La Orilla Del Rio Ballroom, San Antonio- April 2011

We had a beautiful wedding this past weekend at the La Orilla Del Rio Ballroom downtown. The bride and groom, Amber and Rob, chose some truly unique and personal touches for their big day.

The couple had a truly unique unity ceremony during the wedding. They exchanged the traditional candle lighting or sand ceremony with a Wine Box. The wooden box was handmade as a gift from the father. The wood was from the oak tree that stood in the backyard of the house Amber grew up in. It was accompanied by two glasses and a bottle of wine, which they placed inside during the ceremony. The bride, groom, and pastor each hammered one golden nail to seal the box. They will open the box in 5 years to celebrate the aging of their marriage together. This tradition is inspired by the first miracle Jesus performs in the Bible, which was turning water into wine at a wedding.

Instead of a traditional cake, they went with a tower of red velvet and cream cheese cupcakes, with a small round cake on the top. The guests enjoyed dancing the night away. They also had a lot of fun playing with the props at the photobooth.

One very special touch the bride and groom added was the gift they gave their guests. Amber and Robert sat down and picked out all of the songs that were meaningful to them and had a CD made. The songs picked were those that played at special moments in their relationship. They even had the song that was playing when they first met!

All-in-all it was a high energy event and we are so happy that we got to be a part of it.

Bite-Sized Desserts and Other Ideas

Desserts…yum. Several apologies in advance for all the rumbling stomachs after reading this blog! Desserts are taking a turn for the playful lately, which makes planning and designing even more exciting. People are starting to have more fun with their desserts, and instead of tiered cakes, a lot of people are using different kinds of bite-sized desserts. The obvious would be cupcakes and mini-cupcakes, but there’s also cake pops, dessert tables for fill-your-own candy, mini-cakes for each guest, and the list goes on and on. Here’s a really great example of a dessert table with several different kinds of bite-sized desserts. This table was designed by Brandi Dunagan and photography by Kristin Radicke Light of Urth Studio Photography.


In case you were wondering what cake pops are, look at the top picture on the far right in the picture above. They are simply cake mixed in with icing, rolled into a ball, dipped in chocolate, and placed on a stick!

Cupcakes have definitely been a crowd pleaser too. They are a good way to get several different flavors of cake into your wedding if you are indecisive. So many choices! There are so many possibilities for bite-sized desserts, especially cupcakes, when it comes to décor. Each flavor can be a different design to incorporate several elements of the wedding. Another fun idea would be for the cupcake stand to actually serve as part of the centerpieces for the guest tables. Martha Stewart has a whole section dedicated to cupcakes on her site filled with lots of flavor ideas, cupcake designs, and much more. Here’s an example found from her site that sounded absolutely delicious! It’s lemon meringue, and would make a really great display at a wedding with the toasted meringue on top.


Another idea used for dessert tables is a “candy bar,” which is fun for guests and can also serve as their wedding favors. Several different types of candy in the wedding colors can be available in jars or vases with a scoop in them to fill the guests’ bags or boxes with. They can eat them at the wedding or take them home for a treat later on! Once again, Martha Stewart to the rescue… here is an example from her website of a candy/chocolate bar where guests can fill up their boxes with goodies.