Introducing- Marabella Photography & Design

Welcome to Marabella Photography & Design!

Hello lovely readers, I'm Fiona from Marabella Photography & Design. I live in the Rockingham area with my amazing husband and although we don't have children of our own yet, we do have lots of nieces, nephews, godchildren and friends' children whose birthday parties we are always attending! I love a good party and I particularly love seeing all the great themes and party ideas that are out there. I'm excited about being asked by Erin to contribute to the Chocolate Wrapped blog and looking forward to helping out with some party tips and tricks as well as working together with some great small businesses from Perth!

 

Marabella Photography & Design was established in 2009 after I'd spent a few years dabbling in photography as a creative outlet from my otherwise very academic career. I have always loved looking back through old photos from when I was young, but I had always wished there were even more photos and with the equipment we have these days there's no excuse not to! I really liked the idea of capturing special moments in life, whether it be a newborn in their first week of life, an amazing wedding day or a magical birthday party! After undertaking some training and lots of practice sessions I decided that I was ready to take on clients and the rest is history.

Photography can be a part of parties in many different ways, from including photos on the invitations, to having photos taken on the day and using them in thank you notes or displaying them as a memory of a great day! I've been lucky enough to have been involved in all these aspects of photography and you can see some of these images throughout this article.

Photographing childrens' parties came about after various friends commented that they'd put a lot of effort into organising a birthday party for their child whether it be the snacks, the decorations, the cake or entertainment and then had barely any photos at the end of the day to share with family and friends who couldn't be there! At the next few parties I attended I brought along my photography equipment and took some photos. I surprised the parents with them a few days afterwards, they were so relieved that there were photos of the day that they could use as a keepsake as well as share with their loved ones that they suggested I offer it as one of my services.

Through my blog articles I'm hoping to share with you some tips for increasing the quantity and quality of photos that you take at your child's party, as well as some great ideas on how to use your images after the event. Also, if you have any particular photography-related questions that you would like answered please don't hesitate to contact me at info@marabella.com.au so I share the answers in my articles.

Introducing: The Candy Cane Company

 Welcome to The Candy Cane Company

Being a women, I have always loved all things sweet. My favourite things to eat are lollies and chocolate, and growing up my favourite film was Charlie and the Chocolate factory, so it is no wonder that I ended up working with lollies later in life. As a child, my pocket money was always spent on pick and mix lollies.  I loved the thrill of using little scoops to pick an array of lollies from the big containers on the shop counter. My mum and dad would always encourage me to save my money, but nothing brought me more joy than going to the local shop with my pennies and coming out with a paper bag full of gummy bears and sour worms. To this day, I still love the excitement of visiting the pick and mix lolly stand when ever I go to the local cinema.

10 years ago I went on a trip to New York and visited the most magical Lolly shop in Time Square. Never has the saying “kid in a candy store” been more apt. I was truly in awe of the delights that confronted me as I entered through the giant shop front door with lollipops as handles. Never had I seen so many lollies in one place. The multicoloured displays of mouth watering lollies took my breath away. They had every colour jelly bean you could think of and I wanted to try them all. This place was like heaven on earth and I never wanted to leave. This shop had become my new favourite place in the world. I remember thinking how fun it would be to work there and be surrounded by lollies every day. I wished there and then that I worked with lollies. And so, a few years later my wish came true and The Candy Cane Company was born.

My vision for The Candy Cane Company was to create a local business offering that magical feeling that I had at the lolly store in New York. Lolly buffets were becoming popular with weddings and events and the concept of a fancy pick and mix stand took me back to my days as a kid at the local lolly shop. I have always been blessed with a creative flair which I inherited from my mother, and so I set about designing unique lolly buffets perfect for any event, big or small.

 

My love for lollies and artistic skills did not stop with buffets. The Candy Cane Company quickly expanded to include lolly trees, chocolate bouquets and lolly bouquets to appeal to those lolly lovers looking for something different and unique. I was not anticipating the lolly trees to be so popular so soon and quickly the orders came flooding in. The marshmallow and Lindor lolly trees are now the best selling products.

The Candy Cane Company currently offers lolly buffets, lolly trees, event styling and a hire service within Perth and the surrounding areas. With an ever growing fan base, Facebook family and many big events coming up, it's exciting times ahead for The Candy Cane Company.

Xoxo TCCC

Introducing Sweet Tables - By Chelle

Hi! My name is Rochelle and I am the owner of  Perth event styling and Dessert table business, Sweet Tables By Chelle.  I am a mummy to 3 beautiful children, Seth, Sienna and Jethro and a soon to be wife (yay!) to my partner Gordy. We hang out in our games room most of the day, surrounded by hundreds of toys and our crazy dog, Ruby. Being a full time stay at home mum to 3 little children is rewarding, challenging, hilarious, tiring and the best job in the world. My children are aged 1, 2 and 3 so our days very busy and party planning is my creative outlet. As soon as my kids go to sleep I get lost in my little party planning world and stay there until I go to sleep….and usually dream about parties too.

