Happily Ever Crafter: food

Showing posts with label food. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Wedding Wednesday - Catering Your Own Wedding {Guest Post}

Today I'm happy to welcome another guest blogger to Wedding Wednesday! Saxon from Let's Drink Coffee, Darling writes the most adorable blog and has a huge resource of wedding related posts so all you brides-to-be, you've got to check it out! You'll love what she has to share with you today!

I'm so happy to be able to take over Catherine's blog for a day and share a little bit about our wedding with her lovely readers!

My name is Saxon and I write over at Let's Drink Coffee, Darling! One unique aspect about our wedding is that we provided all the food and drinks (except the cake and cupcakes) ourselves. This is a huge task, so I thought I'd share with you about our experiences!

If you are in the middle of planning a wedding, chances are you've already thought about food, drinks and snacks. Everyone has a different idea in mind: some ladies are set on hiring a catering company, others want to provide light snacks, and then there's the smaller category of us who want to provide a meal without the expense of the catering costs.

We went with the third route for our wedding. I'll just say it - I'm pretty sure my family, friends, and future family thought I was crazy. We had several people offer to help us pay for caterers or suggest we go that route because I'm pretty sure they thought the plans were really just a disaster waiting to happen.

And a disaster very well could happen if you don't make good plans and have back up plans.

If you're thinking about doing the food at your wedding yourself, you should consider these questions:

Does your wedding venue even allow outside food or drinks? Many venues will not allow any outer sources to provide food or drinks as their business mechanism to keep your money with them. Read contracts closely and know what is allowed and what isn't.

Does your wedding venue have adequate facilities to prepare food? A venue with a kitchen equipped with a refrigerator, sinks, the ability to cook in large quantities is essential.

Do you have someone who you can put in charge of the food on the day of your wedding? Remember, this cannot be anyone in your immediate family or wedding party, as this person will likely be busy with this job for the entire time. We opted to hire a few of my dad's friends and coworkers to be in charge of cooking. We did compensate them for their time and efforts. I would suggest compensating anyone you ask to do a job this large.

Are you okay with a buffet style meal? If you have your heart set on plates of food being delivered to your guests as they sit, and a server topping off their glass of wine then this route is most definitely not for you. Be prepared for a self serve buffet style meal where your guests are free to get up and refill their own drinks. And speaking of wine, another thing you might think about is whether or not you want to deal with serving alcohol. If you have some guests under 21, you'll need to make sure someone responsible is overseeing who partakes in any alcohol - precisely why we decided not to have it at all.

Okay, so you still think you want to go with the DIY food option?

Great, I'm glad you do!

Although there is definitely an added stress factor to providing the food yourself, there are also many benefits. You don't have to pay for cooks or servers. You can purchase the food in bulk to cut down on costs. You can have your family and wedding party help you get some of the food ready the night before after the rehearsal. And one thing I thought was cool was we didn't have to deal with any people we didn't know the day of our wedding.

Food

Providing food yourselves means you'll need to hound people about RSVPing. This is where I failed. We invited over 150 people to our wedding. Despite our best efforts to have everyone RSVP, a good 25 percent of our guests either did not RSVP or did not RSVP until the day before our wedding - not helpful when buying our own food. That being said, we over bought on food as we assumed those who did not respond to the RSVP would show up. In reality we know most of them would probably be no shows, but we would rather have too much food than not enough.

Some questions you need to ask yourself now is what style of food best matches your finances, your facilities' cooking capabilities, and your available workforce?

We had a springtime outdoor wedding at a lodge. We decided to go with a cookout style meal which included hamburgers, assorted bags of chips, and vegetable trays with dip (for the added "health" benefit). This fit our relaxed style wedding, we didn't have to use the ovens so that the lodge would remain cool inside, and most things could be prepared the night before. My grandma, mom, and matron-of-honor were able to get tomatoes, lettuce, and onions cut up and stored in the refrigerator the night before, as well as the vegetables for the veggie trays. Of course, you don't want to forget the condiments - most stores sell restaurant sized containers with pumps.

Guests in line for food - it was really windy that day!

You'll be dealing with a lot of logistics, so it would be best if you are either good at math or have someone who is be able to help you! (My mother-in-law was super helpful on the logistics part)! Also, choose foods that are easy to deal with as far as numbers go. If you bake 20 casseroles, it is hard to know how much one person will eat. But if you cook 20 hamburgers you know that feeds 20 people. Get my drift?

Drinks

While we kept our food options pretty simple, drinks are where we put a little more thought.

Keeping in mind that we had limited amounts of people to help keep the flow of drinks moving, we used three 5 gallon drink coolers for the majority of our drinks - which we kept outdoors with the food. We decided the only realistic way to provide drinks for this amount of people was to use instant mixes. We provided Country Time Lemonade and Instant Lipton Tea Mix, which worked out pretty well.

