As far as the world-wide web is concerned, Proposal Magazine, is just a baby. Because we are growing up quick, and making friends it was time to thank those friends that have been instrumental in getting us off the ground. What better way to thank them than with a Launch Party!!! As Proposal’s signature hostess, I was fortunate enough to take charge over a few of the tasks for this shin-dig.

Task 1: The cake! Of course, because I’d never baked a coconut cake, I decided to bake this particular dessert for the first time… the day of the event! Why would I do such a thing? Because I love a good challenge. For the record, I didn’t wake up that morning and decide; I had my recipe planned, my

My Challenge: the Coconut Cake

ingredients purchased and my pans/ equipment ready!

I’m not posting the recipe because it was not an original, however, I will give you a few quick tips: you most likely don’t need as much Coconut Flakes as you think; recipes with Creme of Coconut tend to taste better and bake more consistent than those with Coconut Milk & if possible purchase Natural Coconut Extract. I used imitation coconut flavor because that is all my local store had; although this tasted nice, it was a bit strong and I’ve heard that natural coconut tends to be a little more subtle and have an overall more appealing taste.

Task 2: The flowers! It was important to me that we were able to have flowers at our event, because, they really do brighten up a space. The best thing about our Launch Party being on the small side was that we could pay close attention to detail on the centerpieces we created and we didn’t have to purchase too many flowers!

Rosemary Spark's creativity in flowers.

My right hand lady Rosemary Sparks created these absolutely beautiful arrangements using grocery store bouquets. I repeat, GROCERY STORE BOUQUETS! No paying per stem, no high prices. This is remarkably simple because the flowers are already bundled for you, all we had to do was pick the color palette that we needed and Rosemary worked her magic at the event location. Rosemary took three grocery bouquets and opened them all up, getting rid of the greenery the stores use as filler and focusing just on the flowers she had on hand.

Of course, in planning any occasion there was much more that went into it than just cake & flowers, but for the sake of not boring anyone, I’ll end here…and give you more details later!

Thanks for reading & thanks again to Rosemary who really is such a creative lady!

Happy Hostessing!!!