I am so thrilled Erin has asked me to be a part of the Chocolate Wrapped blog! I will be writing a series of posts all to do with parties, offering tips and tricks to help you create some truly special events for the special people in your lives. The main thing to a successful party is planning properly, and I will be sharing some advice on the best ways to plan your events so you can actually sit back and enjoy the day! Along with these tips, I will also be sharing some awesome Perth vendors, who will be able to provide you with some great products to add to your event.

I love parties. I love how the creative options are endless and the memories you can create from a party can last a lifetime. I put together my first dessert table for my little girls 1^st birthday last year after seeing a photo of one off the internet and immediately fell in love. From there, I started to get enquiries from friends about styling their own childrens birthdays so I started to research the industry a bit and decided it was something I wanted to be a part of. I have been so lucky that there are people who love what I do and continue to book my services and allow me to bring something extra special to their special events.

Sweet Tables by Chelle is an Event Styling and Dessert table business. I offer a complete service which provides fully themed and styled dessert tables to suit any event. On the day of your party, I arrive a few hours before the guests arrive and set up. You will be left with a deluxe dessert table, complete with themed props and accessories to match your theme, jars filled with lollies, yummy home made desserts, lolly boxes, scoops ….  absolutely everything you need to enjoy your dessert table! I then come back at the end of the event and pack away. An easy, no fuss service that adds something very special and unique to your day, that your guests will love! If you have an event coming up and are interested in having Sweet Tables By Chelle provide a dessert table for you or style your whole event, I would love to hear from you!

I look forward to sharing my love of parties with you all!

Chelle

xxx

How it began: Rainbow Party

Hi!
Welcome to Chocolate Wrapped. "We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams" OK I didn't say that but if you know your chocolate, you know who did.

Chocolate Wrapped was born in September this year when I was looking everywhere for a place that would personalise chocolate bar wrappers. I had my daughter's 3rd Birthday coming up and I wanted to do a Rainbow theme and wanted Chocolate Bars to go with it.

I didnt want just a normal chocolate bar, but ones with coloured foil and not too big for smaller children, one with a personalised wrapper and most importantly one that tasted (and looked) great!

I couldn't find anything, so I took things into my own hands and found what I was looking for and designed the rest myself. I knew if I could do it for my daughter's birthday that perhaps I could help other parents with their wishes of adding that special touch to birthdays. Of course, I would take it to the next step and now provide for all events and businesses.

The Rainbow Party
I decided to go all out and make everything coulourful. 

Suppliers
Rainbow Cookies and Macaroons: Cake Decorating by Jessica
Chocolate Bars: Chocolate Wrapped
Printables: Chocolate Wrapped
Activity: The Sand Card Company
Photography: Marabella Photography and Design

The birthday girl

It surprised me how easy it was to create the Rainbow effect and to top it off, a Rainbow Cake which I made from scratch. (which yes, you can tell I am not great at cake assembly)

This is another example of the Rainbow bars (with Pink foil).

These are Small Size

The Rainbow Theme is so popular at the moment and there are so many things you can do yourself to add that special colourful touch.

Here is a Printable Set I also have for Sale which can be fully customised. 

So go on, get creative, have a go yourself and remember "A little nonsense now and then, is relished by the wisest men" (another quote from the chocolate lover)

Erin 

Welcome

Chocolate Wrapped specialises in the design and personalisation of chocolate bar wrappers for big or small occasions.

When you have an event worth celebrating, we know you want to do it in style.  We know you want something designed just for you instead of those mass produced products.   It is important that you have something as special as the occasion itself, so that is what we will create for you.

We help you celebrate your special occasion with delicious Cadbury chocolate bars wrapped tenderly into a keepsake wrapper.  The wrappers can be totally personalised in a custom design which includes a photo or designed to suit your theme or special event. 

The personalised chocolate bar wrappers are available in four different sizes and we have a low minimum order. The best news is that custom designs are available at no extra charge.  If you choose the large Bars, you can select from a range of Personalised Chocolate Bars to match your event.

Turn a chocolate bar into a clever party favour, an eye catching promotional gift or a sweet memory to tuck away forever.  They are the perfect size to use for dessert tables, place cards at your reception table, corporate gifts, loot for party bags or even as a birth announcement.

·         Create personalised chocolate bar wrappers for your school or sports team and sell them as part of your fundraising efforts.

•  Design a ghoulishly tempting wrapper for a Halloween event
•  Use them to congratulate your students as they complete a learning level or task
• Create a tasty birthday invitation by printing the details on the wrapper
•  Design wrappers with your business details and hand out free chocolate bars wherever you go
• Use them as your calling card.  Chocolate almost guarantees entry!
• Create keepsake bonbonniere for your wedding or child’s christening

No matter how you use them you won’t make a more striking impact than by giving the gift of personalised chocolate bars.

We want the whole country to enjoy the Chocolate Wrapped experience so we ship Australia wide. 

Have a look through our pre-designed chocolate bar wrappers to see what we can do.  If you have any questions please contact us or if you would like a quote please fill in the QuoteMe form.