Guest Blog Post: The Flour Shoppe talks Dessert Tables



photo: Melanie Rebane Photography

We can’t dispute the popularity of dessert tables at weddings. Brides and grooms love to offer their guests a selection of tasty treats to finish off their meal and we don’t blame them. Even celebrities like Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds are embracing the idea for their own weddings, as featured in Martha Stewart Weddings. They captured the rustic elegance of their wedding using beautiful fruit filled tarts, miniature pies, and yummy s’mores bars in soft pastel hues.

A dessert table can be crafted to compliment the theme of any wedding. Today our guest blogger Melissa from The Flour Shoppe gives us some insight into how to incorporate dessert tables into your wedding, whether your theme channels high elegance or vintage chic.

The tables are set, the linens are pressed, and the favours and florals are placed just so. One of my favourite parts of a wedding is entering the reception room and seeing how all of the details have come together to create the picture perfect setting for celebrating with friends and family!  As a self-proclaimed "Dessert Enthusiast", the recent addition of styled sweet tables as a key element of reception decor is something I can really sink my teeth into!  At The Flour Shoppe, we've been creating stunning spreads of sweets that represent the bride and groom’s favourite desserts and flavours for the past few years. We love having the opportunity to help create a stunning presentation suited to the look and feel of any event!  

photo: AMBphoto

Forget worrying about what to serve and who likes what!  Bite size versions of various desserts allow you to provide your guests with not only choice but the chance to try something new.  With a sampling of sweets (usually 3-4 pieces per person) as part of the late night snack or the main dessert, sweet tables are built on a custom basis.  Don't like brownies but absolutely must have a nod to your grandmother's famous butter tarts on the table? No problem!  Love salty with your sweet?  Consider a selection of gourmet popcorn and caramel corn as an option for your guests to snack on when they need a break from the dance floor!

Creating the perfect dessert table starts with identifying the theme guiding the look of your wedding. Decorating with burlap and lace?  Homestyle desserts like brownies, miniature fruit pies or tarts, bakery style cookies and classic cupcakes lend themselves to building a sweet spread fitting of a rustic fête.  Serving the treats on vintage pedestals and an eclectic collection of display pieces, with a backdrop of antique lace curtains, provides the finishing touches on a perfectly styled sweet table. 

Planning a more glitzy affair, high on glamour and refinement?  Don't count cupcakes out for these elegant celebrations!  Topped with a perfectly piped pillow of buttercream and exquisitely crafted sugar flowers or custom embellishments, cupcakes combined with tinted meringues, our signature cake shots and perfectly placed marshmallows create a sweet centrepiece high on style and taste, especially when served on a monochromatic and modern selection of display plates.  

AMBphoto

Craving a bit more tradition on your dessert table? No matter what the overall look of the table, you can incorporate a small tiered wedding cake to add a more classic centrepiece to your sweet spread!  

People eat with their eyes first and then... well, and then they just eat!  Whatever the style, whatever the desserts, a styled sweet table combining everyone's favourite "food group" is sure to please even your most discerning guests!

Contact The Flour Shoppe so Melissa and her amazing team can help you create the perfect dessert table for your wedding. We guarantee it will both look and taste fabulous! 

Wedding Palace Bridal Show: Thanks for Stopping by !

We had an absolute blast at the Wedding Palace Bridal Show two weekends ago. Seeing all of our vendors in one place (when we are all not running off to attend to wedding-related business) is always a treat and meeting the new brides-to-be as well as our current brides who were taking in show made the weekend fly by.

For those of you that couldn't make it, we wanted to post some photos of our colourful booth so thanks to Melanie Rebane for capturing our vision through photos, thanks to Erin from Full Bloom for the stunning florals (fresh flowers are so nice to see when it's -30 outside).  Cheryl from Paper Studio for our 'fan' menus and table numbers, Groovy Linen, Prestige Rentals, Wedecor and Partytime Rentals for pulling the rest of our look together.

2013 is going to be your year brides.....and we can't wait to share it with you !

A Guide to Thank You Cards

We all have a love hate relationship with Thank You cards. They allow you to personally thank each and every one of your wedding guests for taking the time to attend your special day and for the gift they thoughtfully provided. It allows you to relive your wedding day with every card you write. It also can be a source of stress because trying to be original with every card gets difficult and you don't need the added pressure of knowing you have a certain time frame to complete them in.

I recently came across these Thank You card writing tips on Martha Stewart and I just had to pass them along to you guys (I don't see these types of tips enough). The one thing that wasn't here that I would suggest is at showers, pass out a Thank You card envelope to every guest, ask them to write their full name and address on the front. Then collect them all. This way, the bride-to-be has all of her envelopes already addressed to her guests with their up-to-date addresses. She will use these to send out her thank you cards after the shower. It would take her an hour to address them all, but it only takes her guest 30 seconds to write down their information.
Also, start sending out thank you notes as soon as the gifts arrive. Some guests prefer to send your gifts before the wedding to avoid bringing large sums of cash or a large gift to the wedding. You'll find getting some done in advance will be good for your spirit and lighten the workload a bit.

Getting Organized

Buy thank-you cards early (if you're having them printed, it's often cheaper to order them along with your other wedding stationery), so you have them on hand. Set up a log when you begin addressing your invitations to help keep track of the correct spelling of names, mailing addresses, and phone numbers. Use the list to record guests' responses and, ultimately, gifts they give you.

