A Moment Of Silence

‘Cause my mouth is full.

Professing some undying love and devotion for a person  has a way of making a sister hungry. And the whole legally binding commitment in front of God and lower Broadway bit? Well, same sister needs a drink. Luckily for we recently wed and famished, the ramblings readers planned the menu months ahead of munch & crunch time. The consensus of your votes and tedious tasteless taste testing could be heard in sloppy finger licks and forks scraping last crumbs from remarkably clean plates. If you listened closely you could hear it in between satiated sighs of too-full guests and squeals of sugar-doped kids lurking wild-eyed ’round the sweets table: You munch gulp swallow Done chew chomp lick slurp burp Good.

 Paul & Angel, the dream team behind Nashville’s Bacon & Caviar perfected the eclectic menu of small, modernized country food, even adding mini PB&J sandwiches and pimento cheese pita to please the younger palates:

BBQ pork with fresh pickle on miniature cornbread rounds

Chicken salad wraps

Asparagus & Artichoke dip on fresh crostini

Freshly sliced ham on yeast rolls with horseradish creme

Mac-n-tini bar: guests dressed their mac’n'cheese with yummy toppings

Garlic & Herb grits

Cheese & Fruit

Bacon-wrapped Jumbo shrimp with BBQ glaze

Pimento cheese pitas

PB&J mini sandwiches

Southern Fruit Tea Station

Glass-bottled sodas

Trying to figure out a way to discreetly eat 12 pounds of grits….like a lady, obviously.

So, basically, yum.  As adults piled the plates high with all-things-savory, you could find every wedding guest under the age of 8 circling around all-things-sweet. Because you are darn thorough little ramblers, you had quite the delicious say in the sugary, too. Sweet friend Shelby of TooTall Designs took your winning design and slapped some flavor on it! With your permission, Shelby crafted a quirky and cute blue ruffle cake in red velvet with cream cheese frosting. We decided to keep the cake small and – going along with our Lots of Little Options menu from B&C- offer guests tons of treats. That and I can’t say no to anything dipped in sugar or chocolate or both. Bridesmaid Jessica’s awesome mom and Nonni travelled from Memphis with delectables. A very special package arrived from Japan just days before wedding day from blogging extraordinaire Emily. It was, because she really gets me, a giant box of Yoku Moku cookies. How far can one cookie travel? From blogland to Japan straight to a giant apothecary jar on the Bloggy Wedding dessert table in the bellybutton of the Southern United States. Then we added to the sugar heap by incorporating retro, Southern candies.

Red Velvet & Cream Cheese Frosting cake

Japanese Yoku Moku (little cookie cigars) courtesy of Emily

Goo Goo Clusters (made right down the road in Chattanooga)

Old-fashioned , strawberry & blueberry Rock Candy  on wooden swizzle sticks

Mama Hamblen’s chocolate-covered Oreo Pops

Nonni’s chocolate-dipped orange biscotti

Mini vanilla cupcakes

Peanut Butter cookies

Seven Layer Brownies

Rock Candy Renegade, ready to tear up this town.

And I make this face when something tastes good. It’s like an allergic face reaction to awesome.

 

   The icing on the cake, wait, not that cake. Can’t really use cake idioms around a cake post now can I? Anyways, the perfect accent to the perfect menu you all planned for us was a signature cocktail. As the old adage goes, the spirited get all up in some spirits, or something like that. A cool indoor/outdoor bar served up beer, wine, and the night’s special dancing juice, The Tipsy Arnold Palmer. Any Southerner has tried the standard Arnold Palmer: a mix of sweet tea and lemonade named after the legendary golfer who so loves this pucker-smacking drink. We got the sweet, old golf icon all kinds of crunk by adding Vodka to the equation. Plus, the groom loves golf. And after a few sips, I think I love golf, too.

Uncles Under The Influence

Cocktail: The Dinner That Travels

Explaining why all teenage girl guests kept crowding the bar: No, they weren’t trying to drink. They thought the rad-haired, hipster-in-skinny-jeans bartender was *swoon* like totally hot, though. Nothing says “Date Me!” like ordering a Sprite.

    Realizing I couldn’t manage to scarf down giant plates of BBQ & grits while moseying around hugging and loving on guests, the drink-your-dinner mentality took shape. The kids, adopting a similar, double-fisting-soda-while-cramming-mouth-full-of-candy-and-pockets-full-of-cake plan of action. The result? A wicked dance-off with a gang of wild littles. Until tomorrow, I’ll let you guess who wins.

Coming up tomorrow: Things get a little funky, Man Child photobombs perfectly sentimental pictures, and- can you handle it?!?- I get to meet blogging idol, Kathy, for the first time at the wedding and confirm that she is really, seriously, truly, honestly not a robot!