I feel like Valentine's Day is a hot topic. You either relate to those who love the holiday and go all out, or you despise it and complain that it's just another big marketing scheme. Regardless of where you fall, I believe there is something everyone can take away from February 14th. In our household, we try not to stress over the stereotypical relationship part of the holiday. For us it's more about love and kindness, and that can come in all shapes and sizes. It makes the holiday way more enjoyable when you reframe the meaning of the day. We get to take a day to remind ourselves of just how loveable we are as individuals, as well as letting others know they are loved as well.
This past year I was able to spend the day with my kids (thank you mid-February snow day), but the real point of this blog post is to share a Valentine's Day inspired engagement party I had the pleasure of designing.
My couple, Heather & Chad, are familiar clients as I had previously done a dessert spread for their little girl’s 2nd birthday last year. Needless to say, I was excited when they asked me to create a dessert cart for their semi-intimate engagement celebration. The engagement party was held at the Old Westminster Winery located in Westminster, MD. Imagine a heated circular tent amongst the beautiful rolling hills of a winery. It was a chilly day but with the warmth of heaters, great wine, and homemade brick oven baked pizza, there was nothing to complain about.
The set-up and clean up time was limited so I needed to create something that could be done very quickly. I opted to bring my personal gold and glass top bar cart. The general theme of the celebration was love, and given it was the day before Valentine's Day, it was easy to stick with the red, pink and white theme. Due again to the limited set-up time (which was a tight 30 minutes) we stuck with one main dessert, cupcakes from the local bakery Starry Night Bakery.
We opted for four flavors in four different shades of icing. We kept the design of the icing all the same to tie the look together. The simplicity of the swirled icing turned out to be perfect as they resembled roses.
From Left to Right: Vanilla, Strawberries & Champagne, Red Velvet, and Chocolate.
Once the cupcakes were displayed the other details came together seamlessly. The bride had custom #engageMINTS made and a reusable Valentine’s Day garland that spruced up the gold cart and really added some color. I always try to use fresh flowers, and roses were the right choice for this design as they tied in perfectly with the cupcakes. Some Valentine’s themed M&Ms and cute LOVE cocktail napkins completed the look.
I had so much fun creating this intimate LOVE IS SWEET design. I think bar cart styling is a trend we're going to be seeing a lot more of this coming year, and I am here for it!
Congratulations to my happy couple, I can't wait for October!
(Let the wedding planning begin!)
