Wedding: Pie Buffet

This post is once again about the Wedding.  You can find the all of my previous posts about Brandin and Bill's wedding under my blog header-just click on "Vintage Wedding".

I am sad to say that I didn't get a great photo of the entire "room" that we made off to the left side of the barn. The room contained the gift table, the "guest" book area, the dessert tables, the drink table and several chairs as well as a focal point area that contained an iron gate.  I have some photos of the individual components but not a great overall shot.  I am hoping the event photographers grabbed one that I can add later.  Until then I have pieced together what I have.  The area fell victim to time, fatigue and distraction.  It was the last area to be completed and I was running out of time, tired after 4 full days of decorating and driving back and forth an hour each way to the venue daily.  And I just plain forgot.  I was better about snapping pictures earlier in the week.  

I loved the room because it became a cozy little space that seemed to be away from the activity of the reception- even though it wasn't and served as a beautiful space for guests to rest. 

One reason it was so beautiful was the "pie" buffet that we staged.  

The buffet is mine.  Like from my bedroom MINE.  Isn't it awesome?  We snagged a wooden buffet off Craig's list for like $65, added some silver paint, new glass knobs that look vintage and Voila....Perfection.

The cake plates are also mine.  I have a thing for them, Okay? The doilies are mine as are the bottles that I showed you in a previous post.   Because Brandin and Bill served pie instead of wedding cake, this set up worked perfectly.  We had 3 uncut pies that sat on the plates (again, hoping someone grabbed a photo- I was a tad bit busy playing Wedding Planner by the time the pie's arrived that I didn't get one.  The 3 uncut pies, the buffet with the cake plates, and cameras was a beautiful presentation that replaced the wedding cake.  The rest of the pies were pre-cut and served over at one of the dessert tables.  I felt all along that it was important to have this little vignette for the guests to see since there wouldn't be a cake and the ice cream and precut pies just weren't going to be majestic enough.  Would it have ruined the wedding to not have it? No, but it goes back to "details".Guests expect a beautiful cake and that cake does serve as part of the decor at least until it is cut.  The look of the cake reflects the colors, the flowers, the decor or some other aspect of the wedding.  May people are using groom's cakes to represent the playful or more personal side of the couple.  While we could have forgone the pie buffet, it added to the vintage vibe and romantic feel of the wedding and really was a beautiful addition to the barn.

The pies and an apple crisp were made at Crane's Orchard which was almost across the street from the barn and I suspect one of those places that all the local kids spent their childhoods either picking fruit with family or working either in the orchard or the bakery/cafe.  I love that we found-and used- the vintage crate (above with flowers sitting on it) in the barn.  The top is stamped with "Albert Crane".

The desserts were the pies, apple crisp, and Palazzolo's (YUMMY) gelato which is also made locally.  I have no idea how far they distribute their gelato.  I buy it in a local supermarket but if you can get it or if you are in western Michigan along the Lake Michigan shore, be sure to search for it because it is that good.  In all honestly, I LIVE on their Toasted Coconut Almond Fudge...like I eat it almost every day...don't judge me.

Back to the pies, crisp and gelato... because these desserts are all fairly messy to serve, Brandin hired several local high school girls to be there for 2 hours to set up and serve the desserts.  Thankfully, one actually worked at Crane's Orchard because the blueberry pie, while delicious, was a nightmare to get out of the pan and knowing that, she took the task on herself.  She was covered in blueberry pie filling but without her it would have been less blueberry pie and more blueberry massacre-on-a-plate.

Some of my decorated bottles and the embellished mason jar lids looked gorgeous among the cake plates and doilies.  The cameras...all Brandin's and aren't they Cool?  I LOVE the way they look on this table.  Unexpected, but yet PERFECT at the same time.

 When I lit the little votives and the pies were in place this buffet was really quite beautiful.

The buffet is directly across from the CARD suitcase.   The long white table in the background became the drink table.

Here you can see the pie buffet with the chairs on either side.  The poms were placed over the windows.  If you look to the very back of the room you will see....

This awesome space housed the desserts as well as hid the "kitchen"area and was definitely one of my favorite projects.  I found the arched window pane among the "junk" housed in the barn.  I found it on the first day of decorating for the actual wedding.  I grabbed my husband and pulled him over to see it, telling him he needed to figure out a way we could "hang" it in back of the stage.

I envisioned it hanging behind the wedding party at the "top" of the barn so everyone could see it.  The catch?  We needed to hang it without putting any sort of hole in it.  Yeah, that didn't happen. But I still wanted to use it so later I showed it to Brandin and we used it behind the desserts table.

I thought I was so lucky to have found it on the FIRST day of decorating.... when I got home from the actual wedding and started to blog about it I found this photo....

