Great Aftertaste

As I mentioned  in last week's post, we had our catering tasting this past week at Heirloom LA. It was wonderful!

Source (You can buy these cute forks off Etsy!)

With this being our first tasting, I had no idea what to expect and was pleasantly surprised. We got to try a smaller version of our crostini station (pictured above), five amazing tray-passsed appetizers (so appetizing that they disappeared before I could remember to photograph them), four different entrée options and two scrumptious desserts.

Our favorites of the night were Smoked Pork Chop with Yam Puree and Roasted Brussel Sprouts (pictured above) and Maple Rosemary Donuts (pictured below)

Now comes the hard part of narrowing down our options. Since we are doing a family-style dinner we want to make sure that what we pick will appeal to all of our guests. How did you decide on your wedding menu? With so many special dietary restrictions theses days (vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, ect.) how did you select for the masses without giving up what you wanted?

First Taste

Tomorrow we are going to our first (and hopefully last) catering tasting! My fiance Derek and I are big foodies so naturally we want to serve the best wedding food on the planet. Derek took the lead on researching caters and has convinced me that Heirloom LA is the way to go. I am so looking forward to trying their signature Lasagna cupcakes.

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Their tray passed appetizers look unreal.

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Stay tuned next week to hear how the tasting goes! Have you done your catering tastings yet? Any tips on what to look out for?

Going Postal the Pretty Way

As we get close to sending out our Save the Dates, I have been looking for ways to jazz up our mailing (and cut some corners). An address stamp seems to be a must these days and luckily Etsy has so many wonderful customized options to choose from.

Sources: 1, 2, 3 & 4

Sources: 1 & 2

 Of course cool postage is also on my mind. I found tons of amazing vintage postage on Ebay, Champion Stamp, Kenmore Stamp Co. and Invites by Jen. I am usually great at finding deals, so the though of paying double the price just for a pretty stamps if hard to justify.

Sources: 1, 2 & 3

Sources: 1, 2 & 3

 Luckily and surprisingly to me the United States Post Office actually has quite a few unique stamps to choose from, so I think I will probably end up going with one of the following options.

Source: USPS.COM

How did you get creative with your mailings? Do you know a great resource for reasonably priced vintage stamps?

Picturing Our Future

So happy to say that we can now check wedding photographer off of our to-do list! This week, we booked the amazing  Hugh Forte to photograph our wedding. Hugh first captured our tummies with the mouthwatering photos he shoots for his wife's Sprouted Kitchen blog. After learning that he was an equally talented wedding photographer, we knew that we had found our match.

Source of All Photos: Hugh Forte Photography

With so many talented photographers, narrowing it down to one was a surprisingly long and critical process for us. What I hear the most from recently married friends is that your wedding day is one of the quickest most surreal days of your life. You entrust your wedding photographer with documenting all the special moments that fly by so quickly. If your photographer can't capture the moment, it will be gone forever. Yes, I am being a tad dramatic, but really it is an amazing amount of pressure.

Source of All Photos: Hugh Forte Photography

How did you pick your photographer?

Color Splash

I love color, so the process of selecting wedding colors seems like a daunting task. The again, what are wedding colors really for? I have read that the purpose of selecting wedding colors is to set the tone for your wedding reception and tie everything together, but if you have a good aesthetic for color does everything really need to be so matchy matchy? So far  The Perfect Palette and Design Seeds are my favorite sites to search for color inspiration.

I love turquoise or aqua with a bright coral or yellow.

Sources: 1 & 2

Source: Design Seeds

I also like the look of a cool grey accented with muted colors.

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Since our entire wedding will be outdoors, I like the idea of playing off natural colors too.

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How did/are you picking your wedding colors? How many are too many?

Mismatched Vases

When it comes to wedding decor, I plan to keep it simple, mixing vintage and recycled items. I really love the look of mismatched vases.

