Table Assignments Made Easier

Not gonna lie, assigning tables was not something that I looked forward to doing.  Making sure people sat with people that they knew as well as filling in all of the extra spots was a little daunting. The hardest guests were the ones that knew no one else (other than my parents). As the RSVPs came rolling in, I started to work on the escort cards and visualize how our groupings of 10 would go.

Perfect Table Plan made the task a little easier as I was able to import my excel guest list and play around with table groups.  When Mama Elephant wanted to make some changes (and there was more then a couple), it was a simple drag and drop to switch up the seating.

I found it so easy that I also used it to plan out how we wanted our rehearsal dinner room to be set up.

The team at Blue Mesa took the layout, said no problem and will have our room set up before we arrive!  I'll probably still get there a little early so I can set up the escort cards, fingerprint tree and wedding quilt.

How will you do seating at your wedding? Open, assigned table or assigned seat?

A Lesson In Chocolate Making

I must blame thank the Bee and Mrs. Starfish for the Elephant endeavor into chocolate making.  I saw Mrs. Starfish's post on making chocolates for her OOT bags and I loved the idea!  These would be great favors.  How hard could it be?

The answer is pretty hard!  Well I take that back, not hard enough to scrap the idea, but there were some major fails on the way to success.

After ordering candy molds in the shape of Texas and Pennsylvania (representing the states Mr. E and I were born in), I searched online for tips/instructions on chocolate melting.  They say to use the chocolate that you like to eat...well stupid me thought of actual chocolate, not baking chocolate.

Big fail - Spending the time to unwrap Hersey milk chocolate kisses and then finding out they don't really melt.

Measuring out the kisses

After 20 mins of heating & stirring in the double boiler (thank you Mr. E for buying that!)

I refused to let this mess go to waste, so I filled a couple a molds and threw them into the freezer while Mama E and I ran up to Kroger to get better melting chocolate.

Boy am I lucky to have a mom that is much better in the baking/cooking category than I am.  We picked up Nestle and Ghirardelli milk chocolate baking morsels and got to work.

Mom added a little Crisco and in 7 mins we had this!

Much better looking!

We used squeeze bottles to fill the molds, although I think the spoon worked just fine... a little messy but fine.

Always tap the molds to level out the chocolate and remove any air bubbles.  Into the freezer for 5-10 mins...

...and you're left with yummy chocolates that just pop out of the molds!

Can you tell which one was my very first to fill?

I think the iPhone/lighting in the kitchen made the PA chocolates look lighter than the Texas ones.  In reality they are all the same shade.  The finishing touches were to bag & tie them up.

The plan is to make them next weekend and store them in the freezer until the week of the big day when we'll box them up.  Big thanks to BM Aggie who helped me put together all of the boxes so all we'll have to do is drop in the chocolates!

Would you ever consider making your own chocolate favors?

Can Someone Roll Me Out?

That is the question I wanted to ask after our tasting at the Tribute.  Our bridal buffet packages comes with several options, which Mama & Daddy Elephant, Mr. E and I were eager to test out.

Warning - The following post may make you hungry.

Smiling with some full stomachs

First up was the salad.  We thought this was a done deal from the get go because Mr. E really only likes Caesar salad, and we thought that would be a universal safe bet.  

Traditional Caesar Salad 

Since we had so many options (and the tasting was included in our package) I thought it would be nice to taste one of the other 6 options - the Baby Spinach with Strawberries, Candied Walnuts (which weren't available for the tasting but will be on our wedding day), Blue Cheese, Red Onions & Raspberry Vinaigrette.

As a shock to me, Mr. E not only tried but LOVED the Baby Spinach salad!  Mom, Dad and I all loved it as well, so out with the Caesar and in with a yummy spring salad.  We're going to nix the red onions, and have this delivered once the guests are seated.  That way they will have something to eat while other tables are dismissed to the buffet line.

Moving on to the hors d'oeuvres.  The plan was to add 2 butler passed apps to go with the 2 displays (imported & domestic cheese with flatbreads, and fresh seasonal fruit).

