Vintage Dessert Table

Hi, I'm back with all the details of our dessert table at Kate & Jay's beautiful wedding on the weekend.

Whoa, what a day Saturday was, the weather was just CRAAAAAZZZZZY!  I'm talkin' cyclone scary crazy!

Kate and Jay were set to have their wedding at The Boathouse Palm Beach with their wedding reception being held on a beautiful deck overlooking Pittwater - perfect for a balmy summer evening.

Unfortunately the balmy evening that they would have envisaged played out more like a tropical cyclone so plans B C AND D had to be put into place.

This is where they should have had their wedding reception - such a pretty spot.

Fortunately the owners of The Boathouse had just recently finished renovations on another reception venue, Moby Dicks, which is just down the road at Whale Beach and thankfully the venue was available for them to use.

Moby Dick's is right on the beach at Whale Beach and has huge big windows that look out over the ocean.  So after a quick call from the bride to let us know the change of plans we headed on up to Whale Beach.

Kate wanted a pretty vintage style table in hues of pink, cream mushroom and chocolate with some lace detailing.

Kate loved a lot of the details that we featured on the table we did for a bridal fair, so we incorporated quite a few of those into her table.

We made Strawberry Vanilla Cake Pops in the prettiest pale pink.

Gorgeous blush pink Strawberry and vanilla macarons were supplied by Baked Patisserie.

Kate and Jay's wedding invitations featured two lovebirds so we incorporated some pretty bird details into the table in the way of bird topped apothecary jars, cloches and the wedding cake topper.

 

Kate wanted cupcakes for the wedding cake.  These vanilla cupcakes were made by me, we did half topped with fondant and half topped with buttercream.  Each cupcake was finished with a lace wrapper custom made by Di and I.

The beautiful top cake, for the bride and groom to cut, was made by Lorinda Seto of www.cakesbylorinda.com.au. As we have said before, she makes the most stunning cakes, and once again, she did not disappoint.

 

We loved the way the lace gave a pretty scalloped edge to the top of each cupcake.  Unfortunately the extreme humidity on the day, the fact that the rain pounding the windows was so fierce it was actually coming inside and there was no air-conditioning our fondant and buttercream began to suffer a little - you can see the fondant on these cupcakes is getting a glossy sheen........that's from the humidity!

Sweet treats on the table included Clinkers, Maltesers, Milk Buds, Strawberry Bon Bons, Pink Heart Marshmallows, Strawberry Jelly Beans and Pink Heart Swirl Lollipops.

We provided little hand stamped muslin bags for guests to fill and take home with them.  Di stayed up very late one night stamping them all and pressed each bag with the iron.......it's all in the details!

Di also made her delicious vanilla sugar cookies again.......these are becoming a signature detail on our tables - and it's no wonder why......they are sooooo yummy!

 Sweet pink heart lollipops tied with a chocolate ribbon.

The flowers that the venue is styled with are absolutely amazing, verdant and abundant.  One detail we thought was really sweet was the feature of photographs of Kate and Jay's parents and grandparents on their wedding days.

The venue had various lounge areas set up, featuring gorgeous white wicker lounges with plump cushions and gorgeous rustic pieces of furniture, candles and flowers.

Just look at those Hydrangeas.....aren't they stunning.

And these ones too.......green.....my favourite!

How amazing is that bath tub with the Magnolia leaves.......LOVE IT!  I love to see something quirky......something delightful and unexpected.

Another beautiful lounge area for guests to sit and relax, drink in hand......ahhhhh bliss.

Great bar area, absolutely love those giant "ice buckets" on the bar.

The other side of the bar...how cool is that tap......can you tell I'm crushing on this venue just a little!  More picks of the bride and groom's parents and grandparents and yes more flowers were added to that table after I'd snapped this pic.

I just had to share this pic of their menu.......doesn't it look yummy.

Wedding favors - the girls received a lovely Samantha Wills ring and the boys a deck of cards.  More flowers and beautiful styling.

Look at the rain pounding those windows. 

The windows were offset so all the rain was coming through the gaps, that shinyness (is that a word) on the floor is not a high gloss lacquer - it's water.  They had to have someone mopping it up continuously.

As we drove the winding road back up to Whale Beach at 11pm on Saturday night, through torrential rain and cyclonic winds, dodging downed palm trees (we seriously felt like we were driving out to a pineapple plantation in Hawaii and should have been in a Jeep!) we knew that Kate & Jay would have a wedding day that they will never forget.  Not everything went to plan, but hey, that's life and things don't always go to plan, but you get through it and you make the most of it - I'm sure they will look back on the day with the fondest of memories and maybe even laugh about the day CYCLONE MOBY DICK HIT!

Dessert table concept and styling:  A Little Polkadot
Wedding cake:  www.cakesbylorinda.com.au
Wedding cupcakes, heart cookies and cake pops:  A Little Polkadot
Custom buffet labels and favor bags:  A Little Polkadot
Macarons:  Baked Patisserie
Venue:  Moby Dicks, Whale Beach

If you would like A Little Polkadot to style a stunning dessert table for your next celebration, please email kiki@alittlepolkadot.com.au, we'd love to bring your vision to life.

