Jacaranda Catering

A Venetian Extravaganza

Posted on May 21, 2013 by admin

“Dear Minty,

Just a note from the airport as we depart for our Italian adventure, to say a huge thank you to you and your staff for an incredible day on Sunday. It was sensational!

Your staff were accommodating and the service was impeccable. And as for the food… our guests haven’t stopped talking about it!

We’re so thrilled! Huge compliments to the chef! Thank you for everything you did to make it our dream day. Best wishes M and T x”

Whilst you were all basking in the Bank Holiday sunshine, we were having a wail of a time at Miriam and Tom’s Italian themed wedding at Ramster on Sunday 5^th May.

With Venetian opulence as their guiding style principle, they really went to town on the decorative details. Couvert provided the tableware and Blush Floral Design filled the place with gorgeous blooms, whilst on the tables were masks, poems on scrolls, and golden apples.

For this wedding we created a delicious menu consisting of:

~ Canapés ~

Smoked salmon on buck wheat bellini, with sour cream and lumpfish caviar
Sussex lamb fillet with aubergine, sun-blushed tomatoes & olives
Brie Katifi with cranberry dip
Monkfish wrapped in pancetta with a rosemary skewer and lemon aioli

~ To Start ~

Fillet of bass with fennel puree, sauce vierge and fennel cress
Artisan Ciabatta bread with extra virgin olive oil

~ Mains ~

‘Sticky braised beef’ with potato and parsnip puree, roasted root vegetables and parsley oil
Sweet potato gratin with piedmont pepper, pesto dressing and red pepper purée

~ Dessert ~

Lime pannacotta and mango sorbet with tropical and passion fruit sauce and meringue

The seating plan was devised and created entirely by the groom…at 8ft x 4ft it was so big that it had to be placed outside!

We had an absolute ball at this wedding and between a stunning bride and a host of brilliant wedding guests, it didn’t feel like work at all.

Posted in Real Weddings | Tagged Jacaranda Real Weddings | Leave a comment

Exciting Canapé Ideas

Posted on May 16, 2013 by admin

When you start thinking about creating your wedding menu, you may find yourselves wondering what the point of canapés really is. Little morsels of food dished out between glasses of bubbly aren’t really going to excite your guests as much as the lavish three-course meal you’re giving them…are they?

At Jacaranda, we like to exceed your expectations and that applies just as passionately to every part of our service. As such, we work hard to make sure that our canapés are so mouth-wateringly delicious that your guests won’t be able to resist plucking another one from a nearby waiter.

Not only that, but we believe that your canapés should be as visually stimulating as they are tasty. These decorative items of food ought to be equally as reflective of the style of your wedding and the inclinations of your personality as well as a precursor of the feast to come.

You may not know it, but canapés really can come in all sorts of different shapes and sizes. Your choice of delicacy can be adapted really well to the seasons, allowing us to source fresh, local, seasonal produce to create a fantastic wow factor that will be reflected in the layout.

If you have a colour theme or design scheme for your wedding, do let us know and we can easily incorporate it in the presentation of your pre-dinner snacks. Everyone loves something out of the ordinary and the attention to detail we can create by continuing your styling details into your canapé trays will definitely wow your guests.

By adding different dimensions to your canapé trays, such as using sticks to create height or sunken tablets to create depth, your canapés will suddenly become not only visually exciting but more enticing as well, inviting your guests to take a sample.

Whether we incorporate details from your wedding design on Perspex trays or decorate your canapés with select blooms that mirror your bouquet, we can make the pre-dining experience just as unique and personal as the rest of your day. Don’t be afraid to use food to make a stylish statement.

Supplier Spotlight: Angel Like Flowers

Posted on May 14, 2013 by admin

Angel Like Flowers, established by Angel Skillman, is now in its fifth successful year and has become a regular feature of many Jacaranda weddings thanks to our mutual affiliation with such wonderful wedding venues as Farbridge, The Walled Garden and Bartholomew Barn.

