HOW TO: CHAMPAGNE TOWER
A champagne tower is a a memorable experience for yourself and guests to enjoy. It is becoming evermore popular to exchange your wedding cake with a champagne tower. So here is a guide on how to: champagne tower!
CHAMPAGNE TOWER OR WEDDING CAKE?
If you have been considering not cutting a cake, a champagne tower is a great alternative. They’re very easy to incorporate into your reception by having it as a feature, where the cake usually would be. Once the formalities are about to wrap up, you can have an announcement for guests to watch and then help themselves straight away.
How Many Glasses Do You Need for a Champagne Tower?
Here are a few considerations when creating a champagne tower. How high is the table you are going to place the tower on? You don’t want the glasses to end up being so tall that you cannot reach the top for the pour. So, work out your table height, then measure your chosen glassware and work out how many levels you can comfortably access.
The easiest way to assess how many glasses you need is to work in the decreasing tier system, built in squares. So, if your bottom layer comprises a square featuring six by six (36) glasses, the following layer will be five by five (25) glasses, above this four by four (16) and so on. If you want to avoid finishing on a single glass, a two by two square is more stable and allows you one each to pour into. To work out how many bottles of champagne you need, there are usually six glasses per bottle, but to account for overflow, calculate the total using five glasses per bottle.
Work out whether you want every guest to be able to have a glass from the tower, or are you happy for some to be served from trays? Think about how many tiers would you ideally like to have. Six to eight layers is the traditional number, but anything from four or five tiers can look amazing, especially if the table and surroundings are styled well (plus the smaller your champagne tower is, the simpler it is to build).
How Do You Make a Champagne Tower?
Start by laying out the glasses in a six by six square (for example). Make sure that the edges of each glass touches, which will leave you with a little diamond of space between each glass. Use these diamond spaces as a guide, and place the next layer of glasses on top of these for an even formation. And then repeat the process until you reach the top – then all you need to do is slowly start pouring.
When should we do the champagne tower?
You can of course do it when most couples would cut the cake. You can also do it on your bridal entrance to the reception. This will give you something to do on the entrance and be more of a show stopping moment. However, my favourite time to do it is actually straight after the ceremony or family photos but before you head away from bridal party photos. To give your guests a beautiful coupe of champagne to start off the afternoon! It will also give you lovely natural lighting and a nice backdrop of your venue in the daylight.
Here is a link to a popular coupe if buying yourself.
