What a night!
Our wedding food and cake tasting last night was more than I ever could have imagined.
From start to finish, we were continually impressed.
When we arrived, we met with Jennifer, the events manager at the Vinoy, to head to a private room to begin the tasting.
The private room had two tables set up: One for us to enjoy our meal and another to show us how the tables for our wedding will look when fully set.
Our tables will have floral centerpieces and other decor to add a romantic feel and bring in our wedding colors and will not have the gold charger plates.(We will also have chiavari chairs! 😉 )
After ooing and ahhing over the intricacies of the tableware, we sat down at our table to begin our meal.
Hors d’oeuvres
We began by trying five different hors d’oeuvres.
Up first was a beef and artichoke bruschetta with olive aioli and a citrus shrimp with horseradish aioli.
Both were tasty, but the beef stole the show!
Next we tried a ricotta fritter, duck wonton and a lobster spring roll that Jennifer added to our tasting menu as a surprise.
The lobster spring roll got rave reviews from all of us but the other two were only meh.
In the end we actually chose both the beef and the lobster and two other hors d’oeuvres that we didn’t try but seemed appealing.
Appetizers
Next up were the appetizers.
First we tried black pepper shrimp, served with exotic fruit and avocado salad.
We all loved the presentation of this one, but I was the only one who thought it was delicious. Ryan gave it the lowest score of the bunch, with a 6.5.
Our second option was a pan seared lump crab cake with sweet corn puree smoked bacon-tomato relish.
I am so picky with crab cakes because my mom makes amazing crab cakes that are basically egg and crab only. I love really crabby crab cakes and these were delicious. They were packed full of crab meat and all of us agreed we found a winner!
Salad
The salad decision was a pretty easy one for me.
First up was a spring salad with bleu cheese, spiced pecans and pears.
The second salad was a Boston Bibb salad with raspberries, brie fondant crostini and a port vinaigrette.
Ryan and I both really do not like bleu cheese, but love brie, so the second salad was clearly the winner. It had a light and fresh taste that we all enjoyed.
Entrees
To sample our main course, we were each provided with a sampler plate that included mini portions of three different entrees.
The combinations we sampled included sea bass + filet, lobster + filet and herb roasted chicken + scallops.
We all agreed that the sea bass stole the show. It tasted moist, fresh and buttery. So, so good! We also loved the spinach Gruyere soufflé that came along with the lobster and filet combo, so we are going to add that into our main meal as well.
If the sea bass and filet can fit into our budget (based on how many “yes” RSVPs we we receive), that will be the winner!
Cake
Woohoo! Dessert!
I was so excited for the cake tasting portion of this meal, but was shocked at how hard it was to choose our cake!
First, we sampled a variety of different cake flavors.
Then we tried a tray of fillings and a tray of mousse (which I forgot to photograph).
In the end we decided on a red velvet cake with a white chocolate mousse filling and buttercream icing.
I could literally bathe in the buttercream icing. It reminded me so much of my mom’s homemade buttercream icing and I couldn’t get enough!
The Final Menu
If all things go according to plan, our wedding menu will look like this:
Hors d’oeuvres
Butler passed:
- Beef and artichoke bruschetta with olive aioli
- Lobster spring roll
- Tuna, toasted peanut tartar, soy ginger gelee
- Spinach and feta cheese purse
Displays:
- Fruit display: Colorful array of seasonal fruits and betties with key lime yogurt
- Antipasto display: Marinated mushrooms, assorted olives, feta cheese, mozzarella, basil, grape tomatoes, roasted peppers and hard salamis
Appetizer
- Pan seared lump crab cake, sweet corn puree, smoked bacon-tomato relish
Salad
- Boston Bibb with raspberries, brie fondant crostini and port vinaigrette
Entree
- Grilled filet and seared sea bass, spinach Gruyere soufflé, Pesto green beans and carrots
Cake
- Red velvet cake with white chocolate mousse filling and buttercream icing
***
I am so excited about our menu! I think it will be absolutely delicious! 😀
Today
Today will be a day full of wedding errands! We have plans to hit up a bunch of different craft stores to assemble our escort card boards and check some other crafty projects off our wedding to to list.
Also on the agenda is visiting some local bakeries to taste some cookies that will play a part in our wedding favors.
See ya in a bit! 😀
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Oh my! What fun!
I think the cake tasting would be my favaorite! What other cake varieties were there?
Have fun with wedding favor tastings today! :0)
they had a bunch! red velvet, white, yellow, coffee, marble, strawberry & lemon.
This has GOT to be the best thing about wedding planning, no? Everything sounds and looks amazing. I can’t wait until the big day arrives 🙂
The menu sounds delicious Julie. Your guests will love it!
