Catering!

I've spoken with the catering lady, Kerri Navarre, and she's having a tasting at 2pm this Saturday (not 2.30 like I had previously said). The address for the tasting is 1801 W. Division St., Arlington, 76012. If you guys get lost, her cell number is (817)-368-9064. Sorry about the time, Susan, but this was the only tasting available for the next three or four weeks because of the Superbowl as well as other events (she works with an event company). I reaaaaaally hope you can make it!

Here are the list of hors d'oeuvres that we have to choose from for the reception (and probably the tasting, although she might just have all of these available):

1. Spicy Shrimp Cocktail Shooters (add $2 per person for shrimp)
2. Surf and Turf Crostini - Slices of Beef topped w/ a cold crab salad on crostini
3. Chicken Satay Skewer w/ Peanut Sauce
4. Sausage and Cheddar Stuffed Mushrooms
5. Goat Cheese and Carmelized Onion Tartlets
6. Bacon Wrapped Mini Potatoes w/ Maple Bourbon Butter Glaze
7. Southwest Chicken Purse – Chicken, Spices, Cheddar Cheese and Cream Cheese mixed together and served in a wonton wrapper
8. Cucumber Bites – Tomato and Onion Salad w/Fresh Vinaigrette served in a cucumber cup
9. Caprese Salad Skewers – Tomato, Basil and Mozzarella skewered and drizzled with balsamic vinegar
10. Party Potatoes – Mini twice baked  potatoes
11. Meatball Lollipops – Southwest spiced  pork and beef meatballs seared and cooked and served with 3 dipping sauces
12. Beef en Brochette – Bites of Sirloin, with a jalepeno sliver wrapped in bacon and grilled and coated in a spicy barbeque sauce

• You can replace 2 selections for a fruit, cheese and vegetable display, or it can be added for $2.00 per person

The last bullet is referring to the package she's offering me of 5 pieces for $10.99 a person. So if I had to choose some without tasting them, I'd pick ... all of them except for #5 and #9. =P So you guys are definitely going to have to help me out with this. It might be wise to keep track of your very very favorites, and some that are not so good.

I'm thinking of purchasing bubble wands for the send-off after the reception. Here's the full list of them, and here's a picture of what I think I want:

These guys are $5.99/pack of 48 (a 15% discount brings that to $5.09) - and if you think about it, H. and I don't have to have bubble wands to send ourselves off, right? So if there's 50 people coming, then it's a perfect fit. Maybe I should wait to purchase these until I have a good RSVP count. What do you guys think?

Hotel Offerings

First, here's my responses to your comments:

Susan:
I think if the flowers go down one side, it'll be easier to photograph, and potentially cheaper (this is based on an assumption that flowers are more expensive than a baker doing piping). Although I really like the idea of the last cake - the flowers kind of rippling over the top tier, and then maybe the bottom tier and middle tier have the piping. And the bird toppers on top of those billowing flowers (can flowers billow?) would be so pretty! And if it's possible, I'd like the different piping on the different layers. The top and bottom can match, but the middle layer should be different. I think if each had its own style, it might be confusing to the eye. But if we're putting the flowers at the top instead of down one side, then maybe the only piping on the top tier is the vine/branch.

I like the idea of TheCakeStand cake, but I think I'd prefer if it was a lighter brown, or even a green so that it looked like vines (if we're using a vine flower. I still haven't decided what flower to use).

Yeah, I'd prefer if the piping was the same color of the cake. I think if the lace was the same color, it'd be really nice.

Yes! I really love the last cake, too! Maybe instead of piping a design, we could just do the vine/branch theme. Because that seems very natural yet elegant.

Your depiction is exactly what I want for each tier. But if it's a good amount more expensive to have 2 fillings per tier, then yes, I'd like the bottom and top to be coconut, and the middle tier to be strawberry. :]

Umm ... you guys can have whatever filling you want as the third option. I'm kind of set on the coconut and strawberry, so have fun with the last one. Raspberry Bavarian filling, anyone? (that's from TheCakeStand)

Aww, Susan, you don't want moss on the top of the cake? :3

DD's website is the one huge downside to using them as the baker. It probably means that the owner is older, and doesn't know how to use the internet? That's just an assumption. But! If they have free cake tastings, I bet you'd be interested in a consultation. :P

---------------------

H was telling me the other day that there should probably be some kind of food, because he and I will have had to eat lunch ahead of time. We'll have to determine how much we want to spend per person for the buffet, because that can add up quickly when there's ~50 people.

