Allison

  • Work in Progress

    Work in Progress: Seckel Pear Still Life

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    Two weekends ago at the farmer’s market I picked up some beautiful seckel pears with the intention of setting up a still life. This past weekend I started that still life. Here is a sneak peak of the painting. I have masked out the candle and the leaf branch during this stage of the painting. I love doing still lifes! It brings back my days of taking art classes. There is something so relaxing and meditative about drawing and painting a still life.

    To view the Seckel Pear Save the Date, click here. Seckel Pear Save the Date now available in the Hand-Painted Weddings Save the Date shop.

    Painting by Hand-Painted Weddings.

  • Hand-Painted Reception

    Lovebirds and my Wedding Cake

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    My wedding cake designed and created by Debbie Celenza (my mom). Photographed by Hoffer Photography.

    Today I’m sharing with you one of the special elements of my own wedding…my wedding cake! As you can see one of the themes I incorporated into my wedding was the lovebirds theme. I grew up with birds as pets, so I really wanted to bring in this adorable theme to the design of our wedding.

    The most special part of this wedding cake is that my mom made it! Each layer was a different flavored cake. I have a fond memory of trying out one of the chocolate cake recipes before the wedding (by myself) and being so tired and frazzled from all the wedding plans that I forgot the sugar AND the baking powder. Yep, that cake went into the trash. Needless to say, after that incident I gave my mom full reign over the design and production of the cake. My only stipulation was that I didn’t want it to be white…that would be the rebel in me.

    This cake was so delicious! My favorite flavor was the carrot cake! Don’t I have such a talented mother!

    Also, one little element my mom added was the bird on the gourd sitting on the table below the cake. She told me that this bird represents her and that she was watching over the cake and Carl and I as a couple. So sweet!

  • Hand-Painted Reception

    Hand-Painted Reception: Antique Bird Cages

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    There are so many options with an Antique Bird Cage/Lovebirds theme wedding. This creates a fantastic opportunity to interpret the theme in many ways. Design elements that can vary up this theme can include using feathers, twigs (like a nest), birds, bird seed, or you can really go all out on the antique aspect of the bird cages with all sorts of antique items.

    I used elements of the bird cage theme in my own wedding a couple of years back. The top photo is from our gift envelope “box”, where guests could slide their envelopes into the cage. We also put two lovebirds on the top of the wedding cake my talented mom made (but I will share more about that in another post).

    Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

    Antique Bird Cage wedding invitation now available on the Hand-Painted Weddings invitation shop.