Easter Wedding Inspiration

Here's a little Easter inspiration straight from our showroom!

It's finally Spring!  Looking forward to nice weather and the official start of wedding season!

Pretty Inspiration

We found this gorgeous shoot over at Style Me Pretty!

These flowers are so pretty and the color scheme is gorgeous!

Catholic Charities

Next Monday we will be providing linens for Catholic Charities!  We're happy to be helping out this awesome non-profit.  They are opening the Elizabeth Anne Seton Homeless Shelter and that's exciting news!

Here is a little bit about them:

Since 1919, Catholic Charities of Los Angeles, Inc. has been protecting the vulnerable, providing for the poor, empowering the broken, advocating for social justice and, always, promoting human dignity.

During the industrialization of the early 1900s, much of California, and Los Angeles in particular, was in the throes of social change.  An influx of immigrants, minimal labor laws and an emerging working class meant that many people needed help with housing, food, health care, advocacy, acculturation and literacy.  Although women at that time didn’t yet have the right to vote, they did have the power to organize.  A group of Catholic women began coordinating donations of food and clothing for those who were suffering.  Before long, their efforts culminated into the formation of the Catholic Welfare Bureau, which expanded to cover much of coastal California, from Monterey County through San Diego County.  In 1936, the agency was incorporated as an independent, public benefit corporation, functioning as the social service arm of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.  Over the years, the agency evolved in accordance with the needs in the communities.  Along with structural changes throughout its history, the agency’s name changed to Catholic Charities of Los Angeles, Inc. in 1986. 

Today, Catholic Charities of Los Angeles is a thriving nonprofit, 501(c)(3) public benefit corporation that changes the lives of approximately 300,000 individuals each year throughout Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.  The overarching goal of effecting sustainable social change by making a long-term impact on individuals, families and communities remains the guiding principle of the agency’s undertakings.

Such a great cause!  We're looking forward to sharing some pictures of the event after!  Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!

Customizable Catering Food Stations

As caterers we offer sit down dinners and/or buffet style.  It's always fun when we have clients and they want buffet stations from all over the world.  With all the up and coming foodies and the diversity, we're always excited to cook up new stations.  Here's a sneak peek of our pho station!

We love getting our hands on new and delicious menus.  Contact us to customize your event menu today!

Tel:
PH - 310.793.0099
FX - 310.731.0772

Address:
16210 Inglewood Ave
Lawndale, CA 90260, USA

Email:
info{at}elegantdecorations.com

Vendor Spotlight - Torrance Bakery

As a business who has been in the business for a years, you undoubtedly build relationships with other businesses.  We have a couple but one that we absolutely love and never let us down is Torrance Bakery.

Torrance Bakery provides the cakes for most our events and not only are their designs amazing, but they taste so good!

Here is a little info on them:

 Family-owned Torrance Bakery is the busiest bakery in Los Angeles and it's easy to see why. Our expertise and experience shows in the beautiful, finely crafted wedding cakes, the large selection of delicious cakes and fillings, unique wedding cake showroom, and our friendly, personalized service.

Red and Black Wedding!

Red and black seems to be a favorite among our clients. This is one of our past brides!  Great color scheme and great wedding!

Happy National Margarita Day!

Today is National Margarita Day and to celebrate we are sharing a recipe from Paula Deen!

Can you believe this is strawberry margarita mousse?  So yum!  Here is what you need:

Ingredients 

4   eggs, separated
3/4 cup sugar
1   (3-ounce) box strawberry flavored gelatin
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup limeade
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
3 tablespoon red food coloring
1 teaspoon grated lime zest
3/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 cup heavy cream, whipped until stiff
1 cup small diced strawberries
red sanding sugar for garnish
strawberry slices and fresh mint for garnish

Directions

• Beat the egg yolks in a bowl until light. 

• In a medium saucepan, stir together 1/4 cup of the sugar, gelatin and salt. Stir in the beaten egg yolks, lemon juice, lime juice, limeade, orange juice and turn the heat onto medium. Gently stir the mixture over the heat until the sugar, salt and gelatin have dissolved completely. Remove from heat and transfer to a large mixing bowl. Cool to room temperature, stir in the food coloring and lime zest and then place in the refrigerator to chill. Stir the mixture occasionally until it begins to set, about 30 minutes. 

• Meanwhile, with an electric mixer, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar until foamy. Gradually add the remaining 1/2 cup sugar to the whites, beating constantly, until stiff and glossy. 

• Remove the gelled mixture from the refrigerator and fold in the diced strawberries. Next, add the meringue and whipped cream and thoroughly fold everything together. Chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour. 

• Pour the red sanding sugar out into a shallow bowl or pie plate, at least 1/4-inch high. Dampen a thick paper towel, folded in quarters, with water. Press the rims of 6 (8-ounce) margarita glasses onto the wet paper towel and then lightly dip them into the sanding sugar. 

• Divide the mousse into the margarita glasses with a spoon. Garnish the tops of each mousse glass with freshly sliced strawberries and mint leaves.  

Sounds amazing right?  Happy Margarita Day!

Wedding Favors :: Plants!

This was a great favor to give to guests during one of our past weddings!

Couples are always looking for something their guests won't throw away and this is perfect!  Have a great weekend everyone!

Cocktails to Love!

Hooray!  Besides recipes, we'll be sharing our favorite cocktail recipes here.  For our first, we have a ginger lime soda inspired by Martha Stewart.  It's great because it's all about guilt free libations.  Ready?

• Mix 8 cups of ginger beer, 2 cups of vodka, and 2 cups of fresh lime juice and stir!
• Serve over ice with a lime garnish.

Want to sweeten a bit?  Add a splash of grenadine!

More Red and Black Wedding Inspiration

These images are from one of our past events.

