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Styled Shoot: Summer Lunchtime Fiesta

The sun is high in the sky and the days are hot and steamy. Summer is here and so is your fabulous lunchtime fiesta!

The sun is high in the sky, the days are hot, and the food is spicy; summer is here and it’s time to celebrate your wedding, so invite your guests to a fabulous lunchtime fiesta! This exuberant theme reflects all the passions of love, and presents strong, bold colours in hues of red, orange, yellow and green. Set the scene with the lively, rhythmic, percussive sounds of Flamenco guitar playing in the background and everyone will know it’s time to party!

A long, wooden, trestle table, with wooden bench seats, is the ideal seating to create a warm, welcoming atmosphere. Wood instantly projects a relaxed, earthy vibe that is very on-trend in both wedding styling and interior design. You may invite your guests to sit wherever they like and certainly encourage table-hopping as the celebration reaches full swing.

Now offer a mouth-watering selection of Spanish food and tapas, on huge platters, that can be passed along each table and your guests can simply take what they fancy. Think paella, empanadas, pinchos, tortilla, patatas bravas and croquetas; there are just so many delicious options from which to choose. However, do not feel you have to stick to a strictly ‘Spanish’ culinary presentation, as with our vibrant mix of cultures in Australia, you can explore a world of fusion food and present anything that is spicy, festive and tasty.

And then there’s dessert! We laid our lovely wooden trestle dessert table with a vibrant red and yellow table runner and filled it with flowers, San Pellegrino glass bottles, shot glasses, cakes, fruit and alcohol. A delicious jug of Sangria and Spanish wine complete the selection.

Next we gathered an eclectic and interesting selection of patterned plates, cake stands, and servers. Delicious little lemon tarts feature a meringue and mint leaf motif on top, while our orange and poppyseed cupcakes are adorned with pale orange buttercream and an orange chocolate mandarin segment topper. Our delectable lime curd push-ups stand as sentinels on our stunning red plates, calling attention to their deliciousness. Finally, our pretty summer meringue nests feature one theme-coloured cherry, while platters of theme-coloured fresh fruits and pretty red toffee apples, complete our delicious fiesta wedding celebration menu.

Your guests will enjoy a wonderful afternoon of eating, drinking and dancing! We imagine your guests laughing and singing, while children run around freely. This is the perfect theme to host your wedding in a lovely garden, by the beach, in the grounds of a reception venue, under a swathe of trees, or on a long wooden verandah – anywhere you can create that perfect fiesta feeling.

The flowers are undoubtedly the heroes of this theme and are incredibly textural and stunningly beautiful. Our larger arrangements sit in gorgeous brass vases, while our smaller arrangements sit in simple, colour-washed terracotta pots. Small, red votive candleholders are scattered randomly along the table and provide just enough illumination to highlight the superb green foliage and the amazing colours of the flowers.

Rather than using just one uniform style of tableware, we chose to alternate two different styles, in complementary colours, to create visual interest. Simple cutlery and glassware is all that is needed to complete this vibrant, fiesta setting.

Right on-trend, in the world of weddings, is our two-tiered, semi-naked, red velvet wedding cake, decorated simply with the most beautiful, plump cherries. Red velvet cake is a layered cake, usually topped with cream cheese or a cooked roux icing. It can be served with a theme-coloured selection of raspberries, strawberries and cherries.

We love the fact that this theme brings a whole world of vibrant colour back to wedding styling. We have seen many years of visual constraint with softer, blush tones dominating. Vibrant colours can be absolutely amazing! The key is to use them cleverly, with flowers providing most of the colour. All the other accessories are subtle and modern, with colour also being expressed in food and beverages. For couples who want to make a bold colour statement on their wedding day, then this is the look for you!

We loved spending time meandering through vintage stores, home-wares shops and antique centres, to find unusual and theme-perfect accessories. This is something anyone can do to make their wedding day styling unique and interesting.

- Anna Pedersen (Publisher & Editor-in-Chief)