H's younger brother (we'll call him Middle H) was offered the MC job, and I think he's going to be the MC and possibly the DJ - although the hotel consultant said there's a DJ that gives 50%-off to people who use the hotel as the reception, so we'll have to talk to him about his prices.

Would you guys want to do multiple cake tastings in one day? Maybe I should limit scheduling them to 2 per weekend. Unless you guys are marathon cake tasters. :D

The hotel consultant said that they have the equipment to do the slideshow. So start finding the cutest pictures of me!

Susan, that would be great if you could schedule the cake tastings! I'm not sure if they'll let you do the tastings without knowing what type of flower we're using, but you can call and ask to sample their cakes in order to determine which bakery to use.

------------------

And now for a very important piece of information. The hotel sent me an email last night that I just saw this morning, and it reads:

          " The $500 facility fee is waived if you are spending $30 or more in food and beverage through the hotel.  You had talked about appetizers being served.  We would prefer the hotel to do the catering for your event, as that is part of our service.  Our exception for outside catering is typically for wedding cake, and ethnic food—Indian, Persian, Pakistani food ect.  We would like to discuss what menu you had in mind, what foods you had in  mind.  We can easily have 4-5 appetizers in the $25 price point. "

Isn't that exciting? : D So lemme go look at the menu items that they sent us. Dum dee dum dum duuuuum ...

Okay, not as exciting as I had thought. If we got 5 hors d'oeuvres per person like we would do from the catering company, we would end up with roughly $18 per person, or $900 total. No freaking way we're doing that. 

A cheaper option would be to use these "action stations" they provide. Each station requires one server for $75. If we did this, I would prefer the brisket station ($110, serves 20 ppl) + the smoked turkey station ($125, serves 15 ppl) + the cumin pork station ($165, serves 20 ppl). Then we have 5 servings leftover based on a 50-person assumption. However, each station only comes with fresh rolls, no vegetables. Vegetables would be $8.95 per person * 50 ppl = $445. Yowza.

I think for now, we'll stick with the outside caterer. I'm going to talk to them today, and ask about the hors d'oeuvres as well as how much they charge for other foodies. We can still use the hotel for alcoholic beverages and such, and that will definitely put us over the $30 limit.

Wedding Committee adjourned!

Cakes & Catering

Now that the reception hall is booked, I can get back to the food decisions. The hotel says that if we use an outside catering service, the company has to be licensed and insured, and the hotel has to OK them.

A Sophisticated Affair, Inc. is a catering service located in Arlington, Texas. Their website says that they are both licensed and insured, and if they're willing to cater to the hotel, then this company would be my first choice. My favorite part about this company is that they have $1/person hors d'oeuvres:

- Surf and Turf Crostini - Slices of Beef topped w/ a cold crab salad on crostini
- Spicy Shrimp Cocktail Shooters
- Sausage and Cheddar Stuffed Mushrooms
- Asian Chicken on Lemongrass Skewer
- Quesadilla Bites
- Fried Potato Dumplings

There's a powerpoint with these and some more on their website. So if we use this company, I'll be estimating ~5 hors d'oeuvres per person = $5 per person x 50 people = $250 total. This doesn't include beverages, but I'm looking into having a bar (see below). So if we can pick five appetizers and make 50 of each of them at the very least, then we'll be a lot better off than if we use the hotel catering services, in my opinion.

