Wedding ... food part II

One more post about food

we decided to surprise our guest with a late night snack!

So at 11:00, one hour before the reception was to end

we had BBQ sliders and ice cream brought out for our guest

And they were surprised!

how nice after dancing the night away to end up with a late night snack!

We had entertained the idea of a french frie bar, or taco bar

even thought about mini milkshakes

but in the end, we went with the chef's suggestion of

BBQ sliders with sides of coleslaw, cheese and sauce.

then they rolled in an ice cream cart with all different kinds of

ice cream on a stick!!

I don't have pictures of this but I'm sure I'll have some once we get them back from the photographer.

wedding tip ... include some kind of surprise for your guest.

and really, you just can't go wrong with food!!

later....



Wedding ... food

FOOD - it's a biggie!!

when deciding where to put your money, this is one of them!

We tossed around the idea of a plated dinner but sometimes that can take so long

So we decided to go with the buffet. And here comes another pet peeve...when dinner is announced, have you ever noticed how people get all lined up for dinner and then the line starts wrapping around tables, people have a hard time getting back to their seats and just all kinds of crowding.

So we decided we would have our DJ annouce 2 or 3 tables at a time to get their dinner.

We started with the bride, groom and wedding party.

Next we did parents and grandparents

Then aunts and uncles

then cousins and friends.

This worked out great for us. And we knew guest would be comfortable because they had already had some appetizers at the cocktail party.

And even though we did buffet, we still decided to have menu cards on the table.

A nice way to let your guest know what they will be eating and plus, they just look cute!

For dinner we had.....

Garden Inn Salad

Grilled Chicken Breast served with spiced rum butter and kiwi strawberry salsa

Crab stuffed flounder roulades

seasonal vegetables

roasted red potatoes

rolls

chocolate covered strawberries

we printed up our own cards and included cutting them in one of our DIY days.

(picture credits go to my wonderful niece Mallory Pendleton)

wedding tip ... don't skimp on the food!

later.....



Wedding ... table names and cards

As in the previous post where I mentioned a pet peeve, another one of mine is the seating at receptions.

I've been to some where people rushed to get as close to the bride and groom

as possible without giving any consideration to the older family members

who rightfully should sit up front.

So we all agreed that we would do seating with name cards.

But instead of just listing the tables as numbers, we decided to name the tables after locations on the Outer Banks!

The bridal party tables were Kill Devil Hills and Nags Head.

the bride and groom were Kitty Hawk, the location of the wedding.

the rest of the tables were..... Manteo, Hatteras, Pine Island, Corolla, Oregon Inlet, Buxton, Avon, Rodanthe and Ocracoke!

I think this just added another little personal touch.

We printed these on our printer, cut and then glued to heavy stock scrapbooking paper in one of the wedding colors.

For the name cards, we bought starfish and tied name cards to them with small twine.

After Jacquelyn and Bucky did their table assignments, then I just hand wrote them...giving them more of a personal touch.

Johnny made the sand tray that all of the starfish would stand up in.

we lined them up alphabetically so it would be easy for our guest to find their names!

We had this sitting in the foyer of the Pier House before you entered the main room

(photo credit to Aaron Williams)

(photo credit to my niece Mallory Pendleton)

wedding tip ...  we could have ordered pre-printed table number cards and printed name tags. We also could have ordered the sand tray. But I'll tell ya, we would have spent about 5 times what we paid to do it ourself. Plus, I like the more personal touch by doing it ourself......and we had fun!!

Again, pick and choose where your money goes!

later....

Wedding ... cocktail party

In helping Jacquelyn and Bucky plan the wedding, I tried to give them

advice on the flow of the wedding. I myself had some pet peeves I wanted to share with them.

One of them is that dreadful time period between the ceremony

and the reception.

the bridal party is having pictures done and the guest are kind of on their

own for a little bit.

I've been to weddings where you almost were at the point of boredom in waiting for the festivties to begin.

I've been to weddings where guest actually started in on the buffet before the bride and groom arrived....how rude!

We decided that it was important for us to take care of our guest during that time period. So we decided on a cocktail party on the pier! The reception was in the Pier House that sits out on the pier but Jacquelyn did not want guest in there until right before their entrance. So having the cocktail party on the long part of the pier worked out great. Not only did our guest have drinks and good food, they had the awesome Atlantic ocean to look at!

We had beer and wine and then served appetizers butler style. We had Shrimp, Teriyaki chicken on a stick and spinach and cheese stuffed mushrooms.

I never made it to the cocktail party...but I heard it was good :)

wedding tip ... remember I mentioned before pick and choose where to spend your money. Well, this is one of them. Don't skimp on drinks, food or keeping your guest happy.

later......