FAVORITE FRIDAYS!

It's that time again. I am glad to finally be blogging about the WONDERFUL TRACI MARINI, of Eventfully Yours!   She is one of the first people I met in the Wedding Industry and she welcomed me and showed me support like she had known me for years! Her personality can brighten any day. 
You can see some of her amazing work below, and you can see how her infectious personality and personal touch weaves through Eventfully Yours! making here the success she is.

Natasha and Jason were very particular on what they wanted for their wedding day and I was thrilled that I could help bring their dreams into a reality! Photo by www.garrettnudd.com 

Almost a year and a half ago my associate, Ashley, tied the knot at Summit Church (which is the church I attend and where her husband serves as the Worship Pastor) and then had her reception at Orlando Museum of Art. Obviously being in the industry she knew she wanted Tommy Murphy of Greenery Productions to handle her floral and décor and Arthur’s to handle the food and beverage. It was a wonderful party atmosphere with lots of food and plenty of dancing! The best part of the night was when Ashley’s sister, Lindsey, gave her speech and did an entire skit from My Best Friend’s Wedding and sang “Say A Little Prayer for Me”! Everyone was so into it and it was an absolute riot! Photo by www.corycallahan.com

Allison and Chris wanted a French theme wedding and Flourish helped bring her vision to life. We even had the tables named after French desserts and then when you were seated at your table, that dessert was waiting for you at your place setting! Photo by www.ephotographics.net

As you can see  TRACI does amazing work and she gives each one of her
brides the personal touch and attention they deserve!  Great Job Tracy! You know I think you rock!

Central Florida Bride Feature!!

I've been trying to blog this for about a week now. So I apologize. We've had some craziness start off the new year in both my house and at 2u! All good things, but a few things needed my attention..

Excited to announce in this issue of Central Florida Bride Magazine is a Feature article written by yours truly! I wrote case studies on several of my brides so that brides can see how custom invitations can cater not only to the decor and execution of their event, but also can reflect the personality of the bride and groom. Make sure you pick up a copy.  

 

FAVORITE FRIDAYS!

It is that time again.. Which is hard to believe!  So here we are ready to showcase another one of my FAVORITE and inspiring Talents!

This week..
Jeffrey Stoner - of Jeffrey Stoner Video!!!

As you can see by the candid pics above, Jeffrey has a great sense of humor! He is not only a genius with moving image, but he is a genuine friend, and fellow lover of strange arbitrary movies, (and I think having a bro-mance with my husband over arbitraty music!). We have yet to share a bride, but I'm still trying to figure out how I can get him to make an interesting invitation video.  Check out some of his amazing work below and his comments on the event.  


If you are in need of amazing video for any event, I would hire Jeffrey in a minute. His work speaks for itself. Plus he is the life of the party, and you're guaranteed an interesting evening when he is around.







Erin and David’s stunning New Year’s Eve wedding at the Sarasota Ritz Carlton came to a crescendo at midnight!  In all my years, it was as close to a “perfect” wedding as any I’ve ever shot.  Erin and David were inseparable and clearly, truly in love.  That, more than anything else, leads to a successful wedding documentary.  Of course, the décor, lighting, and surprise snowfall didn’t hurt!.  I produced this “teaser” clip for them the day after the wedding.  (vendors for this wedding included E-Events, Garrett Nudd, Beautiful Music, Dale Dees, and of course the Sarasota Ritz Carlton)







I just knew that Tanya and Carl would be ideal clients – they are very easy to photograph!  All smiles and beautiful emotion.  With some clients, the joy of their day is infectious and somehow makes even me feel a part of the proceedings – that was certainly the case with Tanya and Carl. I was so proud when footage from this wedding was featured heavily in a recent news story on WKMG for the “Just Cause” charity, and it went on to become the most-viewed clip I’ve ever hosted online!  (vendors for this wedding included E-Events, JR Sterling, and the Ritz Carlton Orlando Grande Lakes)


FAVORITE FRIDAYS!

Happy New Year to All! And with that one of my resolutions is I am going to trying to stay in touch with you all more. (Yeah, yeah, I know it's only January... let's see if I will say in December that I was successful.)

So in the spirit of that, I have developed...(Wait for it) FAVORITE FRIDAYS!!
Every Friday I will showcase one of my FAVORITE and inspiring Talents!

This week..
Anna Hightower - of Anna Cakes!!!
"Me and my daughter Marlee at the Your Wedding TV bridal show in September. (above) She is the best helper/mascot ever!"

For those of you who don't know Anna, you are missing out.. She is INCREDIBLY talented, and one of the most fun and positive people I've ever met. Oh and her cakes not bad either :)

As you can see by the cakes below, she is very talented. I can't even make cupcakes look this good. Some of you may know that I have a quiet obsession with (yes paper, that's a given and not quiet..) Amazing Wedding Cake reality shows.. And this girls deserves one of her own. She not only has the talent for it, but a sense of humor and personality to rival Cake Boss, Ace of Cakes, the list goes on. Then I can sit cozy on my coach and watch her genius weekly- on Sundays. (yes that is what I do on lazy sunday afternoons. I call it WORK RELATED RESEARCH!!)

I sat down with Anna recently and I found out some interesting things! Take a gander below at the amazing cakes and her commentary on each!!

I always love when I get to see the invitations at a cake design session, because they are so graphic and literal -- a good one will jump-start my creativity. It is very easy for me to translate that into a cake design. The above is based on an invite one bride brought to me. :-) 

This was my 1st ever sea shell cake -- made it my 1st year in business. It was a last minute order, and I had no idea how to make it when I agreed to the contract...so it was a total experiment. I used molds for the shells and free-handed the coral in white chocolate. I was so proud of this thing! Since, I have done a million of these, but this was the original.

This was my cake for the charity fundraiser cake competition "Let's Eat Cake" in Gainesville last year. Kerry Vincent was one of the judges (ala Food Network fame) and as evil as she seems on tv, she was actually extremely sweet in person. I didn't win, but I was happy with our cake. It was definitely the most original wedding cake there.

Cake I made for my friend Molly Brown (Cinematique Films) and Sharia Riley's (Style House)
Grand Opening Soiree!

another cake inspired by their invitations...

Getting to meet new and interesting people is one of the best parts of my job! This suitcase wedding cake was for one of the coolest couples I have had the chance to work with. The bride was American, and the groom was English (OMG his accent!) and they LOVED to travel. Each of the luggage "stickers" represented something or someplace meaningful to them.


For those of you who get so frustrated with planning your wedding you want to shoot someone... DRUM ROLL....... THE GUN CAKE!

  This cake was absolutely the hardest cake I have ever had to do. My husband and I worked all day and night on this thing! It was 2' x 3' and had to be the EXACT replica of the Beretta 92 FS handgun. I was hired by Beretta last year to make this cake to feed 200 people. It was given to Mr. Beretta himself, (the richest man in Europe, they kept telling me. Ok! I get it!!! LOL) to commemorate the signing of the largest gun contract with the US Military since...I don't know, WW1 or something. Anyway, it was a big deal...and they said Senator Clinton and Tom Seleck would be there. But they weren't. pahaha
 

This is just a tip of the iceberg people. Check her out, you will NOT be disappointed. Oh and P.S. I hear she can replicate WOOD texture like mother nature herself!! :) (sorry a little inside humor there.)

Thanks Anna for taking the time to sit down and contribute!