Speaking of hotel services, the flat rental fee for the entire day is $500. The lady I spoke with said that if we choose to use some of their services like catering, then they can work with that number to compensate for however much we're spending in food. I bet there's a minimum that we have to pay, even if we buy $500 worth of food. It's probably something like $250, but that's just a guess. Here's the document they sent me. Their cheapest catering packages are their fruit & cheese displays, and those are each $10/person. Their appetizers start at $3.50 per piece, and despite whether you order hot or cold hors d'oeuvres, there is a 50 piece minimum. So if I do 2 pieces per person, I end up paying $350. However, if that comes out of the $500 flat rental fee, then maybe it's worth it. I'll have to check up with the lady I talked to on this.

As for having a bar (last couple pages in that document), I've got a few options. With each of these options, I think I'll stick with a Beer&Wine bar, which won't include any "spirits" or hard liquor, and therefore will be inherently cheaper. Here's the bar options:

1. Completely open bar, we pay for everything anyone drinks. As the hosts, I feel like this is kind of our duty if we're having a bar. The lady I spoke with said that since we're having the reception for 3 hours, we can set the bar to distribute drinks on our tab for 1 or 2 hours, and then the guests are responsible for anything they drink after that time frame. The cost is $17 per adult (not including children) for a 2 hour bar. There's also an option of $5 per drink, but that could get out of hand quickly.

2. Guests pay for their own drinks. This is the cheapest way to go, but it's not really the nicest thing to do to your guests. Same price applies per hour, but it's $6 instead of $5 per drink if they are paying themselves.

3. Buy a keg and bottles of wine. One "domestic pony keg" (7.75 gallons) is $185, and the document says it serves ~100 glasses. Wiki says it is equivalent to 82 12fl.oz cans of beer. So that's almost 2 beers for everyone, which means almost 3 beers for the guys (I doubt the ladies want beer). The woman I spoke to on the phone said that she would have to check to be sure that they can get a keg of Shiner (H.'s favorite) because it's a local beer, but she probably can get it. For the ladies, we have $28 per bottle of wine, and $30 per bottle of champagne (yikes!). I should ask her if we can bring our own wine.

And now the moment you've all been waiting for - it's time for caaaaaaaaaaaaaaaake!! I'm super excited about this, but you guys should be even more excited, because you just won a trip for two to cake tastings at at least two cake bakeries! *Wheel of Fortune applause ensues* Oh but before I send you off, I should probably show you what I'd like.

I want a 3 tiered, round, white wedding cake. Simple, right? MWAHAHA. Ahem. I mean, it's all in the details, and it kind of depends on our florist (which I haven't found yet) and our baker (hopefully we'll get a good one). I've got a couple different ideas, and I'd like your opinions on which one works the best.

This is the best representation of what I want that I could find:

 It has three tiers, wonderful piping, and I'm even okay with the color (I figured that a white cake would look better with my white dress, instead of an ivory or a cream. But maybe cream and cake go better together?) I don't like that there are only flowers at the top, and I'm not liking or hating the border around each tier.

This second picture is what I want the flowers to be arranged, more or less (we'll have to figure out what flowers to use for the bouquets, and then the florist can put the flowers into the cake. Or we have fake flowers. Haven't really decided yet).

I love the cascading flowers! Sugar flowers are probably more expensive than real or fake flowers, so no sugar flowers here. Another picture of cascading flowers is this one:

However, I don't like that this cake turned out to be a jungle. I'd rather have just one or two actual flowers instead of an entire garland up the cake. Also, see on this one how the round tiers kind of bow-out a little at the tops? I really really really don't like that. I prefer the flat-topped tiers a la picture #1.

So as far as the piping designs go, I'm mostly open. Here are a few inspirational cakes that I'd like to get your opinions on:

I love the little flowery details on this cake! This would be my alternative to big real flowers - if we could find small fake flowers that are proportionate to the cake, then that would be awesome. I'd still like the cake to be at least cream, not yellow, and white would be preferable.

I wish there was a zoomed-in picture of this cake, because I absolutely love the little lace detailed effect. So there doesn't necessarily have to be hand-piping on the cake. This lace effect would also be exquisite.

These scallops just make me say "Wow!" every time. I'm worried, though that they would take away from the flowers on the cake, just because these guys are so beautiful. Also, is this too much of a beach-themed wedding cake?

