Dinner is Served...What's Your Style?

Ok so let us be honest here..there is a reason why guests LOVE weddings, and although we would like to think it is ONLY because they simply want to support your holy matrimony, there are some three other benefits that come to mind: (1) Free Food, (2) Free Drinks, and (3) Dancing! And who doesn't love free stuff, especially when it comes to a scrumptious meal.

Since food is a must at any wedding affair, your food presentation and selection is always scrutinized. To start off a good time, your guests are looking to fill up on a yummy selection of culinary perfection! 

Buffet

Hillary Mayberry

This "all-you-can-eat" style is the most popular choice for good reason! A buffet style course is generally more cost effective that a seated dinner and allow your guests to self-serve. Furthermore, buffets require limited coordination by both yourself and the event staff because food is typically served in masses. Guests have free range to choose what they like, don't like, and how much of each item then want. Wedding buffets often include a minimal of a bread, salad, a vegetable, two starch choices, and two entree choices. The other benefit to serving a buffet style is that you can easily add selections, such as a carving station or a hors d'œuvre display to any serving line. Insider tip: when serving a buffet style, you should typically give your caterer a final count of guests that is 10% less than the number of RSVPs you received; the reason, a quality caterer always makes surplus food, and your guests will never eat as much as you expect them to in a social setting.

Seated Dinner

Jose Villa Photography

A seated dinner is the most traditional serving option. These days, a seated dinner is often used at large ballroom reception with room enough to seat every guest. Think of a seated dinner as a meal at a fine dining restaurant, your guests will be served and waited on by event staff during the entire meal. The four courses include: an appetizer, soup/salad, main meal, and dessert. Although a plated dinner may be very impressive to your guests, be aware that this style requires a lot more coordination on your behalf. Each guest will need to choose his or her meal selection prior to the wedding (usually this is done by placing a meal choice on the response card in your invitation suite). Every guest must have an assigned seat, and their meal choice must be in coordination with their seat. As you can tell, this style, although extremely high-class and elegant, requires a lot on your part - so the insider tip on this one would be to definitely hire a wedding coordinator to take care of this if you choose a seated affair.

J. Garner Photography

Cocktail 

A cocktail style reception has become very trendy recently. This idea behind the cocktail style seat up is to encourage guests to continually be up and mingling. The food is served as heavy hors d'oeuvres, finger foods, and small plated items. This is the least expensive option because you are providing only small plated items, and since it encourages people to be up and about, less seating is needed. This style is perfect for mid-day or late night weddings that are not during a usual "meal" time. Cocktail style receptions are typically set up with one or two large hors d'œuvre displays accompanied by passed finger foods by your event staff. Fun foods to pass around are mini hamburger sliders, small crab cakes, chicken satay, and prosciutto wrapped scallops.

Cocktail Napkins - A Simple Neccessity

There are so many simple additions you can make to any wedding without breaking the bank! Discovering these little "budget-friendly" elements can really make a BIG impact on the BIG day, and easily add a real personal touch to the wedding day details. Cocktail napkins are one of those budget friendly items that will actually get used by your guests - there may be lots of left over things at the end of the night, but these 'catchy' napkins won't be one of them. These days, your cocktail napkins can be 100% customizable -- I am talking color, shape, size, font, graphic, and more...which just means that even a simple napkin can truly translate your wedding day abidance! There are several ways to capture your day on those plies: 

Catchy Sayings

Use a fun quote to translate FUN from your napkin. Several popular ones include:

"Eat, Drink, and Be Married"

"Take a Bite, and Celebrate All Night"

"Love is the greatest refreshment in life"

"Love is All You Need"

Kristen Weaver

Monogram

Use your new initials as a couple and put the monogram on the napkin. Use the the three-letter monogram (brides first initial, new last initial, groom's first initial) or just the single letter of your new last name.

Jennifer Lindberg

A Graphic

Graphics can usually be uploaded when order your napkins. Choose something that coordinates with your invitations, your location setting, or a design that is symbolic to you both as a couple.

The Date and Place

You can easily add the date and/or place to any of the chose napkin design. A small date tag line is a nice personal touch for remembrance.

Kasey Hamel

The Wedding Cake Breakdown..Layer By Layer Part III

It is time to wrap up The Wedding Cake Breakdown...Layer by Layer "mini series." By now you should have a lovely decorated cake with some seriously yummy stuff baked inside! Whether you are serving a Red Velvet with Chocolate Ganche Filling and Cream Cheese Icing cake or a Vanilla Bean Pound Cake with Lemon Curd Filling and iced with Swiss Buttercream...your creation is surely worthy of any feast! Although you are pretty much a wedding cake oracle at this point, there are a few important points I would like to leave you with:


How much cake to order?
You should order enough cake for about 75-80% of your guests that will be ATTENDING. Although I think they are crazy, there are people out there who actually WON'T eat any cake (crazy, I know!). Even accounting for roughly only 75% of your guests  (for cake) will still leave you with extra - but it is better to be on the safe side!


