People, Food, and Drink!

I think this is my longest, most wordiest post to date! I promised myself I wouldn't bore people with one of these - cuz I personally would never read it - but look for the bold words to read about my favorite options for food to serve! :)

Buffet vs. Plated? Casual or Elegant? Jon and I have talked, and I think we are going to go for an elegant plated meal. But boy -- does food cost $$$. I never realized this would be the biggest expense -- and ultimately has made me have to cut down the number of people I am inviting. I don't have any definite head count or even any lists made, but the Oatlands package I booked allows for a guest count of 80-120. Of course I could upgrade to 125-170 for $500, or even 175-250 for another $500 on top of that... but it's the tenting that is pricy. Which goes from $1750 to $2800 to $4200. Ouch! ANYWAYS back to what I was saying... I am definitely trying to keep it under 120 guests because I'm looking at about $100 a head for food (this does include silverware, plating, staff, cake depending on where I order from). So that's about $12,000. Wow. I think my family count is about 20ish and Jon's family count is 22-25 according to his mom. So that still leaves me with a decent amount of room for friends - at least 50. It is hard though because I do have a ton of friends, plus with the sorority it will be difficult choosing people. And I might even forgo formality and not let them invite dates so I can have more DZs there... they would all know eachother so that shouldn't be a problem. I'm just afraid of offending people! 

As for the food - I am thinking 3 h'orderves, 1 starter, and 1 main course (chicken or steak, plus vegetarian/vegan option). For the h'orderves, I want to showcase Jon and I's palettes. When I was at Oatlands they gave me some packets from catering companies and I think my favorite is definitely Windows Catering Company. Below is a couple of the passed h'orderves I like:

• Chicken Samosa chopped boneless chicken breast blended with ginger, garlic, tomato, and spices rolled in phyllo dough and flash fried
• Mashed Potato Cigars with gorgonzola cheese and chive cream fraiche *favorite!
• Phyllo Purse brie cheese with almond and pear wrapped in layers of phyllo with a curry aioli
• Margarita Florida Gulf Jumbo Shrimp

Next I would serve a first course of salad or soup. I really want to do corn chowder because it's one of my favorites, but then again a hot soup might not be a good idea. Here are some of the options:

• Barolo Wine Poached Bosc Pear organic baby field greens with warm saga blue cheese timbale, applewood smoked bacon, barolo wine vinaigrette with a savory palmier
• Endive and Heirloom Apple Salad endive, escarole and watercress, smoky french brie, toasted pine nuts, date compote, and black olive oil
• Strawberry Stilton Salad organic field greens with california strawberries, caramelized shallots, strawberry balsamic vinegar *favorite!
• Caesar Salad in a Parmesan Cup baby red and green romaine leaves with red and yellow teardrop tomatoes in a crisp parmesan cup drizzled with classic caesar vinaigrette
• Summer Corn Chowder with bacon, potato chunks, and frizzled green leek *favorite!

For the main course chicken would be the cheapest - and not to mention most liked and most versatile, so again I am thinking going with that so I can invite as many people as possible. However the filet mingnon and crab cake are still calling my name...

• Maryland Lump Crab Bundle Maryland lump crab wrapped in phyllo dough with minced fresh garden vegetables and chives in a tarragon beurre blanc
•  Portobello Mushroom Tower grilled portobello mushroom cap filled with a sweet potato puree topped with crispy tobago onion strings
  
• Grilled New York Strip Steak with potato brie pie and a melange of seasonal vegetables with a cracked peppercorn sauce
• Chicken Roulade medallions of farm raised breast of chicken filled with spinach and shiitake mushrooms, served with a wild mushroom sauce, accompanied by an apple-shaped croquette potato, california green asparagus, baby carrots and roasted red peppers, with a tarragon beurre blanc sauce
• Harvest Chicken breast of chicken stuffed with corn bread, apples and pecans, roasted and sliced into medallions served on a bed of braised Napa cabbage, sugar snap peas and butternut squash batons with a sour cherry sauce
• Sweetheart Chicken breast of free-range chicken presented on a heart-shaped crouton with rosemary and Chanterelle mushrooms and roasted shallot jus accompanied by asparagus spears, potato cake and baby carrots *favorite!
• Black Angus Tenderloin of Beef Wrapped in Oregon Mushrooms with potato and celery root napoleon, wild asparagus, cipollini roasted onions with a truffled rioja wine sauce

So hopefully you aren't reading this when you are hungry!! While I love the sound of the experimental flavors, I of course am going to go with fairly plain, not out of the ordinary meals to accomodate the most people. So nothing too spicy or foreign (i.e. Asian or Indian flavors). However, I will take my h'orderves as a way to give guests an opportunity to try something interesting. Otherwise I will probably go with a simple soup or salad and chicken entree with veggies and mashed Ps. Sounds pretty good to me!

As for cake flavors I love the following. I really want to get an Ace of Cakes cake... however that will cost me at minimum a grand, so I don't know about that. I definitely want to go with a light cake - so no intense chocolate. I'm actually thinking I would prefer a fruity cake - good for the summer season!

• Strawberry and Lime Shortcake lime-flavored spongecake, strawberry syrup, vanilla mousseline and fresh strawberries with vanilla buttercream
• Lemon Raspberry Cake lemon cake filled with lemon curd mousse and fresh raspberries with lemon buttercream frosting *favorite!
• Grand Marnier Golden Cake grand marnier flavored cake, vanilla cream and fresh strawberries with lemon buttercream frosting
• Vanilla Almond Cake vanilla cake, almond cream filling with vanilla buttercream
• Vanilla Blackberry Cake almond spongecake filled with vanilla cream and fresh blackberries with light amaretto whipped cream frosting

As for dranks, I'll probably do two signature cocktails (one for me, one for Jon) plus wine and beer. Maybe an open bar, but I want to have some money leftover for a honeymoon! More on the signature cocktails after I finally pick my color scheme!