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Archive for the ‘food’ Category

Doughnuts…the new delight at weddings

June 10, 2011

We’ve all had cake and cupcakes at weddings, some of you may have even enjoyed the recent trend of macaroons. But if you are looking for something delicious and sweet as an alternative to cake and cupcakes you might want to consider doughnuts! Doughnuts are fantastic comfort food, they come in a variety of shapes, colours, and flavours, and they are very affordable. I don’t know about you, but doughnuts bring me back to the simple days of childhood.

As with any element of your wedding or special event, presentation is key. If you opt to have doughnuts play center stage at your wedding reception, make sure you think about the set up. Will you stack them into a tower, place them on a variety of footed cake plates, present them on silver trays? Do you want full sized or mini doughnuts? Do you want to offer doughnuts in lieu of wedding cake or cupcakes or do you want to bring them out for a late night snack?

Trays of pink, white and chocolate doughnuts via Green Wedding Shoes

You can still “cut the doughnut” if you want to go this playful route and skip the cake altogether.

Milk and doughnuts

Doughnuts and milk would make a perfect late night snack.

Doughnuts on cake plate

Present doughnuts on a variety of footed cake plates if you want to incorporate a vintage vibe.

Fry Girl Inc.

How amazing would it be to have a mini doughnut action station?! Guests could come up and receive their made to order doughnuts piping hot.

Mini coffee and doughnuts

These mini coffees and mini doughnuts are adorable! They would be perfect for a morning wedding. Imagine greeting your guests with one of these cute delights. They would also be perfect for after dinner for those craving a bit of a caffeine lift and a sweet treat at the same time.

If you are a Calgary Bride and are looking for some exceptional doughnuts to share on your wedding day, you have to check out Jelly Modern Doughuts. They offer gourmet donuts, a stylish store front, and a variety of unique flavours that you won’t find anywhere else. I love that they also use locally sourced and organic ingredients when possible. My hubby even gave them 2 thumbs up and he is a self proclaimed anti-doughnut eater.

If you are planning a Calgary, Banff, Canmore, or Lake Louise wedding and are looking for ways to infuse fun and unique elements into your wedding day we’d love to hear from you! As Wedding Planners and Designers we love nothing more than working with couples to create signature wedding experiences for will leave your guests in awe!

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Jacquie & Ian: Married in Banff

September 21, 2010

I’m so excited to share with you the details of Jacquie and Ian’s beautiful Banff wedding that took place earlier this summer. We worked with a pallet of chocolate brown, green, and deep red. The red really made the green and brown pop and provided the perfect accent to play up the colours in their venue. Jaquie and Ian wanted a wedding in the mountains as most guests would be traveling to attend and they wanted them to enjoy the beautiful surroundings of Banff. The love between these two filled the air all around and it was so great to see the love and support of everyone in attendance. I had such a great time working with these two for close to a year to design and plan their warm and rustic wedding so without further ado, here are the images captured with style by TLAW Photography.

The bride’s deep red and citrus green bouquet. It looked beautiful against her blush coloured gown. I created the reception centerpieces using mini green cymbidium orchids wired onto curly willow. As luck would have it, there were plenty of orchids left over so my team and I saved some stems to be used at the ceremony (tied onto the aisle chairs) and snipped the rest for a surprise orchid toss during the couple’s recessional!

The groom’s rustic tie incorporated some curly willow. I love how this turned out!

We alternated the red rose pomanders with stems of left over cymbidium orchids. The contrast of green and red provided a vibrant punch of colour for the beautiful outdoor wedding ceremony at Tunnel Mountain, otherwise known as “the Meadow.”

Tunnel Mountain is a breathtaking setting for a wedding ceremony.

Here the newlyweds are enjoying the surprise orchid toss that my staff and I concocted. How luxe!

Stealing a kiss in the getaway car before heading off to capture some stunning images of the bride and groom.

This pallet of chocolate brown, green, and deep red was perfect for the Juniper Hotels’ Bistro where the reception was held. The tall centerpieces my team and I created added the perfect rustic, yet modern and elegant touch that the couple desired. The height really created drama in the room and drew guests eyes upwards where they were able to appreciate the stunning views outside the wall of windows facing the mountains.

I also created some low green centerpieces for one long guest table using spider and button mums. I re-purposed the red rose pomanders from the ceremony and placed them atop low square vases with green cymbidium orchids in the bottom. I flanked the ends of the head table with these and placed the remainder in the bar lounge area. They looked great at the reception!

