A Woodside Wedding: We Eat!

Ok, no more dwelling on my bad PWC, time to get back to the recaps!

To let everyone know that cocktail hour was over, one of our groomsmen (who had volunteered to MC) announced that everyone should find their seats, and that salad was going to be served.

Mr. Cola and I finally had a chance to sit down at the head table with our wedding party, and rest our feet.

Once everyone was done with their salad, the waitstaff excused each table to head up to the buffet. There was no way we weren't going to eat on our wedding day, so we headed up to get our food first, followed by the rest of the guests.

While the other tables were waiting to be called to get their food, some guests were having a little too much fun with our napkin rings, table cameras, and LED luminary escort cards. :)

(Above 4 photos are guest photos)

And our photographers got a few shots of our families at their tables.

After everyone had had a chance to get food from the buffet, it was time for the toasts. Mr. Cola's best man/brother went first, and it was a funny and heartfelt toast.

(The smile on BIL Cola's face as he sits down in this picture cracks me up!)

Then it was my MOH/sister's turn. Her toast was equally as wonderful, but thankfully not quite as long! ;) This was one portion of the evening that I really wished we'd gotten professional video of, to help us remember the beautiful toasts. All I have is a warm fuzzy memory of what was actually said, but they were both beautiful!

After a couple more people said a few words, it was time for Mr. Cola and I to circulate. We tried to go to each table, so we would have the opportunity to speak to everyone at our wedding. Our DOC actually made a really good suggestion: visit with the people you see less often first. This was a great tip, because we only ended up having time to visit with all our family (except my cousins), and not with our friends until later in the evening.

(Mr. Cola showing off his new carbon fiber and tungsten ring)

After visiting with our family, dinner time was over. Which meant that it was time for our first dance as husband and wife, coming up next!

Are you planning on allocating time to try to speak to each of your wedding guests?

Miss any wedding week details? Catch up here:

- I packed an emergency bag that saved my dress
- We had a crazy 4 days prepping for house guests and stuffing favors
- Shopping for a ton of wedding flowers to arrange ourselves
- Mr. Cola drinks a 40 and I have a night out on the town for our low-key bach parties
- A day of DIY'ing flower arrangements
- I kicked off our official recaps with my #1 wedding tip
- We began the weekend festivities with a sunset cruise for our wedding party
- We rehearsed our quick and easy ceremony
- I panicked, but we got our rehearsal dinner decorations set up just in time
- Our families met for the first time at our rehearsal dinner under the trees
- What went wrong on our wedding day, and my tips for future brides
- My bridesmaids and I got our hair and makeup done in the hotel suite
- I put on my wedding dress and became a bride
- The guys watched the World Cup, then got ready in 10 minutes
- Traffic delayed our decorations getting to the venue, and I almost ruined our first look
- We got to see each other for the first time on our wedding day at our first look
- We took some time for bride and groom pictures in the park
- I gave you a behind the scenes look at our family, friends and DOC setting up our venue
- Arriving at our venue and getting ready for the ceremony to start
- Everyone walked down the aisle
- Excerpts from our ceremony, and reading the vows we wrote for each other
- I interrupted our officiant, we exchanged rings, and with a kiss we were officially married!
- Wedding party and family portraits, and my thoughts on missing pictures
- Our guests enjoyed cocktail hour while we took a few more photos

(Unless otherwise noted, all photos in this post were taken by the very talented photographers of Shoot Me Now Photography)

Yummy Signage, Anyone?

As a rather picky eater, with some food allergies, I tend to steer clear of buffets, or when I do eat at one (mainly in Vegas!), I stick to only recognizable foods. I'm just not adventurous enough to try new things, unless I know what they are, and it seems many buffets don't think it's necessary to label their food items.

