there's going to be tasty food at our wedding

We had our menu tasting today. YUM! We just chowed down on leftovers for dinner, and there's still food left!

Here's a teaser photo, you'll get to eat everything but the smoked cheese tartlet (second from the right):

items left to order: TWO

Kippot AKA yarmulkes (little hats for the men) and benchers (song/prayer books for after a meal).

That's it. Oh, and to pick up the water bottles and potato chips for the welcome bags.

Seriously. That's it. I sent the contracts to the DJ and the brass quintet (for the ceremony) last night. Every vendor we're hiring has been hired! All that's left is to do/finish all my crafty projects, finalize music selections, menu selections, floral decor, get our clothes tailored, and find someone to do my hair (I can do my own makeup).

We also have to talk to Rabbi Marc about our ceremony. A peer from synagogue (who is also a friend of a friend) got married about a month ago and Rabbi Marc was the officiant at her wedding too. He had just returned from a silent retreat and found out that his dad was quite sick and was in a weird/meditative head-space. Apparently, he threw everyone off by asking if they had any thoughts or wishes that they wanted to share with the bride and groom, to be spiritually sealed into their ketubah before signing it, no one was prepared for this question and there were 3-4 minutes of awkward silence (which my friend said felt like 10 minutes because everyone was just looking around like a deer in headlights). I want to go over everything with him, step-by-step, to make sure that there are no silent surprises like that at our ceremony. While Ben's family may be OK with the touchy-feelies, mine isn't. We're more of the silent WASPy types when it comes to emoting than the huggy ones.

yummy yummy

we have two open seats to our menu tasting. anyone want to come? It can take place almost any time before August 14th.

Here's what we know so far: Tuscan inspired luncheon buffet. Soup, salad, veggie entree, fish entree, tea, ice tea, and coffee. We also need to pick out (inexpensive) wines. And what to serve for food during the cocktail hour (which will be the hot or sparkling cider hour). Dessert is already decided on -and it's not cake.

Help? Let me know if you wanna come!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="168" caption="sorry, no pizza.... maybe that's an idea for cocktail hour!"][/caption]

first catering meeting

Ben and I met with Tiffany, the catering coordinator at the St. Julien Hotel on Friday. I'd asked her to draw up some estimates/proposals for us on how they can work with our budget and IT LOOKS LIKE IT'S GOING TO WORK OUT WELL!!!! Huzzah!

[caption id="attachment_101" align="aligncenter" width="576" caption="ceremony lawn :)"][/caption]

We were hung up on the prices for a while, and seriously considered other venues, but this one had everything we wanted (most important being a weather-proof ceremony backup plan), and the fewest restrictions (out by 5 PM, not 2). It was also the priciest, but as long as they understand that the budget is strict, it shouldn't be a problem. Plus, Sunday lunch can be WAY cheaper than Saturday dinner, the typical wedding meal.

Ben's favorite venue was the Chautauqua Dining Hall, which would have been perfect if 1) the patio could seat more than 75 people for the ceremony 2) we hadn't had to stick with either 9:30 AM-2 PM or 5-9:30 PM hours. Blocking out the afternoon like that was the straw that broke the camel's back when we noticed that it would stomp out our afternoon wedding party ideas and mean that we'd have to have the ceremony at 10:30 in order to have lunch and be out in time. Sorry, but I'm not waking up at 6 AM to get my hair/making done on my wedding day.



Tomorrow (Monday) we're meeting with a potential wedding coordinator whom I found via The Budget Savvy Bride, a blog of DIY tutorials, wedding photos, and price break-downs of weddings held all over the country, submitted by brides (and maybe some grooms too?). Anyway, we're going to chat with her tomorrow about helping us pull it all together, herding cats (AKA relatives), and vendor references. Plus, the St. Julien requires we have a coordinator if we also have the ceremony there. I guess Tiffany, the catering lady, can only hold down the fort in one space at a time.