I love love love how dainty these flowers are. This is a great example of a two-tiered cake that really works. And the baker piped on the greenery in the background to really make the flowers pop. Once again, these are sugar flowers, but fake or real flowers that are nice and dainty would really work well with the cake. If you can see it, I like the tiny "trim" or whatever that is at the bottom of each tier that is just little "shells" of icing. Really fond of that.

Now for the flavor of the cake. H. and I have decided that we'd like a vanilla (or amaretto) cake, with coconut filling and strawberry filling (but coconut first if they only have one option available). If possible, I think it would be great if each tier had 3 layers of cakes, with 2 cake filling options, and then you can have both coconut and strawberry in each tier. But, I think what might be better is if each tier is made of two layers of cake, with one filling option, and then each tier is a different flavor. If that makes sense. That way, whether it is 2 or 3 tiers, the guests can choose strawberry or coconut (thinking of you, Susan!). But again, if the baker can't do 2 filling flavors, I just want coconut. Muchas gracias senoritas!

Yesterday, I bought the cake topper. :3

Aren't they cute?! I shipped them to you guys, and they should arrive in 15 days or less. My idea for them is that they will sit atop (or amidst) the flowers at the top of the cake, and then the flowers cascade down around them. I got the idea from this wedding cake:

So instead of the nest that they're sitting on, we can put the birds amidst the flowers. ^^  If you'd like to browse other wedding cakes for fun, The Knot has a huge selection on their cake website.

I almost forgot to tell you who I want as a baker! Takes the Cake is my first option, because of the wealth of fantastic work they have on their website. Also, that link takes you directly to their FAQ, which will probably answer most of your questions about cakes.

The price we're looking at here is $225. I got that number by multiplying the number of servings (# servings = # guests * 1.5) by the price per serving, $3.00. As I went around other cake websites, that's pretty much the cost any cake is going to get us. But I would ask the owner to be sure that what we're paying for is what we want.  This bakery seems to do a lot of more expensive cakes, so if they're trying to push you into something more expensive, don't let 'em.

Oh one more thing about Takes the Cake - when you sign up for a cake tasting with them, you pay $15 for her/him to make the mini cakes. Anything you don't eat there, you get to take home with you. If you end up purchasing a cake with them, then $15 is taken off the price of the cake. So the tasting is basically free. I don't know if the other places have free cake tastings.

Second option is The Cake Stand. They also do $3 per serving, and their work is comparable to the first place. Again, I'm not sure what kind of cakes they're used to doing, so I hope that they can work with us on the price.

The next option is The Cake Carousel - their cakes are nice, but their website does not list the price per serving for their cakes, which is usually a dead ringer for an expensive company.

Last option is DD's Cakes. The only reason that this lady is last is because I'm unsure of the quality of her work. She does have pictures on her website, but I just don't want to end up with the "bubble" round cake instead of the flat-top round cake. Her price for a 3-layered round cake (8", 10", 12") is $215, but I don't know if she charges for anything extra, since her price is a smidge low.

Let's review your mission:
I. Taste different cake fillings and flavors (vanilla vs. french vanilla vs. amaretto, etc)
II.Tell me which one tastes the best.
III. Enjoy!

I'm going to call all of these places now. I'm going to ask when they're open for tastings on Saturday, since somebody has to teach children every weekday. :P So! Lemme know which Saturdays you're free in the next 1-2 months. Thanks!

Aaaaaand I think my work here is done for the day. Enjoy your wedding frou-frou!

Wedding Details

Yesterday, I bought some wedding favors. I know that we were going to discuss the possibility of candy in tulle bags with ribbon around them, but that would require a ton of effort from you guys and you're already helping me so very, very much.

So! Hit the link to see what will be shipped to you in a couple of days:  Seed Favors


I hope that you all like them as much as I do. They already come pre-packaged, so all we'd have to do is set them out on the tables in front of all the chairs. Also, they were 20% off when I bought them, so they were a pretty darn good deal. The actual favor that I ordered was the "Spread the Love" bird favor, and I ordered it in green. Maybe I should've gotten them in a different color, but I hope that it'll look okay with everything else we have.


