40th Birthday for Nikeva Lawrence

Simply Perfect Peace Events was honored to plan and manage the Champagne and Chocolate's 40th Birthday Soirée for Nikeva Lawrence which was nothing short of amazing!  The honoree was stunning in her gown by Curvaceous Couture (Columbus, MD), Hair by Ebony Roberts and flawless makeup by Sheree Day Stroud, founder of Fog Cosmetics.

Theme, budget, a few must haves and GO was all she gave us to work with.  Although we hit a bump late in the planning process with our first venue selection the Main Street Diner at the Sapphire Room proved to be the perfect setting for this diva and her guests. A big shout out to my Partner who took time away from her new baby to do what we do and our team for making it memorable for all. Palette Pleasers Catering supplied the delicious cuisine, my business partners Sherhonda Atkins-Martin and Ronnie Martin from Candy Personified and the fabulous sweet table left the guests wanting more. Designs by Shay created a sexy elegant atmosphere with beautiful floral arrangements and the overall design elements. I certainly can't forget my sound and lighting team, saxophonist Rico Maatre and DJ Memphz who set the tone early and had the party rocking all night long. Last but not least, photographer, Marcus L Sanders for capturing the pure essence of this event. I'm looking forward  to the professional photos but in the meantime enjoy these taken with cell phones by myself and guests.

Champagne infused chocolate covered strawberries
by Candy Personified

Sweet table
by Candy Personified

Catering by Palette Pleasers

Ice sculpture for the mimosa bar

DJ Memoh

Saxophonist Rico Maatre

Centerpieces by Designs by Shay

Custom candy wrappers
By Candy Personified

Sharon Patrice Simply Perfect Peace Events, Inc. and Designs by Shay, the Blog "My Journey, My Way, My LIFESTYLE ~ Celebrating Love, Laughter and Everything in Between..." You or your brand interested in a review? Getting married or having a social event and need assistance? Email Me For All Your Event Planning Needs.

Love, Laughter and EVERYTHING in Between: Sweet 16!

A sweet sixteen is a coming of age party celebrating a female's 16th birthday. Like a wedding, this event can be formal, casual, or semi-formal. Sweet sixteens can range from modest parties at home with close family to large affairs with a hired DJ, makeup, hair styling, expensive gowns and dresses, and hotel ballrooms.



 

For friends Sydney and Kianna theirs was an event to truly be remembered.  This soiree took almost a year to plan and included very intricate details specified by these two budding buddies.  Now, don't misunderstand, these are still two emotional young ladies and mid way through the planning process they decided they didn't want to be friends anymore.  Imagine the stress this put on the parents planning and paying for this extravagant event that included not one, but two DJ's, candy/sweet table, a balloon filled ceiling, photo booth, photographer, makeup and hair artists, a wardrobe change, and the list goes on. 

Venue: Lux 223

Sweet Table - Simply Perfect Peace Events/Candy Personified

Sweet Table - Simply Perfect Peace Events/Candy Personified

Planning - Simply Perfect Peace Events
Décor - Designs by Shay
Photography - Tanayia Koonce Photography

At the end of it all the event was great and the girls were happy with their "glow party".  I was honored to plan this event with my daughters best friends mother - it was a blast.  Can't wait for 21!


Sharon Patrice Simply Perfect Peace Events, Inc. and Designs by Shay, the Blog "My Journey, My Way, My LIFESTYLE ~ Celebrating Love, Laughter and Everything in Between..." You or your brand interested in a review? Getting married or having a social event and need assistance? Email Me For All Your Event Planning Needs.

Love, Laughter, and EVERYTHING in Between: Day 27-Sweet Potato Cinnamon Roll Cake

Sweet potato cake that tastes like a cinnamon roll!  My sister, friend and co-mom, Joyce Cunningham, is truly the Pthirty1 woman.  She sent me this recipe that I MUST share with you.

Sweet Potato Cinnamon Roll Cake
Posted To GFCAV Presents Food Recipe Central

Cake
Ingredients:
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
4 tsp baking powder
2 cups cooked sweet potatoes
11/2 cups milk
2 eggs, beaten
2 tsps vanilla
1/2 cup butter, melted

Topping:
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
2 TBLS flour
1 TBLS cinnamon

Glaze
2 cups powdered sugar
5 TBLS milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chopped pecans ( my addition)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 13×9 inch baking pan
.
In a large bowl combine flour,sugar,salt, and baking powder and nutmeg.  Stir with a fork to combine. 

In another large bowl beat sweet potatoes and milk until smooth.  Add beaten eggs, and vanilla, beat until combined. 

Slowly add flour to sweet potato mixture, mixing until just incorporated.  Slowly stir the melted butter into the batter until well combined. 

Pour batter into prepared pan. 

Make topping.

Topping directions:
Mix all the topping ingredients together until well combined.  Drop evenly over the batter and swirl with a knife.  Bake cake for 30- 35 minutes.   After cake is baked, cool slightly while making the glaze.

Glaze directions:
Combine glaze ingredients mix until smooth.  Glaze cake while still warm.