Kx

Cyclone Moby Dick

Yesterday Di and I did a dessert table for the lovely Kate & Jay at the most stunning venue in the most catastrophic of conditions.......weather conditions that is.

This picture.....was definately NOT taken yesterday........no, yesterday those palm trees were nearly ripped from their roots and the sideways rain that pounded Whale Beach had to be seen to be believed.  

We will remember Saturday 23rd February 2013 as the day CYCLONE MOBY DICK HIT!

They say it is good luck to have rain on your wedding day......Kate and Jay should buy a lottery ticket....they certainly got their fair share of good luck!

Despite the extreme weather conditions, they had a perfect day and the venue was just so stunning you could easily forget what was going on outside.

We can't wait to show you the picks of our gorgeous dessert table and some beautiful images of the Moby Dicks venue.

Stay tuned.....

Kx

Nautical Birthday....

Happy New Year!

Yes....it's been a while since I have last posted.....APOLOGIES!

With Christmas, New Year, School Holidays....it's all happening.  Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year!

We have been away and are now back in the swing ready for 2013!

I had an email from a lovely girl late last year inquiring about our Nautical Party Invitation Set.

Rachelle really loved our Sail Away party set and here's what she did with it.  I think we may have a budding dessert table stylist here!

WELCOME TO ARCHIE'S PARTY

Gorgeous garden gate with "Party Here" sign setting the tone.

 

Gorgeous dessert table

 

How  cute is this little table........love the sailor hat garland.

 

cute decorations were a feature at Archie's party creating a gorgeous look.

life saver jellies and blue cake pops.

The Drinks Stand....I love the anchor that Rachelle used on the drink dispenser.....gorgeous!

Don't these meringue life bouys look so delicious......Y....U....M!

Live Saver jellies

Captain's Cupcakes

Dessert table candy

little "bait" bag favours.....too cute!

fun sailor hat activities.

how cute are these little fish burger and chips boats!

Rachelle, you did such an amazing job on Archie's party - I'm sure he had

a wonderful time and you have many happy memories to cherish always.  Well done, to a budding dessert table stylist!

Kx

Preppy Plaid Dessert Table

A few months back we had a client come to us requesting a dessert table for her son's christening.

Her little boy was receiving this gorgeous christening box from his grandparents - so this became our jumping off point (as interior designer Sarah Richardson would say!).

Isn't it just beautiful - it's from www.blessedchristenings.com.au and they have so many different themes to choose from.

So we had our inspiration - vintage car - seafoam green - chocolate.

Even though in this box set there are polkadots and stripes, when I looked at it, I saw "plaid".

The vintage car just gave me images of the English countryside, herringbone hats, tweed jackets, plaid, convertible vintage cars and bow ties.

Di and I found this fabulous plaid wallpaper from www.creativewallcoverings.com and knew that it would work so well for our backdrop.

Our lovely client also wanted to include flowers.  As this was a christening for a boy we didn't want it to look too feminine or girly.  I'm thinking HYDRANGEAS are in order.......luckily our client agreed!

Unlike Madonna....I LOVE Hydrangeas they are one of my all time favourite blooms - If they weren't deciduous I would have them planted all along the front of my house - I'm thinking Gardenias - another one of my favourites - are a more sensible choice.......sorry, I digress.

Back to our dessert table.

The christening luncheon was to be held in a waterside restaurant with a bright airy interior and views of the water....perfect!

This lovely venue is LeSands Pavillion at Brighton Le Sands.  They had me at their chairs.  So many venues have very ordinary chairs, but these were lovely......we were off to a good start!

As our client wanted a floral centerpiece for each table we decided that we would add a giant balloon to keep it fun and juvenile (perfect for a baby boy).  Our client stressed that she didn't want it to look too weddingy (is that a word???).  We thought the addition of a giant balloon brought a "fun" element to the table.

 

Each floral arrangement sat atop a custom riser box which we covered in the same plaid wallpaper that we used on our dessert table backdrop.  The table centerpieces included hydrangea, white roses and magnolia leaves.  Our 4am trip to the Sydney Flower Markets was well worth it.  I love the buzz of the flower markets and I do miss it, from my wedding flower days.  It's every man for himself, it's busy, it's alive, it's colourful, it's joyous........IT'S A FABULOUS WAY TO START YOUR DAY!

We were really happy with the space that we had to work with.  The walls of the venue were a rich charcoal navy and we knew this would work well with our overall idea for the space.

However, we did not know initially just how much we would come to depend on those rich charcoal navy walls.

I like to keep it real, so I'm gonnna give you the good with the bad.  You see our initial plan for our table backdrop was to have two plaid covered panels and this is how it almost was.  Di and I were so proud of ourselves - we were all organised, we'd got together a couple of weeks before the event to finalise our props and styling.  We covered our backdrop panels with our wallpaper and covered all of our riser boxes....we only had a few off cut pieces left, we had calculated everything so well..... we were on track and on schedule.

