Charlotte and Robert’s winter wedding.

The first dance

Winter wedding wonderland with Ivory night sky

Guests enjoyed delicious canapes including seared scallops with a ginger hollandaise, Thai prawn tails with a sweet chilli sauce, poppy seed filo tarts with warm camembert and grape salsa and lobster tempura. Plated dinner followed of Hampshire pork fillet with wild mushrooms, dauphinoise potatoes and honey roasted winter root vegetables.  The pudding, a trio, lemon posset served in a tall shot glass, gooey chocolate browine with contreau mascapone cream and vanilla pavlova with winter posset of berries with mulled wine syrup.  Dancing until the early hours, bolstered by bacon butties.

Whizz over to our web-site and take a look at our 2011 Christmas food brochure.  Everything from the essential homemade mince pies and canapes, right through to the complete Christmas day lunch, ready for you to cook.

I am delighted to report that we have been shortlisted for the National Wedding Awards (catering category)

We have been shortlisted for the National Weddin gIndustry Awards 2012

I have to say a HUGE thank you to all of our lovely Brides and Grooms who kindly voted for us and it is down to testimonials such as this, which  I think is one of the reasons we are  on the list….

Wedding in Abbotsbury Dorset

 ”Kaye and her team catered our wedding and the attention to detail and level of service was fantastic – how many caterers would travel 70 miles to your favourite restaurant in order to taste your favourite Spanish dish and, on the day, match it and serve it to an entire wedding party having never cooked it before?

 The CC staff were delightful and we are still receiving fantastic comments from the guests 6 weeks later – even had 3 recipe requests! Thank you for making the day perfect”

Ben Biswell and Becky Clarke

We were recently asked by Twinings Teas based in Andover to provide the hospitality for a ProAm charity cycle race they were co-sponsoring with British Cycling in Salisbury. 

The initial enquiry came through to us two weeks before the event was due to take place and initially the enquiry was only for food.

On discovering that we could handle all their requirements, the Marketing director’s P.A. was delighted that she had found a “one stop shop”.

We provided the main hospitality tent with casual seating and a buffet area, complete with all necessary display fridges for drinks and snacks etc.

Creative Marquees provided all the tents for Twinings Teas hospitality event

A Tea tasting tent.  Where their tea tasting specialist gave talks on the different varieties of teas produced.

A marquee for a cafe, selling homemade cakes for the charity.

We also organised the AV equipment.

At short notice they were let down by a trader to provide food to the general public, so we provided our own mobile food bar selling morning breakfast and  roast pork rolls.

All the marquees were provided by Creative Marquees Hampshire our sister company

It is always advisable to contact us to check availability, even if you think you have left your booking very late, we will do our best to accomodate.

This was the entrance to the barn, which was to be used as the venue for a 21st birthday party, back in September. 

Our client had requested an entrance leading from the car parking area in the sheep field with the mobile loos also linked onto the barn.

marquee entrance into barn after the makeover

Marquee provided by Creative Marquees Hampshire, building an impressive entrance on the front of the barn

The marquee team from our sister company Creative Marquees Hampshire built a raised suspended floor leading from the field, up to the barn, with a spur off to accommodate a mobile loo unit.

Mobile loo unit being positioned to align to floor height of entrance marquee

The mobile toilet unit, was fork-lifted into position and the result was the raised suspended floor was lined to the same height as the entrance to the loos. seamless work!

And here is the result after a make-over. The raised suspended flooring structure enabled guests to walk straight into the loos as the flooring was built to the same height as the trailer unit.  The whole cloakroom area, both for boys and girls, was lined with ivory lining, and a pink carpet fitted throughout.

entrance to the mobile loos after suspended floor fitted to same height as loo entrance

A contemporary cocktail bar was fitted into one of the bays in the barn

Steps led down from this entrance into the barn. The wooden floored entrance, like the barn was fitted with a wonderfully shocking pink carpet.

Empty barn after the party

Annoyingly I did not take a photo of the barn before the pink carpet was fitted.  So imagine if you can, at my site visit two months previous, the barn was undergoing some final restoration, with part of the roof missing and the floor was a building site.

We fitted the pink carpet throughout, arranged for lighting to be fitted throughout, fitted a chequerboard black and white dance floor, provided the cocktail bar structure.  We provided white cube soft seating, a chocolate fountain and nibbles for breakfast at 6am.