Crab Rangoons & Coconut Shrimp with Thai Chile Sauce

Teriyaki Chicken Skewers

We all loved the chicken skewers but there was a toss up between the Crab Rangoons (the pick of Mr. E & I) and the Coconut Shrimp (Mom and Dad's favorite).  Thankfully Bethany (the venue coordinator) informed us that we could replace one of the displays with the 3rd passed hor d'oeuvre.  You don't have to twist my arm! The piece of pineapple in the middle of the chicken skewer counts as fruit, right? 

Next up were our selections of entrées, veggies, starches & stations.  Our package included 1 entrée to go with the carving station beef, 1 veggie, 1 starch and we were going to add in a station of either mashed potatoes or mac & cheese.   

Mr. E, Mama & Daddy Elephant making room for the entrées

The chicken breast (with lemon herb & cream pesto sauces) & creamy risotto.  

Rosemary New Potatoes & the Santa Fe Chicken with Poblano Cream sauce

Filet of Salmon, Green Beans with Bacon & Onions, and Rice Pilaf

Mashed Potatoes & Toppings 

Chicken Cordon Bleu, Vegetable Medley & Mac & Cheese (prior to toppings) 

The end result of Mr. E's Mac & Cheese

After stuffing ourselves past the point of full, we were at a stand still between the entrée option.  We all loved the salmon (and I do mean loved, there was no salmon left on anyone's plate) but knew that more guests would probably eat chicken.  We hemmed and hawed, and decided that the chicken breast was the way to go.  While we all really enjoyed the cream pesto sauce, we were afraid that our guests may not so we opted for the lemon herb sauce. It was really hard to choose because we were trying to think of what our guests would like the most, but my dad made a comment that rang true.  

You can't please everyone.  

And it's true, unless we had numerous options (and could pay for those numerous options) there is bound to be someone out of our 150 person guest list that won't like one or more of the things that we selected. 

On the drive home, while we were all still talking about the salmon, Daddy Elephant made an announcement that made me & Mr. E so grateful.  He decided that paying for the extra entrée was the way to go, and he was going to make it happen.  I did the happy dance in the car because I was so excited about that salmon! 

Here are our final selections:

Cocktail Hour

- Imported & Domestic Cheese with Assorted Flatbreads

- Coconut Shrimp with Thai Chile Sauce

- Crab Rangoons with Sweet & Sour Sauce

- Teriyaki Chicken skewers

Salad

- Baby Spinach, Strawberries, Candied Walnuts, Blue Cheese and Raspberry Vinaigrette

Entrées

- Carved Top Round of Beef with choice of Au Jus, Dijon, Creamy Horseradish or BBQ Sauce

- Breast of Chicken with Lemon Herb Sauce

- Filet of Salmon with Buerre Blance Sauce

Sides

- Mac & Cheese Station with choice of Cheddar or Asiago Crème Sauce, Sautéed Mushrooms, Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Bacon, Breadcrumbs & Shredded Parmesan

- Rosemary New Potatoes

- Green Beans with Bacon & Onions

- Rolls & Butter

Hopefully there is something for everyone and our guests won't go hungry.

Did you have a tasting during your planning period?  What will be (or was) your favorite item to eat at your wedding (if you have/had a chance to eat)?

Programs - What's Inside?

You're probably tired of these programs, one last post I promise!  Well one last post dedicated to them, I'm sure they will show up in my recaps at some point.

I realized that I never actually showed you what was inside of our programs, totally my bad.  You've seen the  embossed blue and green covers.

Open it up and guests will find a version of the normal passport page, formatted for our wedding.  The left side was a free template from Aylee Bits.  The right side is similar to most front pages of programs.

Flip the page and there is our order of ceremony.  On the bottom of the left side is a note explaining the significance of the steel drums to our family.

Pages 5 & 6 list our wedding party.  It would be a big ol' blur so we'll move onto pages 7 & 8, our thank you to guests and our parents and in loving memory page.  I have to thank the web (and probably a bee, but I can't remember which one) for the 1st half of the Thank You page, and another thank you to  Mrs. Cloud for the words on our Memory page.  I found the words so beautiful! 

Last but not least the bride and groom fun facts (which you also saw in the table numbers for our rehearsal dinner, idea thanks to Mrs. Fro Yo) and our address for guests to stay in touch.  

What's that I see?  Why yes it's Mrs. Sewing's amazing drawing of us.  I told you I was going to try and sneak it into another DIY project!

And that's it, no more talk of programs from Miss Elephant! 

