They say you should never shop when hungry and now I’ve made a new rule – you should never do a cake blog when hungry my mouth is watering just looking at these sumptuous sweet treats from the very talented Catherine De Groot of Bake My Cake, who is leading the way with stunning wedding and novelty cakes of all shapes and sizes! Bake My Cake has been in business since 2009 when Catherine, formerly an Architect, embraced the recession and turned her talents to the Kitchen and started creating amazing cakes for weddings and events. With a shop in Booterstown and more recently on South Anne’s Street Dublin 2 Bake My Cake not only offer customers a very personal experience when deciding on their wedding cake but also exceptional cakes to suit every couples taste and budget. Check out their website www.bakemycake.ie for a full listing of their designs! Enjoy. Ax

For more information you can email info@bakemycake.ie or call: 01-2784478

First off – Happy New Year!!! We hope you all had Christmases as lovely as we did, didn’t it fly by! So now here we are – a new year, tonnes of resolutions and so many ideas and so much inspiration to share with you all we’re pretty much going to burst! 2012 is going to bring plenty of lovely surprises and developments that we’re all very excited about too… but more about that later! For the moment, we have some gorgeous monochrome ideas for you today – all inspired by one of our favourite flowers that’s in season right now – The Anemone! It’s the simplest yet most perfect flower to create softness in a black and white theme, the gentle flower gives a feminine edge to the masculinity of this colour combination and it’s also perfect for either an uber-modern or super-girlie, vintage style event – talk about versatile! Enjoy, enjoy and looking forward to a wonderful 2012 with you all! Aoife & Deirdre x

First up a beautiful ‘Like Water for Elephants’ inspired shoot by Green Wedding Shoes shot by Marilyn Nakazato. We love the vintage vibe of the bouquet with a mix of white lilac and blousy ivory roses, not to mention the brides fab hair and strong lip and general 1920′s fabulousness!

Delicious Design – Flowers aren’t just for bouquets and table-centers. The simplicity of the anemone makes it perfect (either fresh or sugar-crafted) to include on a graphic black and white cake. Super, super easy to do yourself even – just find beautiful black and white ribbon and add a couple of flowers for instant design perfection! (Images L-R : Peggy Porschen, Instyle Weddings 2008, TheKnot, CakesforWedding.)

Wild and Loose – The word Anemone comes from the Greek word for wind, as the ancient Greeks named the flower ‘Wind Flower’ because they thought the flowers bloomed as a result of the wind blowing on them! So what better format for an Anemone bouquet than these gorgeous windswept, natural shapes. It’s almost as if they were scooped up from a meadow (albeit a very stylish meadow!) (Images – 1&2 Kate Holt at Flowerwild, 3&4 – Krista Jon Couture Florals Via GreenWeddingShoes)

Again – a headturning head piece – super stylish, modern and simple, we love it! From SiboDesigns via Etsy.

Team black and white floral centerpieces with sleek black glassware and accessories for a modern alternative for your event. Images from Brides.com.

Black and white has always been one of the classic combinations for an elegant wedding invitation, but here are two with a twist that incorporate the anemone – graphic and simple but so effective! (L-R : MewPaperArts at Etsy, Robin Ott at Minted.com)

And finally, some beautiful details in this amazing inspiration shoot styled by Canvas&Canopy Events and featured on RuffledBlog.

Ideas, Inspiration and Information from The Bridal Lounge

We just love it when couples share their big days with us, and especially when they are as gorgeously colourful and creative as this one! Barbara is an Italian blogger and writer who came to visit us in The Bridal Lounge last year when she was in the throes of planning her gorgeous NYC wedding. We of course made her PROMISE to send us the pics of the super stylish day as soon as the honeymoon was over… so here they are, and they certainly don’t disappoint! The wedding took place at the Gramercy Park Hotel and their reception was full of gorgeous ideas and personal touches. We particularly love their vivid yellow colour scheme and the handmade luggage tags they used as their place settings! But the winning detail has to be their Manhattan skyscape wedding cake – designed by Carlo and made by Mark Joseph Cakes in New York, with the cutest little felt bird toppers! Enjoy and have a Fabulous weekend, Aoife & Deirdre x

P.S – Check out Barbara’s blog where you’ll find a post she did a couple of months ago on The Bridal Lounge!

