Vendor Spotlight: Sarah Lindsay Cakes

Ever since she began baking sugar cookies with her Grandma for Christmas, Sarah's love of baking only grew. After a semester abroad exploring all things culinary and pastry, she attended Tante Marie’s Professional Culinary Program and stayed on to tackle their infamous Professional Baking and Pastry Program. And it was after stints at Restaurant Lulu and Roy’s Hawaiian Fusion Restaurant, where she honed in on her dessert making skills, that Sarah Lindsay Cakes was born.

About weddings Sarah says, “I enjoy creating whimsical, unusual requests. I have fun exploring ideas with brides and grooms and coming up with sketches. I call it “cakestorming”. I also appreciate the creative aspect of baking; my favorite – carving the cakes.” Her style: elegant and classic cakes, as well as cakes full of imagination.

Her inspiration? “Nature all around me inspires me. I also love reading cake books by such amazing cake artists such as Collette Peters, Debbie Brown, Margaret Braun and Toba Garrett. The zoo and aquariums; and I am an avid snorkeler and aquatic or ocean themed cakes excite me.”

Why Sarah for the cake of your dreams? Besides excellent customer service and attention to detail, Sarah uses only high-quality ingredients: Belgian and Valhrona cocoa, Madagascar vanilla beans, and Swiss fondant. Plus, Sarah will personally bake and design your cake as well as make sure every ounce of butter cream is whipped and smoothed on your cake to perfection.

Contact her at http://www.sarahlindsaycakes.com/

Vendor Spotlight: California Rose Catering

Dov Sims, Executive Chef and COO of California Rose Catering (CRC) is a great example of a local, family run and generational business. Started in the 80s by Dov’s mother, Rose, he remembers waking up as a kid at 6am and helping to pack trucks with grills, coolers and other kitchen equipment. He joined in 2001 and helped transform the business into a premier events catering company. Their first catered wedding was in 2002 and they haven’t looked back since!

So what makes his company tick? “The staff. They’re the reason we are who we are. All my managers have been with us for more than eight years. The dedication comes through at each event.”

CRC offers more than just food and service. They have gained a great reputation over the past several years, not only for their food, but because they work the pricing around budget-minded couples, which happens to be almost everybody these days. And couples work directly with the owners with no middle men. The attention paid to each couple is direct and prompt. Their attitude is far from corporate because their company is a family company, so couples can feel safe and secure when working with them: “We allow couples to really take part in the creation of their wedding, not just in the menu, but in the entire production.” And 50% of the time, he introduces foods that couples and guests have never eaten, and if they have, not in the form that he presents.

So if you’re not convinced yet, here another reason why CRC is one to beat: they give couples a to-go basket at the end of their wedding, as they’re not always able to eat during the festivities. We love that.

Visit their website at: www.californiarose.com

Vendor Spotlight: Sibby's Cupcakery

Sibby's Cupcakery opened in 2004 with the mission of providing joy and happiness through delicious and beautiful cupcakes. All you need to do is look at her work to get it. Once you taste her cupcakes, you’ll get it even more!

Sibby and her master cupcake elves love contributing to a larger vision and coming up with designs and displays that complement the overall aesthetic of weddings. Wedding planning can be stressful and the last thing that cupcakes should do is cause extra stress. Her goal is to ensure that couples get the wedding cupcakes of their dreams without any hassles.

Customization is Sibby’s specialty. She tells us about an extra fun project, “We recently had a blast doing decorations for a couple who got married on their favorite holiday— Halloween—which happens to be a bakery favorite, as well. We did an assortment of ghosts, skulls and crossbones, jack-o-lanterns and other spooky designs incorporating their monogram and color scheme.” We can only imagine…

So, why do we at Bridebound say yea to Sibby’s Cupcakery for your wedding cupcakes? Well, they use the finest ingredients, everything is baked from scratch each morning, and they have perfected their recipes over the years. Their one-of-a-kind handmade custom decorations enable couples to have an added level of personalization. Sibby’s Cupcakery has intentionally stayed small so that they can focus on quality and customer service. Mostly, we think it’s because they love what they do. Everything they make comes from love.

Just check out their beautiful, delicious creations and you’ll see what we mean:
http://www.sibbyscupcakery.com/

Vendor Spotlight: Two For Two Cakes

For Alison Okabayashi, owner, baker, and designer of Two For Two Cakes, baking is in the genes: “Baking was a special activity in my family. Every Christmas my grandmother would send us a huge package full of about a dozen different types of cookies. Now my mom and dad take on that role.”

Attending culinary school after college, she decided she loved the creativity and challenges involved in making wedding cakes. And also getting to know her clients and coming up with the perfect cake to balance out everything they're looking for: design, taste and budget. She tells us: “Whenever they leave their first consultation saying ‘That was the most fun we've had throughout the entire wedding planning process!’, I know I've done what I set out to do.”

So what inspires her when it comes to making her gorgeous cakes: “Old-fashioned American baking updated for today.” She adores vintage design, fabrics and Wayne Thiebaud. And she loves cakes that have beautiful details but still maintain grace.

Alison is deeply committed to offering brides and grooms a positive experience from start to finish. This means that when you work with Alison, you can expect quality ingredients, proper follow through, flexibility with meeting times, a transparent business practice when it comes to all aspects of the cake, and total creativity, no matter your budget.

View more of her delicious creations at:
http://www.twofortwocakes.com/

Spotted: Cocoabella Chocolates

For those chocolate-lover brides and grooms, let us suggest a romp over to CocoaBella Chocolates in San Francisco. You’ll know they’re serious about chocolate from the moment you walk in. These guys know chocolate. And it's a great wedding take-home gift idea!

