CATEGORY >

In a rich luscious garden amongst the trees and greenery, dark wooden chairs lay in intricate rows, lined perfectly for guests to sit and enjoy the ceremony. With the vivid greens of the landscape contrasting the piercing blue sky, this al fresco wedding truly was a stunning visual display. Instead of a bridal arch, our couple opted for intricately designed vases of deep blue and white filled with a beautiful selection of ivory blooms.

Our bride looked stunning in a white fitted gown with floral appliques and an open back design while the groom looked sharp in a black tux. With the sound of a harpist playing in the background and the Pacific ocean as an unforgettable backdrop, our bride and groom said I do in front of their nearest and dearest.

Following the “I do’s”, guests were invited join the couple during cocktail hour to sign the guest book, indulge in delicious tray passed appetizers, and custom cocktails while seated at round tables draped in ivory linen beneath market umbrellas to keep cool from the sunshine. All the while a single guitarist played strings to add a relaxed element to the celebration.

Stay tuned, next we’ll we will share details of the reception that featured 180 views of the Pacific Ocean!

Following a beautiful ceremony, guests were invited to continue the celebration in a tented reception! Guests entered the tent through a stunning floral arch. The tent was draped in soft blush draping, and filled with long wooden tables and round tables draped in blush linen. Tables were set with gold textured chargers, crystal glassware, and towering candelabras. Nancy Kaye of Mark’s Garden elevated the tables with a gorgeous display of florals of blush, mauve and ivory!

We loved being part of Jamie + David’s special day. Special thank you to Details Details for including us in this incredible day!

Planning + Design: About Details Details | Florals: Mark's Garden | Lighting: Amber Event Production | Carpet: Event Carpet Pros | Rentals: Signature Party Rentals | Catering: Good Gracious! Events | Stationery: Luxe Marie Stationery | Photography: Bryan Miller Photography | Linen: La Tavola Linen

We are delighted to announce that Cindy Celis is now part of the Good Gracious! Events Team as our Director of Business Development.

Cindy brings nearly two decades of event experience and a love of all things food, beverage, logistics, design, and coordination. Bringing together all the details of each and every event is another one of her specialties along with being fluent in Spanish.

Currently, on the Board of Clique and serving as President of SoCal WIPA Chapter. Cindy’s talent, knowledge, and creativity bring additional fabulous new strength to the Good Gracious! team.

We created this fabulous home made tonic
packed with immunity boosting ingredients.
The beauty of this recipe it comes together in ten minutes

Rinse and slice one knob of fresh ginger
Place in pot with two cinnamon sticks, two star anise and
Four cups of water.
Bring to the boil, remove from heat and let steep covered for ten minutes
Strain into large glass container and stir in two tablespoons of honey
Apple cider and the juice from one lemon
Enjoy warm or refrigerate and reheat as needed.


This perfume profile is brought together after a series of questions that helps the perfumer, who is trained in depth of the concepts of fragrance, create your own personal “scent”.  How cool is that?

It took about four weeks to produce my scent which I simply called Pauline. I put my wedding date just because. The end product is fabulously delicious capturing all of the aromas that “make me happy”.


LA GRITONA Tequila Reposado is a distinctive 100% blue agave tequila distilled by Melly Cardenas at her small distillery in Valle de Guadalupe in the highlands of Jalisco, Mexico.

I am a collector of tequila and actually have a small library at home ... the attraction is not only the content but the art of the bottle design.  I was attracted to the humbleness of this bottle and that it is green and of course that it is a reposado........LOVE that!

Honeydew Paloma which I thought looked cute using green elements........
1/4 cup La Gritona Tequila, 1/4 cup fresh squeezed honeydew Melon, 1tbl fresh lime juice, a splash of Selzer, shake over ice. Serve with a stick of fresh honeydew & a salted half rim

Makes 10 potatoes
10 large russet potatoes
1/2 cup olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
1 cup sour cream
1/2 pound butter
3/4 cup nine grain mustard

Clean the potatoes with cold water. Pierce the potatoes with the tines of a fork in about 4 or 5 places around the potato and rub lightly with olive oil, salt and pepper then wrap n foil. You can par bake the potatoes in a 350 degree oven for 40 minutes and then bake them off on the grill for 20 minutes. Or, you can cook them just on the grill for about 60 minutes, rotating occasionally. When that potatoes are cooked, cut an ‘X’ on top of each potato and squeeze the potato so that it opens up. Garnish with your choice of a combination of sour cream, butter or grainy mustard.

We are so excited to share our Key Lime Cupcake recipe from Pauline Parry's Food, Fun, Love book! Scroll down for details!


Makes 16 medium cupcakes
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 large egg
2 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon finely grated lime peel
1/4 teaspoon neon green food coloring
1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted 3/4 cup cake flour, sifted
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup buttermilk
Lime Curd (recipe to follow)
Swiss Meringue (recipe to follow)
Candied Lime Zest (recipe to follow)


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin pans with paper liners. Beat the butter in a kitchen mixer with the paddle attachment until soft and creamy, then add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat well. Add the lime juice, lime peel and food coloring and continue to beat.

Sift all dry ingredients together into a bowl and then add them along with the buttermilk to the batter, alternating between the two. Scoop the batter into the paper liners. Bake for 10 minutes and then remove from the oven. Put the Lime Curd in a piping bag and pipe a teaspoon of it into the middle of the cupcake, just beneath the top layer. Be careful not to pipe too far into the middle of the cupcake. Put the cupcakes back into the oven and bake for 10 to 15 minutes longer until a toothpick inserted into the cakes comes out clean.

When cooled, frost the cupcakes with the Swiss Meringue and use a kitchen blow torch to burn the edges to a nice golden brown. Sprinkle with Candied Lime Zest.