We still need: lighting, photographer, a DJ (who will mic the ceremony too), to finalize my dress with the seamstress, and to pick out a kettubah. I've tasked Ben with picking out the wording of the ketubbah, I trust him to find a nice egalitarian text, where the English isn't too far off from the Hebrew/Aramaic, and includes the Lieberman Clause.

and that's one venue OFF THE LIST (and one on it too)

Friday night, Ben and I went to check out the Hazel Miller Band at the Millennium Hotel, the place with the yurt. Remember how I couldn't check out the bathrooms when we visited because they were locked. I kinda wish I'd never seen them....

I told my dad that they reminded me of CCC park restrooms. His response: "Heh, oooh. Not good." Correct, not good. The public restrooms on Pearl Street are nicer! There is almost nothing that can be done with just a bathroom basket to nicen this place up, it's just BLAH. Small, cramped, un-heated in the winter and BLAH. So, we decided that lest our guests believe that we never checked out the restrooms before booking the beautiful yurt, we said good bye to the Millennium Hotel.

From there, where the music was too loud for Mr. Ben's sensitive ears anyway, we were still in search of dinner. The original plan had been to try out the food at the Millennium while there were other people there instead of being doted on in an almost empty hotel restaurant. I would have felt awkward when they asked where we were visiting from as opposed to going on a busy night meant for locals.

We decided to check out the Chautauqua Dining Hall for dinner. From inside the Millennium I called to see if we needed a reservation (we didn't), and we were on our way. 15 minutes later we were walking up to the Dining Hall. At first I thought we were under dressed, wearing jeans and all, but once we got there I noticed two things 1) there was a wedding inside the main dining room and 2) not only were were not under dressed, in jeans, hiking shoes and a fleece jacket we were dress EXACTLY like 90% of the clientele that evening who weren't wedding guests. Even the waitstaff were wearing kaki cargo pants/shorts and t-shirts with a silhouette of the Fiddler on the Roof with the caption of "a taste of tradition..." I like blending in.

We shared a very good salad caprice as an appetizer, Ben had the Trout Amandine and I had the Fusilli Primavera. I thought Fusilli were the bowties, oh well, giant elbows are good too. Both our dishes were perfectly cooked and delicious. After we inhaled the appetizer and were sopping up the balsamic vinegar with the crusty sourdough table bread, I said "I just got a waft of something yummy." Almost immediately, our food arrived! I'll have to take Ben's word for it since his dinner was covered in evil allergens, but he said his food was perfect too. Mine was so good that I couldn't resist digging in before I shot the above photo. Sadly both photos I tried to take of Ben's plate came out sad and fuzzy looking. Oh well. Low lighting is not the best for an older digital point and shoot.

Dessert was by far the best course. A lemon tart. Yum. Ben said the decaf was good too, again, I'll take his word for it since I'm not a coffee drinker at all.

So, now we're still deciding between the St. Julien, somewhere else (which is now the Chautauqua Dining Hall), and the elusive Flagstaff House Restaurant. We haven't gotten to visit Flagstaff because we wanted to try the food but it's too pricy for us while I'm out of a job. St. Julien is no wilting flower in the price department either, but we can still afford to go there for lunch and know that the food is wonderful. Flagstaff is only open for dinner by reservation only.

Would anyone like to gift us a fancy night out for two? We'll be responsible (fiscally and calorically) and share the starter and dessert, or main and dessert, and drink tap water too so that we can keep our tab under $100. Anyone? No?I didn't think so. My dad had better come visit soon, maybe he'll take us....

agreed.

from Warm Olives' blog:

Delete my blog if I ever make this. I can't believe this is any one's favorite, or, best loved by anyone except the dog.

SOUTHWESTERN SOUP

1 bag of Birds Eye Frozen Corn
2 cans of chili
1 cup hot water
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper

Combine all ingredients in saucepan. Cook over medium heat for 10-12 minutes. Makes 4-6 servings.