The Wedding Cake Tradition

One of the greatest traditions of a ‘traditional’ wedding is that of the wedding cake.

Where does it come from?

Tradition

Here at the Belair Park Country Club, we pride ourselves on offering the best location around for wedding venues  Adelaide couples hosting their wedding here can be sure of a function entirely customised to their needs, including anything related to ancient traditions such as the wedding cake.

The origins of that tradition are difficult to state with certainty.

It is known that the ancient Romans used to break bread over the heads of the marrying couple as a good luck and fertility symbol.  Whether that is directly linked to modern tradition is unclear but certainly many experts argue that today’s wedding cake can probably be directly traceable back to medieval England.

At that time it was customary to make a pile of sweet bread rolls that the couple would kiss over at the ceremony and if they didn’t knock any off the top it was a sign of good luck.  The rolls were then shared out amongst the assembled guests.

A contributory tradition in ‘Olde England’ was that of baking the savoury Bride’sPie.  That was then again shared out amongst guests.
Eventually the two traditions merged and by the late 19th century the savoury component had largely disappeared to be replaced by the idea of a single sweet tiered delight called the wedding cake.

Today

The 19th century British tradition was for the wedding cake to be typically a heavy, sweet and spiced fruit cake covered in icing.
During the latter twentieth century that tradition started to shift a little, perhaps driven by cost considerations, towards having a cake that was largely sponge-filled.

Today both types of cake continue to be popular.

Oh yes, if you’re wondering wherethe tiers come from, that is a direct link back to thatMediaeval English tradition of piling those bread rolls high into a conical shape modified by a baker’s bright idea in 1703, as he looked at the spire of St Bride’s Church in London – something that bears a stunning resemblance to the traditional wedding cake shape of today!

What Are Amuse-Bouche?

Here at the Belair Park Country Club our catering is second to none in its excellence and diversity.

We are sometimes asked though, “just what exactly is Amuse-Bouche”?

There is no prize for guessing that this is a French expression.  It translates very roughly to the English equivalent of ‘Mouth Pleaser’ or perhaps more meaningfully ‘pleasant taster’.

The Amuse-Bouche is a tiny piece of food normally served to guests upon arrival for a meal.  It is usually given at the time the menus are handed out(or people first sit down when home catering).

It represents a piece of complex showmanship on the part of the chef who is demonstrating his or her talents on a tiny nibble-sized but complex and delicious morsel. They’re thereby sowing the anticipation of the delights to come on the menu.

In terms of function rooms, Adelaide and surrounding areas might tend to describe these things in English as little snacks but they are quite different to hors d’oeuvres.

If you are interested in the difference and French culture, in France hors d’oeuvres would normally be served at around 6 or 6.30 PM and consist of a number of different little snacks.  They may be as simple as some crisps and nuts or might incorporate things such as vols-au-vents, cheeses and so on.

Unlike in what the French would call Anglo-Saxon cultures, hors d’oeuvres do not always necessarily act as a precursor to a meal.  In France if you are invited for hors d’oeuvres, you will normally be expected to arrive at about 6.30pm and depart around 7.30-8pm to leave the hosts to have their main evening meal.

The amuse-bouche is therefore quite different!

Our chefs don’t usually need much of an excuse to show off their skills and that’s why you will see some interesting little snacks and treats (whatever you want to call them in whatever language) on display at many of our catered events.  

Be Careful with Surprise Birthday Parties

The surprise birthday party is the stuff of legend and also much beloved by TV sitcoms and some Hollywood movies.

When successfully executed and well received, it can be a great success and a wonderful expression of affection on the part of family and friends for the birthday boy or girl.

However, as we can say for sure at Belair Park Country Club, there are some issues and risks that need to be carefully managed.

We know we have some great birthday party venues. Adelaide party-goers typically love them but do keep in mind a few of the following practical points:

·         It won’t be much of a birthday party if the person concerned does n’t actually turn up. That is a very real risk with surprise parties if the secret has been so well kept that the individual targeted for the surprise has disappeared at the last moment due to a change of their personal plans and now nobody can find them.  It has happened! 

·         A related issue arises when the surprise is successfully sprung but to everyone’s horror, the major guest has to shortly depart because they have committed to something else on the same evening because they did n’t know the party was taking place.

These sorts of events may sound funny and they probably are when they happen to someone else but not if you are the chief organiser of and plotter behind, the party.

Yes, it’s really important to keep everything a secret and for the eventual surprise to be total but it’s also necessary to do an awful lot of very discrete communication behind the scene to avoid some of the above disasters taking place.

Above all, try to make sure that someone is shadowing the target an hour or two in advance of the party just to try and make sure they don’t disappear somewhere else!

Why Use Function Rooms? Adelaide Residents’ Questions Answered.

At The Belair Park Country Club, we are sometimes asked questions about the pros and cons of using function rooms to host an event.

Here we’ll deal with some of the more commonplace subjects.

Why should I use a function room rather than my own home?

The question presumes that you have rooms in your own home that are large enough to accommodate the number of guests you are considering.

Even if that is the case though, it might be worth considering that when using our function rooms, Adelaide residents won’t need to worry about things such as preparing and perhaps more importantly, clearing up afterwards!

