Tag: Wildabout

Van Gogh’s Lucid Dreams

10-11 Carlton House Terrace Wedding

THE CONCEPT

The idea for this Van Gogh’s lucid dreams shoot came to me during a chat with Joanne Fleming, one of the most talented couturiers I know. I love, love doing styled shoots. It’s one of the best ways to test out luxury wedding cake ideas and concepts, build a portfolio and show clients your style.

To me, Vincent van Gogh is unmistakably one of the best known painters in the world. A pioneer of modernism, this master of colour and innovator produced an impeccable oeuvre which continues to inspire many artists today.

As a young painter in Holland, he had loved yellow and used it liberally in his early paintings.

In honour of the major exhibition at the Tate which brings together his dedication and thoughtful art, I came up with the concept of a happy, joyful styled shoot based on  Van Gogh’s love of yellow and blue.

10-11 Carlton House Terrace Wedding

THE VENUE

Number 10 and No. 11 Carlton House Terrace currently houses the British Academy. The  premises built in 1831 to designs by John Nash, is steeped in history. It was previously occupied by four-times Prime Minister William Gladstone, and was a First World War Hospital for Wounded Officers.

The atrium with its very high ceilings and beautiful light was the perfect setting for this shoot. Whilst the white alcove with the yellow gold baroque detailing provided exquisite framing for a number of the shots, we took the presence of the modern art paintings on the walls in the shoot colours as a sign that our Van Gogh’s lucid dreams shoot would be best presented at the venue!

DECOR AND DETAILS

For this shoot, we tried to capture in 3D form, the textures and vivid tones found in several Van Gogh’s paintings including Cafe Terrace at Night, Irises, Chair,  Girl in White and of course Starry Night. We also referenced the fact that he loved a tipple or two and his pipe.  The tablescape created by Wild About featured their signature tall and elegant floral design. The outstanding overhanging flower canopy ran across the length of the table and featured different hues of yellow flowers from the deepest ochre VanGogh was famous for, to the palest and creamiest yellow. The flowers used included sunflowers, roses, oncidium dancing lady orchids, cymbidium orchids, Craspedia, Fritillaria, tulips as well as assorted greenery.

The texture and tone theme continued with WildAbout using texturised vases  some in glass, crackle glaze and velvet, in different hues of blue, including midnight blue, navy, teal and cerulean.  The vases housed clever groupings of more gorgeous yellow flowers. The gold candlesticks were topped with candles in royal blue and cornflower blue.

Each place setting featured ornate gold charger plates which were topped with yellow plates sourced from Italy and hand carved sunflower ceramic plates. The charger plates, etched gold rimmed crystal and gold cutlery were from Classic Crockery.

Ananya Cards, created beautiful deep blue stationery edged in gold which featured a specially created monogram and the most elegant calligraphy. The menus were placed on mini easels, as a nod to the artist.  The table linen was from Just 4 Linen and gold edged yellow velvet chairs completed the look.

WildAbout also created three bouquets for the shoot. Two were  yellow and the third made up entirely of Irises.

THE DRESSES

Reminiscent of Van Gogh’s Girl in White, for the first look, our model wore a high waisted skirt with boned foundation and deep pockets  made in heavy ivory French linen and paired with a silk chiffon and swiss-dot tulle peasant bodice for an informal bridal look. The skirt  embellished with a pair of Victorian embroidered sunflowers from Joanne’s collection of vintage trims, and the luxuriously ruffled sleeve cuffs were made from lengths of unused old stock antique lace.

The look was finished with a pair of Harriet Wilde’s classic block heel ‘Lana’ shoes in bridal ivory, and the hat from Jo’s personal collection which is trimmed with the same Swiss-dot tulle as the blouse.

For the second look Jo wanted to conjure those iconic VanGogh paintings of yellow ochre wheat fields and Provençal sunflowers. The corset waist skirt was constructed in slubby silk tussah for a homespun rustic look, and  embroidered with knee high stalks and ears of wheat. The high ruffle-necked blouse was made from tulle embroidered with little sunflowers that have all been hand tinted in shades of golden yellow and burnt sienna. Again, Jo used a length of antique Victorian lace, hand painted to match, for the collar and cuffs, to provide that connection to the past.