Image Credits: docwedding

This is one wedding we are very happy to share with you, not only are they the most beautiful photos taken by the super talented Christina Brosnan but also because Jill and Andy are good friends of our’s who recently got married last month at Clonabreany House in Meath. We were on hand to add a little styling with hair, makeup and flowers (and friendly support of course!) but Jill and Andy didn’t need very much help as they have plenty of style themselves and Clonabreany is such a beautiful venue that it requires very little to make it look pretty! The day was absolutely perfect – who would have thought that the 25th March would have been so warm and sunny and guests would need their sunglasses – an absolute bonus for any bride and groom in Ireland!

Their day was filled with pure style and elegance, Jill wore the most stunning David Fielden gown from Myrtle Ivory complimented by a simple feather fascinator in her hair. Her hair was created by the very talented Michelle Grimes of COM hair salon and who is also a member of The Bridal Lounge Beauty Team. Makeup was by Aoife Callaghan and her amazing bouquets and flowers by Deirdre from Ruby & Bloom and The Bridal Lounge. Clonabreany is a beautiful, relaxed venue with fantastic food and staff and we would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a venue out of town!

We hope you enjoy these photos as much as we do. Happy Weekend. Aoife & Deirdre Xx

Thank you so much to Jilly & Andy for allowing us to be apart of your very special day and an even bigger thank you for allowing us to post your wedding here on our blog!

Another big thank you to Christina Brosnan for such beautiful photos.

Image Credits: Brosnan Photographic

Other Suppliers Include: Invitations: Wedding Paper Divas , Cupcakes: Cupcake Me , DJ: Aidan Kavanagh , Bridesmaid Dress: Reiss

 We are delighted to share these lovely images from Sinead and Aidan’s wedding which was photographed by David Maury at the gorgeous Lady Chapel Church in Maynooth followed by a reception at the Clanard Court Hotel in Athy. David captured beautiful moments throughout the day including the images taken at the Japanse Gardens which you can enjoy below. Aoife & Deirdre Xx

Sinead & Aidan’s suppliers include: Flowers - Carraig Flowers Hair Acessories – Stacey Hannan Designs Dress: Tracy Bridal and Collete Kehir Makup Artist.

Thank you to Sinead & Aidan for sharing the images from their wedding with us and also to David Maury Photography.

We’ve long been fans of beautiful Cameo jewelry, there’s something so ‘proper’ about them they make us want to sit up straight and eat dainty little sandwiches!! So we were super excited to see Farrell & Chase’s gorgeous new suite of Cameo wedding invitations (so delicate and beautiful) that we had to put together some Silhouette inspired wedding ideas for you to steal to match them… Enjoy! Aoife & Deirdre xx

Photo Credits (from top) – 1. Cameo Invitation Suite www.farrellandchase.com, 2. Cameo Details – MarthaStewartWeddings, 3. Cookies from SweetAmbs, Flowers from InspiringPretty, 5. Burlap Invitations from InvitationCrush, 6. Cake from RoseCakes via Greenweddingshoes, Cookies from SweetAmbs, 7. Bouquet – SweetMondayPhotography, 8. Silhouette Artist Karl Johnson hard at work at a wedding from Martha Stewart Weddings

Ideas, Inspiration and Information from The Bridal Lounge

Well it’s finally here. Spring has sprung…at last!! So, we wanted to bring you a post full of springtime inspiration – tulips, daffodils, snow-drops… but we found this gorgeous bouquet of ranunculus, tulips and freesias and well…. we got completely carried away with the fabulousness of the sherberty peaches and pinks that we had to make an inspiration board instead. And that’s how a new colour combo crush is formed!! We still think it’s a perfect colour palette for a spring or summer wedding though – so our intentions didn’t go to waste! Hope you enjoy – Happy Monday, Aoife & Deirdre xx

Photo Credits – (from top left to right) : 1. www.w-weddingflowers.com, 2. Marni Rothschild Photography, 3. Tec Petja Photography via Stylemepretty, 4. Martha Stewart Weddings, 5. GreenWeddingShoes, 6. www.manolobrides.com, 7. www.birdandbanner.com

Inspiration, Ideas and Information from The Bridal Lounge

Today marks the start of a very exciting group of blogs! We’re going to be joined on the first Monday of every month by a guest blogger to bring you tips and information to help you plan the perfect wedding day.

This month we’re joined by the incredibly talented Christina Brosnan of Brosnan Photographic, who is sharing some of her top tips for getting the best out of your photographer on the big day so you capture the memories for ever! First a little bit about Christina by Christina….