~Until Next Time
SimplySHAY


Sharon Patrice Simply Perfect Peace Events, Inc. and Designs by Shay, the Blog "My Journey, My Way, My LIFESTYLE ~ Celebrating Love, Laughter and Everything in Between..." You or your brand interested in a review? Getting married or having a social event and need assistance? Email Me For All Your Event Planning Needs.

Love, Laughter, and EVERYTHING in Between: Day 13 - Sweet Treats

Considering have a sweet/candy table at your wedding or special event? Being the "sweetie" (like a foodie) that I am, I think that every good party needs a dessert table.  Whether  you're 5 years old or 50, let's fact it, it's always a crowd pleader.

According to my partner SheRhonda Martin, there are some important elements that must be considered when one is thinking of having a sweet table.  After budget she would immediately like to discuss COLOR!  She loves bringing color palettes that are unexpected having two main colors for a punch of color and a neutral accent color.  If the table is pattern heavy (stripes or polka dots, etc) be sure to include a lot of white with your platters and linen to avoid the look of clutter.

Typically on our sweet tables there is a focal point.  If you're serving cake as part of your dessert table use risers to lift at least one element higher.  Having various heights will allow the eyes to capture the full essence of your table.

In addition to having a focal point we believe there are levels to this! Creating various heights can be established using flowers, or tall and low containers.  This again will help make the dessert table more visually interesting for your guests. When thinking about placements, your low items should be in the front of the table while the taller jars better positioned towards the back.

Sweet tables are fun - contact us for more details
(photo credits:  Simply Perfect Peace Events, Oh So Sweet By Brandy)

~Until Next Time
SimplySHAY

Sharon Patrice Simply Perfect Peace Events, Inc. and Designs by Shay, the Blog "My Journey, My Way, My LIFESTYLE ~ Celebrating Love, Laughter and Everything in Between..." You or your brand interested in a review? Getting married or having a social event and need assistance? Email Me For All Your Event Planning Needs.

Tasty Tuesday: "Sweet Potato Cheesecake!"

Every year for the holiday I like to find something different to introduce to the family.  Last year we busted out some caramel cheesecake bites and this year we're going to attempt sweet potato ones.  Since I can remember, my family has always had sweet potato's for Thanksgiving in the form of pies and a soufflé.  When my grandmother from Georgia passed away she handed to sweet potato baton to my younger sister who generally cooks very traditional meals. 

These little golden nuggets of fantastic-ness can't be described any other way.  The sweet potato flavor balances the sharp cream cheese flavors nicely and the hint of cinnamon gives a warmth that is perfect for cold weather. After a big holiday meal, it is always good to have something sweet, but I don't want a huge piece after I've already stuffed myself into silliness  on dinner. These bites are great because people can have as much or as little as they want. Also, no slicing. You could make them in normal sized cupcake tins instead of mini muffin tins - just add more time in the oven. Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups ginger snaps
• 1 stick butter, melted
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 medium sweet potatoes
• 2 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese
• 2/3 c. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 2 eggs

Directions

• In food processor combine crushed wafers and butter.
• Press 1 tsp. of the mixture firmly into very well greased mini muffin tins and chill for 1 hour.
• Cover each sweet potato with foil and roast in the oven at 350 for an hour, until the inside is very tender.
• Puree cooked sweet potatoes in the food processor until smooth.
• Whip cream cheese, sugar, and cinnamon together until fluffy.
• Beat in eggs just until combined.
• Stir in pureed sweet potatoes and sour cream.
• Scoop smooth, cream cheese mixture into the mini muffin cups. They won't really rise or fall so you can just fill the cups to the top.
•  Bake the cheesecakes in a 350 degree oven for 20-30 minutes until cheesecake is just set.
• Cool in pan on wire rack and allow to cool completely in the fridge (20-30 minutes) until you try to remove them from the muffin pan.

Keep covered in plastic wrap in the fridge until you are ready to serve them!

Sharon Patrice Simply Perfect Peace Events, Inc. and Designs by Shay, the Blog "My Journey, My Way, My LIFESTYLE ~ Celebrating Love, Laughter and Everything in Between..." You or your brand interested in a review? Getting married or having a social event and need assistance? Email Me For All Your Event Planning Needs.

Tasty Treats for the inner kid in YOU!

When I'm planning a wedding or hosting a special event the question of what to serve guests always comes up.  If I'm truthful, the food part I don't necessarily care about because if its my event it's going to be something really far fetched and creative and if it's a wedding we are going to hire a caterer to handle that.  However, what TREATS are going to be available for the guests is what I really want to know.  Although candy buffet's cupcakes and the more aren't going anywhere anytime soon; if you've seen one you've seen them all. How many ways can you cup a cake? Now we have cake on a stick... lovely! Today's post we're going to show some different and creative ways to engage the kid that is dwelling in all of us adults.

Sweetniks is the creator of creative confections that include lollipops with flavors like salted margarita and candy apple. A great and unique choice for your wedding favors, these sweet and tasty treats are also very useful.

