Magpie's Cakes

We have a new cake crush (and anyone who knows us, knows we're serious about our cake)!  Today we were fortunate enough to meet with the creative geniuses behind the stunning Magpie's Cake and taste the delectable cakes.  Sisters Jessica and Maggie are as charming as they are talented, and we had such fun getting to know them.

Maggie is the pastry chef and culinary artist who moved from a career as a professional dancer into the culinary world after going to the French Pastry School and working at Charlie Trotter's under the executive pastry chef.  She has just relocated to the D.C. area and engaged her sister Jessica's PR skills to launch her couture cake venture, and they are taking the city by storm.

Since we like to sample a product before we endorse it, we had the most delightful cake tasting. The mini cake samples were served on long rectangular plates with antique linen napkins (such a lovely presentation).  And these were not your mother's wedding cake flavors.

The flavor combinations were sophisticated and complex and revealed Maggie's experience at Charlie Trotter's: lemon scented white velvet with elderberry and St. Germaine elderflower cream, Fiori di Sicilia chiffon with strawberry and champagne preserves, pistachio with apricot jam and white chocolate butter cream, Mexican vanilla cake with Earl Grey ganache, Vietnamese cinnamon cake with hazelnut praline and cappuccino butter cream, and double chocolate espresso cake with Seville marmalade and La Belle orange cream. Although I don't normally love pistachios, the pistachio cake was my favorite (which is really saying something for Maggie's skills), and I also loved the spice of the cinnamon cake and double chocolate espresso. But picking a favorite is like choosing a favorite child: impossible because they are all so unique!

I adore her mini cakes: perfect for an elopement or an intimate wedding!

Maggie and Jessica also brought us a box of their unbelievable painted cookies. These cookies are something serious and would be the perfect favor for a really exquisite wedding. The detail of the hand-painting is incredible. Like all of Maggie's creations, they look too gorgeous to eat but you simply must because they taste amazing!

Another fun thing to know: Maggie creates sketches for her brides that incorporate design details and color swatches. Kind of like a cake inspiration board!

A huge thank you to Jessica and Maggie for visiting us and sharing their amazing cakes.  We are blown away by the designs and flavors and can't wait to have them create a masterpiece for one of our brides!
Laura and Amy

Mother of the Occasion Dresses {Designer Apparel Giveaway}

We have another fun contest for our readers with a week-long series of inspiration boards to go along with it!

Sometimes one of the toughest parts about planning your wedding isn't about finding the perfect wedding gown but finding the perfect gowns for the mothers of the bride and groom!  Until recently, moms were relegated to a few typical "mother of the bride" styles and there were very few options.  But now our mothers are much more stylish and want to look just as fabulous on the big day.  We were lucky enough to find the website Designer Apparel, which has a section of Mother of the bride dresses.  It is so easy to find a fabulous gown on this site and can save your mothers hours of running around!

So for the rest of the week, we each have selected a Mother of the Occasion gown and designed a wedding inspiration board to go with it.  So check out our dress picks and fabulous design boards and vote for your favorite by leaving a comment on that post.

The winner will get a Carlo Fellini Satin clutch in silver (check it out below)!  How cool is that? We can all use a silver clutch for evenings out (or for your wedding day). We will select a winner randomly from all the comments next Monday.  Good luck everyone!