Rustic Italian :: Martini Bar

For the cocktail portion of our Rustic Italian party we created a “ make your own “ Martini Bar where guests were invited to mix a drink to their liking with Vodka, Vermouth, soda water, “ dirty water, “ and various garnishes ( cucumber, olives, + lemons ). In case guests weren’t confident in their martini making abilities we included a beautiful hand-stamped, coffee stained how-to sign by the very talented Liz of Linda & Harriett (more on that later).
Partially because our buffet had a lot going on visually, we kept the bar much cleaner. We used a beautiful neutral woven table cloth, and a lot of glass for a crisp, clean look. We purchased our decanters at Moon River Chattel here in Brooklyn (often a go-to for Sunday Suppers décor !) We loved their unique simple shape, with a perfect neck for hanging nametags on (also L&H). Glass was a must for our garnishes because of how beautiful simple individual ingredients are in this form. Don’t hide them ! The piece happens to be a terrarium from Terrain at Styer’s ( mail-ordered ). Of course, there are plenty of clean glass vessels in every home you could use instead—buying is certainly not a necessity. With these orderly, more modern shapes, we were sure to incorporate rusticity. To this end we used lovely tarnished silver pieces for our ice bucket, our dirty water, and out stirrers. Again, the dirty water container is simply a creamer, and the “bucket” an old bowl. Be creative !


Styling and Photography by Karen Mordechai
Styling Assistant: Lizzy Sall