Having a signature drink? Delight your guests by having them at the bar to be use as stirrers.  Additionally, the lollipops with a printable stick can be used for place cards or simply be added to your guests gift bags for a surprise treat.  Visit SWEETNIKS to order your tasty treats!


~Celebrate Life
Sharon Patrice Simply Perfect Peace Events, Inc. and Designs by Shay, the Blog "My Journey, My Way, My LIFESTYLE ~ Celebrating Love, Laughter and Everything in Between..." You or your brand interested in a review? Getting married or having a social event and need assistance? Email Me For All Your Event Planning Needs.

One Sweet Competition

Chevy - Chicago - Cupcakes!!! Does it get any sweeter than this?  On Tuesday, September 13th,  I was joined by a few of my blogger friends for some friendly competition and sweet treats from five Chicago bakeries.

Chevrolet, who is celebrating 100yrs, provided us with vehicles for this oh so delicious Cupcake Quest.  Bloggers were divided into three teams and then we began the QUEST for CUPCAKES!   We were given instructions on how to score points and the team with the most points at the end of the Quest won a cool prize pack!

My teammate (Sidney Reid) of Hysterical Mom and Bloomin Heads was not only a hoot to work with but I think she enjoys cupcakes as much as I do!!!  At each stop we jumped from our vehicle ready to experience a cupcake party.  If you can imagine it, we tried it. We had mini cupcakes, regular cupcakes and even got my dog Pupcakes!  Every bakery had something unique to offer us and we didn't turn it down until finally we were like a pair of four (4) year olds with tummy aches.. hahaha

Here is a quick overview of each of the bakeries we visited.

• Sugar Bliss Cake Boutique,  located at 115 N. Wabash was our first stop.  Red Velvet was our choice!  We met a nice lady that wanted to know why we were so excited.. duh, cupcakes!!! Owner, Teresa Ging she is the recipient of the Chicago Women Making History Award and Best New Business in 2010 from the City of Chicago Treasurer’s Office.

• 50 E. Walton is where Sprinkles Cupcakes is located.  Upon arrival you feel as if you're standing in the foyer of your home.  Cinnamon Sugar and Strawberry were the flavors Sidney and I picked.  at this location we decided a random act of sweetness was in order.  A lady was paying for a cupcake for someone else so we decided to pay for hers.  She asked why and we explained all about CHEVY and she still was confused.  She finally said, "You want to buy me a cupcake because I'm cute?"  WELL ABSOLUTELY... hahaha  FYI:  Starting Friday German Chocolate and Almond Dark Chocolate... dont miss out on these! 

• Join Swirlz Cupcakes for their Customer Appreciation day on Saturday, September 24th.  Come out to 705 W. Belden for good music, friendly conversations and CUPCAKES!  Gluten Free, Vegan.. if you want it, they have it.  However, I have to admit the lemon cheesecake mini cupcake with graham crackers was incredible.  FUN FACT: While we were there they Swirlz was baking Pupcakes.. so, I purchased a few for my dog.  Coco enjoyed them so much she literally ran through the house like whewwwww... party over here!!! LOL

• So we had one more bakery to visit and that was Sweet Mandy B's at 1208 West Webster.  What a cute boutique in the Lincoln Park area.  They even had a spot for kid parties!!!!!!! Dream Pops in for the form of cupcakes..Snickerdoodles. Where do I start?  Citysearch said it best, "If you think you can get out of the store without purchasing more delicious sweets than those which you intended, think again. It’s that good!"

Today was a great day!  Special thanks to every blogger that participated;
Chevrolet and Connie  for all their hard work, providing amazing vehicles and the team that assisted us.  The Bleeding Heart at 1916 W. Chicago Avenue, which is another amazing bakery, for the prize pack and reserving space for our end of Quest SWEET UP! 

Congrats to Alicia and Paula on winning the Quest! They get to pick a Chevy vehicle and drive for ONE WEEK!!!!

In honor of this Quest and honoring the victims of  9-11 - tell us something SWEET you've done or will do.  We look forward to hearing your stories of "sweetness"

Sharon Patrice Simply Perfect Peace Events, Inc. You or your brand want coverage at an upcoming event? Getting married or having a social event and need assistance? Email Me For All Your Event Planning Needs.

SimplyShay: "The Quest for Cupcakes"

Almost everyone I know loves a great cupcake.  Take that same group and over half of them are competitive.  I am happy to announce that myself (Sharon Patrice) along with Chevrolet will host a Chevy Cupcake Quest on Tuesday, September 13th.  The "Quest" includes local bloggers getting involved in some friendly competition and...... you guessed it CUPCAKES.  Some very special Chicago Bakeries are participating in the Quest, but for the sake of the competition, I will keep the names a secret.

If you aren't involved in the QUEST, dont fret because immediately following, more bloggers along with some very special event planners and industry professionals will meet for a Sweet Up and experience these delicious treats.

The cream cheese frosting on a Red Velvet cupcake just does something for me - what's your favorite?

(photo credit: YUMMYnyc)

Sharon Patrice Simply Perfect Peace Events, Inc. You or your brand want coverage at an upcoming event? Getting married or having a social event and need assistance? Email Me For All Your Event Planning Needs.