Considering it's been almost a month since the dinner tasting, and we are going for the cake tasting tonight, it's probably about time I made the FOOD post. Warning, this post is photo-heavy (remember to click the pics to see them full-size) and extremely delicious!
Joined by the lovely Karina, Ellie's lady of Honor extraordinaire, and Danielle, who graciously accepted our offer to join us as an honorary Person of Honor (wow, that's awkward to say!). What we saw upon our arrival in the tasting room was pretty impressive:
Okay, this was actually the "sample table" where we go to see and choose the napkin fold and table number. I didn't get a shot of the "eating table" before we dug in, but it was very similar , only with more place settings, no plates, and an extra wine glass (we each got a glass of the house white, the house red and champagne!). Jocelyn, the event coordinator, sat with the four of us to go over details like those on the "sample table," centerpieces, timing, etc, and generally make sure we were all on the same page.
As the food began to arrive, she continued to sit with us to note our selections and answer questions. It was weird to be eating in front of her, and we all kept asking if she was okay--I know she does this all the time, but it was still slightly uncomfortable. Now, so you're up to speed, when we scheduled the tasting, we were asked to select 2 appetizers, 2 salads and 4 entrees (from 7, 6 & 12 options respectively!); we narrowed the field by half during the tasting and our menu (minus the cocktail hour hour d'ourves) was complete. We should have known just from making the initial selection that this would be a lot tougher than we hoped!
First Course: Appetizer
We chose clam chowdah :) and tortellini for the appetizers. Clam chowder is so quintessentially New England, and Ellie's family has a long history of tortellini soup for special occasions, this was the next best thing. Although we each got our own cup of chowder, we split 2 plates of tortellini--we all filled up on the chowder so didn't have room for the tortellini, that's why not much had been eaten in the pic.
Second Course: Salad
Again, we shared two of each salad: caprese & wedge. Honestly, these were the only two that really sounded like something we wanted to eat. I love that the caprese salad wasn't just red tomatoes--that slice of yellow really made the dish pop. Wedge salads are just awesome. You really should try a wedge salad, just saying.
LOL, you can see my wedding notebook in this picture!!
Third Course: Dinner
Can you tell from this picture that we like red meat? of the four dinners we chose, 3 had some type of steak on them. This decision was actually really grueling because we are both such people pleasers, but also wanted to be happy with our choice. Clockwise from top left:
They all came with some type of mashed potatoes and a veggie. I mean, seriously, holy crap these all look amazing, don't they? They tasted just as amazing, trust me. The four of us each took a plate and passed them around. I'm pretty sure we passed some of them more than once. :D We definitely hemmed and hawed about the merits of each, and what we did & didn't like. As she listened, Jocelyn shot out some options that allowed Ellie and I to make the most of the menu and hopefully please almost everyone. I know some people will bitch, but really? they would probably bitch no matter what we served.Joined by the lovely Karina, Ellie's lady of Honor extraordinaire, and Danielle, who graciously accepted our offer to join us as an honorary Person of Honor (wow, that's awkward to say!). What we saw upon our arrival in the tasting room was pretty impressive:
As the food began to arrive, she continued to sit with us to note our selections and answer questions. It was weird to be eating in front of her, and we all kept asking if she was okay--I know she does this all the time, but it was still slightly uncomfortable. Now, so you're up to speed, when we scheduled the tasting, we were asked to select 2 appetizers, 2 salads and 4 entrees (from 7, 6 & 12 options respectively!); we narrowed the field by half during the tasting and our menu (minus the cocktail hour hour d'ourves) was complete. We should have known just from making the initial selection that this would be a lot tougher than we hoped!
First Course: Appetizer
We chose clam chowdah :) and tortellini for the appetizers. Clam chowder is so quintessentially New England, and Ellie's family has a long history of tortellini soup for special occasions, this was the next best thing. Although we each got our own cup of chowder, we split 2 plates of tortellini--we all filled up on the chowder so didn't have room for the tortellini, that's why not much had been eaten in the pic.
Second Course: Salad
LOL, you can see my wedding notebook in this picture!!
Third Course: Dinner
- Mixed Grille of Petite Filet Mignon and Jonah Crab Stuffed Jumbo Shrimp
- Filet of Beef Tenderloin with Scampi Prawns
- Duet of Sirloin with a Green Peppercorn Demi Glaze and Coriander Crusted Marinated Chicken
- Herb and Panko Crusted Breast of Chicken
Final Course: Dessert
The near plates in this picture are how the plate will look with either a bonbon or strawberry (imagine a delicious piece of cake between the whipped cream swirls). The far plate is just a dish of strawberries, the plate of bonbons was already being passed around.
Both were absolutely amazing, but it was really a no-brainer to be honest.
This was the aftermath (we totally housed the desserts). I almost wish we hadn't had breakfast, no matter how light, beforehand because that was a LOT of food! It's so wonderful to know that we and our guests are going to be treated so well. All the food is made in-house by the same chef who runs Bistro 44, which is in the hotel, who prides himself on only serving food that is sourced from within 44 miles of the hotel. That's harder to do when cooking for a wedding, but knowing there is an effort is nice.
I'm not going to reveal our choices until after the invites go out (about 2-3 weeks, I promise!!) to not ruin the surprise, but I plan to post a full description of each meal so guests have a better idea of what they are selecting for dinner. Everything else remains a surprise (I think...we'll see if I can hold back!).
I'm not going to reveal our choices until after the invites go out (about 2-3 weeks, I promise!!) to not ruin the surprise, but I plan to post a full description of each meal so guests have a better idea of what they are selecting for dinner. Everything else remains a surprise (I think...we'll see if I can hold back!).
It was a delicious meal! And the wines were very good as well! It was so much fun joining you two. How was the cake tasting? Is there a forthcoming post about that?
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