My Apples and Pecans Inspired Thanksgiving Styled Shoot {And GIVEAWAY}

 

My Apples and Pecans Inspired Thanksgiving Styled Shoot is a re-do of my own Thanksgiving last year with family when I hosted the occasion inspired on apples and pecans. I served my family with mix and match napkins and mason jars with paper straws and they were delighted.

 

 

 

My first idea came in after being inspired by a gorgeous Harvest Wedding in Martha Stewart Living Magazine.  I decided instead of pumpkins I would do apples and I incorporated apples and pecans on the day's lunch and dinner.  I'm sharing lunch here on this shoot with you all along with the recipes.  I also like a country look and I have to say one of my favorite places to have visited this past year was the Apple Barn in Pigeon Forge, TN.  They have apple-everything!

 

 

 

Kori Clark of Paper & Pigtails customized her Apples Collection for us and I'm so grateful and enchanted with the warm and welcoming look of it.  I can literally look at someone's job and just stare at it for minutes in awe of what they have actually created just for me! Kori at the time had created an editable document for my to use for menu and now I decided to use it to enlarge it and make a print with themed statement words to go with the occasion. Make sure to stop by her blog and get free printable tags she has available from these Design Theme!

 

 

 

I used a lot of items for display that coordinate with the theme and we had used or had at home already like the glass jugs of apple cider or juice and the embellished beans can.  Instead of buying kraft wrapping paper I opted for using brown bags.

 

 

 

 

I was inspired on having plain looking leaves cookies by a recipe I had seen of Blue Cheese-Pecan Shortbread Leaves (Southern Living - October 2011). Karen at KJ Cookies made these wonderful and sweet shortbread cookies for us and also used edible transfer sheets to create the round cookies with Kori's design on them.

 

 

Pecan Tarts

 

Pecan Quesadilla (Southern Living - October 2011)
Sausage and Baked Apples Kebabs (Real Simple Family 2012) with Apple Butter
Peas Mashed Potatoes
with Turkey Tenderloin was served for lunch

 

 

 

The most gorgeous cake was created by Regina Long of Rosa's Catering for this and Regina is always eager to bring my inspiration to life. I love how she takes my inspiration and adds her look and design taste!

 

You'll see all different sizes of fondant apples on the shoot created by Edible Details and I had contacted Brittany a long time ago about these because ever since last Thanksgiving....I KNEW I had to bring this theme into a styled shoot!

 

 

 

These Favor Boxes by Piggy Bank Parties fit in perfectly with my theme!  How fun are they!  Love the look and the idea behind it....you can even add paper whip topping to it if you desire.

 

 

 

 

The garland I used on this shoot and taken from my actual Thanksgiving last year is made out of dress my daughter had and I LOVED! 

 

 

 

I used my own backyard plastic bench for this shoot that I had spray painted this past Summer in an attempt to bring COLOR into my deck!  I was so happy with the way it came out.  Worked perfectly for this too! A great place to enjoy your warm or cold apple cider.

 

 

Credits:

Styling and Photography: In Flight Celebrations
Printable Designs: Paper & Pigtails
Cake: Rosa's Catering
Cookies: KJ Cookies
Fondant Apples: Edible Details
Apple Pie Favor Boxes: Piggy Bank Parties
Wooden Pencils, Utensils and Baskets: Sandra Downie Events

 

 

For more Apple & Pecans Inspiration visit my Apples & Pecans Inspired Events Board on Pinterest.  Lovely inspiration can be found for any wedding or celebration past Thanksgiving and any year round occasion!

 

 

 

 

GIVEAWAY!

Kori Clark of Paper & Pigtals is joining me on giving one of you these great Printable Collection! With extra cookies Karen at KJ Cookies baked for me and a set of half dozen fondant apples from Edible Details!  Please enter using the rafflecopter form below:

 

 

 



a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

 

Apples and Pecans Thanksgiving Inspiration

This year for Thanksgiving I'm inspired in something other than the typical oranges and browns.  I like a darker shade of brown, a khaki or tan color: burlap perfectly! Kraft paper and red accents.  And I like the idea of exchanging the pumpkins for apples.  {I will still enjoy a pumpkin cheesecake with my family, don't get me wrong} But candy apples and mini pecan pies are on my list too right along with apple cake pops!

