Hittin’ Up the Craft Stores

Phew!

What a day of wedding errands!

Today we’ve accomplished quite a lot with regard to some of the crafty projects we hope to complete before the big day. We hit up three different craft stores and picked up a myriad of supplies including:

• Fabric
• Foam board
• Ribbon
• Baskets
• Picture frames

Some serious crafting is about to go down. 😀

Lunch

When we arrived back home, it was time for lunch.

On the menu today was a simple peanut butter and jelly sandwich made with Sarabeth’s jelly that I tried at my parents’ house back in April and loved.

Along with my peanut butter and jelly, I enjoyed fresh cherries.

 

For dessert I had a fluffy sugar cookie that my mom made using my grandma’s recipe. The last time I had these cookies I was in Pennsylvania over Thanksgiving. The cookies are fluffy and almost cake-like which I adore.

Annnd, last but not least…

Woops! How did those get in there? 😉

Fishin’

After lunch, Ryan and I headed out back to try to catch some fish in the canal behind my parents’ house.

Apparently fish don’t particularly enjoy imitation crab meat (our bait of choice) and we decided we much prefer catching to fishing. 🙂

Honeymoon Update

Ryan and I have also made some serious progress on the honeymoon front. We’re pretty sure that St. Lucia is going to be our destination of choice.

If any of you have stayed at the Anse Chastanet resort and have any thoughts, please share! Other St. Lucia resort recommendations are also more than welcome. We’re still going back through all of your previous comments as well. Thanks again for all of your comments and suggestions! You guys are the best.

Now I’m off to get crafty!

Hope you’re having a great weekend so far. 😀

Wedding Food & Cake Tasting

What a night!

Our wedding food and cake tasting last night was more than I ever could have imagined.

From start to finish, we were continually impressed.

When we arrived, we met with Jennifer, the events manager at the Vinoy, to head to a private room to begin the tasting.

The private room had two tables set up: One for us to enjoy our meal and another to show us how the tables for our wedding will look when fully set.

Our tables will have floral centerpieces and other decor to add a romantic feel and bring in our wedding colors and will not have the gold charger plates.(We will also have chiavari chairs! 😉 )

After ooing and ahhing over the intricacies of the tableware, we sat down at our table to begin our meal.

Hors d’oeuvres

We began by trying five different hors d’oeuvres.

Up first was a beef and artichoke bruschetta with olive aioli and a citrus shrimp with horseradish aioli.

Both were tasty, but the beef stole the show!

Next we tried a ricotta fritter, duck wonton and a lobster spring roll that Jennifer added to our tasting menu as a surprise.

The lobster spring roll got rave reviews from all of us but the other two were only meh.

In the end we actually chose both the beef and the lobster and two other hors d’oeuvres that we didn’t try but seemed appealing.

Appetizers

Next up were the appetizers.

First we tried black pepper shrimp, served with exotic fruit and avocado salad.

 

We all loved the presentation of this one, but I was the only one who thought it was delicious. Ryan gave it the lowest score of the bunch, with a 6.5.

Our second option was a pan seared lump crab cake with sweet corn puree smoked bacon-tomato relish.

I am so picky with crab cakes because my mom makes amazing crab cakes that are basically egg and crab only. I love really crabby crab cakes and these were delicious. They were packed full of crab meat and all of us agreed we found a winner!

Salad

The salad decision was a pretty easy one for me.

First up was a spring salad with bleu cheese, spiced pecans and pears.

The second salad was a Boston Bibb salad with raspberries, brie fondant crostini and a port vinaigrette.

Ryan and I both really do not like bleu cheese, but love brie, so the second salad was clearly the winner. It had a light and fresh taste that we all enjoyed.

Entrees

To sample our main course, we were each provided with a sampler plate that included mini portions of three different entrees.

The combinations we sampled included sea bass + filet, lobster + filet and herb roasted chicken + scallops.

We all agreed that the sea bass stole the show. It tasted moist, fresh and buttery. So, so good! We also loved the spinach Gruyere soufflé that came along with the lobster and filet combo, so we are going to add that into our main meal as well.

If the sea bass and filet can fit into our budget (based on how many “yes” RSVPs we we receive), that will be the winner!

Cake

Woohoo! Dessert!

I was so excited for the cake tasting portion of this meal, but was shocked at how hard it was to choose our cake!

First, we sampled a variety of different cake flavors.

Then we tried a tray of fillings and a tray of mousse (which I forgot to photograph).

 

In the end we decided on a red velvet cake with a white chocolate mousse filling and buttercream icing.

I could literally bathe in the buttercream icing. It reminded me so much of my mom’s homemade buttercream icing and I couldn’t get enough!

The Final Menu

If all things go according to plan, our wedding menu will look like this:

Hors d’oeuvres

Butler passed:

• Beef and artichoke bruschetta with olive aioli
• Lobster spring roll
• Tuna, toasted peanut tartar, soy ginger gelee
• Spinach and feta cheese purse

Displays:

• Fruit display: Colorful array of seasonal fruits and betties with key lime yogurt
• Antipasto display: Marinated mushrooms, assorted olives, feta cheese, mozzarella, basil, grape tomatoes, roasted peppers and hard salamis

Appetizer

• Pan seared lump crab cake, sweet corn puree, smoked bacon-tomato relish

Salad

• Boston Bibb with raspberries, brie fondant crostini and port vinaigrette

Entree

• Grilled filet and seared sea bass, spinach Gruyere soufflé, Pesto green beans and carrots

Cake

• Red velvet cake with white chocolate mousse filling and buttercream icing

***

I am so excited about our menu! I think it will be absolutely delicious! 😀

Today

Today will be a day full of wedding errands! We have plans to hit up a bunch of different craft stores to assemble our escort card boards and check some other crafty projects off our wedding to to list.

Also on the agenda is visiting some local bakeries to taste some cookies that will play a part in our wedding favors.

See ya in a bit! 😀