I'm going to warn you that this post will be link-heavy. So clear your browsers now, people.

For the invitations, here's what I'm thinking. Target has these blank invitations available for purchase at $9.99. Onto these, I'll place some of the bird stamps I got from Hobby Lobby (probably that large flourish-y one in the middle, and maybe the feather as well), or I could get some new clear stamps for a more floral theme. I'd use the corner piece of this one ($1.99), or any of the flowery bits in this related one ($9.99), or maybe I can use this second bird one ($1.99) as well. But at most, the cost would be ~$15 for all of those combined. I'll also need a large stamp block ($9.99), and that brings the total to $25, if I bought everything. Our total is now $35.

After stamping and printing text onto the cards, I'd like to wrap a small fabric sash around the card. This will have two uses: it will add a little bit of texture and depth to the card, and it will also hold the engagement photo of H. and I in place during shipping (although I might end up putting cardstock as a border around the photo, then turning that to the envelope, just to keep the photo from being scratched in shipping). Walmart can print 35 photos (4"x6") for $5.25, which is pretty darn amazing. Our total is now $40.

But back to the fabric! If I do green stamps, I'd like to do yellow fabric, and this striped fabric is amazingly cheap. There are 35 invitations, and with 1" of fabric around each 5.5" width card, I'd only need 1 yard of fabric (since it is 44" long). So I'd only be paying $2.06. I could also do floral fabrics. Which one of these do you like better? Flower fabric number one ($2.95)? Or flower fabric number two ($3.95)? In either case, the total comes out to about $45. And remember, that's buying all of those stamps. Maybe I should go back and narrow the options.

If I have the money, I'd like to put a ribbon around the fabric, but ribbon is much more expensive, so it might turn out being a second piece of fabric, probably in white, to "tie" everything together. Maybe something sheer like this, or something solid like this fabric, or this green dot fabric. Each of those are under $3, and I would need about 1/4" of fabric to make each, and so maybe I can order a half a yard. This is all online shopping, so maybe when I'm in the store it'll be easier to see what goes with what and what they actually have in-store. I wouldn't be opposed to buying online, but I need to have these out by the end of February.

Something not about the wedding: I bought some exercise gear to help get me motivated about exercising! There's a mini-gym/workout room in the apartment clubhouse, and as long as I have music to listen to, I might actually run on the treadmill. We'll see, though. Maybe I'll make H. exercise with me. : ]

Hope all of you are having a wonderful day! <3

The Adventure Begins

Howdy there neighborino! This fantabulous blog has resulted from two things: (1) some of the coolest people I know not wanting to access Facebook just to keep up with me, and (2) H. telling me I need somewhere to write all of the daily details that tend to overwhelm him during dinner. So, hopefully my random thoughts will entertain yous-guyses. : ]

I'm currently sitting here (8:20am) looking out the balcony window at the beautiful mini-mountains that are probably 30-40 miles away. One day I'll figure out how to manipulate the video camera to upload little snapshot photos of the mountains. But for now, you'll have to trust me that they're actually there.

Nearly all of the moving boxes are out of the apartment. The only ones remaining are for H. to go through and decide what to use now, what to keep for later, and what to let go of. We'll also probably rearrange the furniture when all the boxes are out of the apartment. The things we're keeping for later go into the storage on the balcony. Putting everything in there was like playing tetris, but I think I've got it all organized now.

Now it's time for a Wedding Update! I just sent out Save the Dates, and now I'm browsing for wedding invitations. I'm wrestling with two ideas. The first involves buying some plain-ish invitations online (most start at $50 for the amount I need), then dressing them up myself with some fabric and ribbon. The pro here is that I save on ink costs by getting the info printed by the company; the con is that I have to purchase fabric and ribbon, and I've learned that ribbon is not cheap. The second option involves purchasing invitations at Michaels (prices range from $30-40), and I would choose an invitation kit that already includes the little paper 'coverslip' thing and the ribbon. The pro here is that I don't have to worry about matching the color of fabric, ribbon, and invitations; the con is all of the ink I'll end up using, and ink is not cheap.

