Friday, June 11, 2010

Wedding Feast - Third of Six for 2010

Last Saturday, I attended my third wedding reception out of six this year. For those who may not know, I was invited to six weddings this year, one in each month since April and all the way up to September (I'm half way done now). What can I say? Love is certainly in the air this year!


In any case, the married couple, Vince and Caroline, are friends of my boyfriend. Last Saturday was actually my first time meeting them both! Obviously, I was quite honored to have been invited. 


The classy reception was held at Hilton Suites in Markham. Upon arrival, I see families and friends mingling in the reception hall. Live piano music was playing in the background, bowls of fruit punch were set out at the guests' disaposal, wine was being poured, and tasty-looking hors d'oeuvres were being served by waiters. As you can imagine, me, being the foodie that I am, was thrilled at the sight of all this good stuff.


Fruit punch - refreshing!



Hor d'oeuvres - I haven't yet been to a wedding reception before that served hor d'oeuvres, so I was quite impressed by this. Look at the selection, will ya? Bacon wrapped scallops, chicken skewers, crispy wontons, and mini vegetable samosa-looking things (I apologize for the horrible description of them but I have no idea what they were).


Cute and delicious.



Also had mini chicken drumsticks.




I'm pretty sure there were other kinds of hor d'oeurves that I missed out on. 

Afterwards, the guests headed to the dining hall. The wedding cake was displayed in front of the head table.


The elegant, simple, yet fun wedding cake was created by Sweet Things. Juanita Koo is the owner of Sweet Things, who is also the baker and the designer of all the cakes and cupcakes. If you have time, check out her website, blog, Facebook page, or twitter. Her creations will amaze you.

Look at the cake topper.



Who will get the bragging rights? I guess we will know very soon! (personal note to my readers: GO CELTICS!!!)

And what do we have here? 


M&Ms with "Caroline & Vincent" and "June 5, 2010" imprinted on them. How cute! If you're interested, check this M&M's website to personalize your own. I cannot ask for a better wedding favour...it's EDIBLE!!!


Without further ado - the menu for the night. A few months ago, guests were asked to decide on whether we wanted prime rib, salmon, or chicken.


We were served wines from Peller Estates. Since I prefer Cabernet Sauvignon as opposed to Cabernet Merlot (not a fan of Merlot in general), I opted for white wine also from Peller (I didn't get a chance to take a picture of it). Most importantly I was having the salmon so white is a better choice anyway.



Bread - a selection of bread buns were available at the table. A generous amount of soft butter accompanied the bread.


Roasted Red Pepper & Tomato Bisque - a thick and very tomato-y soup to start.


Organic Butter Lettuce with Assorted Baby Greens, Cherry Tomatoes and Crumbled Goat Cheese with Citrus Vinaigrette - loved this because I love goat cheese.


It just so happens that my friend Elaine, who was sitting beside me, ordered chicken as her entrée, and with my boyfriend and his prime rib (a given and obvious choice by him), I got a picture of all three entrées.

Herb & Dijon Crusted Prime Rib of Beef Served with a Red Wine Jus - my boyfriend gave me a piece to taste and the meat was very tender.


Oven Roasted Herb Basted Breast of Chicken with a Pearl Onion Glaze & Essence of Thyme - not sure how this was but I'm sure it was good!


Whiskey & Maple Marinated Pan Seared Atlantic Salmon Peared with a Ginger Glaze - the salmon was moist and the glaze was thick and flavorful. 


Loved the side veggies.


Open bar began sometime during the main course, so right after I was done I grabbed myself an extra spicy Caesar. Yummy.


Cinnamon Scented Apples Wrapped in layers of light pastry & drizzled with Vanilla Bean Sauce - This is my favorite course of the night, only because I am, by default, a "dessert person".



I went gaga over the flaky pastry layers and the cinnamon flavored apples. The blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries were also a nice touch.


Wait wait wait, we are not done yet. Although we were technically done dessert "at-the-table", whenthe speeches, the games, and the whole shabang was done, more food was served outside at the reception area. WOOHOO! RIght after the MC announced this I dashed for the door lol. 

More finger foods were served in large silver trays outside, just in case the guests wanted to snack and munch on more food, or imply needed to satisfy various cravings:

In case guests were craving carbs - we have sweet potato fries.


In case guests were craving savoury/salty foods - we have tortilla chips, potato chips, pretzels, with salsa and guacamole dip.


In case guests were craving cake - we have the wedding cake.


(Different layers of the wedding cake had different flavours. Very cool)


In case guests were craving tiny-desserts-so-they-can-eat-more-of-them - we have tiny desserts and tarts.



Evidently I'm the last kind. I ♥ fruit tarts! 


With all this food, it was important for me to dance it off on the dance floor, which I did for ONE song (I got extremely tired after all the food and alcohol hahaha). Although I'm uncertain whether anyone ate as much as me, what I am certain is that every one left that night with a stomach full of good food, good wine, and happy memories. Congratulations to Caroline and Vince! And yeah, nice to meet you two again! =)