Utterly Engaged: Designers Challenge

In January we had the privilege to attend an industry event put on by the fabulous ladies from Utterly Engaged. The Utterly Spankin' New Year party was quite the hit! We were able to meet and hug so many of the faces we've seen only through the computer screen and twitter conversations. It was a wonderful evening and we met so many new friends.

Carter & Cook, along with Posh Paperie decided to enter the designers challenge. There were many rules to our table entry. It had to be a form of 'modern', and use some sort of industrial material, paper, or fabric. We chose to focus our table on Modern Craft and the use of all things paper, with a bistro flare! We didn't win the challenge, but did receive an Editors Choice award in the recent issue. Such FUN! Read about it in the latest issue of UE here.

To keep the look clean and simple, we used a table with all neutrals, whites, creams, and browns. The table's main focus and centerpiece was not supposed be flowers so we found very simple cream vases from Ikea with three large white peony blooms, and lots of paper flowers made out of old books. All white china, and white utensils, along with a cream dish cloth for napkins.



Paper was used in so many ways! The table runner was brown craft paper, laid over a white linen tablecloth [yes, we need a hand held steamer! :) ]. We decided to do beer with cheese and bread baskets, so we had brown paper boxes lined with parchment paper to fill with gourmet cheeses and breads.

The beers had darling custom labels that served as place cards, also created by Posh Paperie. Our paper bag styled menu fit our modern bistro spread.

The paper flowers were a definite DIY, and quite easy. I might be putting together a tutorial for those, so watch for that on the Utterly Engaged blog.

The candles were all wrapped in various forms and textures of vellum, paper lace doilies, and a cream paper mache. It's hard to tell in the photos, but the glow from your candles through the textures of paper is so beautiful and soft. This is an affordable way to jazz up your standard glass pillar candles.

My favorite part about the table was the front of the linen. We saw an art piece online, and decided to try to incorporate that into our tablescape. We used dozens of sizes of paper cupcake liners, to create a fun design along the front of the table linen. We secured them with silver push pins. Several of the cupcake liners were spray painted tan to give a pop against the linen.

Heather and I enjoying the party!


Henny, Lucia and Eva..the three lovely women behind Utterly Engaged. Thank you again for such a fun party! And a huge thank you to Jasmine Star, and JD for shooting the party, and all of the designer's tables. All photo credit goes to Jasmine Star.

Bridesmaid Brunch [inspired by yellow and buttons!]

Amy from the Wedding Chicks was looking for someone to design a bridesmaid brunch photo shoot for a Wedding Chicks blog feature on bridal shower ideas. We quickly jumped at the opportunity! Why? Because we love The Wedding Chicks, and we had been dreaming up brunch ideas for some time now.


The team we were able to work with was truly incredible. First off, we had the chance to meet, and have the table shot by the amazing Jessica Claire. She is a hilarious, sweet girl who had us laughing the entire day...and her work is amazing!! Thank you Jessica for the beautiful images. You are the best! Jessica is actually the brain that came up with the two words, yellow and buttons, that inspired this entire shoot!

The Floral Lab....sigh. We love Leigh Anne. If you need a florist, she is your gal. Her ideas, creativity and talent are inspiring, and every time we work with her, she pulls our vision together seamlessly. She used kumquats!? I die...


Paper and Thread did all the paper: the invitation, the place cards, menus, recipes, and the Cute as a Button sign. Lori is the sweetest. She is not only creative and has a talent to match, but she is just so fun and kind! She was willing to go above and beyond her duty with the darling paper suite, and help Heather and me with any of the other crafty projects. Lori, thank you!!



Erica O'Brien pulled through with 5 knock-you-off-your-feet cakes. They were beautiful! She also made the adorable button sugar cookies for the engagement shoot that afternoon. Erica is insanely talented and if you need a cake that screams perfection, hire Erica.

Those buttons are fake. Yep, it's all fondant. Can we say, awesome?!



Did you notice those incredibly perfect felt flower pieces on our recipe boxes? Or the one our adorable 'bride' Katie wore in the esession shoot? Those lovelies were by one of our former brides Lisa Raser, creator of Ink and Button. We love our brides, and we love when they turn their passion and talent into something beautiful! Lisa, thank you again!!! Those were quite the hit!



The photo shoot was held at Cafe Mimosa in San Clemente. They were so kind to let us set up before the restaurant opened and hang hundreds of buttons from their ceiling. By the way, the mimosas are bomb!

Thank you Classic Party Rentals for the cute bistro chairs! The stemware and mugs were from Anthropologie and our cute shabby chic plates were from TJ Maxx at $4 a piece!


Would you look at these beauties?! Three of the four models are photographers. Katie from Katie Neal Photography, Rachel from Studio Casillero ,and Lauren Bullock in from Bullock Productions. Thank you ladies for looking pretty. All the bridesmaids wore dresses from Ruche. If you haven't checked out their online shop, you must now! They have darling and affordable clothing!

Thank you to Design Visage for the hair and make up. You're awesome!

We'll be back soon with more DIY ideas, crafts, and the brunch inspired engagement shoot!

Love,
Ashlyn + Heather
C&C