in tandem

In order to recap last weekend’s wedding, I feel that I really need to summarize the bride and groom. Here are a few adjectives that describe who they are: Marketer. Hombrewer. Jewish. Natural. Crafty. Ohioan. Theatrical. Bicycler. Laid back. Original.

Keep those in mind.

Ok, now onto the wedding.

Sunday was one of those perfect September days that make you thrilled for fall but also nostalgic for summer.  Not a cloud or hint of humidity in the sky. The grounds of the John J. Audubon Center  made for an excellent natural setting. The couple crafted an original ceremony from beginning to end. It included Jewish traditions such as the huppah and the breaking of the glass as a shout out to the bride’s background. They wrote their own vows and friends read select text from the couples’ favorite poems & books. They had a custom made Ketubah, a Jewish marriage contract shown below, which mimicked a bicycle. The laid back ceremony was accented by a circle of guests seated in chairs and coordinating blankets to observe.

After the breaking of the glass by the groom, guests made their way to the unique barn for cocktail hour. We enjoyed homebrewed beer that was made with love by the groom. The place cards were hand crafted name cards that were pinned to a clothesline complete with photos of the couple on another clothesline above.

And I almost forgot the West Philly Orchestra that played throughout the ceremony, cocktail hour and part of the reception including the horah, another Jewish tradition. The sound of horns brought a little bit of soul, a little bit of funk and a lot of original entertainment to the wedding.

The reception was held in a pavilion just up a trail from the barn and adjacent to the ceremony site. It was donned in purple and wheat accents as that was the color scheme of the event.

The newlyweds made a theatrical entrance on their own tandem bike complete with a ‘just married’ flag! What a fun surprise.

The crafty details that went into this entire wedding were more than I’ve ever seen before. DIY at it’s finest! Let’s see… I mentioned the homebrew beer that was drank well into the night. Each beer had a clever name and description.  they were named for the bride and groom's families.  Even the toast was with a craft champagne beer by the brewmaster groom.

Then there was the cake display. It was actually a cake buffet of about a dozen types all made by friends. Each cake donned a little flag that stated the flavor and baker. The center cake was topped with a tandem bike which was cut by the bride and groom. I'm sorry to say that I didn't sample ANY of these because I was having too much fun on the dance floor.  How did I do this to myself again?

Then there was the homemade favors…they were a little bit of heaven in the form of chocolate and peanut butter called “buckeyes”, a shout out to the groom’s Ohioan roots. They were packaged complete with a poem by the bride about the buckeye and how it relates to the couple.

A DJ took over after a gourmet barbecue dinner and dancing ensued. For those interested in other forms of entertainment, there was a photobooth to cheese it up in, games of cornhole to play and trails of the Audubon to explore.
All and all, it was a laid back yet detail oriented event that truly captured both the bride AND groom’s personalities. These people seriously know how to throw a party!  Thank goodness I am friends with them.

Stay tuned for the next post related to the marketing that surrounded this wedding. What do I mean by that? You will see! Here’s a hint…branding.

-The perennial bridesmaid

yum

I went to a tasty wedding this weekend. It was at Rivercrest Golf Club in Phoenixville, PA. I had heard a ton of mixed reviews about the food at this place so I was anxious to experience it. Let me tell you, all the food was phenomenal. Turns out they got a new chef and he did them good!

Boy, was I full when I left there.

It started out with the cocktail hour. Well it actually started with the nuptials poolside which was really very lovely.  The bride looked beautiful with her birdcage veil and Maggie Sottero dress. Now onto food... Cocktail hour had the norm ample cheese table. Beyond that there were enough stations to make a meal out of. There was the oh-so-trendy mashed potato bar. Have you seen this yet? They served 3 kinds of mashed into a martini glass. Your choice. Then you go to town with toppings. I’m not sure who started this trend. It is popping up at many cocktail hours. It’s cool but heavy for so early in the evening. I totally filled up on it anyway.

Moving over to the scallop station, yes scallops & shrimp! They were being cooked right in front of us. If given the choice when planning a wedding between scallop station & mashed potato bar, I would go scallops all the way. But that’s just me!

