Vendor Interview: Lottie & Lil - CAKE POPS!

Who doesn't like cake pops?!  I fell in love with these amazing looking cake pops way before I even met Robin, who is the talent behind these yummy treats!  On January 25, I finally had a chance to meet Robin and taste these cake pops myself!  Lottie & Lil sponsored the cake pops for the Jane Dayus Hinch Seminar and everyone loved them!

How many years have you been in the wedding business?
I became a certified wedding planner in 2008 when I was looking for a creative outlet.  I have always loved planning events and coordinating the details to ensure they ran smoothly. Cake pops are a natural extension of my initial business. I’ve been able to design creative tasty treats for weddings, birthdays, anniversaries and showers! I love coming up with a new design that perfectly suits an event and adds that personal touch for the client.

What are your influences?
For weddings and cake pops, I’m influenced mostly by the people. Finding out about them so that their personalities can be seen in the elements of the wedding and in the design of the cake pops. That’s how you avoid the cookie cutter look.

What website or blog do you frequent often?
 I adore Style Me Pretty, so many inspirational weddings and ideas. And of course Bakerella!!  She started the cake pop craze and is a master! I even had a chance to meet Bakerella recently when she visited Toronto.

What is your favorite hobby?
You can probably guess my favorite hobby. Baking!!! But I also love travelling.  I research every destination before I travel, finding the hot spots, unique stores, tours and the history.

What is your favorite food? 
I LOVE Indian, the spicy and the creamy, the naan!  I'm always up to check out the latest Indian restaurant.

What are you reading right now? 
I just started reading the Millennium Trilogy, but I love to read and often have more than one book on the go at a time.

How do you approach creating a design for your couples?
To be able to customize the cake pops to each couple and their event, I try to find out some unique characteristics. It may be as simple as the color of the event, or theme like the fish cake pops for a baby shower. For the character pops, I like to pick a feature to focus on. We recently did 50 character pops for a 50^th birthday.  The birthday boy had distinctive glasses and a goatee, so each pop had these features but in chocolateJ The pops were also wearing canary yellow shirts, his favorite color. 

What is your favorite cake pop flavor and icing?
The overall favorite flavor is definitely Coco Loco; a rich, creamy chocolate cake and buttercream icing.  But I would have to say my favorite is Choco Naner! I love the moist banana flavor!! 

What is the coolest cake pop design you've made?
Cake pops are definitely fun and creative, I love how they can be so customized. The first specialized design I did was the foosball pops, so they are extra special to me and the customer was thrilled with them, they were more than she had expected. 

Other than cake pops, what do you love baking the most?
I have loved baking since I was little, cookies, cakes, squares, cupcakes!  What I really love is making unique, creative, beautiful baked goods and displaying them on my many cake stands!

Any tips for those of us who would like to give it a shot at making these cute little party favors?
Cake pops definitely take time and patience, make sure your supplies are laid out and ready before you start.  Also be prepared to have a few duds along the way. They’ll be the tastiest duds you’ve ever had though.

How should the bride and groom store these favors for their wedding?
That’s one of the benefits of cake pops, because the chocolate seals in the moist cake, they can be stored at room temperature and set up early in the day.  They will stay fresh for a few days after the event as well, so enjoy them the next day as you relax after the big event!

Thanks Robin for your great tips!  Can you imagine how much your guests would love these cake pops?  They are great for wedding favours or perfect for the sweets table!  I absolutely love baking and making desserts too.  These will be my next experiment!  I hope they will at least turn out edible haha!


Photos courtesy of Lottie & Lil.
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Vendor Interview: An English Rose Part II

And the interview with Rachel continues!

What do you do when you're not wedding planning?

When are we not planning weddings LOL… I like to Ski, although I am not very good yet.. love trying new restaurants and catching up with friends!

What do you think sets you apart from other wedding planners in Montreal?

The British accent really gives it away... I think the mix of my Hotel & Corporate Management experience in HR really helps when dealing with both clients and vendors and knowing how to talk and communicate with people eg the professionalism.... the variety of weddings I have designed and my passion for what I do!

What would be the most important advice you can give to your brides/grooms?

I know it is hard, but you HAVE to make it your day and ensure you have the day you dream off.  Secondly take time out not only to plan your Wedding Day but also to plan your marriage, too may couples focus on one day and then stumble into the rest of their lives.. you really need to discuss where you want to live, children, religion, plans for the future, make sure you are both aligned to the life you want to lead.

What is your favorite color combination?

At the moment I like really neutral colours with hints of ‘Gold’, I think it is very romantic, classy and elegant.  Mind you I do love it when I have couples who really want to be creative and be totally untraditional!  I cannot say too much but my BFF is doing something so untraditional for her wedding I am so excited I could burst!!

What is your favorite item in your emergency kit?

