The Tuxedos

Rachel's dresses for the bridesmaids are a green, its either sage or mint or jade or kelly. I have no idea. It is green. We went to MW Tux to check out their rental packages and colors and things. The first step was to find a vest that matched the color, thankfully Rachel carries the swatch around wherever she goes. This proved to be something impossible. Its like MW Tux called Alfred Angelo got a swatch and made sure that none of their greens would match ours. It was really that bad. So we started playing with other colors. Brown or red or bright blue, ok maybe not bright blue. No matter what we picked it didn't look good, Black tuxes and brown vests....no good. We were there about an hour and tried nearly every possible combination or types of clothing and colors and patterns, with the exception of cummerbunds, whatever happened to those anyway? There was a set up of a brown tux with a cream vest that kept catching my eye, and after enough prodding Rachel let me try it out and see how it looked. Bingo, that was it. Brown tuxes with an ivory tie and vest for me and Brown tuxes with brown ties and vests for the groomsmen. Here are some quick pics trying it out:



We are also going with pocket squares instead of boutonnieres. I think they pretty darned good.

The brown also fits the woodsy theme we've been running with. Overall we'll be a pretty darned looking group. No?

Flower Girl Basket: COMPLETED!

To fit our wedding's woodsy theme, I created Braeden's flower girl basket to look like a bird's nest.  (Obviously, the pedals will go in the center of the basket.) First, I took an old basket that was pretty rustic looking. Then added cotton batting and covered that with a piece of brown satin. I finished it off by hot gluing reindeer moss around the edges. Voila! 

Tasty!

Our Menu

Cocktail Hour

Open Bar Service

Displays:

*Fresh Vegetable Crudites Served with dipping sauce

*Regional American Artisan Cheeses and Fruit Served with French baguette and assorted crackers

Butler-Passed Hors d'oeuvres:

*Stuffed Chicken with Avocado Salad Tartlet

*Prosciutto and Melon Canapes

*Tomato Basil Bruschetta

*Spinach Brie Tart

*Vegetable Spring Rolls

*Scallops Wrapped in Bacon

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

Dinner

Salad:

*Capriccio Salad: Romaine, Diced Tomatoes, Red Onions, Fetta Cheese, and Baby Bella Mushrooms served with a Fresh Basil Vinaigrette Dressing

Entrees:

*Fresh Herb Roasted Half Chicken with Roasted Garlic and Tomato Demi-glace

*Roast Prime Rib with Caramelized Onion and Au Jus

*Pan Roasted Salmon Fillet with Balsamic Reduction 

**Chicken Fingers or Pasta for the kiddies

***Pasta Primavera for vegetarians (if you are out there...)

Our Cake

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

We made our final decisions on our dinner menu for our reception. A fear that the food would be disgusting has been set aside. The food was delicious!

Capriccio Salad

Chris even liked it!

Then they brought us our an enormous plate that had three entrees for us to try:

*Crispy Sauteed Chicken Breast with Creamy Mustard Sauce (although... I am pretty sure that wasn't the sauce that was on it)

*Fresh Herb Roasted Half Chicken with Roasted Garlic and Tomato Demi-glace

*Grilled Mahi-Mahi Fillet with Tropical Mango Salsa

Each entree will come with yummy potatoes, string beans, and carrots. (They are cooked, Katherine H. ... but you could scrape them off or request extra beans.)

We weren't crazy about the Mahi-Mahi. I had originally picked this as our fish choice. We didn't like the salsa that was on it. That made up our minds. We are going with the salmon. I figure that is a pretty standard meal.

We had already chosen the prime rib, so we asked to taste the two chicken dishes. We were glad we did. The half chicken was heads and shoulders better than the chicken breast. The chicken breast was a little dry and just "blah". The half chicken was moist and just an overall better dish. 

We snuck in to check out our venue. Here are some pictures of the room. It is set up for a conference banquet. 

the ceiling

our sweetheart table will be set up in front of this fireplace

Local WTNH Channel 8 put together a full news clip on.

Good times!!!