My Favorite Cake Ever

I first heard of Sweet & Saucy through JL Designs, and I've been hooked ever since. I tell every client who hasn't already booked their baker to seriously consider Melody of Sweet & Saucy. And sometimes I'll even take the 405 instead of the 5 just so I have a reason to stop at Sweet & Saucy's shop & buy something. Not only are her desserts scrumptious, delectable, and oh so good, they are pieces of art for the eyes.

Recently she did this cake for a wedding, with JL Designs, and it was love at first sight!! If I could do my wedding all over again, I would choose this cake in a heart beat. I've just never seen anything like it and I still drop my jaw just a little every time I see it.

Trend: Cake Backdrops

It's no longer just the ceremony that gets it's own backdrop making it an obvious focal point in a wedding ceremony. Now it's the cake. These are some extraordinary backdrops and cake displays all by the lovely and talented Sweet & Saucy. Other vendors include JL Designs of course. I'm just going to let the photos speak for themselves.

Vendor Pick: JL Designs

Carissa, owner and mastermind behind JL Designs is all around fabulous. Her work is genius and breathtaking and she takes into account every detail and never disappoints. When you walk into a room that Carissa has worked her magic you can't help but take a step back and just drop your jaw and say "WOW".

I first worked with Carissa and JL Designs back in 2008 at Phil & Nicole's wedding at Hummingbird Nest Ranch. The colors were white, navy blue, and fuschia. And I was so impressed by Carissa's style and presentation and genuine care in what she does. She is amazing at what she does!!!

From modern and fabulous...

to colorful and rich....

to casual and chic....

to unique and organic...

JL Designs can do it all...

Vendor Pick: Sweet and Saucy

I absolutely love Twitter...because...I find about amazing wedding vendors that can just blow your socks off sometimes.

I had the pleasure of tasting Sweet and Saucy at a halloween networking party I went to a few weeks back. The display was unreal and you can see it a few photos down.

This cake below was a focal point on the dessert buffet that Sweet and Saucy created with the help of Carissa of JL Designs.

My favorite treat was the pumpkin cake lollipops. Now why didn't I think of that??? I've seem lamb lollipops with mint apply chutney, I've seen marshallow covered by chocolate lollipops, but it seems so simple. If you love cupcakes, then you'll love the cake lollipops. It's just the right amount to not make you stuffed plus no need for a fork or plate. Love it!!!

And recently Melody, the genius behind Sweet and Saucy made 500 cookies for the Ellen show as a gift from Oprah for the release of the new edition of O Magazine, where Oprah and Ellen share the cover. The photo below is a similar cookie, but the cool thing is, the center can be a photo of almost anything, it can be your daughter's face, a company logo, or a damask pattern, the sky's the limit.

And you can also have Melody and her team create a one of a kind cookie masterpiece with frosting, marzipan, and fondant. Fabulous!!!

And, how sweet does Melody look? And the best part is you can have Sweet and Saucy treats almost any day of the week by going down to their storefront in Long Beach. Open tuesday through friday from 11 to 7 and open Saturday and Sunday from 11 to 5, and closed on Monday. You can stop by to see them at 6400 Stearns Street, Long Beach, CA 90815.

Inspiration: Navy Blue is the New Black

More and more I see "navy blue" being used in place of black which, in my opinion, creates a softer more romantic look as well as being chic and stylish and classic. I've seen it offset with pink, orange, yellow, green, and white. If you're looking for a way to have your wedding colors stand out and still be classic and elegant, this is the way to go.

I love this inspiration board from the Wedding Chicks.
Here's a modern take on a beach inspired wedding using coral in an orange shade to compliment the navy blue. Love this sample from Kenzie Kate.

This is a photo of one of my beautiful brides, Rachael, who got married in Ojai and had the color scheme of white, green, and navy blue. The maids look just stunning in their navy blue gowns. This photo was taken by the talented Heather Jagger of Jagger Photography.

I was first introduced to JL Designs at a wedding last August at the Hummingbird Nest Ranch and the flowers were STUNNING. This "baroque" design as seen in Bride and Bloom Magazine was done by the ever talented Carissa, owner of JL Designs and again uses the navy blue which compliments the warm colors of the peach and gold with the stark white and I think looks just fabulous.

Here's a photo from the wedding that I met Carissa of JL Designs last year. I love my bride, Nicole, owner of Nicolita Swimwear who is extremely talented and not to mention gorgeous and who designed her own dress and those of her bridesmaids who are in navy blue and the fuscia boquets just pop for that WOW factor. And you may recognized the second maid on the left who is the bride you saw in the photo earlier in this post. Referrals are fantastic!!! This photo was taken by my FAVORITE PHOTOGRAPHER who is sweet, and beautiful, and funny, and extremely talented, the lovely Jasmine Star.
Here's another fabulous wedding from Carissa of JL Designs, photographed by Sweet Monday Photography, which was just featured on Style Me Pretty, a great bridal blog.

Vendor Pick: Nancy Kay's Confections

Nancy Kay was kind enough to ask me to create custom pieces of cake jewelry (seen above) for A Soolip Wedding, an elite bridal show she was a part of this year which was held at the beautiful Vibiana. I created 3 flowers out of silver wire with swarovski crystals and swarovski pearls.

When I met with her to discuss the show, she gave me several cake samples to taste...who doesn't love free cake? My favorite flavors had to be "summer berry", dulce de leche", and "red velvet". She uses fondant for her beautiful and chic creations.

The first cake you see is from Brandon "Superman" Routh's wedding. The second with crystals wrapped around each tear was seen on Snoop Dog's Fatherhood's Vow Renewal Ceremony.

She's a very nice person, a master baker and an artist. You'd be priviledged to have her do your wedding cake.

This cake was adorned with flowers by Carissa of JLDesigns, who did the floral for the August Wedding I coordinated at Hummingbird Nest Ranch.