Here's my inspiration:

Inspiration photos from Martha Stewart Living and Martha Stewart Weddings

Enjoy a Sweet November and Happy Thanksgiving!



A Quince Diary...

I found myself surrounded by dozens of Bridal Magazines for months ( the ones I can't see to just throw away now! ),  and I found inspiration and ideas on ALL of them of course,  but the most important details to giving our daughter a great party and celebration as she turned into a young woman was to listen for what she wanted and that was blue colors, butterflies, paper lanterns,  little on the silver and some Enchiladas to eat!!  

  Even to our family and friends some of the details of how it all became together might be unknown and I can do that now,  given the great opportunity that I designed this blog to share the wonderful details and ideas of Party Planning!

 One of the first inspiration board that caught our attention was this one from Davids Bridal.  The girls with the different shades of blue and the outdoors.

 Image from Martha Stewart Weddings.

The Candy Buffet was one of the first ideas I wanted to incorporate.  COLOURlovers.com  helps you create a neat palette of colors for your special occasion. 

And so we sent in an invitation to the Damas to request their company.  Some of the girls traveled with us to Florida from Tennessee to be a part of Tiana's big day.

  

We used a Bridal Invitation from Wedding Paper Divas.

And Save the Date Cards from Siera di Bella Designs to our guests.

Tiana chose a 'No Train' Strapless, Satin, Pick Up Style Skirt Dress from David's Bridal accented with Capri.

We chose to have it at Harmony Golf Preserve in Harmony,  Florida.  Most of our friends and family are in Central Florida and it's what we consider as Our Second Home.

Photo from Harmony Golf Preserve

We fell in love with the natural beauty of the location.

The invitation was printed at home from the Brides Collection that we bought at our local Michael's. 

And the small details started coming together...  Above are the Butterfly Sceptor,  the sparkly Converse,  the beautiful Davids Bridal Tiara and the "Mis Quince Años" pillow we used for the celebration.  

Damas Place Cards

On their glasses they also had butterflies from Timeless Paper

Timeless Paper Butterfly Place Cards

 Favor boxes for Candy Buffet Table were inspired by...
these from Martha Stewart Weddings

We put together white buckets for the kids to entertain and snack at the party and crystal butterflies were given to the Damas as gratitude.  

We had a "rehearsal dinner" two days before.

 And I found inspiration to put together colors from the event with Thanksgiving colors to host Thanksgiving dinner for our traveling guests the day before.

 Our Thanksgiving invitation for our traveling guests,  also from the BRIDES Collection.

 We really enjoyed having a full house and playing games with our guests.


 

Tiana danced with her Daddy to the sounds of Miley Cyrus and Billy Ray Cyrus,   Butterfly Fly Away

 Her flower arrangement was also handmade at home with silk flowers.  Tiana wore a rhinestone flower pin on her blue sash to symbolize that she has always been "Daddy's flower"!  ( It's what he has always call her ).

The delicious cake,  a gift from her Godfather Abraham and his wife Ana,  pictured below with their family.

A picture of Harmony inside entrance.  I was lost in words when I arrived earlier at the banquet room that morning to see everything coming together.  We did not have to lift a finger, as Michelle, the coordinator takes care of all the details.  

While the girls were getting ready....

 

 This is one of my favorite pictures of the girls!

 

Inspiration for Tiana's Hair Style from Modern Bride.

Our idea behind the lanterns outside inspired from Susan and Mike's Wedding Episode of Desperate Housewives

Her wonderful Godparents

The cookies were fabulous....


and inspired by a Southern Living Magazine Recipe

and baked and decorated by a great friend from home,  Wendy Robinson.

Wendy made them not only beautiful but delicious too.

November in Florida was a bit cool,  and it got dark fast!  

But Dana managed to take beautiful pictures of Harmony during the afternoon.

Daddy's girl had her dream of being a Quinceañera realized...

And Mom is now proud to share it with you all!

Hope you all enjoyed it!

We love you forever Princess Tiana!

At around 10 years old.

Turning into a beautiful butterfly...