I suppose it'll probably come out to be ~$60 either way. I will admit that I purchased some invitations from Michaels to see what exactly was in them, and I bought Thank You cards (something I'd have to buy either way).  In short, any thoughts on which one to do?

By the way, not having internet for a week was almost easy. I say 'almost' because while the apartment clubhouse does have a computer with working internet that is free to use, every single time H. and I want to use it there's this one guy sitting there for an hour using Facebook. Really frustrating when we need to use the internet for important stuff.

Speaking of internet, it took us a while to get ours in our apartment. Actually, it took us 11 days for them to hook it up. Hey Qwest: you have horrible customer service, and the only reason we're keeping you around is because you're fast.

Oh! I almost forgot about my car! Here's the skinny.

H. was able to get the moving company to move my car for free. As the company was loading my car onto their transport vehicle (I'm assuming it was one of those trucks that carries two levels of cars), they somehow managed to damage the driver's side door. After H.'s dad played phone tag with the moving company, their appraiser said that it would take $1300 to repair the door. The company said that they would pay for the repairs, and then ship out the car to me. H.'s dad was able to find a good car repair guy, who said he would repair the vehicle for $1000, allowing us to pocket the leftover $300. A day ago the repairs were finished, although I haven't had any word from the moving company that indicates they have begun to transport the car.

In the meantime, the moving company has paid for a rental car for as long as I need it. Here's a picture I found of it online: 

 

It's a little bigger in width and length than my car, and it has a horrible blind spot in the rear back area, but it works. When I went to pick it up, the rental company asked me to wait 15 min while somebody washed off the car. Halfway through the time, they asked if I wanted to try out one of their mini-vans, because they were ready to drive. I sat in the mini-van driver seat, took one look to where H. was sitting in the back row, and I swear it felt like the van was twice the size of my little car. We politely declined and waited for this little guy to finish taking a bath. 

Driving out here is much like driving back in Dallas, except for a few things. You know how you want to make a left turn, and you wait for the green arrow to turn on with the green light, and then you go? Well here, the light turns from green to yellow, and only when the light turns red does the green arrow light up. This results in left-lane cars constantly pulling out into the middle of the intersection as they wait for the light to turn red. Freaks me out every time.

Second. The police here have come up with a theoretically good idea - install traffic cams to catch speeders in various places in the city at various times of the day. My understanding is that they have the cameras on one street in the morning, and a different street in the evening. Sounds like a great idea, right? Except for the fact that any traffic reporter on the tv or radio tells you where the speed cams are. Boggles the mind!

Third. There are some crazy signs here. By crazy, I guess what I really mean is common sense signs. Signs that indicate when there are two left-turn lanes, you cannot make a U-turn from the further left turn lane, you can only make a U-turn from the inner lane. Signs that say do not run this specific red light, because this light is monitored by police. However the one sign that they do not have is one of those little blue or green signs on the median telling you what street is coming up at the intersection. Granted, some of the roads don't have medians, but I would love it if those signs existed on the streets that do have medians.

Now for some friendly information about Walmart. Back in Dallas, you have one kind: the Walmart Supercenter. Or at least, that's all I ever saw on Coit. Here, you have two kinds of Walmart: one that has all the food, and one that has all the stuff. The one down the street from us has all of the stuff, plus milk and beer and wine. Four miles away, there's one called the Neighborhood Market - it has all of the grocery items, but no clothing or shampoo or cleaning products. 

Then there's the Fry's that is within a mile of our apartment. Now, all of you Dallas people are probably thinking, "Sweet! She's got a computer software/hardware/everything store right down the street!". But, in fact, Fry's out here is actually Kroger, the grocery store. It even has some fresh fruit items with the Kroger logo on them. Oh speaking of fresh stuff, you can get fresh cactus here. I might try to learn how to cook/prepare it, because I'm just that curious.

I'll have to keep my cooking adventures to myself for now. It's almost ten o'clock, and I should probably get to work on laundry and maybe that breakfast thing. We'll see. For now, this is Alpha Gamma Choppa signing off. To infinity, and beyond!