We brought in a touch of the deep red with the table numbers, which played up the leaf pattern in the sheer chocolate overlays used on all of the guest tables.

I always like to think of unique ideas for the backs of the table numbers to give guests something interesting to look at and read. For Jacquie and Ian’s wedding, we put bios of the wedding party on the back. This was a great way for guests to get to know these guests of honour and why they are such treasured people in Jacquie and Ian’s lives.

The cake was covered in green cymbidium orchids with deep red throats and was placed atop a tree trunk cake plate. It was the perfect compliment to the overall wedding design and mighty delicious too. We had a custom lime flavour created for Jacquie and Ian’s wedding that was green in colour and also offered a raspberry ripple option that played up the red colour. Both were summery and fresh and were a treat to the eyes when sliced.

During the cocktail hour guests enjoyed a signature red martini as well as a non-alcoholic ginger limeade that was green in colour.

Here are the ceremony pomanders at work decorating the cocktail space.

Tray passed hors d’oeuvres were enjoyed by guests during the cocktail hour and let them know that they were in for a delicious meal.

In order to get the bride and groom to kiss, guests had to stand up and demonstrate how they wanted Jacquie and Ian to kiss. Needless to say this was very entertaining and led to some passionate kissing.

After dinner Jacquie and Ian got the party going by performing a choreographed first dance as well as a fun a flirty choreographed second dance with their wedding party which resulted in guests getting up and joining in. The dance floor was packed for the remainder of the night. Just as night was falling, Jacquie and Ian snuck outside with their photographer for some stunning twilight photos.

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Move Over Cupcakes…Macaroons are Stealing the Show

June 3, 2010

Cupcakes have been a hot wedding trend for the past few years but now there is a new star on the wedding dessert horizon. The macaroon is hot, hot, hot with Calgary Brides right now, and with brides across North America for that matter. It is fast becoming the popular choice for infusing one’s wedding with a fun, colourful, bite size treat that is sure to satiate the sweet tooth of all in attendance.Image credit: Laudree via Bliss Weddings Market

If you really want your wedding to be the talk of the town, then spend some time ensuring your have a well designed sweet table. The items on this table should complement your overall colours and design aesthetic so that it flows seamlessly with everything else in the room that you have worked so hard to put together. Check out this sample below from Bobette & Belle which showcases wedding cake, cupcakes, macaroons, and candy. What more could you want?

If you are looking for an alternative to the traditional wedding cake and want to incorporate macaroons somehow, why not consider a macaroon tower?

Above 5 images featuring colourful macaroons credit: Bobbette & Belle

More Food For Thought

July 13, 2008

Candy sushi is ideal for bridal showers, birthday parties or for any occasion where you are looking to combine your love of sushi with your love of sweets! To create these charming bite-sized treats you will need:
a sushi rolling mat (cover it with plastic wrap)
your favourite bite-sized candy for the filling (smarties, licorice, etc.)
green and red fruit roll ups (for the seaweed wrap and ginger)
green licorice (for the wasabi) and pink licorice (for the salmon)
You will also need to make a batch of rise crispy squares (for the rice).

To create rolls, start by layering your green fruit roll up on the bottom of the plastic covered mat, followed by a thin layer of rice crispy square mixture. Add your filling and roll. Cut into pieces and arrange on the plate. To create salomon “sushi”, hand form the rice crispy treats to create the bottom rice layer and then slice the pink licorice open and spread over the top.. Chop up some green licorice and red fruit roll up for garnish and serve with chopsticks!

Food for Thought

July 13, 2008

One of the latest trends in weddings and events is bite-sized samplings of your favourite foods. There is a huge resurgence in the popularity of comfort foods and caterers are increasingly being asked to set up food stations featuring couples top picks. Mini burgers are really popular right now as are bite-sized versions of classics such as macaroni and cheese and French fries served in shot glasses. Even if you don’t want to commit to serving bite sized foods for your main meal, why not introduce them during the cocktail hour or at a midnight buffet? They are perfect because everybody is sure to love the classics and by arranging the food at stations people can walk around and mingle while enjoying their favorite bites. Inspired Occasions created some bite sized nibbles for a recent event and they were a huge hit! The Mar-a-Lago burgers, as featured on Oprah, kept guests coming back for more. Don’t forget to top with the Mar-a-Lago Pear Chutney! And who can resist fries in a shot glass, ketchup included?