Wedding Menu Tasting Tips

As wedding consultants, we are attending many menu and cake tasting appointments with our clients. We usually will distribute a stack of index cards for our clients to rate the food and write their reviews. When the food is served at the table, we first vote among all attendees of the display of the food. After all, first impression is important. Then, we will each take a bite of the food. Based on the taste of the food, we write our reviews. After we finish eating one category (e.g. hors d'oeuvres, appetizer, salad, soup, intermezzo, entree and dessert), then we go over the reviews of each dish, conclude the selection of each category, then try on the food of the next category. We take pictures of each selected item and keep them in the client's file, so we can remind the catering services and their banquet service team on the day of. 

Here are some tips about the menu selection:

Seafood-
If you want to select a seafood for your guests, sea bass is our top choice. 

Salmon and sword fish's textures are not preferred for most Asian guests. If the chef cannot control it well on the wedding day, it will taste like rubber - very hard to chew.









Cake- 
As for cake, we recommend you to match your theme color inside out. If your theme color is pink, it's best that you have a vanilla cake with raspberry or strawberry mousse filling. It will look good on the picture. We do not recommend to have chocolate cake because when you eat your first slice of cake in front of your guests, your teeth will be covered with chocolate - not so pretty. 

Hors d’oeuvres-

Hors d’oeuvres may be served or displayed for a maximum of two hours. Count the number of people who have RSVPed to your event. 

For assistance with determining the amount of hors d’oeuvres needed for your event, use the following formula: When no dinner is being served, guests generally consume 10-12 hors d’oeuvres per hour. With dinner, offer 6-8 hors d’oeuvres per hour per guest. 

100 guests x 7 hors d’oeuvres each = 700 hors d’oeuvres per person 

700 hors d’oeuvres per hour x 1 cocktail hours = 700 hors d’oeuvres for the event 

Now select your menu: 100 tomato bruschetta, 100 chicken satay, 100 canapés, 200 coconut shrimp, 100 deviled eggs, 100 dumplings, etc. You can reduce your hors d’oeuvres count by adding in dips or carved meats.

Wine- 
A good way to select wines for your wedding is to taste a variety for the best pairing with your menu. Look for at least one red wine and one white to serve at your celebration. Two wines that go very well with many different types of foods and that can be served year-round are Sauvignon Blanc for a white and, among reds, Pinot Noir. Both of these are lighter in body and less fruity than Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot. 

  

Wedding Gown Shopping Tips

This is probably the most exciting and yet stressful experience in your wedding planning - finding the perfect wedding gown!

Before you make an appointment with any wedding gown stores, I recommend you flip through some bridal magazines and get a general ideas of what style(s) you like and bringing in pictures to show your consultant the day of your appointment. This will help give your consultant to understand what styles tend to catch your eye. If you are one of our clients, we will submit the pictures for you prior the appointment. So by the time you arrive the store, your pre-selected wedding gowns are already waiting for you in the dressing room.

Do not go to a wedding gown store without an appointment. You will need a designated consultant to help you selecting and trying all these wedding gowns. It usually takes at least an hour...sometimes up to 4 hours trying on all these dresses. Without an appointment, the process will take longer. In the busy wedding season, you might not have any consultant available to assist you nor a dressing room for you to change. 

Going alone to an appointment is not a brilliant idea. First of all, you will not be able to see the back of the dress...and most of us will ask for a second, third, or even sixth opinion when we purchase a wedding gown. Wedding gown could cost you thousands of dollars. So this is not a small expense of your wedding budget. I recommend you bringing people with you to help you making your decision since the selection can be overwhelming.

Make sure you bring your heels with you and proper bra for the gown. Be on time for your appointment.  If you are any later than 20 minutes from your scheduled appointment time, don't be surprise some stores might release your appointment to another bride on their waiting list.

I would suggest bringing a strapless bra and a pair of heels to get the full effect of the gowns. You may also want to try on veils and accessories to match your wedding gown.

