Hey That’s A Nice Life

The RSVP date has come and gone allowing me to finish up the seating charts and table cards. 

I have to say, making the seating chart was the hardest task of wedding planning yet.  Thankfully, I used this great tool on the Martha Stewart web site (I think they are actually the same tools used on the Wedding Channel) to map out the tables.  Don thinks it would have been easier to make index cards and map it out in that way first … and I can see the logic.  BUT, since I was tracking our guest list and responses with the other tools on Martha’s site, SHE organized everything for me and that made it as simple as possible.  Of course, by SHE I mean that Martha herself - not a team of 25 Web developers - helped out.  Right?

Turns out, as simple as possible is not all that simple.  Some tables were really easy - people from work, my closest local friends, Don’s group of friends from Miami.  But there were some people who just won’t know that many people there besides the two of us and I wanted to be sure to put everyone at tables where they would have fun.  Meeting new people is fun, right?

Here’s a sneak peek at a few table cards (you’ll notice there are no duplicate tables below, so you can’t figure out who you’re sitting with yet!):

In the top left corner, you’ll see the table name the guest(s) is seated at, and in the lower right hand corner is the guest’s name.  The cards are held in place by shell magnets (these were made by gluing a rare earth (very strong) magnet onto a sea shell - a lot harder than it sounds, much to my surprise).  The table names are beaches where Don and I have vacationed / visited.  There are 13 tables in total, with 105 guests expected at this time.

Last weekend my friends threw a wonderful bridal shower for me (more about that later).  Naturally, my Mom was here for the occasion and she spent the night.  She told me before she came that she wanted to work on a wedding project while she was here.  I decided that a good task for us to tackle would be the menu cards.

There was some prep work to be done before she arrived.  First I designed the page so that we’d get three menu cards out of one 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper.  We repeated the font from the invitation.  Next I printed a master sheet and copied it onto the lighter blue metallic paper used in the invitation suite.   Finally, Don cut each sheet of paper into three panels.

Sunday morning, Mom and I got to work.  I cut strips of the darker metallic paper and used this awesome little craft punch I found at Michael’s (part of the Martha Stewart line) to make sand dollars and starfish.  Mom glued the sand dollars to the top of the card and the starfish in alternating locations on the cards.  We finished in about two hours and they look great.

I must have inherited the crafting gene from my Mom.   Check out her awesome work:

It was fun to work with her on this project.  Too bad she’s three hours away; there are at least three more big DIY projects to complete in 30 days.  Yikes!

One more shot from the project (in this one you can see how the starfish are in different places on each card):

The problem with writing this wedding blog is that I never know how much people who are attending the wedding want to know in advance.  Do you like that you’ve basically seen the invitations even though they have not yet arrived in the mail?

Today I’m going to let you decide if you want to keep the centerpieces a surprise or if you’re ready to see them now.  If you want to be surprised, come back another day.  If you want to see them keep reading. Read more…

Let’s get it out there for those who haven’t heard.  We’re having an iPod wedding. 

Yes, I have heard the horror stories - iPods that failed, sound systems that weren’t powerful enough, the friend charged with manning it getting sick or drunk … but I’ve also heard lots of good stories, too.  So we decided to chance it.

As far as I can tell, one of the biggest reasons to have a DJ (beside the fact that you have money budgeted to spend on one) is that they are able to read the crowd, change the tone of the tunes and encourage people to dance.  And sometimes they are awful and can ruin a wedding as easily as a poorly planned playlist.  So we might as well take a our chances.

I’ve read 100 articles about how to make it work from a technical standpoint (multiple iPods loaded with the same playlists, sound board, software that helps manage the flow between songs and provides uniform volume, etc.).  But the part about how to get people on the dance floor is a harder.

One of my biggest fears about the iPod wedding is that no one will dance.  So, I’m begging you now - three months out - promise me you’ll dance.  A lot.  All night.

To make it more fun for you, we’ll take requests.  Since there is no live DJ, we’re taking requests any time between now and April 15 or so. 

• If you’re married, what was your first dance (or if you didn’t have a reception, is there a song that you consider “your song”)?
• After dinner, it will be time to shake your moneymaker.  What do you want to hear?