What else? 2 bars at either end. A string quartet. More hot food stations with the old standards like m favorite pigs in a blanket. A Chinese food station with wontons, dumplings, egg rolls. Mmm. Needless to say, I tried it all! By the time we sat down for dinner, I could barely eat the filet and crab cakes that were cooked to perfection.

Enough about the food, the wedding itself was a classic affair. The color scheme was black and white with hints of damask patterns and hot pink. Even the cake had a damask pattern iced on it. The cake was great and made onsite. Oops, I brought it back to food!

-The perennial bridesmaid/ foodie

how do you spell greece

Where did I leave off? Ahh, dessert.

Before we could actually move onto dessert, we had to have an inevitable bridal shower game. It’s not just any game. We made this one up ourselves so we like to think it is original and more entertaining than the typical games turning up at showers.

Let’s call it “honeymoon girl”. The object of the game is for a guest to answer a correct trivia question. Then they get to put an article of honeymoon attire on the bride for the guests’ sheer entertainment.

By the end of our game “honeymoon girl” had everything on that she needed for the beach and we all had a good laugh! She was a good sport. This game is easily transferable as long as you come up with trivia questions that apply to the couple or their destination. Our questions were related to cities named Athens. Turns out there are tons of Athens beyond just Greece.

Now for dessert – baklava, oh how I wish I had more of that. Chocolate cake, almond cookies, brownies. I am sure I missing something. Check the menu. Did I mention that the brownie was iced in the Greek flag? How cute. Mmm, more baklava please.

We wrapped up the shower with gifts. As you know by now this wasn’t a typical bridal shower so there was no need for buying cutlery and sheets from Macy’s. We asked that the guests bring gifts that were “out of the box, off the registry” so we could send the bride to Greece in style.

We asked and they answered! She got fabulous floppy hats, beach bags, flowing dresses, summer scarves and more practical things like an umbrella, a passport purse, travel guide books, luggage, custom luggage tags, sunscreen, travel games and tons of flip flops. These are all ideal gifts to give at a honeymoon shower. The bride could get on the plane tomorrow to Greece and be set with those presents.

She also received several fun "before and after" gifts like a Greek cookbook and photo albums.

One guest had a creative way of presenting her honeymoon gifts. She lettered 6 blue gift bags with the letters G-R-E-E-C-E. Each bag had a different present that corresponded to the letter on the bag. For example, G – “Get ready for your trip”. The DVD of My Big Fat Greek Wedding was one of the items inside! There are so many ways you can spin these lettered bags to work for you for almost any occasion. It was such a clever idea! I want to try it.

Overall, this shower was as un-bridal shower as a shower can be and that was pleasing! A little bit of creativity and a great theme can really spice things up.

Stay tuned for some details about planning.

-The perennial bridesmaid

defining a honeymoon shower

I’m still recovering from my fantastic weekend that was jam packed with wedding festivities. As promised, I am sharing details. I have been trying to organize them in my brain to present them in a comprehensive manner.
Let’s start with the bridal shower… I am going to break it into a mini-series, if you will.

The bride’s mom and I opted to plan a honeymoon shower. I had heard of this concept but never executed it before. Commonly a honeymoon shower is thrown to prepare the couple for their vacation. The idea is to shower them with travel related gifts rather than items from their registry.

We took it a step further. You could actually say about 3 steps further…

The newlyweds will be vacationing in Greece later this summer. Therefore, we themed the entire shower around Greece. This was not only a surprise for the bride but also a surprise for the guests. They knew they were invited to a honeymoon shower for the bride but didn’t know it would be Greek themed for them as well.

When guests arrived they were presented with apps to munch on like olives, hummus & pita. Once the guest of honor came, we broke into Greek dance. This was led by a very talented little boy appropriately named Alexander. He is a Greek dancer who came prepared in the traditional outfit. Alexander taught us the traditional moves.  Opa!

Think that’s better than bridal bingo? We do.

After we caught our breath from dancing, we toasted to the bride with ouzo. An anise flavored aperitif that I’m sure the bride and groom will sample more of on their honeymoon.

