We recently hosted my bridal shower with good friends and family in attendance and I knew that I wanted a different shower than the typical party hosted at a restaurant. With this in mind, we hired out the penthouse of my apartment building and brought in some of New York and the country’s best vendors for the things that matter so much to me: great food and drink.
I wanted our guests to be treated to the best of the best, so I turned to some of my favorite brands for a partnership. The theme of the party was an elevated afternoon tea, so we had lots of beautiful finger foods, cakes and great wines and prosecco. What’s great about our selection is that many of our vendors ship nationwide should you want to incorporate them into your next gathering!
For wine, we partnered with Hope Family Wines. For prosecco, we had delicious bottles of bubbly from La Marca. Our cheese spread was provided by Mozzarella Co. Jams were provided by The Jelly Queens. Our wonderful desserts were just mouth watering. Billy’s Bakery provided a white funfetti cake with pink frosting. Lady M provided their signature Mille Feuille cake and cookies were provided by Schmackary’s.
Below, find photos from the event and links to where you can buy similar items! We also detail why we worked with each vendor and how much our guests enjoyed all of the fare. All in all, I am a firm believer that great food and drinks set the tone of any party. When you invest in gourmet, eclectic items to serve your guest, they feel pampered!
Hope Family Wines
Based in the Paso Robles region of California, Hope Family Wines has been family-owned and operated for more than 40 years. The Hope family, now in its third generation on the grounds, still runs the business today and has a range of delicious red and white wines.
For the shower, we wanted to offer a variety of wine variations to our guests and really showcase the breadth of Hope Family’s offerings. We served their Treana Chardonnay, their Austin Hope Cabernet and their Treana red wines, all of which have sky-high rankings from Wine Enthusiast, which is the pre-eminent wine rating group in the industry.
We believe that great wine really sets the tone for a gathering, so we were proud to exclusively serve Hope Family Wines.
Their Austin Hope (named for the son of the founders!) is just delicious and full-bodied. It has notes of cherries and berries and dried spices, making it a very complex pour. It paired so well with our creamy and rich cheeses. This bottle boasts a whopping 97 on Wine Enthusiast’s ranking, which is reserved for the creme de la creme.
Cabernet is one of the family’s marquee varietals and it really shows with this delicious bottle of wine. This is a bottle we will be ordering again to serve at our dinner parties because it is such a crowd pleaser. We served it with our meat course at the bridal shower and all of my guests thought it was lovely.
The other red we served is Hope Family’s Treana Red, which is a rich red wine that is a blend of 75% cabernet and 25% syrah. The bottle is dark and sexy with gold embellishments. It’s definitely a statement wine that would make a lovely hostess gift.
The Treana Red has notes of currant and blackberry as well as clove. It would pair just beautifully with a great cut of steak. It has a 92 rating from Wine Enthusiast, which is so well deserved.
For white wine, we served their Treana Chardonnay. This paired really well with our lighter dishes, such as salad and granola. The Treana Chardonnay is warm and smooth while having mild notes of citrus and fruit, such as apricot and orange. We loved the sweet notes that still left acidity at the finish. It boasts a 90-point rating from Wine Enthusiast.
Prosecco from La Marca Prosecco
We are big fans of La Marca prosecco for a number of reasons. The company sources its grapes from the La Marca Trevigiana region of Italy and creates a palette of honey and citrus without it being sweet. It is delightfully light and effervescent, tickling the tongue in just the right ways.
Given that my shower has an afternoon tea theme, great prosecco was an absolute must. We served our guests La Marca prosecco, which was set it up in beautiful vintage champagne buckets chilling on ice. We displayed bowls of berries for guests to add to their glasses in a prosecco bar type of set up. In addition to being smooth to drink, La Marca’s bottles with their pastel blue labels just look elegant at a party and photograph so well, especially in the case of an afternoon tea party!
We paired the prosecco with tea sandwiches, scones, cupcakes and other items fit for a tea party and La Marca encapsulated the theme so well. For those throwing a party of your own, we love the variety of sizes La Marca has. For instance, they have mini bottles that could be a good party favor or to serve to guests with a pretty craft straw or on a bachelorette party. They also have magnums for more over-the-top celebrations.
Sugar Charcuterie Candy Charcuterie Board
We turned to Sugar Charcuterie, a New York City maker of candy charcuterie boards, for a candy platter that was straight our of wonderland. We asked for a rainbow-colored presentation of all of our favorite candies, ranging from Sour Patch Kids to gummy worms and peach rings, and it was beyond our wildest dreams! This candy charcuterie board was such a hit with our guests and so Instagrammable. We’ll be making this a staple at all of our parties! It’s truly one of the hottest & most Instagrammable new trends in party planning.
Billy’s Bakery Cake
With several locations around New York City, Billy’s Bakery has become my go-to spot for beautiful cakes for my events. They have the most delicious, moist cakes and their designs are just unbeatable. I first became a fan of the bakery after walking home from a workout class in Chelsea when I passed by their store and saw a mind-blowing unicorn cake in the window. From there, the rest was history.
