Oh my goodness! I'm so excited to post this Easter Brunch. This was the first official holiday that Cole and I hosted together as a married couple. Although we really eased into it, since Vale let us "borrow" her beautiful backyard for the location and my mom and dad were here to help me cook and serve everything. Also, we decided to just make it a casual paper plate affair since it was going to be outside. Bottom line, we couldn't have pulled this off without my superstar parents. My mom shipped over 3 boxes full of candy and easter goodies from NY before she flew out to SF. One of the things in the boxes was a dog bunny costume, which gave me an idea for the invitation.... :)
I sourced colorful gingham paper plates, striped paper cups, etc., to keep it casual (and a bonus easy clean-up). Of course, it had to match with the rest of the decor.
The general menu plan was to make everything like bite-sized brunch appetizers. This also was strategic since we had no table for seating, so we wanted everything to be easy to grab & eat standing up or sitting down with a plate.
My dad made mini Oven Roasted Plum Tomato and Asparagas Strata (discs of toasted multigrain bread, crumbled uncured bacon, cheddar cheese, and egg) the recipes of which my mom & I were initially skeptical... However, he proved us wrong. They were in fact deeeelicious! My mom made mini french toast casseroles baked in 4 x2 paper loaf pans, which I found at Spun Sugar a year or two ago and have been saving for the right occasion. I bought mini brioche liners for the stratas but they ended up leaking and making a big ol mess, so we had to transfer them to parchment baking cups.
As for that carb-filled apothecary jar (a wedding gift from Alex's mom, Amanda!) that I've been anxious to use... my mom made all those treats including prosciutto, parmesan, and chive scones. She also made two kinds of buttermilk biscuits. One was pickeled jalepoeno & red pepper and the other was bacon & chedder. To balance it out, we had some greens. Oven roasted parmesean asparagus...wrapped in prosciutto.
More little colorful bites. Toothpicks with melon balls and folded prosciutto. I got the idea for this presentation from Camille Styles.
I made mini parfaits in push up pops and propped them up in small white & cream galvanized pales. I made lemon poppy madeleines and presented them in this blue farmer's egg crate.
I made mini berry pastry cream tarts (pre-made tart shells...gasp!) but homemade pastry cream (using my favorite Tartine recipe).
My dad stocked up on prosecco and wine from Trader Joe's. We had a lot to celebrate with Cole's RCIA confirmation ceremony at St. Agnes the night before!
We filled a whole side table with the extreme sugary treats. I made little favor bags so everyone could take some loot home. My mom sent up some cute little retro fuzzy chicks so I hot glued them to mini clothespins, made little circle name tags, and clipped them to white parchment paper bags. We had all kinds of adorable candy that my mom bought. I used these adorable paper striped candy cups which I actually bought from this seller on Etsy.
My mom made these bunny and chick and egg cookies.
I did a little set of easter cookies, based off some classic easter candy favorites: Peeps, Cadburry Eggs, a Chocolate Bunny, and Jelly Belly Jelly Beans. I didn't get a good picture of them at the party, so Cole photographed them for me in "the studio". ;)
I made carrot cake cupckakes which we cored and filled with cream cheese frosting. We topped them with fondant circles, impressed with wooden springerle molds. The whoopie pies on the right with sugar butterflies were one of the things my mom found and shipped up to me.
My mom also found these adorable Peter Rabbit Gummy Candies, almost too cute to eat!
Finally, everyone went home with a cupcake favor box (a la Meri Meri) with carrot cake cupcakes.
It was such a beautiful, happy Easter day with all my peeps. I had so much fun in all the planning and prepping & even enjoyed myself at the party. I love when I get to work as a team with my family -- they really bring the party to a whole new level. I covered mostly food pictures here, Vale got more people shots, posted over at O&L.