Remember last time I mentioned we were having a food tasting? Ya know, the one for the rehearsal dinner? OH YEAH THAT’S CUZ I DIDN’T.
Yeah, that may be due to the fact that I got completely consumed into consuming my lunch/rehearsal dinner food options that I didn’t take ANY pictures or ANYTHING. I had even charged up my camera and made sure I was ready to take as many pictures as possible so we could make the best executive decision about the rehearsal dinner entrees. YEAH RIGHT.
As if that wasn’t bad enough (which, after I ate the food and was very satisfied with our decisions), I did the EXACT SAME THING today. Yep, it’s true. I went through a huge hassle to try to find my camera charger that I thought I’d lost last night. Then, I charged it up (and then went outside to write on Mathew’s car because today was his birthday so I wanted him to find it in the morning when he went to work) and went to bed. I got up this morning, made sure to throw my camera in my purse, and headed off to work.
I got to the Hilton (where our reception will be) before Mathew did, and sat down and discussed several different things with the catering coordinator, Libby. Libby has been SO SO helpful in all my planning. I think I’ve visited the Hilton more times than any other bride just to go and scope it out or show it off to friends or family.
After Mathew arrived to the Hilton, Libby hastily went to the kitchen to grab our first entree (Salmon with a beurre blanc sauce with pesto rice and veggies…OMGOSH). The salmon smelled SO good that I just dove completely in and didn’t ONCE think to take out my camera. I wanted to snuggle with that salmon, that’s how good it was. Then, Libby grabbed a plate that had chicken breast with tomato basil, mashed potatoes, and veggies. Again, SO good, and the presentations on both were SO pretty. The executive chef did a great job and of course in all my excitement, I still never thought it’d be a good idea to take out the camera. The third dish came out, and out came the London Broil. It was sliced and piled into almost a tee-pee kinda thing with a mushroom cabernet sauce. It had baby potatoes (russet, purple, fingerling) and a side of veggies (which, the veggies were amazing: squash, zucchini, fresh green beans, and carrots). We LOVED the london broil, and the potatoes were pretty yummy, but we decided that IF we picked it, we’d have to switch it to mashed garlic potatoes because in the winter time, it’d be best for sopping up that amazing cabernet sauce. Last, was our least favorite, chicken marsala. I wasn’t very impressed with the sauce on it, and Mathew and I each ate about 2 bites and said “nuh-uh”.
We were left with a very hard decision. All this time we decided to do a plated dinner. You see, in Corpus Christi (South Texas) where I come from, it’s considered “more fancy” if you have a seated, plated dinner as opposed to a buffet. With that in mind, I had set my mind to it that I was going to have a plated dinner. We had the option of two entrees for our guests, but that also was going to have to mean ARRANGED SEATING.
I am not a fan of the dreaded seating chart mainly because I just don’t want to deal with the extra hassle. I have bridal party members that will have husbands or fiances, and I have family who will want to sit with certain people. For me to try and orchestrate all that…I’d have to be crazy. Plus, I’m working full time AND I’ll be going to school full time this semester (while at the end of wedding planning) and it’s just not worth all the stress. Plus, we already picked, paid for, and received our wedding invitations, and we never gave a food option on our RSVP cards. Therefore, logistically, it was just easier for Mathew and I to pick one dish for everyone.
So what did we pick? THE LONDON BROIL! As much as I loved the salmon (OMGOSH so good), I knew that a fish choice might not sit well with every guest. Secondly, we’re Texans. Texans enjoy a good hearty dinner and a good steak, so it was the best decision for us! Sure we could’ve been extra safe and picked the tomato basil chicken, but what fun would that be?! However, because I was so incredibly impressed with the salmon (my dad and I love to fish, and we love eating it…and I’ve had many a salmon) and this was the BEST salmon I’d ever had, I asked Libby if there was any way I could get a special plate of salmon for my very own on the wedding day. Apparently Mathew was impressed too, because he wanted salmon as well! Libby was happy to accommodate us, so now we get our own special wedding meal!
In other fun stuff, I’d love to show y’all the loooovely decorations/prank I did for Mathew’s car (completely in the dark I might add). Wanna see?
If you can’t exactly read the middle picture, it says “birthday hunk ->” HAHA. Mathew said I completely embarrassed him today. I rarely do silly things like that for birthdays, but while looking for my camera charger I found the car crayons from my sister’s graduation back in June.
Overall, today’s been great. Not to mention, my honey turned 24 today (for a couple weeks there I was 25 and he was 23. YIKES). I’m so thankful to have him in my life and I can’t wait for 3 1/2 months when we can share our first meal as a married couple.
Brides to be or newlyweds- how did you plan your reception dinner? Was it buffet or plated? One entree? Two? Three? Did you do a dreaded seating chart?
Megan says
Our is going to be seated as well. We haven’t done our tasting yet so I have no idea what is going on with the food yet. I can’t wait to have our tasting though! I think your guests will love the meal that you picked!
Kristina says
Birthday hunk is freaking hysterical!!! I would have laughed so hard if I saw that on my am commute. Happy Birthday!
Heather says
Yum! I think you made great choices for the guests and yourselves! We did a buffet, so we didn’t have to assign place cards at the tables themselves indicating food choices. We still put out escort cards, though, and assigned guests to specific tables. The seating chart was a challenge, but since we had just 75 guests, it wasn’t too overwhelming.
HiLLjO says
You made the right choice!!! I was reading thinking “Please pick the steak…please pick steak…” That is my favorite cut!!!
For the married b-maids, just do a sweetheart table for you and hubbsy. Then everyone can sit where they want. That’s what we did. And we did a buffet w/ 2 entrees. Cuz I like foods and I went up twice for more steak. :o)
Jasmine says
i think you made a great choice for your food! we gave options, and not only did people write in their OWN choice (as in… not a choice AT ALL.. haha) but it was so hard to keep all the food choices straight and it was STRESSFUL!
we had a sweetheart table for sean and i and then put all my bridesmaids spread over 2 tables (with their dates) and all the groomsmen spread over 2 tables (with their dates) it worked out well because they were close but they could also sit with their guest which is important, i think.
Beth says
We had a buffet, which worked well for us. As a guest, I would love a good london broil, so I think you made a great choice!
As for the seating–we assigned tables, but not specific seats at those tables. It was one of the least fun wedding planning tasks we did, but not the horrific chore I imagined it would be…
Jessica says
That food sounds delicious! We didn’t have a plated meal or anything since it was an afternoon reception– something I am SO grateful for! So glad I didn’t have to deal with seating charts lol. Awesome that you get your own wedding meal 🙂
jennybusybee says
Haha, I love what you did with his car! Hilarious!!
Sara says
Sounds delish and perfect for Texas!
We did a seating chart (it was a pain but totally the best decision for us & SO worth it) For dinner we had several entrees of food stations set up around the mansion. We’re a little bit “foodie” so when we saw all the choices there was no way we could pick just one or two LOL
Bride-onicles says
We are still having that debate weather to go with plated or buffett. I think in the end we are going to do a dual entree plated because I don’t want to have to keep track of what everyone ordered. I will be doing a seating chart though! I always do that too..bring my camera but forget to take pics!!
P.S. your venue is gorg!
AmyJean {Relentless Bride / Fry, The Baby} says
I love your description of the salmon and the “i wanted to snuggle with the salmon” statement! Too cute!