DIY Inspired Dessert Bar by Chic Sweets

August 4, 2010

This next feature is really special for a couple of reasons. For one, it was inspired by my amazingly talented sister-in-law's DIY templates that we debuted about a year ago. Laura Larson is the designer of the brand Two Yellow Shoes and crafts ready-to-print templates for your wedding day paper goods...along with the cutest details a bride could ever want. Well, Natalie Clamp, the owner of the yummy Chic Sweets, took Laura's templates to an entirely new level with this awesome, budget friendly dessert bar (buffet). It's so easy to replicate and just might be the one thing that inspires your entire wedding day style!

From Natalie at Chic Sweets ... Last year, I had the pleasure of seeing a beautiful, yellow and navy wedding, featured on Style Me Pretty. The wedding happened to be that of Abby’s sister in law, Laura Larson. Abby posted some great DIY templates, created by Laura herself and so I decided to create a dessert bar centered on the yellow wildflower motif that was used throughout and of course, using the printable templates. During the dessert-table design phase, I decided to collaborate with a few other fantastic collaborators (including my source of inspiration, Laura of Two Yellow Shoes). Somehow, one thing led to another and before I knew it, we had a full-fledged, fantastic team assembled and a photoshoot set to take place in breathtaking Anna Maria Island, near Sarasota.

A few of the details...

Dessert Bar / Table: We had the concept and color scheme pinned down (light blue and yellow); however, since now the shoot was taking place at the beach, we knew it had to reflect this we-just-put-this-together, but still looks amazing table. We also wanted to stay in this budget-friendly area so we worked with desserts that were accessible but still looked great on the table. Oversize chocolate chip cookies, white chocolate-dipped oreos; powdered donuts. Since we love to collaborate with fabulous dessert vendors, we also asked Better Bit of Butterto create gorgeous fondant-covered cookies with a dozen, yellow and blue flowers on them.

And since you cannot have cookies without milk we set up a bucket of various sizes of milk bottles and shot glasses. *Budget-Friendly Tip: a few of those bottles, are actually Starbucksbottles, with the labels taken off and the bottle cap spray painted. The larger bottles were another budget-friendly option, purchased at IKEA. The shot glasses we had on the table were topped off with blue-striped paper straws and a cute little, “I-do” wildflower motif tag, courtesy of Laura’s ETSY shop, Two Yellow Shoes.

We also took some plain, vanilla cupcakes and spruced them up with these amazing fondant toppers, created by another ETSY love of mine, Two Sugar Babies, again, reflective of this wildflower motif that was used throughout. And finally, in order to satisfy everyone’s sweet tooth, gum balls, gummi bears and chocolate-covered sunflower seeds were added to the mix.

Dessert Bar / Table Backdrop: And though we had the gorgeous Beach House Restaurant as our venue, I love to work with ribbons as a great (and affordable) source for décor, so we did a ribbon wall, working off various shades of yellow and blue. When we got there, we had this lovely wind running through so the ribbons kept on blowing back and forth and it could not be more perfect.

Tablescape: The table, created by MMD Events was done in shades of sunshine yellow and corn flower blue, held a large distressed ivory urn holding a mass of hybrid white delphinium as its focal point. A custom runner played up the color scheme which was further accented with antique glass bottles, stacks of vintage plates and milk glass containers filled with crespedia.

Model: This is our favorite part! MMD Event’s lovely intern, Vanessa played our model in a $5.00, that is right, a $5.00 dress found at a local, vintage store. There was extra, yellow table runner available, so that was wrapped around her dress and put into a fun bow. And finally, some adorable felt flowers were pinned to the runner with some crespedia balls.

Photography: Limelight Photography / Dessert Table Concept and Design: Chic Sweets / Tablescape Concept and Design, Model: MMD Events/ Printed goods, Signage and Custom Blooming Pillows: Two Yellow Shoes / Linens: Linens by the Sea / Venue: The Beachhouse Restaurant / Fondant cupcake toppers: Two Sugar Babies / Vintage Labels: Paper Eclectiques / Cookies: Better Bit of Butter & Gum Drop Cookie Shop / Candy and all other Desserts: Chic Sweets /