A wonderful flower trimmed yellow straw hat by inspirational milliners Lomax and Skinner references the straw hats VanGogh depicted in several of his paintings.

The shoes are a pair of Kurt Geiger ‘Daisy’ linen platform sandals, with the daisies converted to sunflowers with the help of silk paints!

For the third look, Jo created a more sophisticated look inspired by that glorious yellow ochre shade that glows from so many of Vincent’s paintings of the South of France. Supple shimmering silk satin skims and flows around the body, catching and reflecting the light. A huge stylised sunflower is the only embellishment on this gown, which is paired with Harriet Wilde’s fabulous ‘Arabella’ shoes in midnight blue velvet….. the combination of golden yellow and rich blue evoking the jewel tones of  ‘Starry Night over the Rhone’ and ‘Café Terrace at Night’. A Lomax and Skinner curled feather headdress adds a little Moulin Rouge showgirl glamour to the look.

10-11 Carlton House Terrace Wedding

BEAUTY

The hair and make up for this shoot was by the amazing duo of Sylwia Kunysz and Stacey Goodwin. For the first Girl in White look, we used a soft and natural palette on the face, the hair in a soft tousled up do with some loose tendrils framing the face, working with the models own natural curls to create a relaxed look. It was good way to pay homage to the painting, giving it a modern twist. For the second look, the hair was soft and loose, the team creating a 30s inspired look with bold lip to complement the gorgeous silk ochre dress.

10-11 Carlton House Terrace Wedding

THE CAKES

For this shoot, I created four luxury wedding cakes, cupcakes, cookies and mini chocolate magnums. The main cake was a 7 tiered Van Gogh mottled deep blue baroque confection. The baroque detailing gave the cake grandeur and the yellow sugar flowers adorning the cake were in different shades of yellow. The handcrafted sugar flowers included tulips, roses, dahlias, peonies and gold leaves. The second cake was a blue gravity defying split cake  with hundreds of yellow sugar flowers seemingly cascading out of the centre. This cake was created to reflect the prolific art that poured out of  Van Gogh despite the darkness that often over took him. The other cakes were distressed and decorated with bas relief, gold leaf, wafer paper and crackled effect and symbolised the fact that art is often never perfect!

PHOTOGRAPHY

We were honoured to have one of the most sought after luxury fine art photographers in the UK, Roberta Facchini capture this shoot in all its glory. We can all agree that she has succeeded in showcasing the essence of Van Gogh’s Lucid Dreams.

SUPPLIER CREDITS

VENUE   

10-11 Carlton House Terrace SW1 5AH htttps://10-11cht.com@10-11cht

CONCEPT, PLANNING, STYLING AND CAKES

Elizabeth’s Cake Emporium https://www.elizabethscakeemporium.com 

@elizabethscakeeemporium

FLOWERS AND FLORAL STYLING

WildAbout https://www.wildabout.co.uk/ @wildaboutflower

DRESSES AND BRIDAL STYLING

Joanne Fleming https://joanneflemingdesign.com/@joflemingdesign

PHOTOGRAPHER

Roberta Facchini https://www.robertafacchini.com/@Roberta Facchini 

HAIR and MAKE UP

Sylwia Kunysz http://www.sylwiamakeup.co.uk/@sylwiakunyszmua

Stacie Goodwin www.staciegoodwinhairdressing.co.uk@staciegoodwinhairdressing

STATIONERY

Ananya Cards https://www.ananyacards.com/@ananyacards

CHARGERS, CUTLERY AND CRYSTAL

Classic Crockery https://www.classiccrockery.co.uk/@classiccrockery

RINGS

The Exquisite Collection http://www.theexquisitecollection.co.uk/ @theexquisitecollection

SHOES

Harriet Wilde https://www.harrietwilde.com/@harrietwildeshoes

Kurt Geiger https://www.kurtgeiger.com/ @kurtgeiger 

HATS

Lomax and Skinner Bespoke Millinery https://www.lomaxandskinner.co.uk/ @lomaxandskinner

Elizabeth’s Cake Emporium’s Luxury Wedding Cakes at The Savoy London

savoy-fairytalecastlecake3

As a preferred supplier to The Savoy, UK’s first ever luxury hotel, we at Elizabeth’s Cake Emporium have been fortunate to create many incredible luxury wedding cakes for the hotel over the years.

