A champagne tower always looks great at a party or wedding and makes a really good centerpiece or focal point for a wedding reception (at least until it all gets consumed!), but getting it right can be a little tricky so preparation and planning is called for.
My old mate Martha Stewart gives a few good tips on how to build your champagne tower and they go something like this:
- Start with a firm, solid base for your tower of glasses. A solid table is best. A spillage tray underneath or at the base to catch any overflow is a wise idea.
- Always use coupe style Champagne glasses (the wide mouthed retro rounded glasses), never flutes. All of the coupe glasses in the tower should be identical. These are easily rented from party hire suppliers.
- The tower is essentially made up of successively smaller layers of squares. For example, if the bottom layer is 10 glasses by 10 glasses, the layer above that would be nine by nine, the layer above that eight by eight, and so on.
- Ensure that each glass touches the surrounding glasses. When done right, you will see a diamond-shaped gap between each glass.
- When building the next layer, center the stem of the glass over the diamond openings that were created by the layer below. Carefully (and without rushing!!) fill in the layer with glasses.
- Repeat this assembly process until there is a single champagne glass on top.
- Once surrounded by your guests who, by now, should be cheering you on, begin slowly pouring Champagne from the the top glass and it will trickle downward. Larger-size Champagne bottles or magnums work best here. A step ladder can be useful to get level with the top glass.
These photographs of Nina & Trin pouring the champagne to create their tower was taken at the increasingly popular wedding venue in St Kilda, Encore.
One final word of advice – don’t forget to toast your partner before enjoying the champagne!
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