Keeping Track

When you open presents, immediately record who gave you what, either in your log or right on the gift cards, which you could keep together in a specially designated box. Despite your best efforts, a few gifts may become separated from their cards. If the gift was from your registry, call the store to see if it has a record of who purchased it. If not, you may have to try figuring it out by the process of elimination.

What's the Time Frame?

Ideally, you should acknowledge every present immediately, but sending it within two weeks is also acceptable. The period surrounding your wedding is a busy time; if you fall behind, make every effort to send a thank you as soon as you can -- but no later than three months after the event.
To ensure the task doesn't become too overwhelming, write notes in small batches. Diane Warner, author of "Contemporary Guide to Wedding Etiquette", offers this strategy: "Set a goal of writing three or four thank-you notes per day. Don't try to tackle them all at once, otherwise they may tend to start sounding trite." She also recommends that both the bride and the groom divide the note-writing duties.

How to Save Money

You can save money by dressing up plain cards and making your own notes. Another alternative is to turn a photo from your wedding day into thank-you postcards. Your photographer may offer them (keep in mind that it takes time for him to produce them), or you can make them yourself (just be sure you have the photographer's permission).

Who Should Write Them?

It is customary for just one person to write and sign each note, mentioning his or her spouse's appreciation ("Karen and I want to thank you.... Love, David"). However, coauthored notes, signed by both the bride and groom, are also acceptable. One easy way to share the work is for the bride to write to her own family members and friends, and the groom to his.

What Should the Message Say?

You don't need to write a lot -- four or five sentences will suffice -- as long as what you do express is heartfelt. Identify the gift, say why you appreciate it, why it has a personal meaning for you, and how you plan to use it. If the giver came to the wedding, especially from a distance, also include a sentence thanking him for attending: "Thank you for coming to our wedding. Your presence made our day extra-special. David and I love the coffee maker. We've used it every day since we got back from our honeymoon. Thanks so much." For cash gifts, you need not mention the dollar amount, but it's a nice touch to say how you plan to spend the money.

What Should the Sign-Off Be?

The sign-off should reflect your relationship to the recipient. "Love" is suitable for close friends and family; "with affection" is a slightly less intimate option; "sincerely" may be the most appropriate when you're writing to someone such as your manager at work. You needn't sign off with your full names with people you're close to, but you may want to use them in thank-you notes to business associates and friends of your parents. Trust your instincts: If using your surname feels cold or stiff, leave it out. If your message sounds overly familiar without it, then include it.

New Year's Resolutions: For the Bride-to-Be

Happy New Year ! The new year always brings plans to better oneself and the new year often brings new 'bling' (congratulations on your recent engagement!!). So it only made sense for my first blog post of 2013 to be resolutions for the bride to-be. Don't worry, it's not going to be "drink more water" or "get in shape" or "don't go over budget". Those are resolutions you already know, the ones I have made below are ones that I think are often forgotten but just as important from seeing years of wedding planning with our clients.

1) I resolve to tap into my wedding planner's creative juices
We're here to help and you are paying us for a reason. We live and breathe weddings and it's never a bother to research something for you. In fact, often times, there is very little research needed because we've been doing this for so long that ideas and answers come so easily to us. So save yourself some stress and time and shoot us an email, the worst that can happen is we don't have an answer to your question and we can search for a solution together.

2) I resolve to stick to my gut when designing
Wedding planing can be overwhelming, and wedding blogs and Pinterest have made it almost impossible to settle on any decision. One click brings you to an idea even more beautiful than the last idea you thought you loved.  How will you ever make a decision !?
You have to get offline and away from the magazines for at least a day, be by yourself or with your fiance and think hard about the weddings that have always made your heart skip a beat. Modern and structured? Soft and romantic? Outdoor during the summer? Winter wonderland? Once you decide on that, when you are looking for inspiration online, look only with those search terms. Planning and Pinterest will be your friend again.

3) I resolve to not sweat the small stuff
I can't tell you how many times I have seen a bride stress out about a small detail that only her, myself and her mom knew about. Yes, we get it that this is the most important day of your life and you only get to do this once. But that is exactly it, you only get to do this once. So why would you spend your morning with your mom and bridesmaids stressing out that your florist gave you white roses in your bouquet instead of eggshell-coloured roses. Your guests are so happy to see you and to celebrate with you that they would never notice if anything went wrong. Plus, we're there to handle any thing that goes wrong that can be fixed. Never lose sight of what is important- the marriage, the wedding is just one day in your future together.

4) I resolve to keep control of my wedding
As much as you'd like to believe your wedding day is for the bride and groom, it often becomes about the families that are about the be joined as well. Even more so when cultures and deep rooted traditions are involved. It can be hard to fight families and the planning process can become difficult if you resist requests proposed by your family- or even more awkward, your in-laws. What you have to do is meet in the middle somewhere. Don't give up complete control of your wedding, but choose your battles wisely. Inviting your mom's 10 extra guests may be worth it if you can have the venue you want.

5) I resolve to not get lost in the planning
It takes over 200 hours to plan a wedding. We'll be the first people to tell you that it's difficult and it's easy to get lost in the planning if you're not careful. So before things get out of control, plan a weekly date with your finance that does not involve wedding planning. Take the dog to the dog park for an extra 30 minutes, watch a movie, work out, attend cooking classes- anything, just set aside time to do something not related to the wedding and don't talk about the wedding while you're doing it.

Happy new year and happy planning !