Our most recent with Karen Tran, being a towering 8 tier ivory and gold show stopper cake with a petal shaped base and rose bas relief detail, decorated with hand made sugar flowers.

We will definitely be delivering more cakes to The Savoy this year and in anticipation, we share with you a few of our beautiful luxury wedding cakes that have been part of Savoy weddings.

Marie Antoinette wedding cake

marie-antoinette-white-pink-and-gold

This ivory, pink and gold confection is one of our all time favourite luxury wedding cakes. Opulence personified, it features lots of gold baroque detailing and gorgeous pink sugar flowers. It looked beautiful in the wonderful light of the River Rooms.

Baroque luxury dessert table

the-savoy-dessert-table

This is an incredible dessert table we created for the Lancaster Ballroom, one of the most glamorous hotel ballrooms in London. It was made up of a sugar rose tower croquembouche style cake, an ivory and gold baroque beauty cake and lots of macarons, cupcakes and cookies all in ivory, pink and gold.

Fairy tale castle luxury wedding cake

savoy-fairy-tale-castle-cake-1

This eight foot beauty caused a bit of a stir when we delivered it to The Savoy’s ballroom a few years ago. It featured our signature baroque detailing, turrets, edible lace and lots of sugar flowers. We were told that it was the tallest and most impressive cake to ever grace the ballroom.

4 tier pearl white wedding cake

elizabeths-cake-emporium-cake-against-wildabout-flowers-floral-wall-photography-by-krishanthi

Once again, we were back in the incredible Lancaster Ballroom, which had been transformed into a floral wonderland. The luxury wedding cake was a 4 tiered beauty – an all white confection decorated with hundreds of sugar pearls and thousands of sugar blossoms. Our friends at WildAbout made an incredible flower wall that served as a backdrop and provided a beautiful pop pf colour against the white wedding cake.

elizabeths-cake-emporuim-5-tier-white-wedding-cake-savoy-london-photography-by-krishanthi

If you are getting married at The Savoy, you can trust that we will create  for you, an amazing bespoke cake tailored to your perfect day.

Contact us at info@elizabethscakeemporium.com or call us at 07958069116 for a consultation.

Elizabeth’s Cake Emporium presents Karen Tran’s Floral Opulence at The Savoy London

cake

It’s spring time in London and for the second year running, the undisputed floral queen, Karen Tran, brings her floral masterclass to another iconic London venue. The most anticipated gala event in the UK events industry calendar, it was held on a perfect spring day.  These  beautiful photos from Stuart Wood Photography and video from Perfect Moment Films perfectly captures the opulence and fun of the incredible event held at  the iconic Savoy Hotel in London.

Jane Riddell of Planned to Perfection was approached by Sasha Cullen and Penny Clements of Savoy Weddings to plan and execute the event, and she was supported by Leanne Roberts-Hewitt of WildAbout and Elizabeth Solaru of Elizabeth’s Cake Emporium.

The Venue

The Savoy is the only luxury hotel on the River Thames, perfectly placed in the heart of London, one of the world’s most exciting cities.

At the forefront of the luxury hotel scene for almost 130 years, The Savoy has a reputation for the excellence of its unrivalled hospitality.

Overlooking Embarkment Gardens and the Thames, The River Room with its light and airy ambience, chandeliers and grandeur was ideal to showcase the amazing florals created over three days by Karen Tran and her students. The room has the distinction of having the royal seal of approval, being the room where HM Queen Elizabeth was first seen in public with Prince Phillip when they both attended a wedding there in 1946.