Michael Freeman, purveyor of CocoaBella, found his passion for chocolate when, as the chocolate buyer for Duty Free Shops, he would travel to Europe seeking each city’s most incredible chocolates. The thought occurred to him to bring the best over, putthem with the finest U.S. chocolates under one roof and, in 2004, CocoaBella was born.

You can choose from over 180 different bonbons of all shapes, sizes, colors and tastes, and they strive to make each wedding order special. They create boxes customized with personalized cards with names and date of wedding, satin ribbon of your choice, menu cards, and special notes for your guests: perfect for give-aways at your wedding. And we love that their chocolates are hand selected from the world’s finest artisan chocolatiers.

As many times as we’ve personally been in and out of the store, you can expect excellent customer service while working with their chocolate concierge, easy accommodation, and a vast variety of beautiful and delicious chocolates. It’s an effortless undertaking when you invite CocoaBella to be a part of your wedding. And trust us: your guests won’t be disappointed.

Bonus: they have an entire area of their website dedicated to great ideas for your Big Day:
http://www.cocoabella.com/wedding-events

Get ready to drool! Find them at 2102 Union St. and at 845 Market St. (Both in SF)

Vendor Spotlight: Hugh Groman, Caterer

Connect with Hugh at:

http://www.hughgromancatering.com/
http://www.greenleafplatters.com/

For Hugh Groman, business goes beyond the simplistic and flavorful culinary reputation he’s known for. He's worked with the same friendly, professional staff for years and credits them with helping him to achieve success as a premier Bay Area eco-friendly caterer. Oh, and he makes sure to credit his dog, Scratchy, too.

Hugh’s career started in New York at Gramercy Tavern, which gave him the aesthetic sense that he now uses everyday. From there, he did a culinary tour of the U.S. where he staged in many restaurants. Returning to New York, he began a catering business out of his kitchen and opened the Boerum Hill Food Company in Brooklyn, which was an immediate success. Two years later, he moved back home to California, where he now runs his two catering companies: Hugh Groman Catering and Greenleaf Platters.

Hugh loves helping couples plan and simplify their wedding so that they can actually enjoy the day. “If you have great food and drink at your wedding, a beautiful set-up, great staff and a fun group of guests, many of the little extras aren’t always necessary.” Enough said.

Luckily for Hugh, creative freedom is part of almost every job he accepts. Often his clients are so busy they just ask him to suggest a menu – something he’s always happy to do. A balanced and seasonal theme will always get his juices flowing. And one last thing worth mentioning, Hugh constantly tries to be an outstanding member of the community through his commitment to the environment, giving 1% of his proceeds to the Alameda County Community Food Bank. Kudos to Hugh, his business practice and his charitable spirit.

Vendor Spotlight: Chef Stephanie, Culinary Mistress & Caterer

Chef Stephanie – Culinary Mistress & Caterer
http://www.chef-stephanie.com/

Chef Stephanie may just be the quintessential Bay Area, eco-minded, culinary artist that you read about in magazines. Stephanie has been cooking for 25 years and began catering exclusively 12 years ago after serving as the executive chef at a large, Bay Area catering company. So what makes her tick and why are weddings one of her favorite events to cater?

It's an honor to be part of her clients’ wedding day, but there are other goals behind her cuisine and business. As a San Francisco Certified Green Business, Stephanie has a deep commitment to sustainable business practices, using the finest local, organic and seasonal ingredients - including produce, meat and fish. She also has an extensive background in vegetarian and global cuisines. So, for all you vegetarian couples out there – Chef Stephanie may just be your answer to having guests talking about the food at your wedding for years to come.

“I approach cooking with a balance of positive intention and playful ingenuity,” is how Stephanie describes her methodology when it comes to creating a menu for weddings. She tells me one of her favorite compliments is when a client tells her they’d never liked a certain dish until they tasted her preparation. It's total thrill.

Stephanie credits our beautiful city for keeping her inspired at the cutting board. “My main inspiration is the environment, the seasons, the current bounty and the challenge to do something new with it each day,” and continuing, “I am so lucky to live in the SF Bay Area with all the amazing produce, artisan products, and sustainably-raised animals to work with. And I earn a living making delicious food for appreciative clients. How great is that?”

Pretty great!

Vendor Spotlight: Penelope Jane, Cake Designer

Penelope Jane, Cake Designer
http://www.penelopejane.com/

For Penelope Jane, life is sweet. She has been baking professionally for 13 years, starting her career working at 4-star restaurants and 5-star/5-diamond hotels in New York. She moved back to Napa four years ago and now runs her own company, baking about 60 wedding cakes a year.

Her favorite thing about her job: “When I can make the perfect wedding cake look fabulous- that is my reward. And to hear the thank-yous from the bride and groom is even better.”

Aside from her creating unique wedding cakes, Penelope designs all the elopement cakes for Harvest Inn and Solage at Free Reign. She describes them as “little 6-inch cakes for the day, sometimes they're larger. They pick the flavor and I design whatever I want to on it.”

So what keeps her creativity fresh? “Trying to reach my personal goals inspires me. However, the biggest inspiration to me is my husband (also a chef). He keeps me motivated to try new things and think outside the box. We brainstorm together and, because he is so passionate about his cooking, we often talk food.”

What can you can expect from Penelope?
Dedication: She hand-makes and custom designs each delicious creation, using only high-quality local ingredients.
Professionalism: If she feels she can’t execute what the bride and groom want, she won’t bake the cake.
Originality: Her own wedding cake is proof. Surviving on PB&J sandwiches while baking in New York, she decided to “bake homage” to the famous sandwich and create a delicious Peanut Butter & Jelly Wedding Cake for her and her husband’s special day.

And there’s no reason she can’t do that for you!