Can I Take Pictures At A Wedding?

Weddings are wonderfully happy celebrations but they can be confusing and stressful as well at times. Photography, while being something everyone wants from a wedding, can be one of these major stressors. The professional photographer is trying to capture the event around venue rules and guests are often snapping away oblivious to the venue rules or couple's wishes. This handy guide will help you navigate the ins and outs of taking your camera to a wedding when you are a guest. 

1. Ask the Couple
Ask the couple if it is okay for you to bring a camera to the wedding and take pictures. This includes your cell phone if you plan on using it to take pictures. There are several reasons why a couple may not want you to take photos at the wedding. Some professional photographers request that no other cameras be allowed because other people's flashes can ruin a photo. The wedding venue may have strict rules about flashes or when photography is allowed. The couple may also prefer no cameras because of guests shifting out of seating, numerous flashes disrupting the ceremony, and the noise many cameras make. Whatever the reason, honor the couple’s request if they ask you not to bring a camera.

2. Turn Off Camera Sounds
If your camera has the capability, turn off all beeps and other audio sounds of your camera. Shutter snaps can be loud enough in echoing church or wedding hall without the added beeps of focus confirmations. Turning off the camera sounds is just good manners, same as turning off your cell phone sounds.

3. Turn Off the Flash
If the couple doesn't mind that you bring your camera be sure to turn off the flash. Yes it is likely to be very dark (at least as far as your camera is concerned) at indoor weddings or outdoor nighttime weddings, but most religious ceremonies frown on flash as it is considered an interruption to a sacred event. Unexpected flash can also ruin the paid professional photos that the couple is paying a lot of money to get. Turn up the ISO on your camera and turn off the flash. Your photos may be a bit grainy but remember that there are many options for noise reduction in editing.

4. Stay in Your Seat
Remember that if you get out of your seat during the ceremony, either just standing up or moving into the aisle, you are blocking the view of the guests seated behind you and possibly the official wedding photographer or videographer. Even if you manage not to block anyone's view, think about how you will look on the official video if you keep popping up and down out of your seat. If there is not any assigned seating be sure to get a seat with a view you like when you first sit down.

5. Share With the Couple
You have taken photos and you got some pretty good photos. Now share with the couple. It can take a week to a month to get the professional photos (editing a few thousand shots takes a lot of time) so the couple will appreciate being able to see your photos soon after the wedding. If you and the couple both use a social network such as Facebook or Google Plus, or if you use a photo hosting site like Flickr, sharing your photos of the wedding is as simple as an upload and tagging.

Bye Bye Unity Candle and Sand Pouring!

Tired of seeing the unity candle or sand pouring at weddings?  Instead of your traditional wedding ceremony addition, why not try this unique and romantic idea of a love letter and wine box?   

This lovely alternative requires only a few small items: a wooden wine box, two love letters (from the bride to the groom and vice versa) in sealed envelopes, a few small nails, and a bottle of the couple’s favorite wine.

Here’s how it works: Prior to the wedding day, the bride and groom write love letters to one another expressing the reasons they fell in love with the other, their hopes and dreams for their future together, and anything else they want to share, and seal them in individual envelopes.  Then, decorate the wooden wine box with whatever you want – line the inside with foam or some other material, stick in a CD mix of special songs, other romantic momentos, etc.  The box will essentially be a relationship time capsule.

During the actual ceremony, have your officiant share with the guests the reason and meaning behind your wine box.  Then, with everyone witnessing, the bride and groom will place their letters in the box along with their favorite bottle of wine.  The box is then nailed shut.  The officiant can start with the first nail, with the bride and groom (and maybe even bridal party) following.

The box is not to be opened until a special wedding anniversary (5, 10, 20, 25 – it’s up to you!). The one exception being if you hit a rocky patch in your relationship.  At that point, open the box, uncork the wine, and read the letters you wrote to each other while drinking a glass of the wine . Hopefully this would remind you of the reasons you love each other and how meaningful your relationship truly is, and start you on the road to getting back on track. 