Safety Pins, Super Glue and White Chalk!

What are common mistakes couples make on their wedding day in terms of planning?

Forgetting to include taxes & gratuity into their budget.. this can easily add another 30% to the costs!  Not assigning tasks the wedding party to help with the planning and the day – they are there to work for the couple not to just look pretty & handsome!  Not understanding the impact of ‘correct’ timings throughout the day.

 

What is your favorite wedding trend right now?

I must admit I still like the Cupcakes, Macaroons and Candies.  I love coloured linens and sparkle, and I love designing the Table of Honor completely differently to the rest of the tables.

What is your least favorite wedding trend right now?

Traditional Wedding Food (I eat a lot) eg. Chicken or Fish… and midnight tables with food that no-one really can eat.. I love working on weddings where we change the style and flavors of the food and be much more creative and surprise the guests!

What is one tip you would give to a newbie wedding planner?  Or one who's interested in becoming one?

Think about who your target ‘clients’ are going to be and market your business to that audience and remember it is not just about planning parties and going shopping – you have to also be able to run and manage a business and all that goes with it.  But love it with a passion and you will always be fulfilled!

I know you work with your hubby, what are some of his roles?

Chris works on a lot of behind the scenes research whether it be for new vendors, e-solutions or business planning.  He also does a lot of logistical planning and is very artistic which is very handy on the wedding day when setting up decorations!

Final thoughts

Eat Well, Drink Well and be Happy!

Photos courtesy of An English Rose.
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Vendor Interview: An English Rose Part I

I first met Rachel from An English Rose at the course we took together from The Wedding Planners Institute of Canada.  I remember when Rachel and I first went to Second Cup for coffee and chit chatted about weddings.  She was there since the beginning, when I worked from home, to when I moved into my 300 sq ft. showroom and then expanded to our 1000 sq ft office!

Although Rachel and I don't get to chat often, but when we do, she always has so many experiences and stories to share with brides &grooms and also fellow wedding planners.  For this reason, I will split the interview into two, part I and part II!  Here are goes the first part of the interview and some fun photos of Rachel, her husband and partner, Chris and some of their clients.  Enjoy!

How did you get started in the wedding business?

Years ago I worked in Hotel Management specializing in Conference & Banqueting which is where I fell in love with Weddings.  There after I used to dream of owning my own wedding planning business, but back in the early 1990’s it wasn’t big in the UK…but I continued to plan weddings part-time and when I moved to Canada in 2003 I started developing my ideas to launch my own wedding planning business full time.

How many years have you been in the wedding business?

4 Years in Montreal, 7 Years in Hotel Management and part-time over 10 more years (gulp that makes me old)!

How do you prepare for the wedding day?

Extremely organized, everything is packed and ready to go the night before - triple check all details on the morning and get very excited and motivated for the couple!

What inspires you?

Everything from shop window designs, celebrity planners, European trends, house & home magazines.

What website or blog do you frequent often?

Preston Bailey, Colin Cowie, Martha Stewart… the usual, but I also like reading locally what my peers in the wedding planning business are doing, planners, photographers, the Montreal Buzz etc

What do you love about weddings?

Just the overall joy in seeing the vision and creation come together on the day – it gives me butterflies. I am very fortunate that I have worked with some great clients and my group of friends gets bigger every year!

What do you hate about wedding?

Vendors who clearly don’t have the same passion and care about the wedding as I do – ‘some’ forget that the couple have never done this before and how special it is to them.  I don’t ‘hate’ this about weddings but I do feel disappointed when I know the couple getting married are having the pressures of their family and are being pulled away from what they really want for their day.

What is your favorite memory from a wedding?

4.00 am with half dressed, very ‘happy’ groomsmen trying to run and jump over a 5-tier, $3000.00+ wedding cake to see who can miss!!!! Ahhhh

What is your favorite hobby?

I am very interested in Tarot Cards and read them a little from time to time – this year I want to learn how to play Chess & Poker!

What is your favorite food?

CURRY!!!!  I love Indian Food and since moving to Canada my favourite Canadian food is ‘Smoked Meat Poutine’ and I am proud of it!!

What are you reading right now?

Oh no this is probably really sad but I have just started reading book one in the ‘Bride Quartet’… Vision in White by Nora Roberts

What are you listening to right now?

The James Blunt new album.. Some Kind of Trouble.. I just loaded it onto my iTouch yesterday!

What would you do with $1 million dollars?

It really would help kick-start our log cabin project in the Eastern Township and I would also set up a Wedding Planning Studio in Old Montreal.

One goal you have for 2011:

Spending more time focusing on relationships in my life.. believe it or not the only thing that is of real importance are the people around us.

Stay tuned for Part II of the interview with Rachel! 

Photos courtesy of An English Rose.

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