In the middle of a 3 week roadtrip to cover Division 3, 2, 1 and NCAA Wrestling finals (in that order), Jason was able to work remotely from MN this past week (it was wonderful to spend our evenings together again!) In addition to the many house-related projects we worked on in order to get my house ready to go on the market, we were able to accomplish many wedding-related things...here's a rundown:
1. Food tasting (#1) We have booked rooms at the White Bear Country Inn/Best Western for guests to stay at (only 3 blocks from our reception site). There is a restaurant in the hotel called Rudy's Red Eye Grill, which is a somewhat known steakhouse in the area. I've been begging Jason to try it for several months now but he is very anti the restaurant in a hotel concept. However, we did find an evening to go out to dinner and decided to try Rudy's, only to find out it used to be affiliated with the Axel's chain in the area, which we both have been to and liked very much. At the end of the dinner, it was clear that their food was delicious (especially their twist on green beans, believe it or not!), and that the atmosphere/decor were lovely as well and we decided that we'd consider it for a groom's dinner option. Jason talked to them later in the week and booked one of their private party rooms so we are set for the groom's dinner!
2. Food tasting (#2) We spent one evening at our reception location tasting some of their menu options in order to put together a dinner menu for our reception. We would like to do some traditional MN dishes, since many of Jason's friends and family have never been here before. Also, we would like to include an element of South Africa into the menu somehow. With that in mind and based on the catering menu available, we decided to try the following plates of food: Walleye with Tarragon served with MN Wild Rice and vegetable medley, Ranch-style chicken served with potato croquettes (think sophisticated tator tots - mashed potatoes baked in a breading - so good!) and vegetable medley and a flat-iron steak served with horseradish mashed potatoes and maple-glazed baby carrots. We were also presented with 3 bottles of red wine to taste and pair with the food - a Shiraz, a blend of some sorts (not our favorite!) and a Cabernet Sauvingnon. Neither of us are white wine fans, so we declined to taste their white wine options. We had previously tasted a Parmesan-encrusted walleye and their prime rib, also options in our mind for consideration.
All of the options were delicious and it was somewhat difficult to determine which would combine well together, be liked by most guests and would look nice on the plate. We have opted for table service (versus buffet) and will have one food option only for all guests, versus allowing them to indicate a food choice on their RSVP card. The final menu looks like it will be a dual entree - flatiron steak and Walleye with tarragon sauce served with a MN Wild Rice pilaf and maple-glazed baby carrots. The wine options (not nailed down yet) will be imported from South Africa. My mouth is watering just remembering the food!
3. We also spent several hours working on our invitations this past week. We had to print off one item ourselves - the insert with map, accommodations and registry information. Choosing to do this at 9:45 on a Sunday is probably not the best option, as we ended up spending a fair amount of time with the paper cutter trying to get them sized correctly and not show crop marks and learning that the paper cutter really only cuts in one direction...who knew? Once we had all the pieces together, we assembled, stuffed and addressed around 125 invites, with the hopes of ending up around the 200 guest mark. Many have commented that they are surprised we hand wrote them instead of having them embossed or using labels, however, the exercise of handwriting them together was actually a lot of fun as it led us to talk through who each of the people was as we got to them on the guest list and a little bit about each guest.
In addition, we met with our ceremony musicians, attended another pre-marital counseling session, met with the pastor who will be performing our ceremony to talk through ceremony and rehearsal logistic, as well as registered for some additional items (online)! All in all, we had a great couple of days together - exhausting, but productive!
Less than 2 months until the wedding!
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