Wedding Menu & Videographer

loopy82

I am super excited for our reception dinner! The food is delicious!

Chicken Saltimbocca-Prosciutto ham wrapped herb chicken breast with tomato-basil sauce with herb roasted potatoes and grilled asparagus.

The salad is a Strawberry and Brie with Poppyseed Dressing.

There will be white and wheat dinner rolls with butter on a lemon leaf.

The vegetarian dish is Roasted Butternut Squash Ravioli -Sautéed wild mushrooms and roasted shallot cream. Which was also phenomonal. I want a plate with everything including the ravioli!

My mom was very adamant about having a videographer. I personally didn't care much and didn't think it was worth the money. She was searcing on CL today and found someone who is building their portfolio and offering to do events for free for this reason. We are going to be using this lady. I figure if it turns out great, awesome I have a cool wedding video and if it turns out terrible, well at least it was free.

loopy82

So this font got all goofy. I did copy and paste the menu. Not sure what happened to the rest of the post. Oh well.

jeanacorina

Sounds delicious! My menu is huge because it's a buffet. But it's all fancier than I expected for a buffet, you know?

loopy82

We had thought about a buffet, but at our venue they were $11 more per plate than to have a plated meal (of chicken). I was honestly thrilled about that because I loved the idea of having a plated dinner and since that was less expensive that is what we went with.

Do you know your menu? If you posted about this, I apologize I forgot. Are you getting ample vegetarian courses? What kind of fun things are you having?

jeanacorina

OMG, okay I'll tell you the whole thing! There is a lot of vegetarian food, enough that I feel like should I actually get time to eat I will be able to eat well. Here's what we've got:

Buffet:

Herb encrusted  pork tenderloin
Chicken penne pasta with mushrooms ,green onions & alfredo
Spinach &  artichoke dip served with pita chips (Veg)
Turkey & swiss croissants
Baked tomato crostini (Veg)
Fresh  mozzarella  pesto salad (Veg)
Grilled squash, zucchini & asparagus with blue cheese aioli (Veg)
Mediterranean torte with sundried tomatoes & pine nuts (Veg)
Seasonal fruit display with strawberry coconut mousse (Veg)
Raw crudite with cucumber dill dip (Veg)
Imported & domestic cheese display (Veg)

Chilled seafood dip

Butler Served:

Crawfish elegante in bouchee cups

Seafood stuffed mushrooms

Duck Almandine

Bacon wrapped shrimp

Fried catfish fillets with cocktail sauce

Banana foster bites (Veg)

loopy82

Wow that is certainly quite the spread! Sounds delicious! Glad you were able to get ample food for you to eat-that's important!

What is crudite?

jeanacorina

I am so envious of your ravioli, though. That is just mouthwatering.

Crudite is vegetable sticks. I forgot the (veg) beside it. It's like.... a fancy name for a veggie tray.... and there's a funny story about me and veggie trays. lol

loopy82

Ah, yes the ravioli is incredible. My MOH said she was going to order that and me the chicken and we would share our food. Funny that we're planning this out now.

Care to share the veggie tray story?

desertsun

We have our tasting next Thursday...I'm not terribly excited, though, b/c they already told me they won't have vegetarian dishes. I was like, but I'm a vegetarian, how am I supposed to pick a main dish if there aren't any for me to taste?

This remains unclear, and is just adding to my bundle o' wedding stress. I am seriously envious of both of your yummy sounding menus!

jeanacorina

Well, I have a friend who is super-duper nice, but not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed. She had a birthday party probably 2 years ago, and we had fun, blah blah, and I went over the next day to chat with her about something and she brought out the leftover veggie tray and we snacked on it while we talked.

When I got ready to go, she said I should go ahead and take the veggie tray because, and I quote, "You could eat it for dinner!"

She pretty much realized how silly that was as soon as she said it, but I had to rub it in by saying "Right, because we vegetarians ONLY eat raw vegetables and nothing else."

I think she was confusing me with a rabbit.

So, she was mortified, and it has been a running joke ever since. Any time there's a veggie tray, her husband or my FI or someone says "Wow, Jeanette, there's your dinner!"

I even say it sometimes. Like "I'm so hungry I could eat a veggie tray!"

She's still embarrassed.... but it was so priceless.

Of course, she also thinks all black people are afraid of dogs, and she got pregnant because she thought that when you stop taking birth control you have like 3 months before the hormones wear off, and she didn't have time to get her refill right away.

She's also a nurse.

jeanacorina

Pfft, Desert, I'd tell them that I'm not booking something I can't taste... and if you can't taste ANYTHING then you'll have to book someone else.

I mean, really.... isn't it kind of important that YOU like the food? Why don't they make something you can try? Did they give a reason?

loopy82

That is pretty funny about the veggie tray. I hope your friend is a good nurse!

Desert-that sucks about the food! How hard is it to have a vegetarian option? We had a few to choose from.

What I like about my venue is that if you choose to have say 2 meat choices there is a split plate charge, but if you do a meat and a vegetarian there isn't an extra charge. The vegetarian meal is also cheaper, so I won't mind if more people select it .

Good luck Desert! I hope it all works out.

desertsun

The problem is the venue sub-contracts the caterer, and we signed the contract because they told us they would work with me to make sure I had something I was happy with.