If you have reservations about using the mixes, you can always splurge on one special drink.

We took the idea of having a signature cocktail, but instead made PW's iced coffee (since we are both known for loving coffee) and chose to not serve alcohol. This took a little more prep work, but was still very very easy.

The night before the wedding I mixed one can of sweetened condensed milk per every two 12-cup pots of coffee and stored it in the refrigerator. To make things easier, I bought several plastic pitchers from the Dollar Tree so the coffee could be made ahead of time and chill in the refrigerator until it was ready to be used. I made this stuff keeping in mind that a lot of people don't drink coffee, but this stuff was really a hit! (Meaning I should have prepared more than I did - we ran out!)

One last note about if you decide to provide your own food rather than hire catering is to check into both options. Sometimes it may actually be more cost effective to hire catering, so it is worth looking into. In our case we wanted to do it ourselves because we could provide more for a lower price - especially with our venue being in a remote location. We decided splurged on our cake and cupcakes, which was SO worth it!

If you have any specific questions, I'd love to hear from you at my blog or you can email me at letsdrinkcoffeedarling@gmail.com!

Thank you SO much, Saxon! That was so informative! We ended up having a caterer do our wedding but I definitely considered doing it ourselves to save money. Your wedding was beautiful! So glad to have you over here at Happily Ever Crafter!

What was your choice for food for your wedding? Or what will you be choosing and why?

Till next time,

Catherine

If you're a fellow blogger and are interested in guest posting for this series, shoot me an e-mail at CatherinePageWood@gmail.com! Or, even if you're not a blogger and would like to share your wedding story or advice, send me an e-mail! I would LOVE to share your stories!

If you liked this post, be sure to check out the other editions of Wedding Wednesday!

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

{Wedding Wednesday} Easily Overlooked Details

Wedding planning can be absolute insanity. You read a million books, get advice from all your friends, cover your bed with magazines and consult the experts. Yet even so, there are plenty of things that even the experts seem to forget to mention.

Here are a few things that are very easily overlooked during planning but are still very important details! This list is short but I'm sure I will need to add a Part II at some point.

Sunset

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When you choose the time of your wedding, check the Farmer's Almanac for the sunset that day. If you want sunset pictures, plan around that. You'll want your ceremony to end about an hour before the sun is supposed to set. That will give you time for things to go long and for all the pictures to get done before the last few artsy ones as the sun goes down. If you don't want sunset pictures, no biggie, do what you want!

Exit time

When you plan the length of the reception, plan a time for you and your new spouse to hit the road. It doesn't have to be an exact time but if you want a grand exit with balloons released or birdseed or sparklers, be sure to plan for it. For example, our wedding ceremony started at 4:30 and we planned the reception to "start" around 5:30 which gave us time for pictures and guests could snack on hors d'oeuvres. I planned the reception to go from about 5:30-10:00pm. That worked with the length of time I had the photographer and the venue. The way I planned it I figured we'd leave around 9:30 before too many people left so we could have our big exit with sparklers. Right around 9:15 I noticed people starting to say their goodbyes so I spoke quickly to our DJ and he announced the final song/dance (which was amazing, by the way) and the whole deal with the sparklers. We said our goodbyes to our family and close friends and then were sent on our way to a beautiful sea of sparklers held by our favorite people. It was perfect!

Undergarments

This is where your bridal consultant at the dress shop will be your best friend. Once you've said yes to the dress, figure out what type of undergarments would work best with it. The shop may have options to buy but chances are they'll be expensive. Check around stores like Victoria's Secret for sale items that fit your needs or nearby department stores.

And I'll just be totally honest. Wear something PRACTICAL under your dress! When you get back to your home, hotel or honeymoon suite, you can change into special attire. Comfort is KEY during your wedding day!

Wedding Day Emergency Bag

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I'll go into more details during another post but please make or buy a wedding day emergency kit! This is the one day you don't want to be stuck without something like extra deodorant or a bobby pin. Mini sewing kits are very handy as well. You can buy one like the one pictured above or you can collect items from around the house and buy certain other items and toss them in a tote bag to have on hand. Making a kit yourself will probably be cheaper. It's also a great bridal shower gift idea for a friend who is getting married!

