Art Major Audrey Schoenthaler Designs Delightful Events
Audrey Schoenthaler, who majored in art at UMF and is now co-owner of Belle Fête Events and Catering of Brunswick, always has a lot on her plate in preparation for another season of weddings: mustering a seasonal staff of 60, ordering magnums of champagne, conducting food tastings with brides-to-be, and finalizing reception contracts at several swanky restaurants, where Belle Fête (French for beautiful celebration) is the preferred caterer.
Schoenthaler and her business partner, Lori Kinkade, imagined they might be hired for six weddings in their first season. After their debut at the Portland Bridal Show, they booked 26. While rival caterers and event planners offered crackers and cheese from their booths, Schoenthaler and Kinkade rolled out a bruschetta bar and elegantly decorated triple-layer wedding cakes inside a chandelier-adorned tent filled with antiques.
"We knew we had to blow the competition out of the water," says Schoenthaler. "People kept coming up to us and saying, 'Could you do a display like this at my wedding?' We never advertised. The phone just rang off the hook."
The clients call-and keep calling-for not only the elegant design of the events and Schoenthaler's signature wedding cakes (which, she says, are "just another form of sculpture"), but also her delectable cuisine.
"I'm trying to work my way out of the kitchen-slowly," she says. "I'm having a hard time letting go and trusting people with my recipes."
Even at the end of a season in which 120-hour work weeks are the norm, Schoenthaler says that the romantic magic of a wedding never gets old.
"Once you start unloading the truck, it's go time," she says. "The bride and groom are trusting you with their big day, whether it's a plated meal for 175 on an island or a small backyard wedding."
And regardless of a wedding's size, she says the most important ingredient is a beaming bride.
"The truth is, every girl in a wedding dress is drop-dead gorgeous because they're so happy," she says. "And if she's happy and having a good day, then everyone will have a good day."
-- By Marc Glass, managing editor of the UMF alumni magazine
