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!

what I'm reading: food books

I have always loved to read. When I was younger you might have even called me a book worm. The rise of social media, however, has contributed to a decline in my worminess, it seems. Last year I finally renewed my library card and have gotten back on the literary wagon. I mostly read food-related books. mostly. Here is a round up of my most recent reads (click the covers for amazon links):


Voracious: A Hungry Reader Cooks Her Way Through Great Books by Cara Nicoletti

I'll start with a food book about food in books! Cara Nicoletti, granddaughter of a butcher and now herself a butcher (follow her on instagram @caranicoletti for amazing looking sausages), loves reading. She always has. I can Identify with this. She is also passionate about food. I can identify with this, also. She started a blog cooking food from her favorite books, called Yummy Books, and then wrote Voracious, which follows the same idea. There is so much I loved about this book; the nostalgia, the personal stories, the introduction to books I need to read, the reminders of books I've also loved, the well-thought-out recipes. It's a quick read, but satisfying. Well, maybe satisfying is the wrong word... it will leave you wanting to read all the books and try all the recipes. Yummy Books, indeed.

Hallelujah! The Welcome Table: A Lifetime of Memories with Recipes by Maya Angelou

This is another book that is part memoir/part cookbook. Maya Angelou's accounts of her past and the food that accompanied it will give you so many feels. I found this book while browsing at the library, but I may need to own it because the recipes sound so scrumptious. The writing, of course, is wonderful... It's Maya Angelou for chrissakes! What a life she lived. If I could have a dinner party with anyone living or dead, Dr. Angelou would certainly be on the guest looks. She saw and experienced so much and loved and cooked and wrote with all her heart. 

Provence, 1970 by Luke Barr

Speaking of dream dinner parties, Luke Barr's Provence, 1970 is a curated account of December, 1970 when the greatest minds in food writing were all in Provence. Julia Child, James Beard, Richard Olney, Judith Jones and, Barr's aunt, MFK Fisher! CAN YOU IMAGINE? Well, you don't have to. Barr assembled and account of this meeting of the minds (and stomachs) based on the letters and journals of all of them, mostly Fisher's. There are parts where is gets a little more gossipy than I was comfortable with, and he is kind of repetitive about the whole "revolutionizing food in America". But overall worth a read, just to fall in love with France (again) and these writers (again) and daydream about being a fly on the wall. The food descriptions are drool-worthy and the travel details will make you want to pack a suitcase. I vowed multiple times while reading this to have dinner parties more frequently. They don't need to be in Provence nor do they need to be fancy. Just gatherings of friends and good food (and wine) and intelligent conversation. 

Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell

While Provence, 1970 will make you want to go to France, Down and Out in Paris and London will make you want to stay comfy cozy right where you are. This book came up in Voracious, and on an Anthony Bourdain reading list. It's about an English newspaper writer living in Paris with nothing to his name. He pawns clothes, lives in horrible conditions, works in harsh basement kitchens washing dishes 14 hours a day or following other tramps around to different camps where they get free tea and bread in exchange for listening to preachers. It's the underbelly of gay Paree. But a good, gritty look at the past and the human condition as only Orwell can illustrate.

An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace by Tamar Adler

I've already written about this book in my post: Chili Roasted Acorn Squash with Kale Stem Pesto. I just wanted to recommend it, and MFK Fisher's How to Cook a Wolf, again. They will simultaneously bring you back to earth with their realness and give you hope that you can make a difference and all is not lost. Somehow. 

I have more on my list to read, but am open to suggestions. What are your favorite food-related books?