Sources:  1, 2 & 3

Sources: 1, 2, 3 & 4

Over the last year, I have been collecting potential wedding decor from thrift stores, flea market and estate sales. I am gradually building my collection of vases.

I have also been saving interesting bottles which I may dye or paint.

I came across the following how-to articles if you are interested in a DIY bottle coloring project:

Tinting Spray painting Painting 

I plan to try these out and will report back on what worked the best for me.

Sources: 1, 2 & 3

Did you mix match vases or bottles for you wedding? Know any great pointers on dying or painting bottles?

My Favorite Accessory

It was almost one year ago today that I received my favorite accessory.

Derek popped the questions the day before Thanksgiving while we were visiting family in the Bay Area. We met in San Francisco so the city will always hold a special place in our hearts. He proposed overlooking the city after we shared a bottle of wine at the wine bar where we had our first date. It could not have been more perfect!

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I had absolutely no part in picking my ring. Derek did it all himself and spent months looking for the perfect one. And he did! The ring is vintage from the 1920's and has extra significance because some of the accent diamonds were replaced with diamonds from his grandmother's engagement ring.

It's hard to believe that a year has already flown by. Something tells me it will be hard for this Thanksgiving to live up to last years!

Let There Be Light!

And lots of it! For our wedding we plan on keeping our decor very simple with lots of hanging lights playing of the natural beauty of our venue.

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Sources: 1, 2, 3 & 4

 I really love the idea of also combing some lights with colorful streamers and ribbons.

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Since our venue is on the edge of a national park,we cannot have any open flames. Unfortunately means no candles, so we will have to get creative with other ways to add light.

Sources: 1, 2, 3 & 4

Sources: 1, 2 & 3

How did you get creative with your wedding lighting?

Celebration Libations

When it comes to libations, there are not many drinks that my fiance and I will turn down. For our wedding we want to offer our guest a plethora of options. We like the idea of welcoming guests with a cocktail before the ceremony and have been playing around with the idea of something with lavender to take advantage of local ingredients.

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An agua fresca bar incorporating fresh local fruit like strawberries and oranges is also on our wish list.

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As well as a bourbon bar.

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Personally, I don't think one can go wrong with a champagne cocktail or classic champagne.

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With the Central Coast being well-known for its wines, we plan to serve wine from some of our favorite local wineries as well as beer from local micro-breweries.

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Something tells me our guests will have no problem quenching their thirst. How did you decide what to serve for you wedding?

Party Down {size}!

Well the wedding party anyway. Right after we got engaged, Derek and I quickly decided on our wedding party. We knew that for our own sanity (not wanting to deal with the friend politics of putting a label on who our "best" friends are) and for the aesthetic we wanted for our wedding photos, a small wedding party was the best option for us. On our wedding day I will have my sister and cousin (who is like another sister) by my side.  Derek will have his two brothers by his. This was by far the easiest wedding decision we have made thus far, and I couldn't be more excited about keeping it in the family.

My bridal party will be like the photo below from my cousin's wedding, except this time I will be the one in white.

 Source: Stacia's Photography

A little history of the origins of the wedding party:

Historically, the wedding party was the group of gentlemen who helped the groom to capture his bride. The first usher and groomsmen job was to help the groom fight off the bride's attacking family. Later, women joined the party to assist the bride in decorating for her wedding feast and dressing for her wedding. Initially the women all wore the same attire as the bride because it was thought to create a protective circle around her. My, how times have changed...

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 As most brides say, I want my bridesmaids to wear a dress that they will actually want to wear again, so I would like to go a less traditional route for my bridesmaid dresses. I love the mismatched bridesmaid trend, but I'm not really sure how I could pull that off with only two ladies.

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I also know that even though I am not having sixteen bridesmaids, I would still like my friends to be a part of our wedding in some creative way. Whether that means joining me to get ready or a pre-wedding photo shoot.

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Did you have a small wedding party? How did you incorporate all of the people who are important to you?