Moore to Life: All about weddings

This episode is all about weddings. You don’t have to be in NYC or LA to have a fantastic chic wedding - on this show we feature local vendors and give some tips for creating a gorgeous personal wedding, right here in Seattle. Luly Yang is an amazing couture fashion designer who creates gorgeous wedding dresses and is based right here in Seattle.

Your wedding should be all about you and reflect who you are as a couple.  One great idea is DIY wedding décor; now don't be scared, there are countless resources to help you achieve this.    I love the idea of a “love tree” centerpiece, simply place a tall branch that can be found in any wholesale flower market in a vase like the one we found at Crate & Barrel and leave note cards and string next to it.  When your guests arrive at your reception, place a card next to it asking that they leave you a note with their thoughts and place it on the tree.  Have you ever carved your initials in a tree? You can recreate that look with a medium sized tin can and a strip of birch bark.  Using a brown colored pencil draw in your “carving” on the birch then wrap it around the can.  Now you have a great personalized vase. The only thing missing? Paper flowers and I know the perfect resource to have these made…La La Laurie!  Based out of Tacoma, Laurie Cinotto creates beautiful handmade items such as cake toppers, bouquets and boutonnieres. We're lucky enough to have her show us how she makes her lovely creations.

Looking for something with a little more wow factor than your typical wedding cake?  I have just the person to speak to, Lisa Dupar of Lisa Dupar Catering and Pomegranate Bistro.  My wedding had a French theme and I wanted a cake to reflect that, so we decided on a delicious croque en bouche "tree". I asked Lisa to show us how to make it (see below) 

To add that personal touch to your wedding reception, I've created four tabletops reflective of distinct styles that I hope will provide you with ideas for your own reception: modern, romantic, dramatic and handmade.  An incredible event location is Herban Feast here in the SODO district of Seattle. 

For the Modern tabletop, I've gone with pewter, silver and white as my color scheme.  Instead of a traditional centerpiece, I've created a hanging paper mobile. I like the idea of utilizing the vertical space above the table without blocking your guests view of one another across the table.  One of the first things you see when you are seated at a reception is the menu card.  For this tabletop, I've created a skewered menu card where each course is printed on individual sheets of a heavy stock paper similar to what I used in the mobile and then placed onto the skewers.

The Romantic tabletop uses blush, gold and navy as its color palette.  On each table I've placed what I like to call "Lifetime of Love" cards that feature a photo of different couples attending the wedding's portraits with their love story printed on the back. It's a wonderful way for guests to then get to know each other by sharing their own stories and learning more about the couple's family and loved ones.  On this tabletop, I like to use the love tree centerpiece that we made earlier.

Chocolates, naturals, blush and apple green is the color scheme I've chosen for the handmade tabletop.  An easy way to keep costs down at your reception is by creating the décor yourself.  Starting with the table covering, I used faux bois and a patterned craft paper as I runner that I sewed onto it using green thread.  For the place cards, I love the idea of using real fruit, so I bought green apples and cut out a paper leaf from construction paper, wrote the guests' names on it and then affixed it to the apple.  For the takeaway, I found simple mason jars that I filled with old fashioned ribbon candy and affixed a monogram on the top of the jar.  You can obviously choose any design that best fits you!  The centerpiece is the DIY carved tree trunk vase with paper flowers that we made earlier.  I think this tabletop is just darling and so easy and inexpensive to execute yourself.

The Dramatic tabletop really speaks to me as this is similar to what I designed for my own wedding!  For it, I've used raspberry, scarlet, gold and black as the color scheme.  I worked with Aria to create a scarlet velvet tablecloth and a raspberry brocade runner.  I love flickering candlelight so I placed a tall gold candelabra with long red candle tapers as my centerpiece. Because my wedding took place in Quebec, I wanted to give my guests something that would remind them of their time there so we created a Quebec CD passport for them to bring home.

I hope this episode has inspired you to truly make your wedding a day that is most reflective of you and your personality so that you can share a bit more of yourselves with your guests and embrace the amazing vendors Seattle has to offer!

RECIPES:

Lisa Dupar abd Jonathon Zimmer of Lisa Dupar Catering/Pomagranae Bistro cooked up the Croque en bouche "tree" in the Gaggeneau Kitchen at Basco Kitchen Design Showroom. Click here for a tour of the kitchen. 

Lisa Dupar Catering/Pomagranate Bistro

Pate A Choux / Dough for Cream Puffs

1) Place the milk, butter, salt, sugar and lemon zest into a pan and bring to simmer and butter is melted.
2) Quickly add flour. Cook until smooth and satiny, about 5-7 min.
3) Put dough into mixer. With paddle, add one egg at a time, blending well after each one.
4) Pipe from a large pastry bag with a ½" tip smooth even "balls" on a silpat. If you do not have smooth "balls" you can knock down the points with a little bit of egg wash.
5) Bake at 425 for 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 375 degrees and bake until puffed up and light golden brown, about 20 minutes more. Do not open the oven door during baking. Let cool on sheet.
 

Pastry Cream for Cream Puff Filling

Yield: Enough for 70 cream puffs - 1 foot tall croque em bouche
(double recipe for a taller tree-2")
1) Place the milk into a large pot, bring to a boil.

Milk                                32 ounces
Vanilla bean-split           1
2) Combine the eggs, sugar, and cornstarch in a large bowl.

Eggs                             4
Sugar                            8 oz.
Corn Starch                  3 oz.

3) Temper the egg-sugar mixture together with half of the milk. Pour this mixture into the pot with the remaining milk. Bring to a boil, stir constantly. Strain immediately into a stainless hotel pan to cool.

*Note: this basic pastry cream can be "flavored" with various flavorings such as fresh passion fruit.

Caramel For Assembling

6 cups sugar
1 up. water

Place sugar, cream of tartar and water in a small saucepan. Stir over low heat until sugar is dissolved. (Do not stir after this point.) Raise heat and allow sugar syrup to cook until it is a ruddy gold in color (345 degrees). Remove from heat and place in a large pan containing boiling water to keep it soft and manageable.

Lift each puff with tongs (or carefully with gloves on hands) and dip the un-pierced side into the syrup. Place syrup side down on a large round serving platter on which a thin layer of syrup has been spread. Make a round of puffs then another ring of puffs on top. Keep building in this manner to form a tall cone. Any remaining caramel can be drizzled over the cone. Be very careful when working with the caramel as it is very hot. Also, do not dip puffs on pierced side or the filling may cause the caramel to not harden properly.