What we particularly like about Angel Like Flowers is that they have their own cutting garden at Grittenham Barn in Tillington. What this means is that much of their produce is home-grown and raised from seed, instead of being imported, meaning that you will know exactly where your wedding flowers come from.

“We grow mainly annuals,” Angel explained. “For example sweet peas, cornflowers, cosmos and snapdragons, but also some foliage like honeysuckle and trailing jasmine. It’s so satisfying and rewarding to raise plants from seeds and to then be able to use the flowers in our weddings is a real bonus. Our flowers have not travelled and so we can decide to pick them when they are at their best.”

Following a lifetime’s passion for horticulture, Angel decided to take a professional floristry course in London, which involved not only flower arranging but also elements of business management including buying and selling techniques. After a few years of building up experience working with other florists, Angel broke out on her own and began her business by specialising in weddings.

We have experienced Angel’s passion for beautiful blooms firsthand and know not only how fastidious her attention to detail is thanks to her policy of only doing one wedding per day, but also how lovingly prepared every floral set up from the Angel Like workshop is.

If you’re still looking for a wedding florist and would like to know more about Angellike Flowers, do visit their website and get in touch.

Posted in Suppliers | Tagged Wedding Suppliers | Leave a comment

Burlesque Themed Parties

Posted on April 30, 2013 by admin

Here at Jacaranda, we love it when our clients come to us with a different kind of celebration, particularly one with a theme. We’re renowned for providing excellent catering and event management to a whole host of events, but we get particularly excited by the opportunity to go to town, especially when a burlesque themed party calls for a tonne of glitz and glamour, a sprinkling of naughtiness and cheekiness and just a dash of extravagance.

When you’re planning a burlesque themed party, you need to look to the great vaudeville houses such as the Moulin Rouge and Crazy Horse for inspiration. These were lounges dripping in decadence, packed full of promise and decorated in suitably lavish style.

As such, you can really go all out on this theme: great plumes of feathers in tall black trumpet vases, some twisted willow creeping out of them and all set on a mirror plate glittering with candles. We’re thinking cream tablecloths, ruby glassware, gilded charger plates and either scarlet or ebony napkins will complete the look of each table.

We envisage this theme working equally well in a blank canvas setting like a marquee or a venue bursting with its own architectural details like Ramster or Chawton House; whichever venue you choose, be sure to enlist the sumptuous elements that give the space a boudoir-type feel.

Use swags of material to divide up the space with drapes of crushed velvet or suggestive satin to create a tactile environment. Go beyond simply having chair covers and chair sashes and instead create lavish thrones that your guests will want to sink into as they feast, eat and enjoy the entertainment.

Lighting plays an integral part to creating an atmosphere and will be most important to a burlesque themed party. In addition to the natural light of candles across your tables, play with light and shade to create areas of intrigue within the shadows of the room whilst highlighting your fabulous floral displays and centrepieces by positioning spotlights over each table.

Burlesque themed parties work particularly well during the late autumn months, when their suggestive, dark colours meld effortlessly with the long, dark nights. Burlesque makes a great birthday theme, especially for those going all out and enlisting the help of professional dancers and singers who will really capture the mood.

For more inspiration, check out Pinterest or chat to your local florist or event planner to see what wild ideas they can come up with to make your burlesque party memorable and magnificent for your guests!

Posted in Top Tips | Tagged Birthday Parties, Ideas & Inspiration | Leave a comment

How To…Make Your Own Confetti

Posted on April 4, 2013 by admin

We’re often asked by our brides and grooms for some tips on how to make the most of their venues or to give them a little help with their wedding plans. Luckily, the Jacaranda team have learnt a thing or two about creating beautiful weddings in our experience, so hopefully we can share some of our knowledge here on the blog.

