How can I count the ways of my love for Candace and Lindsay of Lovestru.ck Weddings and Events? They are unbelievably organized, on top of the latest trends, very sweet and easy to work with, and just all around great gals. And, they have built an incredibly successful business that brings joy and love to all of their clients. They designed and coordinated our wedding last February and I truly can’t imagine what the day would’ve been like without them! Now I have the pleasure of working as a vendor at some of their events, which is also a dream come true. I can’t tout their skills enough.
I was so excited when they approached me about doing a wedding dessert blog series together. Their styling + my pastries? Obviously that is a match made in heaven. Each month, I will create two desserts based on a pre-determined theme. One pastry will be more masculine (in texture, shape, ingredients, etc.), and one will be more feminine. I think this will be a great way to re-imagine how we see wedding desserts – and to see how these pastries play together on a theme.
Photography by Jenny Rawson.
About the Pastries:
When we started talking about this shoot, my first thoughts went to Oktoberfest and the flavors around the fall harvest. I wanted to put beer in everything, but it just didn’t seem right. If you’re already drinking beer, do you need to eat it, too? I went to some of my greatest memories in Belgium, with one of my best friends. We drank beer and ate sweets on a really brisk night. We had paper cones filledoliebollen, covered in mountains of powdered sugar, from a street fair. I added lemon zest and Nebraska City apples to these free-form doughnuts to lighten them a little. The speculoos were inspired by a bakery in Bruges – with deep flavors of cardamom, black pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg. So amazing. To take them beyond the traditional version, I made them into little sandwiches with salted caramel buttercream, some dark Belgian chocolate, and roasted pistachios. Sitting down with a big glass of my favorite Belgian beer and these sweets would be an autumn dream come true for me.
About the Styling:
We love styling dessert displays for our clients’ weddings, so we’ve amassed a large collection of different food presentation items over the years. Our beer-themed pastry shoot allowed us to incorporate materials you’d see in your favorite pub such as dark natural wood and slate. I pictured our beer lovers enjoying a picnic with their favorite microbrew, so we made colorful paper cones for the oliebollen to fit perfectly into a four-pack beer carrier.
Are you thoroughly in love yet?! Can’t wait for you to see what’s coming up next month!