How many tiers?
This is really going to depend on how many slices (per person) you wish for your cake to provide, see the previous question. Typically the more guests, the more tiers; however, any average wedding cake has anywhere between 3 to 5 tiers.


What should I do for a cake topper?
This one is totally up to you...and allows you the opportunity to be creative. An easy and classy cake topper is florals - your chosen florist can provide a cake topper of fresh florals that coordinate wit the rest of your wedding. Other ideas?! Head on over to Etsy and search 'cake toppers' under the wedding category - these vendors creativity will blow your mind! I won't ruin any of the surprises over in Etsy world!


Cake Platter...where do I get one?
Most of the time, your venue will provide you a silver plated cake platter - these are traditional, but very beautiful in their own right! If the venue does not provide one, your baker may have one available for rent. Either way, make sure you ask your baker what size the platter needs to be..and make sure to have a display table accordingly. If you do not want to go the silver route, these days you can find a diverse offering of cake platters -- anything from a slice of tree stump, to vintage suitcases, to modern acrylic boxes..can host your cake! Like everything, do some research and check over at Etsy!


I am having an outdoor wedding, what precautions should I take?
Find a cool or shaded place for your dessert masterpiece!!! Humidity and heat are a cake's worst friend...they easily cause fondant to slide and buttercream to soften - most bakers will not "insure" the life of their cake if it will be placed outdoors. That being said, do not fear if your heart has a calling to the outdoors (they are some of the most beautiful weddings!) - like I said, find a cool spot for the cake that has heavy shade..furthermore, see if the venue staff can keep the cake indoors as long as possible until it is needed for the reception.

How can I mix things up and make my cake interesting?
Do exactly that - Mix it Up! Do you have two favorite flavors? - alternate the flavors in each tier. Don't want just a round tiered cake? - alternate each tier's shape, go round, then square, then round, then square (or any other combination). Another tip, add accents of colored icing to bring in some hints of your wedding color pallet or alternate the decorations on each tier (see the random embellishment cake on yesterday's inspiration board). Bottomline: don't feel stuck doing the same thing all the way through, a mix-up is refreshing!


What is average charge per a slice?
In most metropolitan areas, the average cost per a slice is $4.50. Fondant, gourmet additions, or extravagant designs may add to the base price. At $4.50, cake can easily become a big expense, so do some research! I got my cake (and it was delicious!) for under $3.00 a slice - so it CAN happen!

Jen Fariello Photography

That about wraps it up -- I am not going to lie, I have been eying all the cakes at the grocery store over the past days..these posts are going to be the end of me! To give my sweet tooth a break the blog will be featuring a "Picture This!" and "Fresh Idea Friday" the next two days! Nevertheless, I hope you have become well educated over the past three days..and are looking forward to creating your very own edible art piece for your BIG DAY! I will leave you with my biggest tip: do your research, and find pictures on the web - take these pictures to the baker - this will ensure they know exactly what you want :)


Leave a comment at the bottom if you have some more questions concerning The Wedding Cake Breakdown! Enjoy!

The Wedding Cake Breakdown...Layer By Layer - Part II

Yesterday's venture into all things wedding cake was only a SMALL slice out of the towering tiers of cake knowledge. No one likes just a SMALL slice of yummy dessert, so get ready to DIG into Part II of The Wedding Cake Breakdown and enjoy another layer of goodness!

After yesterday's read, you may have decided on the spread and the fill...but what good are those without a cake underneath?! One of your most important decisions you face is what flavor of cake are your guests going to bite into! Are they going to have a mouth full of German Chocolate, Vanilla Sponge, Tres Leche, or are guests' tongues going to turn red with your daring Red Velvet? These are tough, taste bud determining decision that you will LOVE making (especially since you usually get to taste all your choices!).

Cake Flavor

Sponge

Sponge cake is a classic choice whether it be a wedding, birthday, and any cake in between. Sponge cake is light and airy, with a semi-sweet taste. The most appealing thing about sponge cake is that it easily can transform into many flavors...chocolate, vanilla, strawberry,

Pound Cake

Now this, I must say, is my personal favorite! There is nothing better then a old fashioned southern pound cake. Its dense (but moist) texture makes it a perfect base structure to withhold all the icing and multiple tiers. Little known fact, traditional wedding cakes were always made using dense cake such as pound cake; however, modern bakers tend to encourage a sponge cake base since the cost of ingredients is much less to them (I would demand the dense-stuff!). Pound cake can also come in several flavors - cream cheese, vanilla bean, lemon, poppy seed, marble, and more! Check out Southern Living Mag for awesome recipes!

