Wedding Dessert Bar for Jun and David's Wedding

The Happy Couple: My friends Jun & David!
(Photo by Linda Y, Jun's co-worker)

Congratulations Jun & David! This beautiful couple were married last Saturday, November 6th in Los Angeles. I met Jun while at UCLA's Library School in 2003, and we hit it off immediately and have had a great time the last 7 years.

The wedding ceremony was held at the Koyasan Buddhist Temple in Downtown Los Angeles' Little Tokyo. It was a very touching ceremony conducted in both English and Japanese. The priest had asked Jun & David to write letters to each other, and he read them during the ceremony. They didn't know he would do that when they wrote the letters, so they were honest and funny. After dating for 12 years, everyone was so excited to witness the ceremony. Jun wore her mother's beautiful wedding kimono!

The reception was held at the beautiful Center for the Arts, Eagle Rock. It's a historic 1914 Carnegie Library (the former LAPL Eagle Rock branch). They have art classes on the bottom floor and rent out the top floor. I think the bar area was the information or circulation desk! How perfect is that?!

I'm one of those people who loves to receive and give handmade gifts. So my gift to Jun & David was the dessert bar at the reception. 

(Jun & David, don't read this part) But what was I thinking? I'm a freaking librarian with a small refrig and basic oven. I've only make food for my library, and this was a 125 person reception. Thus, I got 5 hours of sleep in two days. But it was so worth it! The wedding and reception was so much fun!

The dessert bar begins with: Coffee Jello, Brownies, Chocolate cupcakes with Mascarpone frosting...continued...

...Fruit Kabobs (cantaloupe, honeydew and watermelon), Raspberry Jam Shortbread squares, Blueberry Lemon Cheesecake bites, Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies, and Vanilla Cream Puffs...continued...

...Fresh fuyu persimmons (kaki), Chocolate Mint cupcakes, Lemon Bars...continued...

...Pumpkin cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting, Nutella Chocolate Chip cookies, Mochi from Sakura-Ya in Gardena....continued...

...Lemon Tarts with Meringue, Fruit Tarts, Daruma mini wedding cake, Chocolate Cream Puffs...continued...

...and we end with The Salty. After going to a few cupcake eating events with JustJenn, I feel having something salty with your sweets is very important so I put together an assortment of my favorite salty snacks.

I tried to make a mini display cake for the Daruma dolls turned bride & groom figurines. Daruma dolls are sold with both eyes blank. You fill-in one eye in when you set a goal/wish, and fill-in the other when the goal is attained. During the reception, Jun & David filled in the second eye.

Oh, you poor mini cake. I made it at 4 am on the day of the wedding (yes, I was a bit behind schedule. And before all you kids who finished a week's worth of homework in one night tell me I could have frozen items prior to the wedding, that just didn't happen.) It got frosted by Helen (Cook's Illustrated Basic Buttercream) and we were off to set up at the reception hall.

When we arrived, Helen lifts up the cake carrier and notices that the cake completely shifted and is smashed against the side of the box. We call Alison, Helen's awesome daughter, and leave this voicemail: "Alison. Go to the grocery store. Buy a boatload of white canned frosting. Stat. Please. Thank you." Then, I carry in the sad cake carrier and I proceed to Drop. It. On. Its. Head. Yes, we dropped the darn thing twice! Luckily, the Daruma figurines were not on the cake. Finally, we shellac the cake with canned frosting, but you can see some of the bad bits coming through. Luckily, no one was planning on cutting or eating this cake. On their first anniversary, I'll bring over cream puffs and cupcakes to celebrate. No one wants to get near this twice bruised cake.

Make anything mini and it is so darn cute. These cupcakes are topped with a decorative heart. Kawaii!

This was the only photo I took of the dessert bar! See the blur? This is real time action! As we set out the dessert bar, guests were coming up and starting to fill up their plates. I had no time to take photos so I am grateful to Jun's co-worker Linda for snapping photos! Alison and Helen are behind the bar getting ready to spend the next few hours refilling desserts. We refilled, refilled and refilled over 1000 items!

Menu (I've included links to some of the recipes/posts)

• Chocolate Buttermilk Cupcakes with Mascarpone Frosting
• Chocolate Mint Cupcakes with Andes Baking Mints and Peppermint Buttercream Frosting
• Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Honey Frosting
• Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake
• Coffee Jello
• Raspberry Jam Shortbread
• Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies (replaced raisins with dried cranberries, used old-fashioned oats)
• Lemon Bars (Barefoot Contessa recipe)
• Lemon Tarts with Meringue
• Fruit Tarts with Vanilla Pastry Cream
• Vanilla Cream Puffs
• Chocolate Cream Puffs
• Brownies (Sono Bakery)
• Fruit kabobs
• Fresh Fuyu Persimmon
• Mochi from Sakura-ya in Gardena, CA

By the numbers...(Okay, if you went to the wedding, you can skip this little part...or realize that you danced all night and worked it all off).

• 1,040 pieces of dessert and fruit
• 8 dozen eggs (Next time, I'm getting myself a chicken. Hee hee. There will be no "next time.")
• 30 sticks of butter (I looked like a mad woman checking out of Trader Joe's with 8 boxes of butter in my cart)
• And so much cream cheese, chocolate, lemons, sugar and flour...

Special Thanks to...

• My friend Helen and her daughter Alison who helped sooooo much!
• My mom and auntie who came over on Thursday and Friday to do all my dishes and help organize the treats.
• My cousin who filled up my car with gas the morning of the wedding and ran errands for me.
• My friend Socrates and his boyfriend Jesus who helped plate the desserts and prep the dessert bar.
• Jun's co-worker Linda who was able to take awesome photos of the dessert bar while we were setting up (you can totally be a food photographer!)
• My friends JustJenn, Diane, Jessica, Fellow Mary, co-workers, and blogger friends who supported me via txt message, email messages and twitter.

Thanks Jun and David for accepting my gift of desserts. (Seriously, what were you thinking entrusting me with such an important part of your day?!) Thank you for including me in your special day, and I send you a dessert bar full of good wishes for many more happy years together!
- mary the food librarian

Photo notes: Food photos and top wedding photo by Linda Y, friend of Jun's.