometimes you just can’t find that perfect coral cake stand anywhere else. Great for items you think you’ll want to keep long after the wedding.

Etsy. And no list can be complete without this “DIYer outsourcing” site. Sometimes it takes some patience to dig through all the postings, but usually you can find the perfect item at a great price.

 

Pretty Sweets

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Miette. A San Francisco classic, this store just makes you happy. If you can incorporate some of their jaw-droppingly beautiful cupcakes and macarons into your dessert table, do.

Batter. One of my favorite sources for baked goods. Delicious, unique, and beautiful.

Candy Warehouse. There isn’t anything that glamorous about this site or source, but it’s a lifesaver if you’re trying to find a range of candies in one particular shade.

 

Rentals

Hartmann Studio Rentals. Tip: They have one of the best shrubbery collections in the region. So if you need some olive trees or boxwoods to help define large outdoor spaces, and make ceremony spaces more intimate, this is the place to go.

Wine Country Party & Events. Not surprisingly, their inventory is geared beautifully towards the rustic yet romantic and elegant look of Napa and Sonoma weddings.

Classic Party Rentals. Looking for a great dark-wood farm table? They rent them for $85. Also, their benches and Descanso lounge furniture are quite popular with my clients.

For fans of mid century modern, industrial, and custom design rentals, keep an eye out for YEAH! Rentals and rEvolve (site coming soon!), who will both be expanding their presence in the Bay Area this coming year.

 

Vintage Touches

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One True Love Vintage Rentals. Incredibly tasteful collection, with exceptionally beautiful pieces for lounge vignettes.

Heritage & Craft. With a beautiful selection of vintage goods, they also are able to craft custom pieces for you.

MilkGlass Vintage Rentals. Her selection of tables and glassware are fantastic, and she also can help you create a customized piece to perfectly suit your needs.

Wine Country Party’s Circa. Need to try and get all your rentals from the same place to avoid multiple delivery charges? Wine Country Party has a Circa line of vintage goods, so you can get 150 standard white plates and 5 wooden crates for styling your dessert table all in one place.

 

Linens

Napa Valley Linens. Amazing customer service and a constantly updated and beautiful selection of linens.

La Tavola. My clients go crazy for their Tuscano line (which are linen linens). Beautiful understated elegance. They have showrooms in both Napa and San Francisco, making sample viewing a snap.

Happy hunting for your perfect items!

Adventures in Cake Tasting

Happy Valentine's Day! What better thing to blog about on Valentine's Day than cake. Yumm give me a slice of cake and a glass of champagne any day and I am one happy girl. Anyways, this past weekend we had a marathon of cake tasting. Our caterer strictly handles food so we needed to find another baker to make our cake. Of course, practicing my due diligence, I scheduled tastings with three different bakers in the same day. Blame being out-of-town bride for this kind of madness. (Way too much sweetness for one day).

After choosing the flavors and fillings, the next question bakers want answered is what the cake will look like. Luckily I brought my handy ipad mini to show them some of my favorite cakes out there:

Great Aftertaste

As I mentioned  in last week's post, we had our catering tasting this past week at Heirloom LA. It was wonderful!

Source (You can buy these cute forks off Etsy!)

With this being our first tasting, I had no idea what to expect and was pleasantly surprised. We got to try a smaller version of our crostini station (pictured above), five amazing tray-passsed appetizers (so appetizing that they disappeared before I could remember to photograph them), four different entrée options and two scrumptious desserts.

Our favorites of the night were Smoked Pork Chop with Yam Puree and Roasted Brussel Sprouts (pictured above) and Maple Rosemary Donuts (pictured below)

Now comes the hard part of narrowing down our options. Since we are doing a family-style dinner we want to make sure that what we pick will appeal to all of our guests. How did you decide on your wedding menu? With so many special dietary restrictions theses days (vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, ect.) how did you select for the masses without giving up what you wanted?

 

Sweet Tooth Central

This past weekend Derek and I hit up a local french cafe and pastry shop Petite Reve Cafe we had been meaning to try and were pleasantly surprised with some wedding cake inspiration. What could be better than hundreds of layers of crepes to impress your guests? While waiting for our coffees Derek spotted some photos of some stunning crepe wedding cakes.  He spoke with the owner and learned that she is one of the only people on the West Coast who makes theses special cakes and that they can be customized with any flavor filling and to match our wedding flowers.

Sources: Lavendar & Twine (1, 3 & 4), N Barrett Photography (2)

With dessert being one of our favorite things in the world (no meal is complete without amazing dessert!), we have some pretty big sweet teeth to satisfy for our wedding day. With so many wedding cake options these days we would like to do something a little less traditional and on the smaller side for ours, especially since it seems like most guests do not even end up eating the wedding cake and we plan to have several other dessert options.

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For me, the simpler the cake, the better.

Sources: 1 & 2

And, of course we have a special sweet spot for cake pops too.

 

Sources: 1 & 2

More to come in the next few weeks on our other non-cake dessert ideas.

How did you decide on your wedding cake? Did you go for a less traditional option? I certainly can't wait to start tasting!