Fan with a Plan Table for 235 Brooch Bouquet Vintage Handkerchiefs

In the Know PHOTOGRAPHS BY MARK PETERSON Brooch bouquet Damaris found the idea for a bouquet made of vintage floral brooches on Pinterest. As soon as she finished making hers, she swore off the site. “I wanted to stop focusing on Vintage handkerchiefs aesthetic projects and think about the things Damaris and Darrick filled a fabric-lined case with that would make people have a good time.” handkerchiefs “for happy tears” that the guests could take home after the celebration. Paper cranes When Darrick proposed to Damaris, he presented her with 1,000 origami cranes made from receipts, ticket stubs and notes he’d saved during their three-year courtship. For the ceremony, they strung them together to create a backdrop that hung from the Wedding gazebo where they exchanged vows. Table for 235 A U-shaped table accommodated all the guests, and the couple sat at the base, “where we could look out on everyone,” Damaris says. They searched tag sales, thrift stores and flea markets for the BelleJ place settings. Food Network Star winner Damaris Phillips shares the details of her big day—a DIY celebration in the heart of Kentucky. Personal notes Each place card included a handwritten note from she had never really given much thought to couple to keep and use during a lifetime the bride and groom. what her wedding would be like—until the of meals. The challenge sounds like the final minute she got engaged. As soon as education Those six wishes led to a party in June test on a cooking-show competition: Throw consultant Darrick Wood proposed, that, despite the big size, felt charmingly a wedding reception for 235 people in the “I was like, ‘What are you thinking for the homespun and personal. The couple middle of a city street with a different place wedding?’ ” she recalls. Darrick suggested involved the guests every step of the way: setting for each guest, an all-vegetarian they allow themselves the night to simply Their families voted on favorite cake flavors menu and a 10-cake dessert buffet baked enjoy being engaged. After that, though, a few months before, Damaris’ mom and exclusively by the bride and groom. Oh, they each wrote a top-three wedding wish closest friends marched her down the aisle, and the forecast calls for thunderstorms. list. Damaris wanted an outdoor ceremony, carrying parasols and waving streamers This is not, however, a cooking-show a parade-like procession and tables with (the parade of her wish list), and the friend Fan with challenge; it’s Damaris Phillips’ real-life mismatched vintage china. Darrick wanted who originally introduced Damaris and wedding day—and she’s pulling it all off family-style dining, a single table for Darrick officiated the ceremony. a plan without a hitch. everyone and, odd as it sounds (the idea “I was so excited to marry Darrick, I would The wedding program served double duty as Damaris, who won Food Network Star in came to him in a dream, he admits), he have gone to the courthouse,” Damaris says. a fan—the day turned 2013 and now hosts Southern at Heart, says wanted each guest to bring a fork for the “But this was more fun—and a lot prettier.” out to be a hot one. 40 FOOD NETWORK MAGAZINE G SEPTEMBER 2015 SEPTEMBER 2015 G FOOD NETWORK MAGAZINE 41 In the Know Meatless dining Damaris has never met a piece of pork she didn’t love—but Darrick is a strict vegetarian, so they went meatless for the meal, Wedding Belle serving veggie-and-hummus sandwiches on parmesan focaccia, plus a selectionJ of colorful salads. Homemade cakes At the wedding shower in April, Damaris and Darrick’s families helped decide the flavors for the wedding cakes. Then the couple baked them in the weeks leading up to the big day. “It was just us at home at night, thinking up and tweaking different recipes,” she says. Outdoor lounge Damaris set up living room furniture, quilts and picnic blankets around the park for cocktail hour. Blackberry cobbler Cherry-almond Picnic baskets During the cocktail hour, guests helped themselves to bags of Caramel corn candied pecans and crackers with pimiento cheese and benedictine spread. At the bar: margaritas and bourbon slushies on tap. Chocolate–peanut butter Chocolate-covered strawberry Lemon-lavender J 42 FOOD NETWORK MAGAZINE G SEPTEMBER 2015.

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