things are better with a parrott

Sea Glass Candy Favors

My sister, Jessica of Nothing Bakes Like a Parrott, has perfected the art of sea glass candy.  Yes!  A few years ago she was looking for the perfect wedding favor & decided to combine her love for candy with all things nautical & decided on sea glass candy.  She offers it by the pound for brides & party planners who would like to assemble their own favors, & now she offers them in 4 oz. jars with custom-designed toppers.  Jess & I worked together to design 12 different toppers to choose from, completely customizable with different fonts & colors.

These favors are perfect for a beach or tropical destination wedding, as well a nautically-themed party.  Check out more details in Jess's shop. 

16 more days + Dessert!

{Photo by emilie inc. with desserts by Nothing Bakes Like a Parrott}

I am not sure how this happened, but....16 more days!?!  Wow.  I have a lot to do....You would think with almost 2 years to plan I should be relaxing in the sunshine just waiting for the time to come.  But that is not my style.  Today I am finalizing lists:  guest list, dinner list, dessert list, etc.  I am going to try to post something everyday until the big day, revealing tiny little details as I go!  Today....dessert!

My sister Jessica of Nothing Bakes Like a Parrott is baking all of our desserts & designing our dessert table.  Our desserts will include:

- Croquembouche - a nod to our French heritage & our engagement in Paris
- Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting - this is the groom's cake
- Spiced Orange Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting - the cake we cut
- Mini cupcakes which include:
    - Spice Orange Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
    - Lemon-Raspberry Swirl with Lemon Buttercream
    - Fleur de Sel with Chocolate Ganache
    - Coconut with Coconut Buttercream
- Pizzels & Italian Anise Cookies - a nod to Rich's Italian heritage
- Janet's Famous Toffee - my mom makes the best toffee.  Ever!
- Nutella Cheesecake Brownies - because they are delicious & I have a mild obsession with Nutella
- Classic Maine Whoopie Pies - because we are in Maine on a Farm, of course!
- Sugar Cookies - because they are cookies & delicious

So, as you can see we {er, mostly me...} are a bit dessert obsessed.  Our dessert table is going to be bigger than our dinner buffet, I am fairly certain of it.  Not only do we love dessert, but we are not having a specific favor, so I purchased a lot of kraft boxes so our guests will be able to take desserts home with them at the end of the evening {hence desserts that travel well like cookies, brownies, whoopie pies, & toffee}.

Decor Inspiration

 {Images via Merci New York}

Recently I have been feeling really overwhelmed with too many inspiring ideas, but no decisions on what I truly want to do for certain aspects of our wedding reception decor.  This, along with what to use to decorate the ceiling, are my last two big decisions & I could not make them! 

I stopped looking at photos & put that decision on the back burner, choosing to {finally!} focus on our wedding invitations.  After I pushed through the design decisions, our invitations are currently in the hands of my very talented future-sister-in-law, Deb, who is working on various custom illustrations.  Phew!  Let's give that task a semi-check mark.

Back to the reception decor.  Whilst perusing Merci New York I came across the New York Magazine Weddings Event recap & saw these two photos & was like, "That's it!  I'm done.  There it is!"  The top photo's tablescape was done by Hatch Creative Studio & was just the inspiration I needed for our escort card display/table.  The bottom photos's display was by Jillian Events & Lovely Bridal.   So gorgeous!  It got my wheels turning for the dessert table display as well! 

To see more of the New York Magazine Weddings Event, check out Sofia Negron's extensive post with tons of photos!

Festive DIY Garland

{Image via the Purl Bee}

The Purl Bee dubs this the New Year's Garland, but I like to call it the festive-fun-party-time garland.  The combination of bright colors, felt, & circles caught my eye immediately.  Thetutorial is super simple & it would easy to mix in a few different shapes, say a flower.  Wool felt comes in an array of colors so the garland could easily match any wedding or event color palette.  The Purl Bee is a great resource & Giant Dwarf's Fancy Felt is so pretty!

Doily Table Runner

{Image by Ashley Ann Photography via The Sweetest Occasion}

How gorgeous is the DIY table runner made with vintage doilies?  You may check out the complete tutorial here {super easy & it involvs thrift shopping, fun!}.  We are going to have cream tablecloths, with a burlap square on top, but I am thinking I would like to add another layer over the burlap & this runner would be perfect.  One more thing to add to my ever-growing list of things to look for while searching the thrift shops/flea/ebay/craigslist/our parent's houses...!