12 5’6″ round tables were set up for dining.

Cocktails and canapes were served on arrival followed by dinner of herb crusted lamb fillet on a rosti potato with creamed garden spinach and leeks (grown from our kitchen garden).  Pudding was a delicious trio of elderflower sorbet, chocolate truffle and white chocolte and ginger cheesecake.

A great party and I finally got to bed at 8am!

Catching up on some belated blogging, so you may have a surge of reporting on the events we have covered over the last few weeks, feast or famine comes to mind with my blogging!

   Our second year of providing the marquee and catering for the annual Canine partners Charity Clay shoot, held at the stunning Holywell Estate,  home of the Earl and Countess of Clarendon and their family

Holywell house, venue for the Canine Partners Charity Clay shoot

  The weather, as per 2010 looked dubious at 6am so the plan for “Al-fresco” bacon butties and coffee in front of the house was abandoned for the safer venue of inside the marquee, which proved a wise move as the heavens opened during the safety speech.  Then, as if by magic, out came the sun for the start of the event.

The guns and their guests were back at lunchtime for pimms and canapes, outside in the sunshine, followed by a delicious cold lunch of Thai chicken salad, followed by summer pudding and coffee.

Lunch at the Canine Partners charity clay shoot lunch at Holywell House

Peter Sonkson gave a very informative, although, moving talk about his life before and after his skiing accident and the role Canine Partner Yarra has played in heping him to retain as much independence as possible.

James serving Pimms at Canine charity lunch

Last year Canine Partners created 39 new partnerships, this year the generosity of the people who support this wonderful charity will enable them to place more dogs than in any previous year.

I am delighted to say the auction prize we donated of a drinks party raised over £800 for the charity.

tempura lobster

“Creative Catering’s service and attention to detail was wonderful.  They helped us through selecting just the right food and quantities needed for our Wedding reception at our venue for 185 guests at our garden marquee.  We have since received endless compliments on the quality of  the food supplied and the service during the day.  We initially had a Champagne/Pimms and Canape reception followed by theatre style wok cooking and a spit roast pig, followed by beautiful puddings and cheese.  The added touch of sweeties with the coffee was not lost on our guests.  Kaye and her staff were kept very busy during the evening and they provided a very high standard of service to all our guests.  Whilst their costs are not one of the cheaper options, I believe that you get what you pay for and we certainly did – worth every penny. 

 I would highly recommend Kaye and her team.

cheese wedding cake

Quality and reputation were high on our list.  I had met with other catering companies but all were either determined to do what they wanted or were rude and pushed the more expensive options.  Kaye’s team listened to what we wanted, added their thoughts and we worked together to produce what we and our guests considered to be a perfect catering selection based on service and quality”.

Julie Lewis August 2011

A divine chocolate torte with summer berries

Beautiful Dorset setting for Ben and Becky's wedding

At last catching up  reporting on what we have been up to through the last couple of months. 

Back in August we were asked to cater for a great wedding for Ben and Becky in Abbotsbury, Dorset.  There was also a lot of menu planning attached to this particular wedding, trips to London to try the grooms favourtie dish in his local restaurant, a lot of chatting up of their chef to tell me the recipe etc.  however, it all paid off and we barbecued some wonderful  Iberico pork fillets which had been marinated for 2 days and then seared over really hot coals and served with spicy potatoes, a lovely Spanish dish.

The weather was kind, a real advantage as the blessing took place in the ruins of this chapel on top of the hill overlooking the village and the marquee.  Guests were driven up to the chapel and met with sounds from a great blues/jazz band and after the ceremony all the guests walked back down the hill, in glorious sunshine.  It was a lovely sight.

Dorset wedding in chapel ruins in AbbotsburyBeautiful Dorset setting for Ben and Becky's wedding

There is a huge build up to Grange Park Opera, lots of discussion about menus and food tasting to make sure we get it right for the 8,400 guests we serve there over the 28 nights.  It’s full on during the Opera, but we love it!

However, 2011 comes to an end and in August we shall be putting pen to paper to plan the 2012 menu.   There are certain favourites which will stay on, namely beef fillet and Lobster and seafood salad, thereafter we plan a fresh, new menu every season.

Creative Catering at Grange Park Opera