We turned to their expert bakers to work hand-in-hand on a design I had envisioned for the afternoon-tea themed bridal shower. After describing a layer cake with funfetti insides and baby pink frosting assembled in rosettes throughout the cake, their master baker and I consulted back and forth with tweaks to get the desired look. I loved how she wanted as many details as possible about the look and flavor I was going for while also weighing in with her expertise.
The outcome was even more beautiful than the cake of my dreams I had imagined up. It was feminine and ethereal and completely fit our theme. We styled it by placing it on a beautiful glass cake stand.
When guests cut into it and saw the funfetti pattern in the cake, they were thrilled, since it’s such a fun touch. This was absolutely one of the most photographed parts of the party with guests even taking selfies with our cake! This cake truly made me feel like Alice in Wonderland at her tea party.
Cheeses from Mozzarella Co.
I’m a firm believer in a gorgeous and full cheese plate on a beautiful board. It’s always the type of dish that guests congregate around at any party and causes them to mingle. So, I turned to Mozzarella Co for help assembling our gourmet cheese board.
Based in Dallas, this female-owned and operated business derived out of its owner’s trip to Italy where she fell in love with fresh mozzarella. They now produce more than 200,000 pounds of award-winning cheese a year and ship it nationally!
We sampled a variety of their delicious cheeses including their Mascarpone Torta, which includes sun-dried tomato and pesto-flavored cheese, ancho chile cacciatta, a basil coat and a scamorza, among other just delicious cheese. We placed them on a beautiful artisan cutting board that we love which is engraved with my new last name. The cheeses were so creative and flavorful, which is a result of all of Mozzarella Co.’s cheeses being made by hand! They truly treat cheese as an art, which is reflected in the flavor of their cheese.
The cheese board had its desired effect. It became a congregation point for my guests to chat and introduce themselves to one another while sampling delicious cheeses inspired by trips around the world.
Jams From The Jelly Queens:
To accompany our delicious cheeses, we had amazing jam spreads from The Jelly Queens to add a sweet and spicy kick to our cheese plate. These locally sourced, sustainably produced jellies are handmade in Texas but shipped nationally. We served guests a number of their hit jellies such as: Raspberry Chipotle, Blood Orange Lavender Marmalade, 6 pepper and even bridal-themed Champagne jelly. They added a tangy flavor to the cheeses creating such a nice bite!
Schmackary’s Cookies
For cookies, we turned to my absolute favorite cookie spot in all of NYC– Schmackary’s. When I lived in Hell’s Kitchen, Schmackary’s was dangerously close to my apartment and on my walk home from my office, so on bad days or days of celebration, I popped in all the time to grab some of their incredibly indulgent cookies.
Schmackary’s made us a delicious cookie tray that my guests just went bananas over. It included their funfetti cookie, cookies and cream and chocolate chip, among others! Their cookies are big, soft and gooey, and their creativity goes far beyond the traditional chocolate chip cookie, even though their chocolate chip cookie with sea salt is incredible. Some of my favorite Schmackary’s creations incorporate cereal from our childhood (You MUST try their Cereal Killer and Funfetti cookies, which totally bring out the 90s baby in me!) We had 75 cookies and they all went, which is a testament to how tasty these cookies are.
If you’re in New York City, I highly suggest popping into Schmackary’s for some cookies. Just walking on the block it’s located on will draw you in because there is an intense cookie smell in the entire vicinity. If you are outside of New York but still want the experience for your next get-together, you’re in luck. Schmackary’s delivers!
Lady M Cake
A few years ago at a friend’s birthday party I experienced a cake like no other. A friend served delightfully light pieces of cake that were assembled into seemingly hundreds of paper-think layers and stuffed with cream in between. It was super delicate and just a marvel to look at. I immediately approached the host to learn her secret and she told me: Lady M.
Lady M, which has locations in New York, Boston, Chicago and California as well as international locations, specializes in a French form of baking. They are world famous for their Mille Feuille cakes that have dozens of layers of crepe and cream and are have a delightful caramelization on the top. The result is that each bite melts in your mouth. It is perfect tea-party fare.
They have loads of flavors to choose from, such as green tea, chocolate and strawberry shortcake. For our shower, we went with their classic cake, which is unbeatable.
Here are some other photos from the bridal shower.
For our catering, we turned to Project Brunch in Staten Island, which is such a great-kept secret. This restaurant has lot soft wonderful, creative brunch food and is a place my family frequents. They cater into Manhattan, so we had them bring in a spread of their most popular brunch items, from Avocado toast to French toast and eggs and bacon. In addition to the food being great, we loved how their aesthetic matched our decor.You can contact them here.
Shop The Party:
Photos: Ciara Spillane from Geographically Restless; Rentals: Big Dawg Party Rentals; Tea Cup silicone cupcake wrappers; Engagement Ring cupcake picks; Paper Doilies; Glass Cake Stand; Apothecary Jars; Gold Charger Plates; Pastel Paper Straws; Gold Flatware; Mismatched Tea Cups Gold-rim champagne flutes
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