Miscellaneous

Oh the lists I could come up with for this category...it is going to make me crave sugar, I just know it! Lets just put it this way, whatever your taste bud's fancy falls in here. Choose from Red Velvet, Peanut Butter Cake, Carrot Cake, Spice Cake, Angel Food Cake, Rum Cake, Almond Cake, Pumpkin Cake...I mean seriously people, I could go on, but I would just be torturing us all! Bottomline: choose your favorite flavor, these days, anything can be done!

Decorating Options

I have sifted through the YUMMY stuff, now it is on to the fun things - decorating! Think of your cake as a canvas at your wedding - your one piece of true art at the big event. Translate the ambiance of your wedding onto the cake through the choice of decorations. There are seriously about a gazillion designs available out there - although I do not have enough blog space to go over every one, I have picked out some of the most popular decorating styles. An "eye candy" picture board below illustrates some truly artistic cake features: 

 

1. Quilted Fondant

2. Antique Scrolls

These lovely accents can be done all over, or in a line wrapping around alternating tiers. These are great ways to add color to any cake.

 

3. Sugar Flowers

Sugar flowers are beauties in their own right - and are painstakingly handcrafted by each baker. Little know note: save a few of the flowers and put them in a shadow box for a wedding memory!

4. Sugar Frosted Fruit

Bakers dip fresh fruit into large granulated sugar to create a refreshing elegance to any cake

5. Icing Pearls

Small dots scattered across your cake create the illusion of pearls. These accents easily create a simple elegance! 

6. Casual Icing

Casual icing is a style that is done exactly how it sounds - casually! The cake is iced without worrying about perfection - but definitely not sloppy wither! It really creates a cake that make guests want to DIG INTO! It can be casual iced in swirls or in vertical lines (as shown above). 

 

7. Miscellaneous Embellishments

Tip of the day: use pictures such as this one to take to your baker! The best advice is to look around the web for pictures of designs you love! if you like something, print it out - your baker can surely duplicate it! 

8. Ribbon Accents

Adding a satin ribbon around a tier of the cake is an easy way to incorporate your wedding colors!

Again, this list could be endless - and the pictures of gorgeous cake designs is limitless around the weddingsphere! Check out The Knot, Style Me Pretty, and Junebug Weddings for yummy pictures! Be sure to check out Part III of The Wedding Cake Breakdown...Layer by Layer tomorrow..for an even BIGGER slice of goodness! Enjoy!

The Wedding Cake Breakdown...Layer By Layer

Brooke Keegan

Hello, Hello! Thank you for your patience while Lucky In Love Event's took some vacation time! My goal was achieved, and I can officially say that I have rid myself of the past "pasty white" stature. I am excited to jump back into action with today's post: The Wedding Cake Breakdown..Layer By Layer!

Many a time..actually most of the time, your groom is not going to be that interested in participating in your planning process. It is not that he does not want to be "a part" of it, rather it usually boils down to that picking out colors, flowers, and dresses is just not in the repertoire of things that guys care about. That being said, one thing guys DO enjoy is FOOD! Your groom will be MORE than happy to take part in any planning involving something edible..especially the cakes! Although deciding on a baker for your wedding/groom's cake is fun (not to mention tasty - who does not like free food?!), it can be a little frustrating... here is why: there is a hefty list of different types of icings, fillings, decorative accents, and flavorings offered, and if you combine those together, you're looking at hundreds of cake combinations available to you. The lengthy options easily become overwhelming, and unless you are well versed on baked goods, many of the "wedding cake" terms may leave you confused - there in lies the reasoning behind today's post. I am going to breakdown The Wedding Cake..Layer By Layer so that you and your groom can have a fun, stress free, and yummy day at the bakers! Since this series has quite a few "layers," The Wedding Cake Breakdown will be featured over the next THREE DAYS! Today I while be breaking down the Icing and Filling options..look out for The Wedding Cake Breakdown Part II tomorrow, featuring a closer look at Cake Flavor and Decorating options.

