Some Tips For Tastings

Some Tips For Tastings

One of the best parts of the wedding planning process so far has been the tasting. Also Dave and I, in our penny-pinching, have not been going out to dinner lately, so it was nice to be able to go out, have a drink, and spend some time together.

So, on a chilly Thursday evening we drove the 30 minutes to the Lincklean House.  We were welcomed by Ellen, the cute, young, friendly receptionist (who later in the evening imparted some good wedding advice based on her recent marriage) and shown to our table. Once we dropped our belongings at the table, Dave and I made a beeline for the fire place to warm our butts up just a bit (you can go ahead and picture it, it was a cute as it sounds).  There were only a few people in the restaurant, which gave the evening a nice intimate feeling.

We came prepared with our wedding folder, which is decorated by birds, a gift from one of the places we registered with. It is pictured below so you can understand why Dave makes me carry it; I think it is fun and kitschy. What we did not come prepared with was an elastic waist band because there was SO much food!!  There was 5 courses of food to taste, and even though I like to eat, I found it overwhelming.  We took about 3 bags full of food home.  I had thought that tastings were free, but when I asked some people I know who have done wedding planning for hotels, they said that trend has changed, so we were not surprised when we were told there was a cost involved.  But to our surprise, when we were ready to go, Carrie said that there was no charge!  (we like to think that is because we are so pretty, and you can’t disabuse us of that notion!!) We were very happy with the food and have narrowed down our menu.

A question for you all, Dave wants to put cucumbers instead of lemons in the waters…what do you think?  Kitschy? Pretentious? Spa-like?

What also started to become clear during our dinner was how excited Dave and I are getting for the wedding. When we first started this it was an abstraction.  Now that we are less than 150 days away from the wedding (eeek) it is starting to feel more and more real.  I get that Christmas Day anticipatory feeling in my stomach. We are at the point where the major planning is out of the way and now all the little details start to come into focus, and that really excites us. I know that going into the final part of the planning process will be fun, hectic, and challenging.


Some tips for tastings:
If you are serving red meat be sure to ask how it is prepared.  We like our steak medium rare, and that is how they prepare it, but they will take requests from our guests if they choose to have it another way.  Also make sure you ask about presentation, Carrie, our event coordinator, was very open to changing things around if we did not care for the preparation.  We also found it helpful to ask her thoughts about options, what is more popular, accessible for people, etc.  That really helped us make some decisions.

(Not that you care, or maybe you do, I am listening to a song I just found–thanks Pandora!–Heart Upon Demand by John Gorka.  Since I am such a Judy Garland fan–stop rolling your eyes!!–I am not sure why I have not come across this before, but, anyway, give it a listen)

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