Mouthgasm

This past Friday we left work early to do our tasting with our caterer and decide on our menu, linens and china. I have to tell you this was easily one of the most fun wedding planning activities.

We were able to pick out 1 salad, 3 entrees and 3 sides to try from their extensive menu. We were given very large portions of everything, easily enough for 3 or 4 people. Kristian asked our catering coordinator if people typically ate everything or if they would just take a few bites of each item to try. Basically we wanted to know if we were the only pigs who planned on eating EVERYTHING :)

Everything we tried was delish! Not only did it taste fantastic but their presentation was great. We decided to go with a buffet over a sit down dinner so that everyone would have the ability to choose what they want and try more than one entree. With our buffet option we were suppose to get 2 salads, 2 entrees and 2 sides but we were able to swap out one of the salads and get an extra entree instead which will give us some more variety. We also decided on the hors d'oeuvres for the cocktail hour.

For the cocktail hour we decided on:
FRESH FRUIT DISPLAY
A seasonal display of such favorites as
cantaloupe, honeydew,mango, papaya,
pineapple, red & green grapes, seasonal berries,
star-fruit, coconut, dried fruit and kiwi elegantly
displayed and decorated

GOURMET CRUDITÉ DISPLAY
Julienned cut carrots, celery sticks, red, orange
and yellow peppers, cucumbers, zucchini and
squash presented in square glass cubes
accompanied by grape tomatoes, olives,
asparagus and Chinese long beans. Set atop glass
blocks accented with wheat grass. Served with
roasted red pepper dip

HOT CRAB & ARTICHOKE DIP
Lump crab, artichokes and seasonings blended in
a creamy cheese dip and baked until bubbling.
Served with garlic toasted pita angles

For the buffet we chose:
Salad-
PEAR & WALNUT SALAD WITH
GORGONZOLA
Field greens tossed with sweet pears, toasted
walnuts, gorgonzola cheese and our cranberry
citrus vinaigrette

Entrees-
BEEF MEDALLIONS WITH SHALLOT – **This was our favorite! Kristian ate the whole thing
BRANDY SAUCE
Tender beef medallions presented atop a bed of
caramelized onions, tomatoes and arugula.
Drizzled with a delicious shallot –brandy sauce

PECAN CRUSTED CHICKEN
Tender breast of chicken rolled in spicy pecans,
and then drizzled with a light cream sauce

ORECCHIETTE PASTA WITH - **This was our second favorite.
SCALLOPS & SHRIMP
Open faced seashell pasta tossed with jumbo sea
scallops and shrimp in a creamy lobster based sauce

Sides-
Green Beans with Caramelized Onions &
Toasted Almonds

Parmesan Smashed Potatoes -**These were amazing!

We also tried their mac n cheese which was really good but we didn't think it would work as well with the other dishes. Fortunately we really don't have any vegetarians to worry about. One of my bridesmaids is a pseudo vegetarian that eats seafood, so she'll be all set with the pasta. Our guests definitely won't go hungry!

We then picked out our linens. Since our colors are black, white and dark pink/fuschia we decided to go with a textured black linen, white platinum trimmed china and white napkins. I think this will help make our pink flower centerpieces and white candles really pop. Below is a picture of the linens we decided on.

We've also decided to provide the alcohol which should save us a good bit of money, especially if we buy everything from a place that allows you to return any unopened bottles. The caterer very kindly provided us with a breakdown of how much alcohol we would need based on our guest count. We've decided to go with beer, wine, champagne (for the toast) and one signature cocktail, which will be Sweet Tea Vodka and Lemonade (my fav!).

Finally, we went over the timeline from when the caterer will arrive until cleanup. It was nice going over everything with the caterer who has far more experience with how long it takes for everything than I do. I was starting to worry we wouldn't have a lot of time for dancing after dinner but it seems like we should have more than enough time to take advantage of the dance floor.

Friday's tasting turned out to be a very productive meeting and made me feel a lot less stressed out about how everything will run on the day of. I think our guests will have a fabulous time!