Are you like me, someone who enjoys reading programs while waiting for the ceremony to begin? Have you seen any really interesting program ideas out there?

A little taste of my Philly roots

In West Philadelphia, born and raised
On the playground was where I spent most of my days
Chillin out, maxin, relaxin all cool
And all shooting some b-ball outside of the school

Truth be told I was really raised in a suburb a good 26 miles outside of Philly, but we all know it's easier to just say the largest "big city".  Now that I have Fresh Prince playing in your head, join me as I reminisce about my Philly childhood.

In 2008 Mama elephant’s family reunion was back in her hometown in New Jersey, and Mr. E came along for his first meeting of my crazy, awesome extended family. We all flew out a couple days early so we could experience Philly before heading to Jersey. We saw Independence Hall….

…We toured the liberty bell center…

…checked out Betsy Ross’ house…

…traveled down Elfain’s Alley…

….and enjoyed lunch at Pat’s… we love our cheesesteaks!

After our family barbeque in Lawnside, NJ, we spent the weekend down the shore at Atlantic City.

Before returning to the airport, we hit up Pathmark and loaded our carry on suitcases with treats you can only find on the East coast including scrapple, pork roll and tastykakes. Mr. E and I brought home 6 boxes each and those things were gone in no time!

(Source)

While reading Mrs. Cupcake’s recaps on Weddingbee I became a little jealous of her late night reception snack of tastykakes and milk.

Mrs. Cupcakes Tastykakes (source)

I showed Mr. E the pictures and he was all for the idea of getting some for our reception. The difficult part is, of course they don’t sell them in Texas. :(

But there may be hope! BM Philly still lives on the east coast as does her mom (who will be a reader at our wedding) and some of my mom's family members. We’re planning on asking them to pick up some boxes of tastycakes the week of the wedding and then ship them to my mom. If the plan works, our Texas friends and families would be able to enjoy a little piece of my home.

Was there anything that you brought in to your reception that reminded you of home?

Private Dancer

Sorry Tina Turner, no dancing for money here. The title is actually in reference to a private last dance at our reception.  I first learned about the private last dance at BM Aggie & Groomsman Runner's wedding.  As the guests left to prepare for the grand exit from the reception, the bride and groom stayed behind in the reception room to have one last dance all alone.

The plan is to have all of the guests exit to prepare for our send off, the DJ will start our song and then leave the room as well.  We won't be completely alone, one of our photographers will remain to take some shots as we enjoy the last minutes of our wedding day.  I am so excited for this moment!

(Source for both images)

Mr. E and I narrowed it down to 2 potential songs for our private last dance: Jason Mraz "I'm Yours"





 Or Eric Benet's "Spend My Life With You".




We decided that "I'm Yours" will be fun for all of our guests so it will be one of our last crowd dances, making "Spend My Life With You" our last private dance song.

Have you heard of the private last dance? Will you have one at your wedding?

Play That Funky Music Part 2

Warning: Prepare yourself for possible music overload!

Once the ceremony music was nailed down, we moved onto the reception music. We'll be kicking it off with the bridal party dancing in to Brother E's favorite song, It Takes Two by Rob Base. (It's even his ringtone on my iPhone when he calls)



Mr. E and I will relive our first concert with an entrance to a little Fall Out Boy. Not your normal entrance song, but it means something to us and we can't wait to rock out a little.



I'll talk about our first dance in another post due to it's back story.  I'm really looking forward to dancing with Daddy Elephant to Louis Armstrong's What A Wonderful World.


Thanks to Mr. E's love of gaming, his groom's cake with be shaped like his favorite system. I thought it would be only too perfect to add a little humor into our cake cutting!



We're still debating on what to end the party with, but our front runner right now is Journey's Don't Stop Believin'.





What type of songs are you planning on for your reception? Will you have a mix of music genres?

Some personal decor for our table

Our very first trip together was a road trip to San Antonio for Mr. E’s birthday in 2007. It was a special trip for us which is why we will be heading back there for our minimoon after the wedding. During that trip I saw how much I had touched Mr. E’s life, and knew how much he made my life better.

Our first full day started with a free breakfast at the hotel followed by a cruise down the river.

After the river cruise we decided to venture out to the market square.

