Thinkin' of Food

Yesterday we all gathered at a restrauant to celebrate Mother's Day. We were served a platter of veggies displayed with salad greens and a unique coconut hummus. We decided to have our food served family style so we don't have set up an extra table for a buffet. It will also encourage interaction amongst the guests and add beauty to the tables if we create platters that are visually rich. We will serve a similar veggie tray with a signature hummus as well.

Mother of the Bride

OMG it is already 7 weeks from the big day and I am 40 pounds from feeling like a queen for the massive photo op soon to occur. I recently saw an old wedding gown in the window of a downtown second hand store and will check it out today. I decided to refashion a used garment into a new design that I found while cruising through pages of gowns from borrowed wedding magazines. The scraps of the remake will be used to create a dress for baby Oralia, Callie's little niece. We will post before and after pictures. As for the diet dilemma - action begins today. Weight 175 pounds; if I'm really good-I could possibly lose 20 pounds using Fat Flush, liver flush, and a bowel cleanse.

Truffles and Wedding Cake

We are working with our community chocolatier in creating a "vegan" truffle. The mainstay will be dark, dark chocolate and hopefully fair trade. Mom developed a mocha, cherry, cumin filling made with organic coconut milk which she requested that the chocolatier use as our signature truffle filling. We are awaiting a decision.

Finding a bakery to do an organic cake was a frustrating and impossible task until we found Ann from AnnMade Cakes. Ann is the new baker in town who loves taking pride in creating and baking. She is a perfect match for us since we are doing something entirely different than your average wedding cake. First we want to use all organic products. We also want to have a square design because we like the look and it typically serves more people than a round cake. Instead of having 3 tiers of the same thing, we are doing a different option for each tier. The bottom - larger tier will be an organic layer cake with a fruit puree filling. The second tier will be an organic cheesecake. A third tier will be a vegan cheesecake made with limes and avocados. The top tier will be a simple anniversary cake. This creative delight will be clothed in a white rolled fondant and decorated with organic ribbon and fresh flowers grown in the residential garden. Can't wait to sample and experience the visual result!!!

Invites .... Tent, Tables, and Chairs

The invites are quite a piece of work. We found a large pack of a printers recycled paper samples in the attic of a family duplex. In this pack we picked out the Velum and Card Stock. My sister is fluent in graphic design so we created a layout that utilized the large sheets without a scrap of waste. We had trouble finding a local printer who could do our printing with soy or veggie ink. However, we requested that she find someone within our county who could do the job and we would contract our work through our local printer. This way we were able to continue doing business in town while providing an opportunity for businesses to synergize to create solutions for eco requests. Needless to say, out printer was delighted with the idea and everyone was able to get a piece of the revenue pie and maintained a community business relationship. We created post cards by recycling used greeting cards. We cut them into uniform sizes and designed a hand carved rubber stamp for RSVP's. The whole project took some extra effort, but the end result was very rewarding.

We ordered our 30x30 tent, 10-60" round tables, and 100 white wooden chairs. This has been the most expensive ($997.45) part of our wedding preparation, but it is a great relief to have shelter in case of rain as well as having the job of delivery and set up taken care of for us.

Buffalo

Today we ordered a whole round of grass fed buffalo from a local buffalo farm; Lakeview Buffalo in Belgium, Wisconsin(262-285-3386). We will be serving 100-150 guests and this portion should yield 45-50 pounds of boneless meat. Since Callie is a vegan and Michael is Jewish, the slaughter of this animal is very important. We spoke with Al from the farm and he is allowing us to see our animal alive and be present for the slaughter. We want to respectfully participate in the circle of life that begins with the food we share with our guests. We are also located a local vendor to spit-cook our meat on site and offered to serve our guests thoughout the event.