Friday, July 27, 2018

Our Brunch-Themed Wedding

I'm a wife now, and itching to get back to blogging. Yep, I got married March 31st and am so happy to dive into this next stage of my life. I could not have asked for a better life partner...Joel truly is the bacon to my eggs.

For us, a brunch-themed wedding was the obvious way to go. Our first date started with brunch, and he proposed at brunch. The wedding turned out magical... delectable food, bangin' music, so many hugs and laughs. Everyone warns that your big day will be a blur... but, while it did go by very fast, and there were so many people I wish I could've talked to more, I remember and cherish so many moments. Here are some photos by the brilliant Virginia Harold:

How cute are we? So in love! I made his boutonniere as well as all of the groomsmen's out of red and yellow flowers (Bloody Mary colors were our wedding colors) and fresh herbs. 
Couldn't resist gettin' punny with our invitations...

For our engagement photo shoot, by our talented friend and one of my bridesmaids, Amanda Ketzer, we re-enacted our first date... in bacon and egg costumes.
My bridesmaids wore the closest color to Bloody Mary red I could find on eShakti (great site where you can customize your dress to size and preference...and all dresses come with POCKETS). I was tempted to make them wear fascinators shaped like olives... too much, right? Man, my friends are gorgeous. LOOK AT THEM. I made the bouquets with red and yellow flowers (the yellow ones were tulips that didn't quite open in time) and fresh herbs and butcher twine. They smelled so good!
When I was planning, I joked that my bouquet should be an actual Bloody Mary. The more I thought about of it, the less of a joke it became... Bloody Marys have so much pretty things you can put in/on them! It would be perfect as a bouquet. I put together all the garnishes the night before, complete with a gold straw, in a simple little tall glass, and had it filled with Bloody Mary (virgin for the ceremony) before I walked down the aisle.

The tables were decorated with a burlap "yolk", my milk glass collection filled with Bloody Mary colored flowers (from the dollar store) and our Sunday paper-themed programs. The back of the programs were Sunday comics we grew up with, all marriage-themed! The tables were each named after a Sunday comic, instead of numbers.

It made for good brunch-time reading.

While all of the round guest tables were "eggs", the bridal party table was a long strip of lacy "bacon."
Food was obviously a very important part of the wedding for us. We had talented chef friends put together a brunch buffet, with lots of options for guests to build their ideal brunch. We had an egg station with a guy cooking eggs to order, several breakfast meat options, including longanisa, a Filipino sweet sausage. Carb-wise, there were waffles, homemade biscuits, homemade croissants, garlic fried rice and assorted breads. There was sausage gravy, and chili, for those St. Louis natives who wanted to make slingers. We had some vegan options, too! A tofu scramble, a Brussels sprout hash and breakfast potatoes. Everyone was happy and full. Joel and I only had 1 plate of food each, which I'm told is normal for the bride and groom. We actually ate at waffle house after we checked in to our hotel. Romance :)
Our friend (and match-maker), photographer Corey Woodruff, set up a lighting tent at the end of the buffet for people to take food photos. If you know Joel and I at all, you know that we love our food 'grams. 

#putaneggonit
We made these sweet-ass chalices. Our buds at Cocktails Are Go bar tended, serving signature Bloody Marys, Mimosas and spiked coffee. We also had 2nd Shift Brewery's famous Katy beer, mixed with calamansi, a Filipino citrus fruit. For our "crowd-pleaser" keg we had Blue Moon, chosen because there happened to be a blue moon that night.
We had a cereal bar for the end of the night.  I never actually saw the bar before it got destroyed, but here is my nephew at the remnants of it. It had 6 kinds of cereal, 3 kinds of milk and several sweet toppings, like marshmallows, gummy bears, chocolate chips and fruits.

A baker friend of ours made this dreamy cinnamon roll cake. We made the toppers ourselves out of Sculpy and wire. The guests enjoyed a sheet cake flavored with cinnamon, cinnamon swirl and cream cheese icing. 
Cheers to my HUSBAND and to all of the beautiful people who helped make our day so special. We love you!