Katy, CDott and Kelly getting their groove on

An e-mail will go out with a more formal request for requests, but start thinking about it and let us know now if there is something that would really inspire you to dance. Try to remember some of the songs that played at the most fun wedding you ever attended.

Please note there will be some country music, but a pretty limited amount so make your requests carefully.  Oh - and no group dances.

I’m going to tell right up front that we’re not having a bourbon bar OR a cigar bar at our wedding.

Sorry.

I was out of town for work last week and caught a bug on the way home which kept me housebound all weekend.  Finally, on Sunday night, I asked Don to spring me for a super casual dinner and we ended up at a soup and sandwich joint in Old Town Alexandria.

We sat down near a table with two women and the fattest binder I have ever seen.  In a super scrolling font, the homemade front cover read, “Tying the Knot.”  I almost sprained my eyes rolling them, but I could not stop myself from listening to the women.  I kept trying to look out the window onto King Street, but I keep turning back to them.

And after a few minutes, I looked at Don and said, “Those two don’t know each other.”  It was some kind of bridal meet up.  Among strangers.  A very small bridal meet up among strangers.

One is having a bourbon bar.  The other is having a cigar bar.  One told her fiance she just couldn’t get married in 2010 because people would say they got married in twenty ten (instead of two thousand ten) and she couldn’t stand the way that sounded. 

Seriously. 

That’s what she said. 

Don paid attention to exactly none of it and when I hit the highlights for him on the way home, here’s what transpired.

DW: I want to go to wedding with a cigar bar.

SF: Oh.
(feels slightly ashamed)

I’m sorry.  Do you want me to look into arranging a cigar bar?
(I can literally hear the cash register ch-chinging in my mind.) 

DW: No. I want to go to a wedding with a cigar bar. I don’t want to pay for one.

And THAT’S how I know I’m about to marry the right guy for me.

So, we’re not having a bourbon bar and we’re not having a cigar bar, but I sincerely hope you get to attend a wedding with each some day. 

And, please, take Don with you.

If you’ve been reading the blog from the start, you know some of the early problems we had with the reception venue caterer.  If you started reading more recently, I wrote a lot about it during the month of August.  The catering manager was a challenge, to say the least.

Today, my mom sent me an article from the local weekly paper offered below without comment.

Dooley named new GM at Centerplate

(Jan. 9, 2009) John Dooley has been named the new general manager of Centerplate at the Roland E. Powell Convention Center in Ocean City. Centerplate provides catering services for all events held at the 40th Street venue.

Dooley most recently served as the food and beverage director of Centerplate at Yankee Stadium in New York where he had worked since 2006. He has also served as a regional executive chef for Centerplate at Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, N.J., and then the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York City.

Earlier in his career, Dooley was the executive chef for Service America at Indiana Convention Center and RCA Dome in Indianapolis, executive chef and food and beverage director at the Doubletree Park Terrace Hotel in Washington, executive chef at Aramark at Sprint in Reston, Va., and senior food service director at Aramark at SAIC in McLean, Va.

During his career, Dooley has managed food and beverage services for numerous high profile events including the Grammy Awards, movie premier cast parties, the Economic Club Dinner for President George H. Bush and the NBA All-Star game in Denver.

“John brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to our catering operations,” said Mike Noah, convention center executive director. “We believe our clients will be well served by his expertise in food and beverage services.”

- Ocean City Today

I wonder what happened to Silent Bob?

After the tasting on Saturday, we had a chance to see the Sunset Room decorated for a wedding. Until now, we’d only seen it stripped down after an event. The wedding was a little larger than ours, but much smaller than the event set-ups we’d seen previously. It was set for about 116 people, I think. Plus, we got to see the linens, silverware, glasses, etc. so it was a really good representation of what it will look like for us on May 2.

The couple using the venue last weekend decided to hold their ceremony on the covered portion of the deck - our rain back-up location - so it was very good to see what that looks like.

Here’s a preview:

To see more pictures of the Sunset Room decorated for a wedding, visit Don’s Sunset Room Flickr stream.

