Wedding: The Party

We celebrated our marriage at a local restaurant situated above the boathouse where I learned to row. The city has put a lot of resources into beautifying the lake since I rowed there, and it ended up being a gorgeous backdrop.

Dan and I loved having our reception at a restaurant. Because they coordinated a lot of the details--including food, tables and dinnerware, and extra tables for gifts and the cake--our stress was pretty low approaching the wedding. The room even had a built-in speaker system, so my sister acted as DJ.

My mom and best friend organized all of the flowers--it made my life super easy.

Just like our ceremony, our reception was relatively small, with only our closest friends and family in attendance. We began the evening with mingling, and got to talk to most of the guests before we even sat down for the meal!

Talking to my grandpa at the beginning of the evening

I enjoyed a rare treat--a Shirley Temple--before dinner, and filled up on crudites to prepare for the rapid dinner to come. During the meal, which consisted of a salad appetizer and a main course, Dan and I made our way around to the tables to talk to our guests.

We were totally happy with the size of the party--we had an opportunity to stop at each table, and talk with each of our guests for a reasonable amount of time. Of course, all of this happened during the dinner, so Dan and I both had to scarf down our meals relatively quickly. Dinner was not the star of the show.

After dinner, we got to cut our cake! If there were two things I wanted out of my wedding, they were a husband and a delicious cake. I got both.

Aiming was just as difficult as expected.

Having been to weddings before, I've been uninspired by the wedding cake. I love cake--it is my favorite dessert-- and to waste such an excellent opportunity on sheet cake seemed a pity. So, Dan and I did some serious cake-tasting research.

(Actually, we only went to one bakery--a childhood favorite. But we did sample a lot of the flavors, many times.)

In the end, we picked an unusual design, inspired by the De Stijl art movement, in the color scheme of the wedding. The cake was primarily made of chocolate-hazelnut cake with a thick layer of buttercream, all wrapped in marzipan. The top tier, which we took home, was a princess cake.

We regret not delaying our dancing by five minutes to enjoy a second slice of cake, but we've promised each other a trip to the bakery.

We concluded the evening with dancing. Dan and I danced to Hard to Concentrate by the Red Hot Chili Peppers--one of our favorite songs. My dad and I danced to Daughters by Jack Johnson--during which I shed my first and only tears of the evening.

I was wearing 4 inch heels. Dan is TALL. 

As the evening began to wind down, and people headed home, Dan and I also rode off into the darkness to begin our very brief honeymoon (part 1).

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Wedding: The Ceremony

Although it was over 50°F out, the howling wind made outdoors slightly chilly in a strapless dress. We met on a grassy knoll over-looking the lake where I learned to row. We tried to position ourselves to maximize sunshine.

Dan and I decided we wanted to have a very small, private ceremony, with our very closest friends and family. We also opted to have Dan's dad officiate our wedding, making it a very personal affair.

Despite the weather, we both managed to make our promises to one another. I was shaking as much from excitement as cold.

The whole ceremony was over in around 15 minutes. Afterwards, we made our way quickly indoors to warm up before picture taking.

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Wedding: Getting Ready

After a week of 60 degree weather and gorgeous blue skies, we woke up on Sunday morning to gray skies and cold. I packed up my bags, bundled up like a good Californian, and headed to my parents house to get dolled up for the event. My two bridesmaids were over early to get the party started!

We spent the morning finishing up a few last minute details: getting a guest book, making adorable meal cards (thanks Tomas!), and picking up my great grandmother's pearl necklace (we had it restrung).

My sister, Katrina, also made us a delicious stirfry for lunch. I put her in charge of making sure I ate enough, and she did an awesome job. The stirfry had broccoli, tofu, carrots, and roasted sweet potato. It was different than any stirfry I've made, and incredibly delicious (like most things my sister makes).

In the afternoon, we worked on our nails, hair and make-up. It took the three of us at least an hour to paint our nails and ever so slightly pale nude color. Clearly, we are out of practice.

Hair was somewhat more successful, and with one attempt and some solid bobby pin work, we had it in place. With the wind howling outside, the plan to wear my hair mostly down was vetoed in favor of an equally gorgeous, but slightly more tame, hairstyle.

