A few months ago I mentioned I was starting my own wedding planning and coordination company. Take a peek at my first wedding with Rachel & Joe at Vineapple Cafe in Brooklyn Heights a few weeks ago! (Check out the rest of the website, too!).
Photo by Zack DeZon.
Last night we cooked our second annual Mardi Gras meal with friends. I used my favorite New Orleans cookbook, the Encyclopedia of Cajun & Creole Cuisine, for a few ideas including: Mardi Gras Slaw, Voodoo Greens, Soul Pork Roast, and homemade Cajun Pralines. It's a wonderful book with over 700 pages of history, lore, and of course, amazing recipes from roux to King cake!
Our friends brought shrimp cocktail, pate with crusty bread and figgy jam, and a bottle of wine. All around a great meal.
Although this is the first time I've made these, the recipe was straightforward and they turned out deliciously well.
Cajun Pralines:
Prep time: 30 minutes
Yields: 40-50 Pralines
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup whole milk
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
3/4 stick butter
1 1/2 cup chopped pecans
Combine all ingredients and stir constantly until mixture reaches soft-ball stage on a candy thermometer (234-240 F). Remove from heat and stir until thickened. Praline mixture should become creamy and cloudy, and pecans should remain in suspension. Drop spoonfuls onto buttered wax paper or parchment paper; be sure to buffer with newspaper underneath if using wax paper as hot wax will transfer to whatever is beneath.
From the Encyclopedia of Cajun & Creole Cuisine, page 605.
Pinterest. It's been blogged and tweeted ad nauseum but that's because it's so freaking useful. Especially for those who are bringing a vision to life -- whether you are planning a party, redecorating your home, or strategizing about your new fall wardrobe.
For more snippets of inspiration check out what I'm pinning here. I find it a nice complement to this blog as it allows me to capture ideas in almost a "pre-" phase before they become true ideas, fully gelled.
It's no secret that we spend time limbering up in body, mind and spirit before the big day. This is a recipe that I make again and again, especially for lunch. It packs a lot of flavor and good fats, leaving you feeling quite satisfied during a busy day of work and planning.
I doubled up the recipe for dinner over the weekend -- I must say, it's much better homemade (steamy shrimp!) than from my office lunch spot.
Ingredients:
12-15 peeled, deveined uncooked shrimp, tossed with a generous amount of Old Bay, salt, pepper and a little olive oil
1 avocado, diced
1/2 can chick peas, drained and rinsed
1/2 can black beans, drained and rinsed
12-15 small green olives
1 celery stalk sliced thin
Arugula, rinsed and dried
Lemon juice and olive oil, to taste
Salt & pepper to taste
Method:
Prepare all of the salad ingredients and add to a medium bowl (do not combine yet).
Sautee shrimp over medium high heat until cooked through.
Drizzle olive oil and lemon juice, salt and pepper on salad and combine with tongs, just before adding shrimp.
Divide into bowls and place shrimp on top.
Here is a fun collection of summer cocktails from Splendora. This is The Rosemond -- so lovely, serving glass included.
Along with wine and beer we had 2 signature drinks at our reception: the classic Mint Julep and the fruity Madame X.
What are some of your favorite festive drinks?
What's more important? Flavor, color, or local relevance?
It's been hard to know what the right next post should be after something as amazing and surreal as ones wedding.
I am so thankful for so many things, especially the sheer bliss in the days that followed the big day. We reveled in the feeling that we had really pulled it off. Something that fun, that filled with people we care about, that "perfect" wedding that was everything we imagined -- and all the things we never could have imagined we'd feel during that special time.
I think it's because our definition of perfect emphasized everyone just having a really relaxing, fun time. We didn't want anything to feel overly scheduled. We didn't want it to appear as though we had focused on frivolities. So we made it that way. We focused on the fun.