_dsc7185

The Flowers

Opulence was the keyword for this masterclass. The floral palette consisted of an abundance of the most incredible statement florals in classic whites, creams and blush. Karen ably assisted by the incredible WildAbout and  students who came from all over the world, transformed the River Room and painted an unforgettable floral landscape using thousands of roses, hydrangeas, tulips, peonies and phaelanopsis orchids supplied by Rosa Prima Roses and Piet Van Kampen of G Fresh.

The tablescape featured gold mirrored topped tables with Karen’s signature tall cascading arrangements on specially created gold pedestals and floral runners across the length of the tables that cascaded onto the floor. The tables were dressed with tall gold candlesticks which complimented the china, cutlery and crystal from Whitehouse Crockery. Linen from Just for Linen and menus and specially scented paper roses from Ananya Cards completed the look.

The floral tunnel and archway of beauty that framed the middle of the River Room stood at an impressive 14 feet tall and 18 feet wide and was a sight to behold. Decorated with a flower carpet made up of thousands of roses, hydrangeas and orchids, there were also similarly decorated flower walls and even the pillars were dressed with incredible flower cascades.

Luminaire events provided all the event production and support and such was their attention to detail, they even created a special gold floral motif for their gorgeous dance floor.  the gold and white chairs were from Event Decor Hire.

_dsc7593

The Cake

Elizabeth Solaru of Elizabeth’s Cake Emporium created an impressive cake in gold and white for the event. 8 tiers in total, it stood over 6 feet tall and featured two petal shaped gold base tiers. She painstakingly hand crafted the white sugar rose appliques,  rose bas relief and sugar flowers in blush, cream and white that adorned the cake. The specially created pedestal featured an asymmetrical floral swag of pink roses to finish the look.

_dsc7597

The Gala Dinner

Once the guests had been assembled, the doors of the River Rooms were opened to reveal Karen’s floral wonderland. There were audible gasps as guests took in the beauty of the room .

The guests included a mix of the best event planners, editors of bridal magazines, bloggers, and some of the best influencers in the UK.  They sipped on specially created floral inspired cocktails, the finest Champagne and canapes from the very talented chefs at The Savoy.

During the cocktail hour guests were entertained by performances by Dream Performance and ballerinas from Sophie Adams Ballet Company. Karen was warmly applauded and cheered as she made her entrance into the room wearing Galia Lahav from Brown’s Bride and jewellery from Boodles. The guests were then welcomed and all the partners thanked in speeches by Jane and Karen.

_dsc7152

The 5 course meal started with beautifully presented English oysters and black pearls of the most delicious caviar.

The next course consisted of seasonal English white asparagus with wild garlic hollandaise and Iberico Ham. A particular favourite was the creamiest saffron risotto served with edible spring flowers. The main course was a lotus flower wrapped steamed halibut with park choi, vegetables and a sesame dark soya source. Dessert was a very pretty and delicious mix of strawberries and cream, vanilla pana cotta, elderflower and buttermilk ice cream presented on a floral bed of dry ice.

During the course of the dinner, guests were completely serenaded and captivated by The Function Band who delivered world class entertainment. They had guests on their feet and up on podiums all night with many commenting on what an unforgettable night it was.

Jane of Planned for perfection who meticulously planned the event, said – “Thank you to a wonderful team of outstanding suppliers for helping us ensure that the gala was perfectly planned and to Karen and her team for the magnificent floral designs. The masterclass was a huge success and the gala exceeded all expectations. The memories will live in our hearts forever”

_dsc7632

WITH SPECIAL THANKS TO:

Venue: 

The Savoy

https://www.fairmont.com/savoy-london 

Wedding & Event Planner: 

Planned for Perfection www.plannedforperfection.co.uk

Cake: 

Elizabeths Cake Emporium –www.elizabethscakeemporium.com 

Support Florist: 

WildAbout

www.wildabout.co.uk 

Party Entertainment: 

The Function Band

www.thefunction.band

Stationery:

Ananya Cards

www.ananyacards.com 

Photographer: 

Stuart Wood

www.stuartwoodweddings.com 

Videographer:

Chris Buckley

www.perfectmomentfilms.co.uk

Hair /Make up:

Gemma Sutton Hair and Make up

www.gemmasutton.com

Entertainment:

The Dream Performance

www.thedreamperformance.com 

Lighting, Sound & Production: 

Luminaire Events

www.luminaireevents.com 

Crockery, Cutlery & Glassware:

WhiteHouse Event Crockery www.eventcrockeryhire.co.uk

Jewellery:

Boodles

www.boodles.com

Chair Hire: 

Event decor hire

www.eventdecorhire.com 

Linen:

Just 4 Linen

www.just4linen.co.uk 

Illustrator:

Live Event Artist

 www.liveeventartist.co.uk 

Karen Tran’s Evening Dress:

Browns Bride

www.brownsbride.com — 

Elizabeth’s Cake Emporium Is Delighted To Present Karen Tran’s Opulence At The Savoy

Karen Tran Royal Gala Dinner at the Lanesborough in London
Karen Tran Royal Gala Dinner at the Lanesborough in London

 

We are delighted that for the second year running, Elizabeth’s Cake Emporium will be partnering with the iconic hotel The Savoy, Jane Riddell of Planned to Perfection and WildAbout to welcome the flower empress, world-renowned floral designer Karen Tran for her annual three-day Floral Experience Masterclass from 16-18th April 2019.

 

Karen Tran Royal Gala Dinner at the Lanesborough in London

This masterclass will then culminate in a by invitation only, VIP gala dinner on Thursday 18th April in The Savoy’s stunning Lancaster Ballroom.

Last year, Elizabeth’s Cake Emporium was instrumental in creating what was considered to be the event of the year and we are really looking forward to creating another luxury wedding cake masterpiece to compliment the stunning florals.

Karen will share her expertise of transforming any location into a breath-taking event space with her masterclass students. She will teach them how to create the most astonishing floral designs and show-stopping displays, while sharing her knowledge of the luxury weddings and events industry. The masterclass will also feature a select number of guest speakers from the events industry.

On Thursday 18th April, “Opulence at The Savoy” will conclude in a magnificent gala dinner, brought to you by award winning luxury Wedding Planner, Jane Riddell, from Planned for Perfection, in association with wedding cake designer, Elizabeth’s Cake Emporium, and Karen’s UK support florist, WildAbout.  The Savoy and Karen Tran will host the event, where VIP guests will enjoy an evening of timeless glamour in the London landmark hotel.

 “I am absolutely delighted that The Savoy is hosting this year’s London Masterclass and I cannot wait to see my floral designs in one of the most prestigious hotels in London. I very much look forward to welcoming students from around the world to the masterclass and to a magnificent gala dinner celebration” says Karen Tran.

Sasha Cullen, Wedding Sales Manager at The Savoy says: “We are really excited to be hosting the Karen Tran Floral Masterclass at The Savoy. We have such incredible creative’s in our Industry who continue to inspire us throughout our events careers and Karen is one of them. We cannot wait to see what she creates; and what better venue to host this extravagant spectacle than where Glamour first began”.

Jane Riddell, owner and creative director at Planned for Perfection, added:  “I am thrilled to have been asked by Sasha and her team at The Savoy to bring the Masterclass to London again this year. Last year’s gala dinner was a huge success and this year’s floral experience is all set to be another incredible few days”

Karen Tran Royal Gala Dinner at the Lanesborough in London

Tickets can be purchased at

www.thefloralexperience.com/course/london/

 ABOUT THE SAVOY

www.thesavoylondon.com

The Savoy is the only luxury hotel on the River Thames, perfectly placed in the heart of one of the world’s most exciting cities. 267 rooms and suites are accompanied by some of the most well-known restaurants and bars in London, alongside magnificent and varied meeting space.

With exceptional service at the heart of everything, a Savoy experience is built on memories created and stories told across the generations. You don’t just stay at The Savoy, The Savoy stays with you.


OFFICIAL PARTNERS 

Karen Tran – www.karentran.com

The Savoy – www.thesavoylondon.com

Planned for Perfection – www.plannedforperfection.co.uk

WildAbout – www.wildabout.co.uk

Elizabeths Cake Emporium – www.elizabethscakeemporium.com