I want to get married just for the food and cake tastings….is that wrong? 😉
Everything sounds wonderful!!!! The cake tasting would have been my favorite part!!! =D
You are going to have a beautiful wedding! When my hubby and I did our food tasting it was one of the best nights ever. Looks like you guys had tons of fun too!
What an awesome night! The food looks AMAZING, I can only imagine what it tastes like 😉 I’m also not a fan of bleu cheese – and my Dad LOVES it, he thinks I’m nuts. Oh, and crab cakes are so hard to perfect, but once you got it, you got it…and what a lucky girl to have a Mom that can make the perfect crab cake 😀
I hope you enjoy your wedding-filled day, everything looks so gorgeous and exciting, Julie!
Meg
Whoa. Everything sounds amazing! Your guests will definitely enjoy all of the food. You just have to make sure you get a chance to enjoy it yourself! It’s so easy to feel obligated to talk to everyone, but try to take some time yo sit down and savor the moment…and awesome food. 😉
oh my gosh Julie! that menu sounds AMAZING. Can I please come?? haha. kidding! But wow, your guests will be blown away!! The resort looks beautiful as well. I can’t wait to see pictures from the big day!
Let’s be honest here…I mayyy be kind of jealous of you 😉 But even more so, I’m so SO happy for you and Ryan!! I can tell that the two of you have such a wonderful and exciting life ahead, and it seems like your wedding is going to be the perfect celebration of that.
Your menu sounds delicious. I love red velvet cake so your wedding cake sounds AMAZING!
OMG! All that food looks so delicious! Can I come to your wedding just to eat? LOL JK! 🙂
Your food selections look AMAZING! Wow. I am so jealous of the chairs too -I wanted them for my wedding but only one company rents them out here and it would have been too outrageous, sighs. I also wanted a plated versus buffet but I knew my guests were appreciate buffet style more. In the end it all worked out though!
Everything looks really good. So hard to pick just a couple of options!
Sounds like a pretty fab menu! Are you doing a veggie option???
yep! vegetarians can opt for a totally vegetarian dish or double up on the seabass if they eat fish.
Smart girl 🙂
I want to get married again just so I can have a menu tasting like this! Actually my husband and I often joke that we should get married again because we had such a blast at our wedding!! Definitely the best day of my life!! 😀
My parents are planning my wedding, since I’m having it in Brazil (where I’m from), and that’s the one thing I was sad to miss out on: the food and cake tasting! I still had a say in the menu, but didn’t get to try anything!
All of that food looks so great! Congrats on getting another step closer to the wedding, that’s so exciting!!! And cookies are a great little goody bag, everyone loves cookies!
Drool!!! That brought back memories of my food/cake tasting for my wedding seven years ago.
Oh my, your wedding is going to have the best food! Can I come?? lol I would be the worst at taste testing and all that because I wouldn’t be able to choose between all those tasty options!!
That menu sounds AMAZING!!!
What a fun tasting! I wouldn’t actually eat most of that (but hey, I’m weird, I HATE meat!) but the presentations were so beautiful!
Your menu sounds like it is going to be amazing! So fun!
Your menu sounds delicious!
It all looks so good! I can’t wait until I get married…guess I should find a boyfriend first lol
The menu looks and sounds amazing! Your guests are so lucky to be invited to such an extravagant dinner. 🙂 Try to take it all in because the wedding night flies by so fast.
yummmm cake tasting!
Once again I say…I AM invited, right? 😉 Looks soooo good!!!!
mm, It all looks so good!
You two are adorable!! Your wedding looks like it will be lovely 🙂 Hope you’re having fun with all your wedding errands.
I must be Pavlov’s Dog…seeing the peanut M&Ms has given me a major craving!
How exciting!
I hope you guys had fun! You will remember this forever! 🙂
This is probably the wedding planning event I’m most excited for! I can’t wait to do a taste test and select the foods that will be served at my wedding…not to mention the CAKE! My fiance and I are leaning toward red velvet cake with a white buttercream frosting too!
looks yummy!
What an amazing day! Everything sounds delicious and I love that you chose red velvet for your cake!
Thanks for the pics!! I live for food pics!
I got married recently and cake tasting was probably my favorite part of planning. My hubby and I chose a multi-tier cake, 1/2 with strawberry cake, the other 1/2 with vanilla, and the whole thing frosted in buttercream. It turned out so delicious! I’m still drooling over how good it tasted
I hope your red velvet turns out amazing!
Do you remember how much this was??
I love reading all your wedding posts!! I’m getting married at the Vinoy in November so I’m getting some great inspiration from you!