The woman who talked us through the contract isn't the coordinator, though. So when I actually talked to the coordinator, she basically told me to talk to the chef at the tasting. So, my plan is to discuss options with the chef and see if we can set up something else so I can actually taste the food.

I dunno, though. I'm not too happy about it.

jeanacorina

Dude, that sucks! My coordinator was the person who walked me through the contract, and she said they'd work with me--- and they ARE working with me. We were able to swap out italian meatballs for the grilled vegetables just to be sure I had a main course.

It was NOT a problem at all. The only time someone didn't use the words "that's not a problem" or "let me see how we can work this out" was the makeup artist from last week--- and I didn't book her BECAUSE she didn't handle my confusion in a way that I was comfortable with.

Instead of saying "Oh, I see how that's confusing and I apologize. How about if we do [insert compromise here]? Will that work for you?" she said "I didn't mean what I typed. The price is a+b+c-d=x, see how that adds up?"

Which left me feeling like "I'm not a freaking moron, I can add. YOU typed something that apparently makes a whole different kind of sense to you than it does to everyone else in the world, and you're acting like you're obviously right because you set the prices in the first place. Which is true, but you're being a real weirdo about it."

If the chef doesn't work something out with you, I think you should talk to the coordinator again. Who walked you through the contract? I made sure to ask everyone I signed a paper with if they'd be the person actually handling the wedding day stuff. If not, I asked to meet that person before signing.

Being a bride is HARD. Just when you think all the big stuff is handled, the small stuff throws you for a loop.

desertsun

They have a specific person for contracts, who was also the person who gave me the tour and sold me on the place. The coordinator only comes in after the contract is signed. Although probably if I had asked, I could have spoken to her earlier. I wasn't  worried though, b/c I know 2 other couples who have gotten married there, and they both just raved. But neither of those couples has a vegetarian, so they didn't run into these issues.

I'm trying to not get too upset, b/c as long as I end up married to my FI, it's all good. But I'm not the only vegetarian eating that day. Also, it would be great if the food didn't suck, since it sure as hell ain't cheap.

I just need to borrow some of your jeana assertiveness and convince them to give me what I want.

Frankly, I don't see what the BFD is in asking the chef to prepare samples of 2-3 veggie main dishes?

jeanacorina

Dude, I am not as assertive as I may sound. I wanted to have a tiny 30-guest DW in Florida, remember?

And then I wanted charcoal gray tuxes and we're getting black.

And I hated the champagne vests but we're getting those anyway.

And I wanted our mutual friend who was present THE DAY WE MET to officiate the wedding, and I'm getting some stranger and I don't even know what religion he is, but he's FFIL's friend.

And I screwed up by not sticking to my guns when my consultant ordered my dress 2 sizes smaller than my hip measurement dictated. Even though I did question her, I brushed it off when she reassured me.

And I think my FMIL is inviting all of FI's cousins "and guest" even though we talked about it and she agreed to only invite long-term significant others. She's just so worried about being "fair" I think she may be ignoring our agreement.

Also, she refuses to give me an actual list of names of people she's inviting. She will only give me a number and says "I'll address the envelopes!" Like that's the only reason I'm asking.

Most of my problems can be traced back to her, actually. Which is about normal for us.

BUT, I did stick with my gut on the location for the wedding, and I am SO GLAD I DID because it includes so much that I probably saved myself countless other headaches.

And I also managed NOT to let FMIL corner us into letting FI's cousin do our photography. I'm happy I booked our photographer before she had a chance to talk to the cousin and book her on our behalf. Because that's what happened with the officiant. Kind of.

jeanacorina

Why do I start so many posts with "dude?"

I blame TMNT.

hetshup

Loopy, that all sounds really exciting, and tasty at the same time. I totally agree with Jeana and Desert, make sure you stick to your guns about the flavors. I'm just starting to work with the caterers and I will be taking their advice too. I may have lied and said I was allergic to certain foods as well. 

Jeana- You can't have FI be the assertive one? I am pretty passive myself, and I make FI be the bargainer/ contract disputer etc etc. I'm getting very good at delegating. 

desertsun

Sorry, loopy, didn't mean to thread jack. Back to you --

I'm glad to see you have a veggie option -- the ravioli sounds delish! And, I absolutely LOVE strawberries and poppyseed dressing. Yum!

Also, that's awesome about the free videographer. I'm not having a video b/c I prefer to spend the money elsewhere. But if I found a free one like you did, I'd totally go for it! Maybe I should get my mom on the search... In any case, I'm happy that you're making such good progress and it sounds like you're not too stressed about anything, which is great!

jeanacorina

My FI is like the most passive, non-confrontational guy in the WORLD.

It's just how he is. So, no, he'll never be the assertive one. Ever. Total pushover.

loopy82

Desert--No sweat... I don't feel any thread jacking occured. It was all on topic - all good. Venues/caterers need to be accomodating. Not everyone eats meat.

I also was refusing to pay for a videographer. I was also refusing to pay for chair covers. My mom found another lady who is supplying the chair covers w/sashes and threw in table runners and the set up - all for $240--which is cheap for all that. My mom keeps getting this stuff that I don't think is necessary. I told her to give me the money to put towards the wine budget

desertsun

Yeah, you can't forget about the important stuff.