The Shooter "Bar" - Our Favorite Wedding Element

You can make your own Shooter Bar (or you can always feel free to hire us!). This is a wonderful, and suprising addition to any reception! Ingrediants are simple, and you can ad as many as you like. We always like to set up pre-made shooters for at least 30% of the number of guests that are expected at your reception to be available immediately after the ceremony.

The Shooter Bar works not only for reception, but is also great to incorporate into a dessert bar, as seen at many weddings in place of the traditional "cake table".

Make a dessert sundae by squirting a bit of chocolate sauce on the bottom of a shot or shooter glass. Add a heaping tablespoon of vanilla ice cream, butterscotch sauce, whipped cream and, of course, a cherry or, if in season, a fresh plump raspberry.
Step 3
For the chocolate lovers among you, crush some oreo cookies and put a layer in the bottom of the glass. Add slightly softened chocolate ice cream and garnish with chocolate shavings and a raspberry.
Step 4
You can use a no-bake cheesecake that is easy to prepare. Make a graham cracker crust out of graham crackers, butter, and a bit of sugar and line a shot glass. Pour in a bit of the cheesecake mixture and top with frozen berries. See below for the "official" cheesecake shooter recipe that is a "cooked" recipe... but, you can substitute with no-bake.
Step 5
Press a bit of pound cake into the bottom of a shot glass and top with a drizzle of vanilla pudding. Add another layer of pound cake and pudding and garnish with whipped cream and a flower garnish.

CHEESECAKE SHOOTER!

Do a little cooking at home... better than the no-cook fillings.

Cheesecake Filling12 ounces cream cheese (1-1/2 (8 oz) packages) 2 eggs, beaten 1/3 cup sugar 2 tablespoons sour cream 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs 2 tablespoons butter, melted 1/2 cup frozen sliced strawberries in syrup, thawed canned whipped cream Make cheesecake filling by blending cream cheese, eggs, sugar, sour cream, and vanilla in a large bowl with a mixer on high speed, until smooth. Pour mixture into a large saucepan and cook over med-high heat, stirring often, for 8-10 minutes or until mixture begins to thicken. Mixture should stick to the spoon when its inverted. Pour cheesecake filling into a covered container and chill for several hours, until cold. To prepare each serving, combine melted butter with graham cracker crumbs. spoon 2 tablespoons of graham cracker crumbs into a 6-ounce rock glass, and top with 1/3 cup cheesecake filling. Spoon 2 tablespoons of strawberries and syrup on top of cheesecake filling, and top off the dessert with whipped cream.

DIY: FRUIT Centerpieces

Fresh fruit centerpieces. Do it yourself, and save a ton of money. Perfect for any summer event!

Vanilla Dip:
(Per bowl or scooped out pinapple)
1 pint sour cream
1/2 cup white sugar
3 tablespoons pure vanilla
Mix, tast to add more sugar or vanilla, and chill for at least one hour.

Variations:
Add to above mixture IN PLACE OF the vanilla flavoring:
3 tablespoons unsweetened pineapple juice
1 tablespoon grated orange zest (make sure not to get any of the white part)
2 tablespoon lemon juice

Another Variation:
Add shreaded coconut or slivered toasted almonds to taste

CENTERPIECE: Mix it up, and arrange as how you see in the photo, or add flowers, or ? Use your imagination!

Pinapple, strawberries, oranges, grapefruit, lemon, kiwi, limes, mango, white and red grapes.

ALSO NEEDED:

8 Styrofoam rounds (four 10 inches x 1 inch, four 6 inches x 1 inch)
2 wooden dowels (one 8 inches x 1/4 inch, one 4-1/2 inches x 1/4 inch)
Floral metal greening pins

Directions
In a small bowl, combine the first six ingredients. Stir in coconut. Chill until serving.
Cut off pineapple top with a fourth of the pineapple attached; set aside. For dip bowl, cut a third from bottom of pineapple; remove fruit, leaving a 1/2-in. shell. Remove peel from center section of pineapple; core and cut pineapple into chunks.
Cut the grapefruit, orange and lemon in half widthwise. Remove pulp from one half of each; set aside. (Save the remaining grapefruit, orange and lemon halves for another use.)
Stack two 10-in. Styrofoam rounds and two 6-in. rounds; cover each stack with heavy-duty foil. Repeat with remaining rounds. On a 19-in. x 15-in. platter, pile the stacks on top of each other, staggering them and anchoring with dowels.
Place pineapple top on the top circle; position lemon, limes, orange and grapefruit cups on other circles. Place pineapple bowl on platter.
With greening pins, attach clusters of grapes onto circles. Randomly add strawberries, pineapple chunks and more grapes to cover the foil and platter. Decorate with flowers.
Just before serving, fill pineapple bowl with dip.