Information provided by Rev. Sherrien Shui

Why Fresh Flowers Do Not Belong on Cakes?

Most cake decorators are ecstatic when a client actually asks for sugar flowers. It is a fairly rare occasion for most decorators. More common is the client who says they plan to use fresh flowers provided by their florist.

When putting fresh flowers on a cake the most important thing to keep in mind is that the cake will be eaten. Therefore, you must be sure that any flowers put on the cake will not contaminate the cake.  It is very important that a barrier be placed between the flowers and icing.  You can use a doily, parchment circle, wax paper, etc.

Flowers can be wired and taped into corsage-like arrangements, made into small bouquets and placed on the cake, arranged in floral foam that has been hot glued to a plastic lid or container or placed loosely on the cake.  Whichever method you choose to decorate the cake with fresh flowers, make certain they DO NOT touch the icing.  Also, NEVER poke fresh flowers into a cake.

Flowers are grown using pesticides, fertilizers and chemicals.  Therefore, it is of utmost importance that the flowers do not touch the cake.  Even if they are organically grown, it would be difficult to know for certain they had never been exposed to toxic substances.  Also, I have read that organic flowers that are available usually do not include the showy flowers used on wedding cakes. 

There are toxic flowers and non-toxic flowers.  Regardless, they should never touch the cake.  Just to be safe, always use something to lay them on or to put them in so that they never touch the cake.  In addition to doilies, parchment paper, wax paper, etc. you can also use floral foam, floral picks, water tubes, small plastic containers with floral foam to hold arrangements, etc.    For the weddings we designed, we tell our florists how we want them arranged and then they arrange the flowers in florist foam that has been adhered to a plastic lid or container.  This permits the foam to be soaked with water thus enabling the fresh flowers to stay fresh for a longer time while, at the same time, avoiding any water from leaking onto the icing.  In this way, the flowers stay fresh and we do not have to be concerned about the possibility of the cake becoming contaminated.

A lot of the most popular wedding flowers are toxic. They contain poisons that can seep from the flowers and into the cake. Symptoms of ingesting poisonous flowers are not pleasant. They include pain in the mouth, upset stomach, diarrhea, vomiting, and possibly even a trip to the Emergency Room. It can turn out to be bad news for a cake decorator if someone gets sick from the cake. Here is a list of some popular wedding flowers that are considered toxic. For a more complete list of poisonous flowers, you can find it on Wikipedia.

• Asparagus fern  
• Anemone
• Azaleas 
• Bird of Paradise
• Bleeding Heart
• Buttercups
• Calla Lily
• Clematis
• Creeping Charlie
• Cyclamen
• Daffodils
• Daisy
• Delphinium
• Dieffenbachia
• English Ivy
• Frangipani
• Geranium
• Gloriosa lily
• Holly Berry
• Hyacinth
• Hydrangea
• Iris
• Ivy
• Larkspur
• Lily of the Valley
• Mistletoe
• Morning Glory 
• Oak Foliage & Acorn
• Philodendron
• Poinsettia 
• Poppy
• Ranunculus
• Rhubarb Leaves
• Shamrock 
• Star of Bethlehem
• Sweet pea
• Tulip
• Umbrella Plant  
• Wisteria
• Wood Rose

THE ABOVE LISTS INCLUDE ONLY A FEW EXAMPLES OF FLOWERS THAT BELONG TO EACH LIST.  THERE ARE MANY MORE FLOWERS THAT COULD BE ADDED TO EACH LIST.  

                    

Unlike bakeries, floral shops do not have the need or desire to wash every flower that comes through their doors. They don’t need to make sure every flower is dirt free or even bug free. If you want to place fresh flower on your cake, I would suggest you to request using certified organic and are non-toxic flowers. 

WHEN USING FRESH FLOWERS, TO BE SAFE, ALWAYS PROTECT THEM FROM TOUCHING THE CAKE OR ICING.