Newer blog post
more in Blog
Older blog post
Newer blog post by Miss Kettle
more by Miss Kettle (oldest)
Older blog post by Miss Kettle
Miss Kettle's Picture
Miss Kettle, Chicago, IL Age and Occupation: 26, Non-Profit Donor Resource Coordinator Fiance's Age and Occupation: 27, Musician & Teacher Engagement Date: May 29, 2011 Wedding Date: February 2012 Venue: Patrick C. Haley Mansion, Joliet, IL About Me: I'm a city girl who loves a good escape, so I'm planning a Chicago wedding outside of the city. I've been described as a quirky yet down-to-earth drama queen who loves fiercely. I used to be a scientist, but now I'm learning to navigate the world of non-profit organizations. I love cooking, blogging, shopping, and music, and movies (Hans Zimmer is my favorite movie composer). Mr. Kettle and I had a short courtship and now we have a happy home with our cat-who-thinks-she's-people, Belle. We spend our days and nights with good food, live music, video games, family, and friends. Our wedding has become this wonderful excuse to bring together hundreds of people we can't bear to be without.
About Miss Kettle

Get In My Belly!

October 4th, 2011 @ 7:51 am by Miss Kettle

The time is finally coming up this weekend for our tasting with our wedding venue. I’m so excited. I feel like I should store up extra free space for all the food we’ll be trying that day. It will be me, Mr. Kettle, Momma and Daddy Kettle, Mima and Poppa Kettle, FSIL Grand, and Grandmother Kettle. We take entourages everywhere we go now, apparently…

On that day, I’ll feel like this:

Get In My Belly! :  wedding chicago food Fatbast fatbast
Image via Cystic Fibrosis Fatboy

All the food possibilities overwhelmed me just a bit. Luckily, we only had to choose three entree options. I’m guessing they’ll fill in the sides with options that complement those choices best.

I just had a scary thought. What if we don’t try any sides?! Oh, the horror! I’d hate to have to choose sides without knowing how they taste.

I must admit that I’m not so worried about side dishes. I’m really thinking about…cake!

We’re considering having our cake done by the venue as well. I don’t have a big fancy cake idea in mind. I just want a basic buttercream cake that mimics the color and pattern on the top of my dress. Don’t get me wrong, I have a strong distaste for buttercream, but I dislike fondant even more. And bakeries aren’t exactly making wedding cakes with whipped cream, so I’ll take what I can get.

We have to choose three entree options. We’ve chosen: chicken saltimbocca (which seems to be spelled 3 different ways), New York strip steak, and chicken piquant. I can’t wait to try these. We pretty much know the steak will be our beef option, but we have to decide between the other two for the chicken option.

Get In My Belly! :  wedding chicago food New York Strip Steak
I love me some strip steak! / Image via Sunrise Foods
Get In My Belly! :  wedding chicago food Chicken01 chicken01
Image via Skinny Chef
Get In My Belly! :  wedding chicago food Chicken02 Chicken02
Image via Delectable Victuals

Those look pretty tasty, right?

The other choices that have to be made is deciding which cakes to try. They want us to choose 2 batter and three filling.

Our batter options are: white, yellow, chocolate, marble, banana, carrot, red velvet.

Our frosting options are: white buttercream, chocolate buttercream, mocha buttercream, hazelnut buttercream, ivory buttercream.

The filling options are much more numerous. There are three fresh fruit options, two jelly options, four fruit mousse options, eight mousse options (including Bailey’s irish cream and Grand Marnier!), six cream options, and one chocolate option. How are we supposed to choose?

I’m leaning towards white cake and red velvet for the batter options. That means ivory buttercream or maybe mocha buttercream. What’s the difference between mocha and chocolate? Coffee flavor?

For fillings, I have no idea. I love the french lemon silk idea. Mr. Kettle and I both love lemon. There are a number of options we can’t go with simply because of taste preferences of Mr. Kettle (he loathes the texture of most fruit, weird, right?) and the drinking preferences of a lot of our guests. I’d hate for a lot of people to be unable to eat our cake cause the entire filling was from a liqueur.

With those parameters narrowing down the options, I think we’ll go with white cake, red velvet cake, white buttercream, and ivory buttercream. I just know Momma Kettle will be happiest with selections that aren’t “doing too much”. So no mixing crazy flavors. This is our cake. But we’re not paying hundreds of dollars for a cake that nobody but me wants to eat!

For the fillings (how can I choose just three?!), I’m going to go with French Lemon Silk, Cream Cheese, and Milk Chocolate Mousse. That should give us enough mixes that may taste good enough to choose one for the wedding.

I know we also have to be prepared to discuss cake design, but I’m not even close to ready to have that discussion yet.

If you could pick out mixes of batter and filling what would you choose? Did you have to choose your cake options before you cake tasting?