....taken in April when we went to scope out the site.  I guess I was destined to use this piece in this wedding!

We ended up resting it on the church pew- I put a panel of tulle between the two so as to keep the window from scratching the pew.  We ended up tying the window to the barn studs so it wouldn't fall.  The fabric was held in place using clear push pins.  The final detail was the addition of a few poms and rosettes.

We lined the window with fabric to hide the "kitchen" area at the request of the caterers.

We also used tulle panels (leftover from the tulle wall project) on either side of the window.  The door on the left was the final piece on this end.

We used curtains on the door into the kitchen space so the staff could go in and out easily.  Curtains you say....where did you get curtains?   I kid you not, Brandin's mom ran out and bought them at a yard sale Friday afternoon for $1.  True story. 

The door (above) with the pink bow I just love.  The patina on it is just perfect.  Something about the silly pink bow just really brought out all the amazing details.

These photos are to help give you some perspective on the layout; the poms are in place in this photo but the tulle panels weren't up yet.

 

Look how filthy this door was.  Everything we found in the barn was that dirty.  After all it is a functioning barn, not a wedding space.  We were so lucky to find all these great doors and window panes and chairs so no matter how dirty it was just pure fun.  Brandin and her nieces did a great job of  cleaning everything up using Clorox wipes.  Remember, the barn had no running-or for that matter stagnate-water.

The other end of this space is laid out below:

 I used poms and tulle panels to outline both this doorway and the one at the other end near the kitchen so guests would immediately realize that was a space they should enter.

This is the guest book area- the baskets were carried around by two of Brandin's nieces.  They handed out the wedding programs which contained a page for guests to leave advice for the newlyweds.  Brandin used this in instead of a traditional guest book.

I bound the pages together in a book for her.  You can read about that here.    The table is a found piece from the barn.  The "I DO" are paper mache letters that I bought at Hobby Lobby.  I ended up painting them the night before the wedding...talk about dragging it out to the end!   Does it give you some perspective on the DEPTH of my stash of craft supplies that I just happened to have the exact colors of Martha Stewart paint to match the wedding?

This is the same photo I posted prior but I wanted to give you it to reference again: 

The guest book area is to the left of the chair in the forefront.  The chairs were again sourced from the barn...if I could dream it....the barn seemed to have it....somewhere.

I added the tags and bows to the chairs.  While it was a purely cosmetic addition it really carried the vibe of the wedding through every detail.

I made extra tags and lots of extra seam binding.  I took them with me to the barn with no idea what I would do with them.  It pays to make a few extras and take them with you to the venue.  You never know exactly where you might find use for them. 

The opposite wall we are back to the gift table and drink table.

I wanted to point out that above these two tables........

....we hung photos of Brandin and Bill as well as the wreaths I made for the wedding.  They looked so awesome on the open barn studs.  Using the same frame- though we did use different sizes-made for a clean look that allowed the photos to shine and looked great with the grapevine wreaths.   A scattering of vintage frames all the same color would have looked great as well.  You can read my pos about the wreaths here.

The final area in this side "room" was a fun little garden gate that we staged. 

I REALLY wish I had a better photo of this space, but alas I don't.  When it was all completed it really looked amazing.  This photo contains the 2 vintage items we used that were not found objects from the barn itself.  The gate belongs to the florist and the wagon belongs to Brandin's mom.  

I have NO idea what Brandin is doing here.....

I I decorated the gate itself with some of my tag (with seam binding bows) using the glittered clothes pins from the escort card project.   I also added pink fabric bows like I used for the tulle wall project.  I hung the actual vintage sheet music for "Here Comes The Bride" using a Melissa Frances mini hanger.  This is the sheet music I photocopied and used on the embellished candles and a few of the embellished bottles.

Melissa Frances Mini Hanger

When the entire area was completely staged it was a focal point as well.  The gate had a mixed media project hanging on the right side using another Melissa Frances Mini Hanger.  I did a piece using the Irish Wedding Blessing.  Doing "something" with the Irish Wedding Blessing was the only request that I got from Bill regarding the entire wedding.  Who was I to say "no"? This was another project that I did late- like the week of decorating and in my rush I didn't get a photo of it.   I am still trying to get one and when I do I will post it.  

The wagon looked amazing holding one of the large Mason jars filled with flowers and this candle that Brandin's mom bought for her.  I embellished it to give it a vintage vibe by adding a big fluffy tulle and tan seam binding bow and a set of my extra tags....proving 1) I am a DETAIL sorta gal and 2) you NEVER know when a tag will come in handy...so make extra.  

Whew...that was a long post that involved a lot of extra PhotoShopping, PhotoCropping, and Blog-Post-Linking...I need a nap now!  

Hope your day is filled with Sunshine and GLITTER.

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