We had a key requirement -- a solid level of quality from all of our vendors. I can HIGHLY recommend the following folks if you are planning an event of any kind in the Hampton Roads area:
Planning & Coordination: Weddings by Michelle. In a word -- amazing. They worked with me for more than a year (we had a very long engagement) to help bring the ideas I had on paper to life in a seamless, natural way. I can't say enough about Michelle & Kim and wish I had another reason to work with them again! They are simply the best.
Ceremony, Reception & Catering: The Cavalier Hotel. The space was classically Southern (we used the Raleigh Lounge & Porches in the old Cavalier on the hill); the food was outstanding. The entire staff was lovely to work with.
Photography: Eleise Theuer. She was everywhere while also being totally under the radar -- I can't wait to see the pictures!
Cake: The Magic Cupboard. Simple, beautifully crafted, delicious.
Flowers: Bloom the Art of Flowers. Gorgeous variety, lush arrangements.
Make-up: Kim Porter. She did a fabulous job enhancing everyone's beauty!
Lighting: Blue Steel Pro Lighting. I can't say enough about how the lighting enhanced the mood. Loved it.
DJ: Arch Entertainment, DJ Seamus. Kept us dancing -- so easy and professional to work with.
We also imported a couple of folks --
Hair: My friend Daniel from Salon 2b in NYC created my stunning updo.
Band: The Stooges Brass Band from New Orleans performed during the second half of the reception. We've known these guys for a long time and they were kind enough to come up to play the wedding. Amazing performance, so much fun. See them if you are ever in the Big Easy!
This special group of people helped us make the day all that we wanted it to be.
It goes without saying, but I will say it anyway -- the greatest ingredient was the collective of friends and family who came from all over the country (and even a few from Mexico) to share this weekend with us. We could really feel the joy and positivity from everyone and that made it so very special. We loved it.
Last evening I had the fun (can I have my two hours back?) of watching SATC 2 at my friend's place. While the story left me wanting so much more, I was strangely drawn to the amazing stemware throughout the movie at the party scenes in NYC and across the ocean in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
I'm on a quest to create a great bar set-up at our apartment. We're making good headway on the wine and spirits, but I crave more fun baubles to drink from. The above are a couple of selections etsy sellers -- lots of fun finds on etsy actually. I'll also check out the flea markets in the city come summer.
BTW, if these are the things I am thinking about just THREE WEEKS away from our wedding day, clearly everything else is well in hand!
What better way to spend the Sunday of a long weekend than having friends over for brunch, a little Daytona 500 and then some personal arts and crafts time?
I have seen this idea all over the wedding blogs and wanted to try my hand at them, too. I ordered the hot pink swizzle sticks from eBay (I admit, I'm a little embarrassed that they shipped all the way from England....no one in the U.S. sells them?!) and found fun origami papers at my local art shop. Just add one glue stick and a pair of scissors and a couple few hours later you are....not quite finished!
These puppies still have some trimming and stamping left to go but they sure are cute.
We had the best milestone weekend in Norfolk. Down for our "couples" shower, we squeezed in our final meeting with the wedding planner, our menu tasting at the Cavalier and a multi-hour chat with our officiant. Everything feels like it is coming together, like we are stitching up (or snipping off!) the loose ends.
We couldn't be more excited about the food. The Chef at the Cavalier is so talented - each bite was more flavorful than the last. It was hard to make our final decisions but we couldn't have (and wouldn't recommend) doing it any other way. We were even able to take the leftovers home with us. Bonus! Above is a picture of the oyster shells (as big as the palm of my hand) from the Oysters Rockefeller. Perfectly balanced, you could taste each flavor distinctly...the greens and cheese on top with the briny baked oyster underneath. I love that we can include a nod to one of our favorite places: New Orleans.
I was nervous before this weekend thinking about what else had to get done, but now I am just excited and ready to finish the final details. We've been planning for awhile and it has really paid off. It is going to be such a fun party.
I'm so very excited! Sarah @ Classic Bride held an auction for this amazing vintage cake stand...and I won!