Tags: chicago, food |
advertisement below
Newer blog post
more in Blog
Older blog post
Newer blog post by Miss Kettle
more by Miss Kettle (oldest)
Older blog post by Miss Kettle

8 Responses to “Get In My Belly!”

1.
Member Icon
Member
slicey19 (message)  2,844 posts, Sugar bee

I would suggest you choose either white or ivory butter cream based on the color of your dress and then taste something else instead. I imagine they taste the same and only offer a slight color difference to match your dress and I also imagine you would not want the one that does not match your dress. We had a similarly long list and were able to choose 4 cakes and fillings to taste. We ended up with 3 layers each of a different cake including carrot, black forest and strawberries and cream (white cake with a cool whip/fresh strawberry filing) and despite our non vanilla choices there was no left over cake and we served the cake buffet style so as to not waste slices at peiple’s places when they wereo n the dance floor so I’m sure some people tried both flavors. I think you are smart to avoid the alcohol flabors if you have several non drinkers or children in your guest list.

 
2.
Bee Icon
Bee
Miss Funnel Cake (message)  690 posts, Busy bee

Awwww, Kettle you’re making me HUNGRY!

Sadly we don’t get to do any taste testing from Swiss land. Mama Funnel Cake had to pick out a few cake options for that testing… I think things like chocolate w/ fresh raspberry filling, etc. It sounds overwhelming to me! Good luck!

 
3.
Bee Icon
Bee
Miss Ladyfingers (message)  1,119 posts, Bumble bee

Mmm… yum. I like red velvet with ivory and yellow with chocolate, but that would definitely mess with the colors of your cake! I agree with the liqour decision, I don’t drink and we went to a wedding a couple of years ago where they had a cake with amaretto-something-or-other. Shame. It looked tasty otherwise. I hate that they’re only offering you buttercream, though. It seems like if you have a strong preference, they should be able to do anything.

We chose 4 cakes, 4 frostings, and 4 fillings before our tasting, and she combined them the best way she knew. She threw in two additional combos, too. They were all so amazing! We’re doing cupcakes, so we went with red velvet/cream cheese, yellow cake with vanilla buttercream and dulce de leche filling, and chocolate chip cake with chocolate fudge frosting.

 
4.
Bee Icon
Bee
Miss Fox (message)  859 posts, Busy bee

I’m now starving. Thanks. ;)
It all sounds AMAZING. I’m partial to Bailey’s, so I would totally do that! I like that you’re keeping your choices relatively basic and widely appreciated, though - I’m sure your guests will love it! Enjoy the tasting!!!

 
5.
Bee Icon
Bee
Mrs. Parasol (message)  2,132 posts, Buzzing bee

Can I come to your wedding, Kettle? Because your food sounds delicious! You’ve got me so hungry right now! :)

 
6.
Jenniphyr
Member
Jenniphyr (message)  2,637 posts, Sugar bee

Mocha has coffee and chocolate in it, yes.

Oh, and I know you said white buttercream isn’t one of your preferred choices, but DO NOT GET IT. It’s most likely made mostly out of shortening to make it “pure white”, rather than butter — the ivory buttercream will taste MUCH better. : )

 
7.
Bee Icon
Bee
Miss Sunhat (message)  865 posts, Busy bee

Mr. BC and I LOVE lemon too! My stomach is so grumbling right now after reading your post! Oh and I agree with @Jenniphyr about the white buttercream - the pure white frosting is never as tasty (in my opinion!).

 
8.
Bee Icon
Bee
Miss Kettle (message)  909 posts, Busy bee

I am taking your advice! I will be using ivory buttercream. My dress is such a vague color that ivory vs. white won’t make a big difference. Can’t wait to taste the food in a couple days.

 

Leave a Reply


You can also just...

Newer blog post
more in Blog
Older blog post
Newer blog post by Miss Kettle
more by Miss Kettle (oldest)
Older blog post by Miss Kettle

Visit our sister sites eHarmony
Online Dating
eHarmony Advice
Dating Advice
Project Wedding
Wedding Songs
JustMommies
Pregnancy Calendar

Copyright 2004-2012, Weddingbee.com
 

Find your vendors on Weddingbee

Real reviews from brides in your area!

Favors by Weddingbee

  • Favors by season

Shop Now »

Miss Kettle
Miss Kettle

Miss Kettle, Chicago, IL Age and Occupation: 26, Non-Profit Donor Resource Coordinator Fiance's Age and Occupation: 27, Musician & Teacher Engagement Date: May 29, 2011 Wedding Date: February 2012 Venue: Patrick C. Haley Mansion, Joliet, IL About Me: I'm a city girl who loves a good escape, so I'm planning a Chicago wedding outside of the city. I've been described as a quirky yet down-to-earth drama queen who loves fiercely. I used to be a scientist, but now I'm learning to navigate the world of non-profit organizations. I love cooking, blogging, shopping, and music, and movies (Hans Zimmer is my favorite movie composer). Mr. Kettle and I had a short courtship and now we have a happy home with our cat-who-thinks-she's-people, Belle. We spend our days and nights with good food, live music, video games, family, and friends. Our wedding has become this wonderful excuse to bring together hundreds of people we can't bear to be without.

Boards
Classifieds

Blog Calendar
February 2012
SunMonTueWedThuFriSat
2930311234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
26272829

Weddingbee Bios
Wiki
More