With the city map from the hotel in hand we headed out, and after getting lost once or twice (I stink with directions which is why one of the best Christmas presents ever was a GPS for my car from Brother Elephant) we finally arrived. The market area is full of crafts and one of the first stops we made was to a stand that would create a wooden sign out of your names for about $10. I really wanted one, and Mr. E was sweet enough to buy it for me. The seller said it would be about an hour to finish (there was a long line of orders in front of ours) which would give us enough time to check out the rest of the market area and head back to pick it up.

After checking out all of the little stands and the “mall” area, we killed some time by watching a children’s dance school performance. They were too cute!

We headed back after an hour, but they still weren't done so we had to kill even more time. Another 30 minutes and ours was finally finished! We picked blue and green for our names - see we loved those colors even back then!

We will be placing this on our sweetheart table for the wedding to add a little personal décor.

How will you decorate your sweetheart table?

Good News!

That was the title of our planner’s email when she told me the Tribute has changed their policy on sparklers. How exciting!! That means that we’ll be able to do a send off like this.

Source

As you may remember, I already purchased all the bubbles for the send off, and have even tied the blue and green ribbons on all those little bottles.

Don’t you worry, it wasn’t all for not! The new plan is to have the house party hand out the bubbles to the guests prior to the ceremony and instruct the guests to blow bubbles as we walk back down the aisle. Hopefully it will look a little like this.

Source

Source

Did you settle for a plan B only to find out later that you could have your plan A?

Cake Tasting 101

I'm gonna level with you... I'm not a big cake fan. What?!?! Yes, you heard that right, I'm not the biggest cake fan. Want an example? There is video from my 4th birthday party where I am enjoying a bowl of ice cream while the rest of my friends are chowing down on my birthday cake. Now that's not to say that I won't eat cake, at special occasions (like weddings) I will take a couple of bites before handing over the rest of my piece to Mr. E.

Because of this, the cake baker was the last major vendor on my list to book. Most brides, or those helping to plan the wedding look forward to booking this vendor. I know that any bridal event that Mama E and I attended, she could always be spotted enjoying the cake samples.  Who doesn't like free cake samples? But I was OK with holding off on booking this until later in the planning process.

Mr. E and I used some vacation days to have a "staycation", so I figured this would be a great time to book some wedding related things like registering and some cake tastings.

As you can see I was prepared with print outs of the cake designs we're looking for

Modeling some dummy cakes while waiting for our samples to be cut.

We were quite impressed with the plate full of samples, frostings, fillings and double dipped strawberries that was presented to us.

Look at all of those different cakes!

The fillings in the middle were:

1. Raspberry

2. Dulce de Leche

3. Cherry

4. Lemon

5. Apricot

6. Strawberry

7. Bavarian Creme

8. Fudge

We tasted the different cakes/frosting with different fillings to determine the ones we liked the most.

Mr. E enjoying this tasty vendor meeting!

This is what was left after our tasting... Can you tell what our favorites were?

For the bride's cake we selected (from bottom to top) White Chocolate with Raspberry filling, White Chocolate with Apricot filling, and Strawberry with Strawberry filling all with Buttercream frosting.  YUM!!! We are lovers of all things strawberry, so we'll probably eat this top tier before our 1 year anniversary! The groom's cake would be the German Chocolate with Dulce de Leche filling.

After deciding our favorite combinations, Molly talked about the styles of cake they could do. Since I was already prepared with the pictures of the travel cake and ideas from the groom's cake, we were able to skip the book of cake pictures. We were super excited when Molly informed us that we could make the groom's cake in the shape of an Xbox 360 and add mini cakes/rice krispie treats in the form of controllers to symbolize the other systems (Wii and Playstation 3) we have in our home. The groom's cake would sort of look like this (picture taken at our house)

We loved the customer service, the taste of the cakes, and most of all the price! Both cakes, with all the additions we wanted including mini cakes for the controllers, fondant pieces for the city names on the bride's cake and double dipped strawberries came up $5 under the budget we set. Score!! Molly even packed up our leftovers, and put in new pieces for the combos we liked so we could share with some family members that night.

We still had two more cake tastings, but neither compared in taste/cost to the first stop so that's who we booked with!

Did you go to several cake tastings when looking for a baker? Will you be having cake or something else at your wedding?