Wedding Recap: Catering + Cake

It’s Wedding Wednesday and today is all about the eats!

*All photos used in this and all wedding related posts are from Elegant Imagery.

Millenia Catering

One of my favorite parts about our wedding was the food.

After meeting with a few caterers, we went with our instincts and booked Chef Lo from Millenia Catering.  I can’t express how grateful I am towards that decision, and I would hire him again in a heartbeat.

Everything on our catering menu had a special meaning to us.  Whether it was a favorite food of mine or Scott’s, everything selected and created had a purpose and a story.

While Scott and I came up with the food descriptions, the wonderful and talented Angela Palacio with Paper Charm Custom Designs created the food label cards.

We started cocktail hour with a few special requests:

– One for me: Grilled Cheese Triangles atop Tomato Basil Bisque shooters.

– One for Scott: Mid West Mashed Potato & Meatloaf on a porcelain spoon.

– Curry Shrimp, Cucumber Bottoms and Apple Mango Salsa: Our “Caribbean Honeymoon” pick.

Alongside cucumber water, teas and sodas, we had beer, wine and two specialty drinks for guests.

Frozen daquaris (representing me) and Dude flavored vodka (representing Scott).

After the Bridal Party intros, Scott and I made our way to our sweetheart table to taste as much food as we could.  Our wedding coordinator, Ashlie, made sure we had a sample of everything in front of us.

Although we didn’t get to try everything (if you’ve been a bride or groom you know why) every bite looked awfully delicious!

Dinner started off with martini glasses full of Strawberry Salad.  We had a summer wedding, and it was a refreshing start to the night.

The salad was the only plated part of the meal.  From there, it was a food station free for all.

The room was set up to have a main food dish in each corner.  Once again, each food station displayed something with a special meaning to us.

– Paella a la Valencia Station: representing our first date at Cafe Tu Tu Tangos.

We had three separate paella varieties including Chicken & Chorizo, Seafood and Artichoke with Roasted Pepper.

– Pasta Action Station: representing my favorite food as Italian.

We wanted a create your own pasta station giving guests their choice of noodle, sauce, meat and veggie.

– Sushi & Sashimi Station: representing our favorite way to celebrate date night.

Chef Lo created a display of his specialties including the California Roll, Dragon Roll, Tiger Prawns and Seaweed Salad.

We didn’t get to try much, but both of us made sure to load up on the sushi.   Yummy!

We both couldn’t have been happier with how dinner turned out!

Wedding Cake

Scott and I put a lot of thought into what our wedding cake would look like.  We wanted something unique, bright and us.

I think we got it.

Our cake baker, Anna Cakes, did a great job of re-creating a sketch we sent over to her.  We had four topsy turvy tiers, each in a different flavor with my favorites being coconut and marble.

We were hoping that four tiers would be enough to feed two hundred guests, but unfortunately that didn’t wasn’t the case.  Towards the end, we tried to order a sheet cake to feed an extra fifty people, but that note got lost in the craziness of the wedding planning shuffle.

I hate that I can’t remember where we custom wedding cake topper because I absolutely loved it.

Our florist added a bright pink rose to each side, which was a nice surprise.  Our cake cutter breaking was a not so nice surprise.

*More stories on that to come.

Milk and Cookies Night Cap

After meeting with our first caterer, we got the idea to serve a night cap snack at the end of the reception.  This was a great wind down to the party and where we lacked in cake, we certainly made up for it in cookies!

Lots of them!

A dear friend of ours is an excellent baker and when we got the idea of serving cookies, I couldn’t think of a better person to ask.  Emmy was a true rock star and somehow managed to whip up at least two (probably up to four) hundred cookies for the reception.

I couldn’t stop thanking her, especially for filling my mint chocolate chip request.  I tried out each and every flavor, and although the mint chocolate won in my book, they were all amazingly delicious.

Paired with milk shooters, this idea has to be repeated.

We got a ton of compliments on the cookies and milk display.

Doesn’t it just lure you in?

Thanks again for your exquisite talents, Emmy!

To be continued next Wedding Wednesday…

In the mean time, see what recaps are coming up on the Wedding Page!