The Icing 

Fondant

Lisa Lefkowitz

Fondant has become and increasingly popular option over the last 15 years or so - reasoning: it truly makes a FLAWLESS looking cake. Fondant is a thing sugar based pasted that can be rolled and molded much like pie crust. Fondant can be used to cover the cake entirely (usually with a lining of buttercream icing underneath) or sculpted into figures, objects, or ribbons. Although Fondant creates a seamless surface for you cake, the truth is it taste awful! Many people claim that true premium grade fondant tastes good..but I have tried the premium stuff...in my opinion, you cannot make sugary playdough taste good?! More often than not, guests will peel the fondant off and simply eat the cake with the small layer of buttercream underneath; however, Fondant cakes cost MORE?! So you are paying extra for an unpalatable product. Nevertheless, fondant DOES make a flawlessly beautiful cake..it is up to you to decide which you rather serve beauty..or deliciousness?

Buttercream

Brooke Keegan

Buttercream is the most popular and traditional icing used on wedding cakes - and for good reason! With the main ingrediants being BUTTER and CREAM, this icing has a medium consistency, lightly sweet taste, and can easily be flaoverd to your liking. Do not be fooled either, you are not making a complete trade off between "perfection" and "taste". Due to buttercream's medium consistency and airy structure, any good baker can smooth it seamlessly! Your cake will look beautiful and leave guests anxiously waiting to dig in!

Royal

Alders Photography

Royal icing is the popular choice for more casual occasions - it is the icing you have continually tasted on birthday cakes and childhood cupcakes. Its main ingredients are egg whites and SUGAR! It is light, fluffy, and super sugary tasting! Royal icing is not the best for getting the "seamlessly smooth" effect, however, it is great for casual icing (which will be explained in Part III).

The Filling

Fruits

Fruit preserves are an extremely popular filling choice. It is a refreshing break to the sugar coated cake and allows you to add an additional flavor within. Fruit fillings come in several varieties including strawberry, raspberry, lemon curd, pineapple, and peach. Tip: make sure your baker is using fresh fruit preserves. You do not want a fructose syrup filled jelly inside your cake!

Ganache

Ganache is a very rich filling created from heavy cream and dark chocolate. It is a premium filling for all you chocolate lovers and goes well with any buttercream icing. Ganache can actually be used as an icing...but that is ONLY for extremely chocolate lovers..this stuff is super rich!

Mousses and Custards

These two fillings have a consistency similar to pudding, with mousse having a more "whipped" texture. People choose these fillings because they can be easily flavored to your liking - from chocolate and strawberry, to more extravagant flavors like Kahlua and Almond. 

Miscellaneous

Your cake can truly be filled with anything. These days layers are filled with peanut butter, cream cheese, caramel, or your favorite liquor!

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Layer Part I gives you a complete breakdown of your icing and filling options! Grab something sweet to kill your craving..and be sure to stop by tomorrow for The Wedding Cake Breakdown..Layer By Layer Part II to continue our journey on a super sweet path to making your perfect wedding cake!

Fresh Idea Fridays: Signature Drink

Beer & wine is the most traditional and popular route for wedding beverage packages. Often this is because to have a "full-bar add-on" packs the bucks to any wedding budget; however, if you are looking to add a little something special to your beverage offering, go with the newest trend - A Signature Drink! This is definitely one of the better trends out there right now, especially because it allows the Bride & Groom to add a personal touch without breaking the BANK (which we all know is the first priority in any event!). 

Photo via Nashville Event Space

I first experienced adding a Signiture Drink to the menu when working with Nashville Event Space. Lauren, our "cute as a button" bride, was looking to make a special drink just for her guests that exemplified the theme and atmosphere of her wedding. Lauren's wedding was a combination of fresh + floral with notes of pastel blues, purples, and pinks. With that in mind, I went to work looking for a drink that was "fun and fresh." After some searching, I came across the Pink Lemonade Cocktail - which I knew was going to be perfect for the Big Day! We served the signature drink in tall boy glasses with sugared rims. To add another personal touch, the we placed flagged straws that read, "All You Need is LOVE" (see photo). The drinks were a serious hit! Delicious and unique for the guests.

Pink Lemonade Cocktail Recipe

1.5 oz cranberry cocktail juice 

1.5 oz Citron vodka

Dash sweet & sour mix 

 Dash Sprite

So if you are looking to add a personal touch to any beverage package without killing your budget, definitely consider doing a signature drink. You can even offer a "His" and "Hers" signature drink to show off both the Bride and Groom's tastes. Take a look at some signature drink inspiration below...which one would you go with? 

1. Spiked Mint Sweet Tea

2. Orange Pineapple Cocktail

3. Champagne Punch

4. Classic Mint Julep

5. Pineapple Mojito

6. Sparkling Cranberry Rose

Enjoy checking out all of these refreshing drinks! Have a wonderful weekend..so beautiful outside...a great weekend for Georgia Weddings!