Fabulous Wedding Idea: A Parisian Inspired Sweets Display

This week I had the pleasure of teaching a workshop on DIY Classy and Fabulous Sweets Displays hosted at the Venice Community Center Ballroom.  We had such a great time. One of my favorite things to do on the planet is sharing my knowledge and expertise with others.  For this particular workshop we talked about how to put together a really gorgeous sweets display.  One that showcases your wedding cake, that acts as point of interest at your wedding and one that tantalizes the guests with an array of carefully curated desserts in a variety of complimentary colors and visual textures as well as a good blend of flavor profiles.

Collaborating alongside The French Confection Company and Sugar Swag Bakeshoppe, we designed a beautiful display using the colors that Coco Chanel is most famous for (pink, black and white) in the setting of our version of a Parisian patisserie.

I was inspired by this window display I saw some time ago at the Coach store:

This installation was called the "Drawn Collection at Coach". What I loved about this, was how they took 2D sketches to create an incredibly huge impact that showcased their new handbag collection.  I thought it would be so cool and interesting to take this idea to create a backdrop for the workshop.  Simple, graphic, bold.

By hand sketching out a patisserie window display, swag drapes and props, I took our sweets table from good to WOW! Check it out:

Guests were greeted by lovely classical music played on an acoustic guitar by the amazing Gary Valentine. We had cakes with ruffles and a sugar anemone, cakes with strings of pearls and big black bows.  Parisian desserts including macarons and meringues.  And sweet frosted Parisian-themed sugar cookies shaped like fleur de lys, poodles, the Eiffel tower and hearts. There were chocolate dipped pretzels, oreos and krispy treats, and more!  Everyone in attendance satisfied their sweet tooth with our array of delicious delights.

Now for those of you who may wonder why the lettering is backwards.  It is intentional. I painted it that way.  The illusion is that you are INSIDE a bakery and this is the window display. So, no worries, we don't have issues with editing or anything.

Using a beautiful sweet dot linen from La Tavola in a blush pink and stunning dessert stands from Minted and Vintage, we were able to really pull the look together.

This sweets table and all of its curated elements were amazing by themselves.  But one of the things we demonstrated was how you can elevate your display to a completely new level by adding a backdrop and props.  We pulled the props down and removed the backdrop to show the difference. Each attendee was amazed at the difference a backdrop can make.

To end our evening, Krystal Mann Photography was on hand to speak about the importance of capturing the details of your wedding and how to work with your photographer on getting those shots that mean the most to you.

This was a really fun workshop and I hope we can do this one again. If you missed our FREE workshop, never fear!  We have a different wedding workshop near the end of each month. Be sure to check out our list of upcoming workshops HERE.  And if there is one you missed that you would love to see us do again, please feel free to drop Estella a line at estella@fabulouslywed.com.

P.S.  Please join us on June 6, 2013 at 11:00am/2:00pm for our FREE webinar, "Pretty Darn Near Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Executing a Fabulous Wedding".  You can register for your spot HERE!