Day of Payments/Gifts

A lot of your vendors will require full or final payment the day of the wedding. This job falls to the Best Man or one of the fathers. The week before the wedding, write checks to all the vendors who need to be paid on the wedding day and seal them in security envelopes with a thank you note included. Clearly mark the outside who that envelope goes to. Example: John Smith - Officiant or Jane Doe - Caterer. Also, small tokens of appreciation are a nice touch if a friend or family member is doing you a wedding favor at no charge. For example, a friend who is performing the ceremony music or running the sound board. These can also be given to your Best Man for delivery. If you're giving gifts to your bridal party, a good time to give them is while you're getting ready for the ceremony. You could also give the gifts at the rehearsal or dinner.

Guest Dietary Restrictions

Have good food options for all of your guests. You don't need to plan the entire meal around one or two people but be considerate of them. I had multiple vegans/vegetarians at my wedding so I made sure they'd have more to eat than just a veggie tray. I had the idea to do a salad bar (which my caterer said he had never had a request for) with all the fixin's. I also had a pasta bar with multiple toppings along with chicken and other items. Everyone could find something they liked!

If you have a couple of gluten-free guests, just be sure they have gluten-free options so they don't go hungry during the reception. Just keep these things in mind when planning your menu.

If all goes well, you'll be THIS excited to eat at your wedding! Ha...couldn't resist sharing a picture of my goofy self digging in to the pasta bar! Oh yeah, and be sure YOU and YOUR NEW SPOUSE are the FIRST ones to eat! No exceptions! You have to eat!

P.S. Loving that veil? I know I'm still in love with it! I got it from Virginia Geiger Jewelry on Etsy! Check out her Etsy page. Her products are all ah-mazing!

What are some things you feel like were "easily overlooked" when you were planning your wedding? Are there any details you worry about overlooking?

Till next time,
Catherine

If you're a fellow blogger and are interested in guest posting for this series, shoot me an e-mail at CatherinePageWood@gmail.com! Or, even if you're not a blogger and would like to share your wedding story or advice, send me an e-mail! I would LOVE to share your stories!

If you liked this post, be sure to check out the other editions of Wedding Wednesday!

Monday, October 14, 2013

Relay Foods - Online Grocery Shopping

Recently I was approached by Relay Foods, an online grocery store. They are a company based in Charlottesville, Virginia (yay local!) and have recently expanded into Lynchburg, Virginia where I live. I was given the awesome opportunity to review them for you guys. But not to worry, you're eligible for an awesome deal too!

Relay Foods currently has pick up locations in the following cities: Baltimore/Annapolis, Charlottesville, Lynchburg, NOVA/Washington, Richmond, Staunton/Fishersville, and Williamsburg. So if you're in or near any of these locations go order some groceries!

For us here in Lynchburg, our pick up is from 3:30pm-6:00pm at the BB&T on Old Forest Road.

Their website is incredibly user friendly. Ordering groceries is so easy. Check out Sweet Pea's post about Relay Foods and navigating their website for more info.

But it really is so simple. You can place your order up until midnight the night before pick up. How awesome is that? Forgot an ingredient for that casserole on Wednesday? No problem!

Relay Foods is loaded with amazing local farmers as well as conventional grocery store items. You're bound to find what you're looking for!

Big, beautiful, blue truck just full of groceries for us Lynchburgers!

All you do is tell the attendant your name (they're super sweet) and they find your box and you're on your way!

Easy peasy. There were about 3-4 other people waiting for their groceries which is awesome! The attendant even told me that Lynchburg has broken records for the largest order! That blows my mind...us? Here in little ol' Lynchburg? Especially considering they have pick up locations in DC and Richmond!

They give you your groceries in these super cute tote bags. They're good quality reusable bags, too! I'll be bringing mine back to load my next order of groceries in.

Gorgeous local hummus right there on top.

Two bunches of bananas (they gave me one bunch that was more yellow and one that was a little green...so smart! They won't all ripen at the same time!) and organic strawberries. I inhaled those puppies in a couple of days!

All my goodies!

I only got a couple of local products but I'll definitely order more next time. I ordered potato gnocchi to try and cook with! I'm excited to try it.

Lots of spaghetti. My husband is a spaghetti fiend! He'd eat it every day if I let him. And quinoa of course. It's a great staple to have.

Overall I was very satisfied with Relay Foods and you can bet I'll order from them again! How cool is it to order online one day and pick up your food another day? So much less time consuming than going to the store. I can imagine this would be especially helpful if you're one to plan weekly meals!

And let me be extra honest here...I used to think online grocery shopping was for snooty business people that could afford to pay someone else to shop for them. That's not the case at all!

Here's the best part for anyone remotely interested in trying Relay Foods...if you use my referral link then you will receive $30 OFF your order of $50 or more! If you use my link, I'll also receive a $30 credit to my account. Who wouldn't want $30 of FREE groceries??? It's really a very, very good deal. Use this link HERE if you're interested.

So go, give it a try! They even do gift certificates!