Finally it was time for the delicious main course, which consisted of spanikopita, tzatziki, dolmades, olives, hummus, and many many good things that I do not know how to say, let alone spell. The mother of the bride is such a fabulous cook and baker. She made it all herself from scratch! And no, she is not Greek. Check out her menu below.

Hungry for more? Stay tuned for dessert.

-The perennial bridesmaid

tasty affair

Wondering what to expect at your tasting?  Here is one couple's account from the guest blogging bride...

One of the aspects of wedding planning that excited me most about our year-and-a-half long engagement was our tasting. Most tastings I had heard about involved the bride, groom and respective parents having a meal with one or two other couples getting married at the same venue. Usually the story includes one parent complaining about something loudly. This experience sounds ok, but I think our tasting exceeded such an event. Since our wedding caterer serves multiple venues in the area, our tasting was quite epic. Basically, it was a wedding reception with no ceremony and 250+ strangers at one of the premier wedding venues in the Philadelphia area.

When we got to the venue for the tasting, there was a line out the door. We stood in the cold with other couples as everyone checked in. I immediately started stereotyping people to guess who was getting married at our venue and who was more organized than me. (Some people had their wedding binders in hand. I don't even own one thanks to my love of Google Docs) Once we made our way inside, we got nametags that indicated which venue we were hosting our wedding. This made the stereotyping even more explicit! From all my research, I have a good idea of how much these venues cost and the fancy looking couples indeed were getting married at the fancy venues. (There were a few odd exceptions that involved tattooed couples.) I smiled knowingly at couples with matching nametags to ours.

There were still parents in attendance at this type of tasting. Part of our wedding agreement included two complimentary admissions to the tasting, covering me and my fiance. Other guests had to pay a fee. The parents took their role at the tasting very seriously. They stood guard at the kitchen for the first taste of each of the passed hors d'ouevres. They strategically covered their plates with one of everything from the stations. Not being nearly as aggressive, my fiance and I tried exactly one passed hors d'ouevre (which we shared) and about three different stations' offerings. We knew we wouldn't have sushi at our wedding, so why bother waiting in line? Basically, we spent the cocktail hour having some wine and beer, checking out a binder with fabric samples for our tablecloths, and oohing and ahhing at the venue and people in general.

We then proceeded into the ballroom where we sat at a 10-top table with other couples getting married at our same venue. This was certainly the most valuable part of the event. We exchanged when we were getting married, when we got engaged, some vendor recommendations, answered each others questions and compared notes over the food. I even got everyone to write down their email addresses so I can forward them photos I've found of other weddings at our site. I'm sure if people are into it, we'll continue our dinner discussion over email.

The caterer had provided us all with a list of all the food available that evening, so we could keep track of what we were eating and make comments. The seated portion of the night involved three courses - fish, poultry and beef. Each course came with three-four different preparations of the selected meat, along with three-four different sides. (I have to be honest and say that there was a disappointing amount of carrots as sides.) It was all incredibly tasty, but overwhelming to have that much food! At least they spaced the courses out pretty well and cut the food into bite-sized portions. During the entire dinner portion, there was still an open bar too!

Then came dessert. There was a section of the ballroom near our table that had been curtained off. We deciphered that this is where the chocolate and caramel fountains would be, and sure enough, they were revealed with excitement! There was also a fresh-baked cookie station, mini milkshakes being passed around, and the cake samples. I think there were about six different cakes brought to the table in little slices. As far as the food went, the dessert was a highlight for me!

A typical question following such an extravagant event will logically be "So what did you pick for your menu?!". As comprehensive as the night was, we did not pick a single thing from the tasting to be served at our wedding. We were very attached to a specific, casual (Read: inexpensive) menu that the caterers offer, and the tasting was a chance for them to showcase their fancier items, enticing brides, grooms and well-to-do parents into selecting upgrades.

The tasting was a chance for us to be assured that our caterers handle cooking good food for large numbers of people. They proved themselves that night. Will our wedding include a sushi bar, flank steak, a signature fruit martini, or a caramel fountain? No. Will it have solid, tasty food choices made by professionals? Yes. Do I feel like I was pampered for a night? Yes! Am I excited for my wedding with corn on the cob, hamburgers and a homemade cake buffet? Even more than before!