How Provisional Events Is Creating Community Around the Table in Tuscumbia

Mini charcuterie plate from Provisional Events in Tuscumbia, Alabama

How Provisional Events Is Creating Community Around the Table in Tuscumbia

Tuscumbia, AL - Provisional Events Is Built on Family, Food, and a Deep Love for Community

When Sarah Nelson talks about Provisional Events, she does not start with menus or square footage. She starts with people.

“I started Provisional Events at the beginning of summer 2025,” Sarah said. “We opened this as a family venture with my sons. My sister and my parents help out too. We’ve always enjoyed serving and catering, and we wanted a way to offer that to the community.”

Located in downtown Tuscumbia next door to her sister’s antique shop, Basse Trading Company, Provisional Events feels intentional from the moment you walk in. It is warm, neutral, and welcoming without trying too hard. The space reflects exactly what Sarah set out to build.

“Our goal with the design was to keep it fairly neutral,” she explained. “That way it works for engagement parties, wedding showers, baby showers, all of that.”

The space holds up to fifty people, which Sarah sees as one of its biggest strengths. “If you’ve got fifty people, you don’t have to go rent a three hundred person room,” she said. “Tuscumbia actually offers really unique options at different sizes, and this fills that smaller gap.”

Beautiful grazing table from Provisional Events

More Than an Event Space

Provisional Events is an event space first, but it has grown into much more.

“We do catering, not full service catering, but drop and go grazing tables or staffed events,” Sarah said. “We can do a large grazing table for two hundred to three hundred people depending on the event.”

They also host charcuterie classes, craft classes, and cake decorating workshops with local artists. “Those are a lot of fun,” she added. “People really enjoy getting together and doing something hands on.”

Then there are the pop ups.

“Tuscumbia has enough going on during the summer and fall that we really enjoy doing pop ups,” Sarah said. “Second Saturdays, Helen Keller Festival, Dickens Festival, all of those give us opportunities to be open.”

During pop ups, Provisional Events offers seasonal menus that change throughout the year. “We had a summer menu, then we changed it for fall with some different items,” she said. “The community has given us great feedback and seems to really like it.”

Grazing Table handcrafted by Sarah’s father

Charcuterie That Tastes Like Home

Charcuterie is at the heart of Provisional Events, but Sarah is clear that her approach is different.

“Our goal was to bring that home cooked feeling right to the table,” she said. “So our customers don’t have to do that themselves.”

Everything starts from scratch or is carefully sourced. “Whether it’s the chicken salad we make from scratch or the specialty sourced smoked pimento cheese, we want it to taste like it did at home or at grandma’s house,” she said.

For grazing sandwich tables, they even bake homemade rosemary focaccia. And in the summer months, many of the florals used for events are grown by Sarah herself. “I love flowers,” she said. “That’s my love language.”

One of the most eye catching elements is the charcuterie cart, which has become something of a signature.

“I was inspired by things I saw online and wanted a charcuterie cart,” Sarah said. “My dad is a fantastic woodworker, so I asked if he would make me something simple.”

What he delivered was anything but simple. Handcrafted from reclaimed maple, the cart is a custom cabinetry piece that Sarah still talks about with amazement. “It is more than I could have ever imagined,” she said. “It’s a work of art. I’ve had people ask where they can get one and I just say, sorry, it’s my daddy.”

These popular mini cupcakes from Provisional Events will take your breath away!

The Cupcakes Everyone Talks About

If there is one thing people consistently recommend at Provisional Events, it is the cupcakes.

“A lot of people love when we’re open because they can come get cupcakes,” Sarah said. “And then they’re usually buying extra to take home.”

Cupcakes are available during pop ups, through catering, and via special orders like birthday letterbox deliveries and candy boxes. “All of our desserts are bite sized and super fun,” she said.

Sarah is quick to point out that presentation is not her focus. “I don’t do buttercream and I don’t really make pretty desserts,” she said. “But when you eat these, that’s where it matters.”

The frosting is cream cheese based, and flavors rotate. Favorites include apple strudel, pina colada, chocolate chocolate, and chocolate coconut. “Chocolate coconut has become the community favorite,” she said. “People keep asking for it, so I keep making it.”

Orders typically start at four dozen, but scale easily. “If you’ve got six hundred people and you want to give them sweets, give us a call,” she said with a smile.

Sarah talking about the handcrafted Provisional Events grazing cart

A Place Where You’re Never Really Alone

One of the most meaningful details inside Provisional Events is the community table.

“We always have a community table designated,” Sarah said. “If you come and sit down here by yourself, somebody’s going to sit with you.”

Police officers on duty, neighbors stopping in, and people who just want company regularly end up sharing meals and conversations with strangers who quickly feel like friends.

They have also introduced Sunday family style lunches. “We put everything on the table like you would at grandmother’s house,” Sarah explained. “It’s a set menu, but we offer seats at the community table so people who live alone can come eat with a whole group.”

Staying Connected

While Provisional Events is active on Facebook, Sarah says the most important place to stay connected is their website.

“People can actually subscribe to the event calendar on the website,” she said. “That’s where I want the stability.”

You can subscribe to upcoming pop ups, classes, and events at provisionalevents.com.

Provisional Events is not trying to be everything to everyone. It is something better. A place built on family, food made with care, and a genuine desire to serve. In downtown Tuscumbia, it already feels like it belongs.

The reviews speak for themselves.

Google reviews average 5 stars across over 8 reviews.

Facebook reviews average 5 stars across over 7 reviews.

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Address: Tri-Cities, 107 E 6th St, Tuscumbia, AL 35674

Phone: (256) 322-0653

Website: provisionalevents.com

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