The night before the event Di came over and we had a lovely time making the floral arrangements, we organised who would take what to the venue the next day, packed up Di's car and at 10.30pm she set off home.  At 10.45pm I received a panicked call.......the backdrops are "stuffed" she told me....I said "what do you mean" ....."their all bubbled and lifting.....we can't use them"........."can you come over".

Being as tired as I was from our early morning flower market trip....I WAS ALREADY IN BED!  but what could I do.....this event was TOMORROW!  I had to drive to Di's and get this figured out.

When I arrived....she was right.....it wasn't good.  On the trip over to Di's my husband called me and said....."if they look really bad.....don't touch them......just bring them home and I'll fix them"  he is so good to me!

Yep....they looked bad....Di and I didn't even try and do anything with them.  I had to be the calming force.....Di was flipping out - I put the backdrops into the car and with a wave goodbye said "don't worry hubby will fix them".

When I got home I just gave them to my hubby and said good luck and I went to bed!

The next morning I woke with a start at 5.30am......the backdrops were my immediate thought....were they fixed.....had we saved our skins???????  I crept out of bed and went to investigate.  On the floor in the living room in the semi morning light, it looked good - I crouched down for a feel and oooohhhhhh it was not good - bubbles and creases ......holy sh*t what are we going to do.......hang on ...... holy sh*t where is the other panel.

I woke up hubby...."what happened" I said....."how did it go?"

He had managed to save only one panel...the other one.......TOAST!

Oh dear.....it's 7am and we have a dessert table to be ready by 1.00pm.   WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?????

I remembered I had some white frames - 6 in fact......brilliant - we could use these and put some of the plaid wallpaper inside....yep that would work.

And yes sireee it did work......sometimes you make a mistake (NEVER....EVER...use spray adhesive to secure wallpaper to a piece of foam core - you should probably use a wallpaper glue...ha, there's an idea or maybe just water......which is what we probably should have done!) and the solution leads to the final result being better than what you had planned........look.....

The white frames pop against the charcoal navy walls.  Originally we were going to have just two panels of the plaid back drop.  I don't think that would have worked so well.

Why have I just told you all of this.......well don't be discouraged if things don't look how you expected them to....take a step back think about it and you'll come up with the right solution, sometimes things need to be changed....be flexible.

When my hubby saw this pic....he was impressed....he said it looked like something from a  
Ralph Lauren store launch.....yep....I could handle that!

We absolutely LOVE how this table turned out and here are all the details.

The Cake.....

For the cake we turned, once again, to the talents of Lorinda Seto.

She is such a perfectionist and her cakes do not disappoint.  Di and I designed a cake that was classic and simple and Lorinda executed the design perfectly.  Our client was absolutely thrilled with the cake and she said it tasted just as good as it looked.

The treats on the table included, gorgeous vintage car vanilla sugar cookies made by Di.

Mini vanilla bean cupcakes with vanilla buttercream (made by me) with custom designed fondant disc toppers made by Di....the fondant queen!

Our client made a special request that donuts be featured on the table.  She didn't mind what kind of donuts there were - there just had to be donuts as one of the Godfather's loved donuts.  We are all for those special little details that really personalise a table so we loved this idea.  As our client didn't have a preference for a particular type of donut, we thought that cinnamon would work best.

We used mini cinnamon donuts from good old Donut King and dusted them with extra sugar and authentic Greek Cinnamon provided from Di's personal stash!  The scent of that cinnamon......heavenly!

We used the gorgeous Rosanna Inc footed bowls and filled them with Allens Milk Bottles (so appropriate for a baby), chocolate malt balls and delicious vanilla macarons from Baked Patisserie.

Finally, we finished off the table with two glass squat jars filled with Toffee bon bons - always a favourite for their yummy English Toffee goodness!

To carry the hydrangea theme through to our dessert table we included two custom painted trough vases brimming with blue, green and white hydrangeas.......these blooms were just heavenly.

So beautiful!

All images by A Little Polkadot

And finally, we would like to thank Amy Atlas for the wonderful feature of our dessert table on her blog, you can check out Amy's post here.  We love and admire Amy's work so much and are always so thrilled to have our work featured by her, on her blog.  Thank you SO much Amy and Lisa!

If you would like A Little Polkadot to create an absolutely stunning dessert table for your next event, we would love to hear from you.  Please don't hesitate to contact kiki@alittlepolkadot.com.au - we would be thrilled to work with you to create an event that you and your guests will remember long after the celebrations have ended.

Credits:  

Table design concept and styling:  www.alittlepolkadot.com.au

Cake:  Lorinda Seto - www.cakesbylorinda.com.au

Macarons:  Baked Patisserie - www.facebook.com/bakedpatisserie

Cookies and cupcakes: www.alittlepolkadot.com.au

Custom printables: www.alittlepolkadot.com.au
Photography:  A Little Polkadot - www.alittlepolkadot.com.au

Kx