The Best Part Of Wedding Planning…
January 21st, 2008 @ 4:06 pm by Ms. Dahlia
is the tasting.
I’ve been looking forward to the tasting since we got engaged. Seriously- who doesn’t like free food? And while Mr. Dahlia and I had been assured by many people that the food at our venue would be fantastic, we were unconvinced.
Unconvinced, that is, until this past weekend, when we had our tasting.
Marisa, the event coordinator at the hotel, arranged for us to have a tasting for us and our parents. We arrived around noon, and were led to a small meeting room that was set up with a couple of tables; before the food arrived, we looked at a couple of linen options (we’re renting deep red table linens) and napkin folds(!).
The dining table, complete with textured burgundy linen.
Another linen possibility- cotton/poly blend burgundy cloth.
Who knew that napkins came in so many folds?
We decided to go for the napkin fold that will contain a menu, since we will be doing menus for the reception. The napkins will remain white, and the menus will be burgundy colored.
And now on to the really good part (the food porn!). The food competition. In these events, we had to decide 4 of 6 hors d’oeuvres, 1 of 2 salads, and 2 of 4 entrees.
First event: hors d’oeuvres.
Clockwise from left: tomato and mozzarella on foccaccia, jumbo shrimp shooters, and fig, gorgonzola and prosciutto in phyllo
Parmesan breaded artichoke with tomato confit.
We also tasted beef spring rolls and mushroom truffle risotto wrapped in phyllo.
Winners: shrimp shooters (the moms’ favorite), breaded artichoke (my favorite) and beef spring rolls (the dads’ favorite). Rounding out the top 4 was the fig & gorgonzola, minus the prosciutto so our vegetarian friends can enjoy more than one tasty treat. Mr. Dahlia liked then all.
Then it was salads:
Green salad with poached pears, pecans and gorgonzola
Tomato and mozzarella with arugula
In a surprising upset, the winner is: Tomato and mozzarella (everyone’s favorite!)
And then it was time for the entrees:
Pesto chicken with risotto (and check out the pattern on the tablecloth!)
Chicken stuffed with spinach and sun-dried tomatoes
In another upset, winner of the meat eater’s entree is: pesto chicken. (All of us were shocked at how tasty it was!)
Eggplant roulade with polenta
Squash and portabello mushroom stack
This was a photo finish race, as both were delicious. As Mr. Dahlia plans to order the vegetarian entree, we left it up to him. The winner is: eggplant roulade.
And then there were the desserts. As I’ve mentioned before, we’re having creme brulee instead of cake- so we had the opportunity to taste 5 different flavors of creme brulee. The goal was to pick the top three finishers, so that we can serve our guests a trio of creme brulee.
Almond
Coffee
Lemongrass (although it tasted more like lemon.)
Rose (!)
Vanilla
First place winner: Rose.
Almond was a distant last place. The other three flavors- lemongrass, coffee and vanilla- all had their strong supporters among the group, and there were not two that really stood out.
So. We could use your help. Which two flavors out of the three (lemongrass, coffee and vanilla) would you chose to go with rose creme brulee?
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28 Responses to “The Best Part Of Wedding Planning…”
I would go with coffee and vanilla– the former because it reminds me of tiramisu (yum!) and the latter because it’s the most traditional. The whole menu sounds & looks delicious!
I would go with vanilla and coffee. Everyone like vanilla and traditionalists will have nothing to complain about. Rose is a pleasant surprise, and coffee will be a nice finisher, in my opinion, because people might be getting their post-meal coffees and teas by then.
I would say vanilla and lemongrass. Vanilla is a general crowd pleaser, and since you said the lemongrass is just lemony - I think that would provide a nice clean finish for the palate.
Oh - and I love lemon!
Well since you are asking..I would do coffee and vanilla with the rose. Vanilla is standard favorite and coffee if nice and rish a good contast to the rose.
Yummy! 
Another vote for lemongrass and vanilla. I think coffee would overpower the more subtle flavor of rose. And you’ll probably be offering coffee with dessert anyway, so why double up?
Your menu sounds delish and includes such yummy vegetarian choices that it has really increased my desire to crash your wedding! 
Coffee & Vanilla- although I think the lemongrass is interesting sounding, I think others may be a little intimidated by it.
MMM this all looks so yummy. vanilla and coffee. Im a coffee lover and mmm… my taste buds are watering.