Make-up went on before the dress. Since I don't usually wear make-up, I tried to make it as subtle as possible: a tinted moisturizer, mascara, and light brown eyeshadow. My yogurt, honey and oatmeal mask the evening prior left my skin relatively smooth and moisturized, so I tried to expose it as much as possible.

Once the bridesmaids were suited up in their dresses, with hair and make-up done, it was time to get dressed!

I purchased my dress in early November, and it spent the last 6 weeks with a seamstress, getting tailored to fit me perfectly. Because the dress is strapless, it needed to fit snugly around my waist so it would stay in place.

With some effort, we got it all zipped, clipped and pinned in place. Katrina helped me buckle my shoes, and held my train as I walked down the stairs.

By the time we left the house, the grey skies had parted in favor of blue. The wind was still howling, and the temperature didn't break 55°F, but the clear skies were absolutely stunning.

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Cooking Extravaganza

With less than a week until our wedding, Dan and I expect to be severely busy for the next week or two. When my sister offered to come home and help this weekend, we knew exactly how she could help.

We've spent the past two days making sure we would have easy, healthy, dish minimizing dinners and desserts for the next two weeks.

After several days of menu planning, the weekend started with a massive grocery shopping trip on Saturday afternoon. Normally, we bike to the grocery store (we don't own a car). It was glorious not to worry about how many pounds of carrots we bought, or whether it would fit into our backpacks.

By late afternoon on Saturday, we got started. I started by roasted veggies--potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, parsnips, cauliflower and brussel sprouts. Although delicious plain, we also had thoughts of these going into a pesto pasta.

Meanwhile, Kat started on frying up frozen potstickers--her awesome idea for good, hot, savory snack foods. While they aren't the healthiest of options, I would rather grab a few potstickers for lunch than a piece of chocolate. If we'd had time, I would have loved to make them from scratch, but sometimes, life demands compromises.

Sunday, our to-do list was much longer, but with three of us in the kitchen, we accomplished a lot. Dan and I started the day by making muffins.

These are my all-time favorite muffins--slightly decadent, but full of fruit and whole grains. They take a bit of effort but the recipe could easily be doubled to make a huge batch of breakfast muffins. They freeze really well.

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Cranberry-Walnut Whole Wheat Muffins
makes 12 large muffins or 18 small muffins


1 stick unsalted butter
1c packed brown sugar (do not substitute white sugar!)
2 large eggs
0.5c milk
1.5c white whole wheat flour
2t baking powder
0.25t baking soda
0.5t salt
1c chopped walnuts
2c whole fresh cranberries

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F
2. Melt the butter in a small saucepan, letting it brown as much as you're comfortable with. (Butter burns quickly, so if it's your first time, turn the heat down as soon as you see brown bits.)
3. Once the butter has browned, turn the heat to medium and add the sugar, stirring vigorously for 2-3 minutes.
4. Remove the butter/sugar mixture from the heat.
5. In a medium mixing bowl, mix the whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. (Omit the salt if your nuts are heavily salted. Mine were unsalted.)
6. Add the eggs to the butter mixture one at a time, stirring thoroughly and immediately to incorporate. The mixture should become more homogenous with the addition of the eggs.
7. Add the milk to the butter  mixture, again stirring to incorporate.
8. Add the butter mixture to the dry ingredients, and stir until just combined.
9. Fold the walnuts and cranberries into the muffin batter.
10. Divide among muffin tins, filling to a maximum of 2/3rds full (for large muffins) or to half full for small muffins.
11. Bake for 25 minutes, or until the tops spring back when pressed. For browned edges, turn the oven up to 375°F for the last 5 minutes of baking.
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Meanwhile, Kat got started on a miso-ginger lentil soup. The miso adds umami, instead of adding meat, and the ginger adds some sharpness.

Once the muffins were done, Dan and I split up. He worked on hard-boiling eggs, while I made no-bake granola bars.

We then started on making a big batch of chili con chorizo, while Kat marinated chicken for stirfries. To end Sunday, Kat made two huge batches of cookie dough to stash in the freezer--one chocolate chip and one chocolate cherry. We of course sampled, and both are delicious.

We still have a few fresh veggies in the fridge to use as we see fit, but we definitely have enough food to last us for most of two weeks.

How do you plan ahead for busy weeks? What's your go-to freezer meal?

Let me know what you think by leaving a comment or emailing me at piquantprose [at] gmail [dot] com.

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