From the start, we had decided to have a hot, catered dinner served at our wedding reception. We decided to save a little money, however, by not having the hors d'oeuvre catered. In fact, instead of a cocktail hour, we really had a cookies-and-punch hour. During my college years, I'd heard that it was a tradition in Western Pennsylvania to serve cookies before the main food at a wedding, and I thought that following this tradition would be a sweet way of acknowledging the influence those four years had on my life. The "mounds of cookies" I envisioned were brought to life by many women of our church who graciously baked for us.
We interviewed two different caterers for the rest of the meal. Both were reported to have excellent food and relatively lower prices. After comparing estimates and interviews, we chose Marcella's without hesitation! We liked the very detailed estimate sheet they gave us, with tips and tax included, and we liked that they charged per tray of food instead of per person. The other caterer quoted us a price per person, and it seemed like a made-up number. Plus, we loved working with Patrie, the (owner? manager?) of Marcella's. She seemed to know exactly what we had in mind, had lots of helpful ideas, and wasn't pushy.
A few months later, however, Marcella's contacted us to let us know that two of their staff had left and they wouldn't be able to provide servers for our wedding. Thankfully, the second caterers were willing to serve for us even though they weren't cooking.
We still had to figure out beverages. The second caterers' estimate had included a few dollars extra per person for beverages and we thought we could get a far better deal just rounding up beverages ourselves. We decided to keep things simple and just offer water or sprite with dinner, plus have a coffee station for those interested. Mom went to BJ's and picked up a big bag of coffee and plenty of half and half and sugar. In the few days before the wedding, I was still visiting all the local grocery stores and buying out their store-brand lemon-lime soda! I have to admit that I was a bit frustrated when we arrived at the reception and all the glasses were filled with water. I'd wanted the servers to circulate and offer people a choice, and there were many bottles of store-brand lemon-lime soda left over for our own enjoyment. The time I could have saved . . .
Anyway. We also wanted to offer a toast, and my parents pointed out the wisdom of having a non-alcoholic toast. It was a few weeks before the wedding when Mom was calling the local stores to inquire about sparkling grape juice and cider. Most had a very limited number in stock and seemed to charge a minimum of $3 a bottle for store-brand, and more for national brands. One afternoon I checked out Ocean State Job Lot and almost fell on my knees in the store with gratitude. They had a couple of cases of Welch's sparkling white grape juice for $1.50 a bottle! A nice brand, enough for everyone to have the same, and even a pretty champagne color at the best price ever! I praise God for helping us even in the little details.
For those interested, I did eat at my own wedding. :-) I knew I'd be hungry later and really wanted to try all the scrumptious dishes we'd picked out--chicken marsala, tortellini with broccoli and garlic, roast beef, roasted potatoes, and Marcella's awesome eggplant parmesan. MMM. :-D
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