So as a courtesy to our guests, I've made 4" x 6" framed signs for our buffet, so they will know what they're eating. And I found the frames on sale at Joann's for only $2.99 each! This will be a good alternative to a menu, since it really isn't practical to have a menu at the place setting when people will be serving themselves, plus it's an excuse for yet another project with my beloved paper! :)

(the tri tip will be hand carved to order by our chef at a carving station)







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Prior to the buffet dinner, we will have passed hors d'oeuvres, so I think guests will have to fend for themselves to figure out what those are (or just ask the waiter!). Our guests will be able to choose from:

• Smoked Trout & Apple Salad on Cucumber Rounds
• Crab Cakes with Chili-Lime Aioli
• Flatbread Pizza with Caramelized Onions, Pancetta & Gruyere Cheese
• And on an 8 foot table there will be a Selection of Cheeses, Marinated Vegetables & Fresh Fruits (Triple Cream Brie, Point Reyes Blue, Sharp Irish Cheddar, Fresh Mozzarella, Picholine & Calamata Olives, Sundried Tomatoes, & Artichoke Hearts, Assorted Seasonal Fruits)

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There will also be bread and salad served at the table before the buffet dinner, but since we chose a simple Classic Caesar Salad with Crisp Romaine, Croutons & Parmesan Reggiano Cheese, I'm thinking our guests can figure out the salad by themselves!

Are you having a sit down or buffet dinner at your reception, and will you be incorporating any signage or menus for your guests?

(unless otherwise noted, all pictures in this post were taken by me)

Yum! Our Caterer Tasting

One of the highlights of wedding planning is the fact that everything needs to be tested ahead of time, to make sure it will be perfect for the big day. And tasting the food is no different, in fact, it's probably more important than a lot of things, because everyone puts such high expectations on the food at weddings. Nobody wants to hear people report back, "the food was good, for a wedding."

So we scheduled our caterer tasting pretty early in advance, since it was an easy thing to check off the list. We're using the on site caterer at The Mountain Terrace, and they have 4 tastings a year. There were about 12 other couples there with us. We started our tasting with 5 appetizers from their list of about 30 choices.

(From left to right: Mushroom Profiteroles (eww, mushrooms), Dates Wrapped in Bacon & Filled with Goat Cheese (pretty good), Traditional Spanikopita (Spinach-Feta Phyllo Triangles) with Apricot Drizzle (ok, but the pastry was too flaky), Ahi Tuna Poke on Crisp Wonton (neither of us cared for this, it tasted sort of like fishy fruit loops), and at the top of the picture is the Crab Cakes with Chili-Lime Aioli (really good, our favorite appetizer we tried).)

After appetizers we tried a Mixed Greens and Pear salad, with Gorgonzola Cheese, Caramelized Walnuts & Champagne Vinaigrette, which was very good, but the picture didn't turn out. We then sampled one of the vegetarian options, Roasted Veggie Stacks with Eggplant, Portobello Mushroom, Red & Yellow Bell Peppers, Herbed Goat Cheese & Feta Cheese (we didn't care for half the layers).


After that was another vegetarian option, Eggplant Parmesan (Mr. Cola didn't care for this since he doesn't like eggplant).


Next we tried Chicken Cacciatore Served in a Tomato Sauce with Fresh Vegetables, along side Smashed New Potatoes with Roasted Garlic, Green Onions & Crème Fraiche. The potatoes were excellent, and are our choice for one of our side dishes, the chicken was quite good too.



Then we had the fabulous Roasted Beef Tri Tip with Caramelized Shallots & Red Wine Sauce.



The red wine sauce was fantastic, and we will be serving the tri tip at our wedding, hand carved to order at the chef's carving station (we're doing a buffet, if I didn't mention it earlier, it's much more casual, which is what Mr. Cola wants, and fits our venue).



Equally as fantastic was the Teriyaki Roasted Salmon with Mango-Papaya Salsa, which is our other main course selection.


Mmmmm, my mouth is watering looking at these pictures again! Narrowing down the two entrees was the easy part of this process, but we still haven't figured what appetizers we'll be serving, except the gourmet cheese, bread and fruit 8 foot table.

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We definitely have time to make our other appetizer choices though, and I'm so glad we did this part early in our wedding planning. And now we have time to save up too, 'cause apps, food and open bar is going to cost us about $9,300, including tax and service charges:


Did you enjoy your caterer tasting as much as we did? And how early did you decide what to serve at your wedding?

(all pictures in this post except the last one of the cheese table were taken by me. And yes, Mr. Cola was reprimanded several times to not touch the food until I took the shot, LOL!)