Gorgeous!  Linens always add that special touch!

Themed Events: Hollywood Inspired Party

Happy Friday!

We're excited to show you a couple teasers on one of our past events that was Hollywood inspired!

We do all this and more!  Call us or email us here to find out more!

Pantone Inspiration

We love inspirations boards and just a while ago we shared that the Pantone color of the year was Tangerine Tango.  Here is an inspiration board that we love and uses this color.

 via Just Wenderful

So bright and fun!  One more Super Bowl recipe coming up tomorrow, stay tuned!

Super Bowl Smokey Bites

I make this dish at home every so often when I have friends and/or family over and I thought it would be perfect to share because they're perfect for SuperBowl!

Ingredients:

• 1 or 2 packages of the Hillshire Farms Lit'l Smokies depending on the number of guests.
• 1 package of bacon
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/6 cup of paprika

Directions:

1. Wrap every Lit'l smokey with a piece of bacon.
2. Layer them on a cookie sheet and set your oven to 350 degrees.
3. Sprinkle brown sugar and paprika evenly on your smokies.
4. Cook for 20-25 minutes or until browned.

So easy and delicious!  

Happy Friday!

We had the Golden Globes 2 weeks ago and this was our favorite dress!

Via AP

Would look perfect on a bride!

Super Bowl Hot Wings!

With Super Bowl right around the corner, who doesn't love hot wings right? 

via Hubpages

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 20 chicken wings
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 1/2 cup hot pepper sauce (such as Frank's RedHot®)

The fun part about these is that if you bake them, they turn out crispy as if they were fried!

Directions

1. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil, and grease with cooking spray. Place the flour, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, and salt into a resealable plastic bag, and shake to mix. Add the chicken wings, seal, and toss until well coated with the flour mixture. Place the wings onto the prepared baking sheet, and place into the refrigerator. Refrigerate at least 1 hour.
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees 
3. Whisk together the melted butter and hot sauce in a small bowl. Dip the wings into the butter mixture, and place back on the baking sheet. Bake in the preheated oven until the chicken is no longer pink in the center, and crispy on the outside, about 45 minutes. Turn the wings over halfway during cooking so they cook evenly.  

Super easy and super yummy!  Happy Super Bowl!  Who are you rooting for?

Wedding Chicks Feature

Our lovely bouquet was featured on Wedding Chicks last week.  We love creating florals and we love out of the box couples who love to use a different array of florals!

Wedding Chicks now has a feature where they share wedding bouquet recipes which is an amazing idea!  Amy called us to get the scoop and of course we shared!  This is what you need to recreate this beautiful bouquet!

• 6 Cold Water Roses

• 3 Purple Dahlias
   
• 3 Coxcomb
   
• 3 Seedum
   
• 3 Trachelium

Thanks to the Wedding Chicks for the feature and Ashley Rose for the photos!

Grey + Yellow Inspiration

Today we are continuing with the yellow and grey inspiration.  We absolutely love this color scheme!  Here is an inspiration board from Hephzibah Bride.

It's fun, soft, and bright at the same time.  We're also in love with Pinterest.com.  We haven't started pinning yet, but we've heard it's addicting and we'd love to one day make our own inspiration boards!  In the meantime, we'll just visit and drool at all the pretty pins.

Recipe Monday: Mango Salsa

When we cater Mexican-style events, we always have our signature pico de gallo, but sometimes we get to experiment and change it up.  If you love spicy, mangoes, and salsa, you're going to love this mango salsa recipe.

What you need:

• 1 ripe, diced mango
• 1 ripe, diced avocado
• 1/2 medium red onion, finely chopped
• 1 Jalapeño chile, minced (use habanero if you like a bigger kick!)
• 1 small cucumber, peeled and diced
• 3 Tbsp fresh cilantro leaves, chopped
• 3 Tbsp fresh lime juice
• Salt and pepper to taste

 via WokwithRay

Not everyone loves spicy as much as I do, but this is delicious and different!

Pantone Color 2012

Pantone has announced that the color of 2012 is tangerine tango.

via artfire

What do you think of the color?  Do you think we'll see this color in a lot of events and color schemes?  We actually really love it!  So bright and fun!  Here's to a great weekend!

Southern Inspired Wedding

We had a couple who recently booked come to us with inspiration full of southern goodness!  First off they have a grey and yellow color scheme which we looove!

via best hudson valley wedding ever

They're thinking mason jars, billy balls...

...and the food is the best part!  What do you think when you hear Southern food?  We think pulled pork and mini apple pies!

Via My Baking Addiction

Via Martha Stewart

Can't wait to start working on their menu!

South Bay Consult Space for Wedding Industry

Need a more professional space than your local Starbucks?  Want to increase the chances of your client bookings?

For all you wedding industry vendors who need a meeting space in the South Bay area, we are now available for a $25/hour rental rate of our front office.  Decor is neutral and you can bring anything to display!  Our business sign is not on the rental side so as not to confuse your potential clients.  Available by appointment only.  Please contact us!

16210 Inglewood Avenue - Lawndale, CA 90260
info@elegantdecorations.com - 310.793.0099

Happy Friday!

This Sunday we are catering a Boy Scout's luncheon at South End and we're looking forward to serving them and their families a fabulous meal!

In the meantime, we hope you enjoy your weekend!  Here's a little inspiration to keep moving forward with 2012!

  via weheartit

Stay tuned for some exciting news about our office next week!

Welcome 2012!

How was everyone's New Years?  Ours was amazing surrounded by family and friends!

via Camille Styles

Cheers to a successful, happy and healthy 2012!  We'll be busy this month with more events; many which are mitzvahs!  Looking forward to sharing inspirations, teasers, and recipes!

via Flickr