Hi, I’m Christina Brosnan and I’ve been studying and practicing photography for 10 years. I run Brosnan Photographic with my husband, Colin. We’ve been together since 2004, married since 2006, and working together since 2007. But we wouldn’t consider any of it work! I went to College of DuPage in Chicago and after graduating went on to study at Speos Photographic Institute in Paris. I am the one behind the camera and Colin is the one behind the website. He’s from Kerry and I’m from Chicago and we met in Paris on Valentine’s Day! We now live in Newbridge with our cat Pepper and our dream is to travel the world! We love photography and documenting people – especially weddings, and here are our tips for working with your wedding photographer! -

Location: Always keep in mind how everything will look in photos, from where the bride is getting ready to the reception, or where you plan to have the portrait shots taken. The right location makes for great photos.

Lighting: Look for locations with good lighting. Natural light is the best and will achieve the best results.

Wedding Portraits: Be mindful of sunset when scheduling your wedding in winter months. If you plan your ceremony too late in the day you may not get enough daylight time for portraits outdoors. Also be sure to leave enough time between ceremony and reception for portraits. I recommend leaving at least 2-3 hours between the two. A lot of couples choose to see each other before the ceremony for their portraits. This leaves the rest of the day for you to be relaxed and not feel rushed to get to your reception.

Wedding Dress: I always try and get a photo of the wedding dress before it goes on the bride. Try and get a pretty hanger to hang it on. A plastic hanger won’t look as nice. Also get a hanger that has a swiveling hook so it is easier to hang.

Wedding Guests: Some guests try and instruct the wedding photographer on every shot. It is very difficult to say no without coming across as rude, so a lot of time is wasted on photos that the couple often don’t want. I cannot stress enough that you take the time to inform your guests not to interfere with the photographer. Also make sure they know not to photograph while the photographer is photographing. The flash from their camera(s) can cause bad results in your wedding photos.

Wedding Invitations: Send your photographer one of your wedding invitations to photograph. Or have one for them on the day of the wedding. It will be cool to include it in your wedding album. It’s another detail you won’t want to forget!

Detail Shots: If possible it’s always nice to have some shots of the details of your wedding that you’ve spent so much time organising – flowers, cake etc. Discuss these shots with your photographer so that they can plan them into the day .

Engagement Shoots: An engagement session is a great way to get to know us before we photograph your wedding. It’s also a great way to get you used to being in front of the camera and put you more at ease on your day.

An engagement session will give us the opportunity to see how you interact with each other, and to get to know your personalities.

Some couples like to incorporate their engagement photos into their wedding. Using them for announcements, thank you cards, or even for table numbers. There are many other ways you can use them, just ask us and we can give you some more great ideas!!

But most important… Relax and enjoy the day!!

Thanks Christina for all the tips, we hope you all found them useful!! (and aren’t the pics absolutely gorgeous!)

Watch out next month for our next Guest Blogger, Aoife and Deirdre.

Inspiration, ideas and information from The Bridal Lounge

‘Lemon Drizzle’, ‘Death by Chocolate’, ‘Raspberry Roulade’,  ‘Strawberry Shortcake’…… the choices are endless!! So what happens when you have to pick ‘one’ for your wedding cake??? Easy – Have them all! We’re so in love with the idea of a ‘Cake Buffet’ instead of the traditional three tiers, that we had to share some of these images with you…. Now sharing the actual cakes with you? Well that would be a different matter ;0) – Enjoy!

How beautiful are the little ceramic bird cake toppers used above – keep an eye out in vintage or second hand stores for quirky pieces to add to your buffet to add a personal touch. Also check out LillyElla’s Blogspot for instructions on how to make the gorgeous like cake signs telling your guests what they are about to tuck into!!

For a more eclectic feel, mix and match different heights and materials in your cake stands to add variety – we love how this buffet has a mix of glass and white ceramics.

Finally this buffet mixes cakes with the more traditional format of a sweet buffet – a good idea if you think people won’t have room for cake… although that couldn’t possibly happen with these treats on offer – now where did we put that lemon meringue ;0)

Photo credits – top to bottom.

Images 1 – 4 – Photography by David and Lisa Wilding, Lorain, Ohio – via www.lillyella.blogspot.com

Image 5 – Photography by Marlin Munoz via www.elizabethannedesigns.com/blog

Image 6 – Photography by Sarah Maren featured in Southern Weddings’ blog