On Saturday, we arranged to taste some of the menu suggestions for the reception. Wow. The food was all amazing and I couldn’t believe HOW MUCH they served. We had plenty to box up and eat for dinner and lunches into the long weekend.

Here’s what we tasted:

• Chocolate Dusted Scallops with Vanilla Butter Sauce
• Maryland Crab Soup and Cream of Crab Soup
• New York Strip with Chocolate Merlot Sauce
• Crab Cakes - two kinds (with and without green and red peppers)
• Cocoa and Chili Rubbed Flank Steak
• Three kinds of of vegetables and two starches

The first item brought out for us was the scallop dish. The catering manager remembered seeing Emeril prepare a chocolate and scallop dish for a Valentine’s Day special. They were excellently prepared and had been suggested as main entree … but we didn’t want to compromise on the crab cakes. The caterer suggested a way to turn the scallops into an appetizer so that was appealing. Also, my father loved them, and I loved that my father loved them.

A few months ago, I had the idea that I really wanted to serve shots of crab soup as an appetizer. They have really gotten into the idea (probably because it will make a great offering for future events as well) and have been researching glassware and the best way to present the soup. Even though they haven’t found the right bar ware yet, the presentation was amazing. A simple silver tray with both kinds of soup (red Maryland crab and white cream of crab) served in footed sherry glasses. The sherry glasses are too big, but they will look for similar shot glasses. On the top of each soup shot was a pinch of crab meat along with a whole wheat crouton on the cream of crab and a piece of corn on the Maryland crab. Both soups were delicious; their recipe for cream of crab was particularly excellent (Don really liked that one).

After tasting the appetizers, we moved on to the entrees. We had asked for a traditional Eastern Shore crab cake and a beef using cocoa or chocolate in some way. When the suggestion came back, there were two chocolate and beef entrees that sounded really appealing so we asked to sample both. There is no such thing as sampling with these people. We were served three full entrees with full portions of meat, veggies and potatoes.

We each received two crab cakes and were asked to select between the version with peppers and the version without peppers. Both were good and the version with peppers looked really pretty. To me, though, the peppered version tasted more like crab imperial than crab cake, so we selected the version without peppers (no one but me seemed to have a preference).

We also had to choose between the two kinds of meat. We first sampled the NY strip with chocolate Merlot sauce. The sauce was applied heavily and not attractively arranged, but the flavor was pretty good. Then we sampled the flank steak with cocoa and chili spice rub and thought it was excellent. My father actually liked the chocolate Merlot sauce with the flank steak better, so we decided to offer that as an optional drizzle for anyone who wants to sample it. The catering manager suggested amping up the Merlot and going lighter on the chocolate which I agree would make it tastier.

Since we’re having two stations - one for crab and one for beef - there will be different veggies and starches for each area. That way we won’t have to worry about making separate vegetarian options; anyone who wants a meat-free meal can choose to eat two vegetables, a potato and orzo or couscous. Oh, and we’re going to wait and choose the vegetables in the spring because we expressed our interest in sourcing local food where possible and they were very receptive.

We were very impressed with everything from the presentation to the flavor and feel really good about the venue / catering selection. Can’t wait to see what everyone else thinks.

This past weekend brought lots of wedding planning, and with it lots of upcoming blog posts. I am so excited about everything right now that it’s hard to imagine we didn’t have a place to get married a month ago.

On Friday evening everyone is invited to the home of our good friends Jim and Annemarie Dickerson (on the same property as Annemarie’s mother who happens to be my mother’s best friend) for a welcome picnic hosted by Don’s parents. The property (click the picture above to see an enlargement) is located about 3 miles or so from the hotel where we have reserved a room block (also owned by the Dickersons). The house is located on a river with really beautiful sunset views and it was built for hosting parties (complete with a row boat ice cooler for beer, an outdoor fireplace, a huge grill and and a tiki bar). And Jim and Annemarie, along with their three kids, are some of my favorite people. Annemarie was my very first friend; she and her mom were waiting at the house the day my parents brought me home to live with them. An Eastern Shore picnic is not just your standard hamburgers on the grill, by the way. Expect steamed crab and shrimp and corn on the cob - as long as we can easily get them at that time of year (it’s a little early).