"[She] found the vintage silverplated pedestal cake stand, shown above, in a tiny antique shop outside of Charleston, SC. The cake stand features a stunning grape and leaf design along the edging, creating a beautiful fence-like effect around the cake."
Clearly it was a fabulous feature of her own wedding. A big thank you to her for the opportunity to share the love!
When I saw it a few months back on her blog (before the auction) I was mesmerized. What a perfect platform for our own special cake.
I've been having some impure thoughts lately, I admit it. Thoughts like "what if we did the reception somewhere else altogether?" and "what if I want a dress that's less of a DRESS dress". I think at this point in the process, right before I actually have to commit to more of the details at a year out, it's probably normal for me to have these thoughts. And luckily, not so much has been committed that some of the (new?) ideas I have can't actually come true.
The truth is, I feel like I went off of my own "brief". My own set of words that I said to myself about what represents us and the kind of wedding we want to have. Fun. Inclusive. Creative. But it kind of only really comes down to REALLY. REALLY. FUN.
While I love many of the boards I've put together and the ideas I've toyed with thus far, they in some ways feel off balance? So if anything, I tried to rebalance some of the ideas and priorities in this latest board.
P.S. I did try on this dress the same day I found the DRESS dress and I kind of loved it, too. (Sassi Holford, Lucy. and P.P.S. I think it might be a sign that the other dress I thought was the dress -- the first time -- was also called Lucy, except it was from the Vineyard Collection of Priscilla of Boston. So maybe there was just a slight mix-up and I was supposed to end up with this Lucy? These are the crazy things a bride can think about.)
Anyhoo. I'm actually surprised I was able to put this together tonight. The last thing I have been wanting to do is think about wedding planning stuff. I've been enjoying the time off but maybe have also been kind of in a rut. Of feeling like it was coming together really quickly and either there wasn't much left to do, or that I wasn't all that excited about how the ideas were gelling. Or not gelling, actually. And also realizing that I know this isn't the most important part, but that it is kind of fun, and that if I'm not having fun, why engage until I'm going to have fun again?
K. Rambling now. Time for bed!
Jedd was watching me put this together and when I asked him about the colors said it looked like neapolitan ice cream. He's kinda right. Not literally pink, cream and brown, but pink and gold, black and white. And a little bit of berry. Sounds like a good dessert to me.
What's hard about putting the color scheme and idea boards together is not giving too much away. Our whole thing is about having just a super fun dance party -- so while I'm playing with color and whatnot to inspire other ideas, most of the fun is in some of the details for our guests. It's going to be so much fun!
I was inspired by an amazing wedding posted on 100 Layer Cake -- a couple got married at the Gramercy Park Hotel which is actually not too far from where we live. It didn't try to be overly one look or another, it was just elegant and beautiful and not stuck in any one era -- perfectly classic.
I was wondering what this event at the Cavalier might look like if it pulled back a little bit from eclectic whimsy. The results are above and I have to say, kind of liking this, too.INSPIRATION:
BRIDE & BRIDESMAID DRESSES: Priscilla of Boston Vineyard and Melissa Sweet collections
SHOES: J. Crew, Bergdorf Shoe Dept.
INVITATION: Lucky-Luxe Couture Correspondence
JEWELRY: Anthropologie
MISC: The Inspired Bride
Over time a vision evolves. Even over a week. I made the board on the left last week or so, and within a couple of days already evolved the color scheme to look more like the right. You can see where elements of consistency lie -- things that are fixed versus things that are in flux. Ideas that we love versus ideas that we are just playing around with. Southern, but with touches and sensibilities that transcend our location and come down to our personal tastes. Note the sweet little gobs -- a Northern treat that is actually from Jedd's childhood with family in Western PA. They originated in central PA -- Amish country, and also sometimes called "whoopie pies" -- and are little chocolate cake discs with a white creamy frosting filling. His grandmother makes the BEST gobs!
I'm still playing with all of this...of course. It's scary exciting to think how much this might change between now and a year from now when the rubber hits the road and we really have to make some final decisions.