We also have an extraordinarily beautiful location here and the risks of accidental damage to your property or possessions during the function are reduced to zero.

Won’t a very large room be intimidating?

Firstly, we have a range of rooms available and some of them are small and intimate in size.

Even our larger rooms are decorated with the intention of softening their outlines and that can be customised to suit the specific nature of your function.

Will I need to circulate a lot to make sure that everything is running okay?

No, not at all and in fact this is a huge advantage over using your own property.

Our expertly qualified staff will be discreetly on hand to make sure that you and your guests have everything you need. 

What about the cost?

You might be surprised at just how affordable many of our rates are for function room hire.

Why not discuss your requirements with us and we will outline the options and costs?

Can the room be decorated to my requirements?

Yes – within reason of course!

Obviously the decorations you might want for say a birthday party may be very different to those of an anniversary.

Let us deal with all that for you.

What Menu for your Wedding?

The choice of a wedding menu is an intensely personal thing and needs to form part of an integrated overall wedding design together with things such as the cultural feel you are aiming for.

At the Belair Park Country Club, we have an extensive range of catering options which we will gladly share with you.  In terms of your wedding venue and associated wedding feast though, here are a few thoughts we offer up by way of helping you choose the general direction you wish to go in.

• You may need to choose between a served menu or a self-service buffet style approach.  The former can avoid what some people see as theslightly undignified queuing that can arise when a buffet is involved and make sure that everyone eats at roughly the same time.  On the other hand, the more relaxed style of the buffet can sometimes fit into the background context and ‘feel’ of your wedding better if you’ve opted for informality.

• It might be advisable to think carefully about exotic or controversial foodstuffs.  The combination of nerves, alcohol, dancing and perhaps very spicy food, may cause some ‘challenges’ for guests who have slightly less robust stomachs.

• Wedding venue catering needs to take into account that in the modern world there is a wide range of dietary preferences. Some of your guests may be vegetarian or Vegan, some may have certain food intolerances and so forth.  That’s why having a variety of dishes available for personal choice,as opposed to a single set menu, may be advisable.

• Some of your guests might only be invited to the evening reception as opposed to the earlier meal.  If that’s the case, it may be sensible to arrange for some lighter catering and snacks mid-evening.
If we are working to plan your wedding fully with you, we will be only too happy to go through some of these options in more detail.    

Designing your Corporate Conference Floor Layout

The psychology of the floor layout at a conference is important.

Some of the issues are obvious and very practical.  One example is that people who by chance or design are forced to sit at the rear of a conference room may, unless you take steps to prevent it, struggle to see what’s going on or feel engaged in the proceedings.

That is why first-class audio visual aids of the type available at the Belair Park Country Club are essential in any corporate conference venue.

Another thing that may need to be considered is whether to seat people at desks (or rectangular tables), round tables or simply to arrange chairs in rows.

There are various pros and cons to all such seating arrangements.

For example, a floor consisting of round tables with seats evenly spaced around them will mean that some people will have their back to the stage and speakers etc.  By contrast, rectangular tables or desks can be practical but some psychologists might argue that they represent a ‘barrier’ between the delegates and podium.

Row seating has the advantage that everybody is facing the speaker and there are no psychological barriers in place but the downside is that people have nowhere to put their possessions or write if they need to take notes.

The optimum configuration for any given conference will depend upon the way material is being presented and the dynamic structure of the event itself.  It may be the case that theatre-type sitting is advisable for the main conference venue whilst round tables are provided in associated breakout rooms etc.

All of our rooms are extremely flexible in terms of the extent to which they can be configured to support your individual conference requirements.  Our conference managers and coordinators will always be able to come up with something that is suitable for your particular environment.  

Mobile Phones and Business Conferences

As you might expect of a first-class business conference venue, here at the Belair Park Country Club we provide access to all the latest technical connectivity channels such as wireless routers and so on.

If anything a little out of the ordinary is required, perhaps such as extra-large videoconferencing screens, our conference venue administrators will be happy to assist with the provision of such if you provide appropriate notice.

Although our remit is to make available exemplary business conference venues, rather than necessarily to offer advice on how you should structure your individual conference, we do sometimes get asked to comment on the subject of Mobile Phones, Laptops, PDAs, Tablets and Smart Phones being used during conferences etc.

This must of course be a matter for the conference organiser. There may be some delegates who, for reasons of business risk management, cannot be entirely cut off from outside world communications in the event a crisis arises requiring their personal urgent attention.

However, in some cases delegates may exaggerate the necessity to stay connected during conferences simply because they are uncomfortable with the thought of being disconnected from the virtual world.
In our experience, many conference organisers request that delegates switch off their electronic devices other than at lunchtime or in the evenings.  Whether that becomes a matter of voluntary compliance or a firm requirement is a matter for each individual conference organiser to decide.

It is the case that in many business forums, including conferences, one sees delegates constantly texting and browsing the net whilst at the same time ostensibly participating in the conference or apparently trying to concentrate on something such as a presentation etc.  It might seem intuitively unlikely that somebody can efficiently segment their attention across multiple channels at the same time while still being able to give quality thought to any one of them.

There is no one set answer to this dilemma for business conference organisers. The correct approach may vary from one situation to another.