In this how-to post, we’ve got some top tips from our real bride, Nickie, on how you can make your own confetti from dried flowers. As she’s planning her own wedding, Nickie’s advice is tried and tested, so you can be sure that this is a real, working method! With a lot of venues insisting on biodegradable confetti, this is a great way to still have that magic moment. Over to Nickie…

First of all, you need to be fastidious about recycling your old flowers. Whether you like to treat yourself to a little bunch every now and then or have a very attentive partner who brings flowers home for you, make sure you don’t bin them when they begin to look a little sad.
Start by removing all the petals from every stem and spread them out onto a piece of parchment paper.
TOP TIP: Be careful not to pile the petals on top of each other; spread them out so that they’re not touching each other.
Place the sheet of petals onto a microwavable plate.
TOP TIP: Don’t put the petals directly onto the plate as they will stick to it later on when warmed up.
Put the petals into the microwave and heat for approximately 90 seconds, or until completely dry and crispy, depending on the wattage of your microwave.
TOP TIP: Keep an eye on them – if they start to brown, stop immediately and take them out. We want them to simply be dried, not cooked!
Remove your newly dried petals from the microwave and spread them out to let them cool.
Repeat the process for the rest of your petals.
Add dried lavender to the mix for an extra gorgeous fragrance.

Image from Heartmade

You can present your confetti however you like – in little muslin bags, heart-shaped favour boxes or of course in pretty paper cones. Having made dozens of cones for our own wedding, here’s my advice on how to make your own. You can of course customise this really simple design with whatever fits in with the theme of your wedding.

For example, you could use newspaper or book pages if you’ve got a literary flair or add colours and textures to your confetti cones. You could fix them in place with cool clips, pins or stationery. Let your imagination run wild!

You will need: old fashioned paper doilies (8” is a good size), scissors, sellotape/washi tape/fancy stickers.
Start by cutting the doily in half.
Take the edge of the doily and curl it inwards to form a cone.
Use whichever adhesive you’ve chosen to stick down the edge of the doily and hold the cone in place.
Fill with your own dried petal confetti and you’re all done!

For more inspiration ideas, why not check out some of these cool confetti cones on Pinterest?

Image by Karen McGowran Photography

Posted in Top Tips | Tagged Ideas & Inspiration, wedding planning | 1 Comment

Avington Park

Posted on March 30, 2013 by admin

Our operations manager, Nigel, has been out and about scouting new wedding venue locations over the last couple of weeks. On his travels, Nigel visited the majestic Georgian mansion Avington Park in Winchester, which in addition to being a spectacular backdrop for your wedding is also open to the public at weekends and bank holidays so would be well worth a visit if you’re stuck for things to do this Easter.

Avington Park has received royal visits from King Charles II and George IV, but more recently you may have spotted it in a whole host of TV programmes and magazine features. Its exquisite state rooms and beautiful sprawling grounds are the perfect setting for a romantic day and will leave your guests undeniably spellbound.

If you do decide to put down the Easter eggs long enough to enjoy a spring walk around Avington Park, there are a few other local treats to keep all the family entertained. We’re sure that the kids will love nothing more than a visit to the Watercress Line in Alresford where a brilliant steam engine goes back and forth between Alresford and Alton.

For a nearby spot to indulge in a restorative lunch, we can recommend The Black Rat in Winchester or The Bush at Ovington, which has a lovely river running next to it that you can walk for miles along.

If you would like to find out more about the beautiful Avington Park, you can visit their website or follow them on Facebook, but there really is nothing to compare with visiting it in person and being hypnotised by how spectacular it is.

Posted in Jacaranda Adventures | Tagged Wedding Venues | 1 Comment

Vernissage Wine

Posted on March 28, 2013 by admin

We’ve got a cheeky little product to share with you today that will be beloved of both wine afficianados and fashionistas alike. The ‘Bag-in-Bag’ wine Vernissage has not only brought smiles to the faces of legions of drinkers, but is in fact internationally award-winning in its design and packaging. What looks like a chic handbag is actually a bag of finest wine.

Whether you favour red, white or rosè, your wine will take on a whole new level of style with this unique product packaging. We love this playful, novel presentation but have yet to work out whether it makes the wine last longer (as we marvel at the sleek packaging) or if it makes us drink faster (as we try out each different style!).

You can find out more about the ‘Bag-in-Bag’ wine over at the Vernissage website.

Posted in Foodie Stuff | Tagged Ideas & Inspiration | Leave a comment