Party in a Box From West Elm

Now I have my orange tree in my garden covered in fairy lights it looks like the Singing Ringing Tree, an East German fairytale that scared the life out of me when I was a child, but we are now looking very festive and sparkly!  Is it only me or does anyone else remember this short film?!

The trees they decorate at Picasso restaurant in Puerto Banus also remind me of this old fairytale particularly with the red apples and fairy lights!  I often sit there and expect them to start moving, shaking and ringing!

It is so lovely this time of year to have time to spend time with my youngest daughter. 

Today we went to a birthday party and it was magical to watch her having such a fun evening with her little friends.  They had their beautiful faces painted and ran around for hours squeaking with each other in their high pitched Spanish voices whilst enjoying a birthday tea party and lots of fun games.

Sometimes there are things thrown at you that are so completely out the box it is hard to comprehend, even when you have already had some fairly testing experiences which they call life, somewhere deep within the human resources as you are faced with even greater challenges it makes you focus and draw upon what is important, to try not be frightened by what you see and to continue to do what you love.

To make sure you take time to enjoy simple precious moments whether it be family, friends, focus on enjoying them and everything that makes you happy.  I did this today at the party, it is normally something I would dread but enjoyed every moment of the noisy mayhem today!

Whilst I know many people are now deep in the midst of Christmas parties I am personally preferring to have quieter times in my own beautiful home and enjoying taking time to refresh the brain, find new trends and look at beautiful things, gathering fresh ideas and getting inspired.  

This is what makes me happy and feel at peace and I am grateful that my design skills are able to transport me to a beautiful world and to look at things that make me smile and enable me to switch off and relax.

I really wish I had more time during the year to visit these fabulous websites as I am sure all my Christmas shopping would now be done instead of planning the next week frantically dashing around La Canada!  I have kind of put everything off this year, not sure why as it will still arrive but perhaps have not been in the mood as I face different challenges.

Anyone that knows me knows I love sparkle and any excuse for a party or to throw myself into festivities armed with my hugely organised check list, Santa list and everything is perfectly turned out for Christmas list, this year I have kind of waned I think to try to put the not so nice things off too but of course that won´t happen and I now have less than two weeks to get off my butt and get organised.

However tonight I am relaxing, looking for lovely things to inspire me and I am swooning over West Elm and love the idea of a Party in a Box.  Gorgeous entertaining essentials and aren´t they just such a fabulous idea to quickly bring some glamour into perhaps a New Year´s Eve soiree.

Whilst I love the muted silver blush collection, which is a hugely popular colour scheme for our 2014 weddings, the jewel collection is so much more me with the gold sequins!

Just loved these so had to share and be warned you could spend hours on this website :)   

There is a fabulous range of mercury glassware which sadly is not shipped to Europe and I also have my eye on some lamp bases and the snow globes, which I seem to have started collecting, are beautiful.

I hope sharing my finds sprinkles some sparkle into your festivities and brings a smile and a bit of glamour and hopefully some festive inspiration.

A Beautiful Elegant Wedding at the Alfonso XIII Seville by Reviva

A splash of gold glitter mixed with a dark navy and fabulous red and pink florals was the theme for our beautifully stylish wedding at the luxury Alfonso XIII hotel in Seville for the wedding of Kellie and Marcos at the end of September this year.

I so love Seville and it´s fabulous architecture so you can imagine our delight when Kellie asked us to help her plan, coordinate and style her wedding.

Kellie and Marcos had already booked the Alfonso XIII but needed help with everything else from sending out electronic Save the Dates to organising all the travel logistics of their guests coming from the US and to liaise with the hotel on her behalf to make sure every eventuality was covered.  

We worked on the beautiful colour scheme and added in a few details to personalise their day from the guest name cards set in corks to the elegant red and pink florals.

We managed to sneak in a bit of gold glitter using gold glitter hearts to adorn signs and gold glitter candles on each table finished with elegant table names set into gold frames.

The beautiful cake was created by Sweet Things by Fi and set onto a table sprinkled with glitter gold hearts, gold candles and finished with a navy satin ribbon.

When I arrived in Seville the night before I was greeted with lightening and torrential rains, but knew that Kellie had planned her entire wedding around the hotel and we were indoors so the weather was not a huge factor.  The skies did clear though allowing Kellie and Marcos to hold their ceremony outside on the terrace and the dinner was hosted in the decadent ballroom under the exquisite chandeliers.

There was a celebratory feel to the air as the girls got ready and were transformed by Lorraine at Princess Bride and we loved Kellie´s dress and red shoes contrasted with the girls deep navy dresses.

Although many people regard Spain as a coastal beach style destination we delight in travelling around Spain to host very different cultural weddings embracing all that Andalucia and Spain has to offer, from it´s exquisite food to it´s vibrant culture and historical architecture.

The wedding of Kellie and Marcos did just this as they invited their guests from the US and beyond to celebrate their marriage in a beautiful city sharing a very special occasion with their family and friends from afar.

My thanks to our fabulous team, headed by Carla, for organising and planning this wedding to perfection and to Sue and Alberto at Saro Callister Photography for sending us these fabulous photos of Kellie and Marcos´s beautifully elegant wedding.

Finally of course our biggest congratulations to Kellie and Marcos.

A Charming Autumn Wedding in Carmona, Spain

This beautiful wedding of Adeline and Philippe from Paris was set in one of my favourite places in Spain, the charming historical town of Carmona, situated just outside Seville.

I fell in love with Carmona two years ago and seize every opportunity to visit this town.

We are going there in January to celebrate my father´s 80th as he has listened to my stories about this wonderful place and decided this is where he wishes to host his birthday celebrations! :)

I am not sure what is special about Carmona or what I can put a finger on, but it oozes Andalucian charm and history with every other building in the town being a historical church, it has a pretty town square and is also the home to a very impressive Parador and equally impressive tapas bars!  The people are friendly and the food is amazing.

White beans with squid are to die for and lamb cutlets served with tiny roast potatoes, 

 I have not had such a nice meal for a long time in Spain.

You can imagine my delight when Adeline and Phillipe contacted us to help them organise their wedding at the Casa de Carmona, a historical XVI building converted into a boutique hotel by Felipe Guardiola.

The ceremony was hosted in the beautiful inner courtyard at the Casa de Carmona and then our wedding party were taken to the stunning Parador in Carmona for the cocktails, sherry and jamon tasting and an icecream cart :)

The guests were transported back to the Casa de Carmona on Sevillian horses with carts for a wonderful meal followed by dancing in the Loggia room by the pool.

The setting and town for me was perfect and so far away from the tourist Spain, it was a beautiful wedding for a charming couple and we are delighted we were part of their day.  Our entire team went up to oversee the wedding and had a wonderful time as we were hosted by a very friendly town and the charming locals who were very interested in what we were doing there!

Carla did an amazing job with the planning, Loraine and Maureen transformed the Casa de Carmona with their floristry skills and I oversaw the design and styling of the whole event from the little details to pashminas tied with ribbons to the placecards set out on an antique table and the gorgeous Order of Service booklets.

A fantastic team, a beautiful wedding and very happy clients.

Our thanks to all the wonderful suppliers we worked with and to Joseba Sandoval from Romance Weddings for these fabulous photos we are sharing with you.