Friday, November 15, 2019

Destination Wedding Planning: Catering



    



Oh my gosh, food. 

Do we love food, or what. 

Food for us is life-source.  My mother has always been so passionate about food for as long as I can remember, and Andrew has dove so deep into cooking over the years that I feel like I'm living with a chef.  I am surrounded by good food, and as a result I feel that the whole family is a bunch of foodies!

So planning food for our wedding was paramount.  Photography, Styling, and Food were the highest items of importance on our list. 



Selecting a Caterer



When it came to choosing a caterer for our wedding, it was no small task.  We knew we really cared that the food was delicious, and we were also tasked with finding a caterer that could not only pull off excellent food, but one that could do that for us... outside with no kitchen equipment and pretty far away from their home base.  

Due to our venue location, we knew that choosing a caterer was going to be a challenging task.  So we set up an entire trip out west to do tastings with three different caterers that we had narrowed down to to make the decision.  And honestly, we could not have made a better decision than Herban Feast for our caterer.  I would describe their commitment and thoroughness as nothing short of extraordinary.  We worked with Mary, their Sales Manager, and she was so kind, committed and always there to answer our questions and help make suggestions for our reception service.  I knew from the very first quote she sent that if we chose Herban Feast they would hit it out of the park, even with all the obstacles that we would have with our event (2 hours away from their location, no cell service, nothing but water hookups onsite).  I could tell they were very detailed and had thought through all of the unique needs we would have.   I loved working with them, and always felt like we were on the same page logistically, which was SO important.  And... they had INCREDIBLE food.  I can't even begin to describe in words.  They really look at food as an art form and as something that involves all of your senses — smell, taste, texture, visual quality — it was all the tops.  And I will go further into it later on here. 

Other than being top notch food and being able to work out in the woods, we were dead set on a family style dining service — something that the other caterers were not willing to do for us.  I am so thankful that Herban Feast pulled off family style for us, because it just really set the tone for our reception.  We wanted people to bond over food, and be able to interact and pass bowls back and forth at the table, taking as much as they wanted of one thing or another.  A family style service allows that intimate interaction at the dinner table in ways that buffet and plated can't. It really adds that feeling of family and camaraderie to dinnertime that you have at home, like you have at holidays. 




Planning the Bar


When it came to planning out cocktails for the bar, Herban Feast allowed us to concoct our own recipes.   Andrew still says his favorite day of wedding planning was when he got to go out to Binny's and bring home supplies to fine tune cocktail recipes for the bar!  You can see it in his eyes in the below photo just how long he'd been waiting for that moment to drink the cocktails after the ceremony!



Herban Feast brought us our favorite of the cocktails as we were signing our marriage license! | Photo by KMP


Our Bar in the Trees | 
Photo by KMP


We had Hers, His and Theirs cocktails during cocktail hour, as well as some incredible appetizers hand passed by Herban Feast with a bunch of metal vintage trays that we were sourcing right up to the week before the wedding in Seattle (I now know the 411 on all the Seattle Goodwill locations! ), and we even included one that looks like a fish!  


   

Me after our ceremony, and the sign I designed for the bar  | Photo by KMP




Goat Cheese Crostini by Herban Feast |  Photo by KMP


Our Wedding Feast


Oh, MAN.

Where do I begin?

Again, as I said before, Herban Feast really looks at their food as an art form.   From the way the chef described the decadent cloud of olive gnocchi, to the way she described pulling a balanced color palette of vegetables for the mixed summer vegetables, I knew we were in good, no, great hands.   And those were just the sides!

We just adored everything from the vibrant Summer Raspberry Salads to the Brown Butter Blackberry Emulsion Wild Pacific Salmon, and the Tender Beef Loin with Wild Mushroom Demi.  I want to eat all of it again right now.



    



Our Forest Fox Cake


Finally, it's time to tell you all about the cake!

Andrew and I plan to go back to the pnw for (at least) one of our anniversaries to get a mini version of our cake again, because we couldn't save the top tier due to our travel situation.  

We got a 3-tier "nearly naked" cake with a caramel drip because we wanted it to look like a birch tree due to our woodsy location!  We then had our florist Vanessa adorn it with blooms that matched the rest of our floral decor.  The flavors were banana cake with cream cheese filling, and pink champagne with raspberry filling.  It was so delicious, and the baker was Sweet Side Seattle.

We also chose to get vanilla and chocolate macaroons for extra sweets, that had gold 'toothbrush' splatter on them.  :)

The cake was so delicious, and we were very excited to cut and eat it after dreaming about it for so long!  Again because of our location, we were outside of the delivery range for the baker who was in Seattle proper, so Andrew and I had to pick it up ourselves and then drive it 2+ hours in traffic to our little getting ready Airbnb.  Our planner was super thrilled to then carry the cake down the inclined bumpy driveway on the morning of the wedding!   Lol, lots of challenges, but it all turned out wonderful so we don't regret a thing!

And finally, our cake topper was made by the Etsy artist BonjourPoupette, who makes these adorable clay creations!



    


Photographs by KMP






Until Next Time, 




— The Lovely Red Fox

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