I havent gotten my tasting yet, but is it normal that only the main meal is included in the tasting? I wont be able to taste the dessert of the other courses… am i the only one that has this issue???
Coffee and vanilla! Lemongrass creme brulee doesn’t sound appealing to me.
Coffee and Vanilla for sure. They’re the more standard flavors and they will let the rose flavor be the novelty/stand-out. Plus, lemongrass that doesn’t taste like lemongrass sounds kind of tacky. Sounds like the plans are coming right along! How exciting!!
I have a silly question…. When is the tasting supposed to take place in the planning process? Are you supposed to have say, 3 different venues submit menu proposals, cost breakdowns, and have you try out the food and THEN choose? I would think that would be the only way to really make an intelligent decision … Or are you committing to a place basically sight unseen?
definitely go with vanilla - it’s for all those cautious folks out there like me who are chicken to try something new. i’d be tempted to say coffee with vanilla, because then you have plain (vanilla), bold (coffee), and sweet/fruity (rose) flavors… you don’t want two fruity ones!
Miss Flamingo- we’re not having wedding cake, so we were able to taste many flavors of creme brulee since it will be the main dessert of the evening. Hors d’oeuvres aren’t generally included in the tasting we did, but they are very important to my family culture.
Christine- Our tasting was 4 months out; in Cleveland, all the locations that we looked at required you to commit and then have a tasting. So yes, we were committing sight unseen- but our venue has a reputation for good food.
Keep the opinions coming!
I like how you posted about the tasting, and with pics. I wish more bees would do that because who doesn’t love food?!?! :oP And my vote is for vanilla and coffee because vanilla is safe and always good and I love coffee.
Another vote for lemongrass and vanilla because coffee will not complement rose well.
Vanilla and coffee. Yummy meal - well done!
definately vanilla, I would go with coffee as well, because I don’t like anything that tastes like lemon at all and most of the people I know don’t like lemon either. However, a lot of people who don’t like coffee like coffee flavored desserts a lot.
coffee and vanilla for sure
lemon, vanilla and rose.
Vanilla and lemon grass! I think the coffee would be too strong for the rose.
I’m voting for Vanilla and Lemongrass. The vanilla would be the classic flavor, and lemon would be nice and light. Also, like other posters said, people might be drinking coffee, so there’d be no need to repeat that flavor. Plus, I absolutely despise coffee and refuse to eat anything that is flavored with it.
count another for coffee and vanilla. it sounds delish!
I agree with the other posters that say that coffee will not go well with rose. Otherwise, it would be yummy!
definitely lemon and vanilla - keep it light all around. also, coffee flavored desserts are sometimes toooo strong, and you will already have coffee so guests who like it can have all 4 flavors.
I would also agree that the lemon, rose and vanilla would be the best combo since otherwise all your guests will really taste is the coffee flavored one as the eat the others. Lemon also tends to be more of a safe bet than coffee since people are generally very polar about coffee flavored things. The lemon, rose and vanilla will provide a nice light finish and honestly also stay a little truer to the classic creme brulee as well.
omg, everything looks/sounds delish! i personally would probably like coffee and vanilla, but it sounds like a lot of the food there is surprisingly good. i don’t really like sour flavors in my dessert (except maybe lemon bars and pinkberry), but coffee might taste a little weirder than i think.
Vanilla and coffee! Your menu is amazing… yum!
Classic vanilla for sure…and I guess my other vote would be for the lemongrass…As some have said, coffee can be a strong flavor for some people. Although, now that I say, there might be plenty that would LOVE a coffee flavored creme brulee.
Your tasting sounds like it was a lot of fun! Glad it was so successful!
Ms. Dahlia, Detroit/Cleveland
Age and Occupation: 24, PhD Student
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 24, IT System Administrator
Engagement Date: December 31, 2006
Wedding Date: May 2008
Blogging Since: September 19, 2007
Venue: United Methodist Cathedral & historic downtown hotel in Cleveland
About Me: I enjoy cooking, dancing and swimming. I am a geek and apply game theory to my everyday life. Winter is my favorite time of year, especially when spent curled up with good coffee and a book by Madeleine L'Engle.
I would go with lemongrass and vanilla. Coffee is a strong flavour that tends to bring out the fans and haters - it’s too polarizing in my opinion! I considered going with coffee and lemongrass but I just think vanilla is safer, if you know what I mean. Everyone likes vanilla.