Spring Wedding Food Trends

One of the most exciting parts of the wedding (and looked forward to by the guests) is the food! There is so much more to offer your guests than just chicken and potatoes, and while those are two of our most popular items on the menu (Pecan Crusted Bourbon Chicken and Creamy Roasted Mashed Potatoes), we absolutely love when couples choose to offer their guests just a taste of a little something more. And while a buffet dinner is traditional and classic, we are excited to see the popularity of other options as well.

One of the current food trends according to The Knot is pairing mini cocktails with appetizers. Not only do your guests have the chance to taste the perfect pairing of a drink with food, but the presentation can be quite impressive! One of our favorites at Highgrove is our Mini Cuban Sandwich paired with a Rum and Coke. Another popular selection is our petite Peach Bellini served alongside of our Grilled Panini.

Another popular trend in wedding food according to The Bridal Guide, is the Family Style Dinner. We have loved serving this type of menu for years now… and are excited to see how popular it is becoming throughout the industry. Inside of having guests walk up to a traditional buffet line, guests are served large platters of entrees and sides to their tables where they are able to interact and have fun with one another as they pass the food around-- just like at a big family dinner.

As always, no matter what you choose for your wedding day, make it special, personalized, and meaningful to you and all those who are important to you. This is your day… have some fun with it!

April 19 Highgrove Wedding

The weather for our wedding this past Sunday was not what every bride dreams about. It was cloudy and rainy all day, and because of the conditions the ceremony had to be moved inside our Garden Ballroom. But, it was such a beautiful backdrop thanks to Expressions of Love Florist… who adorned the fireplace with a gorgeous splay of fresh flowers and candles, all which brought romance and elegance to the most important part of the day. 

It is always our hope (and that of our couples) to be able to hold their wedding ceremony outside under our pergola, but in the rare occasions when rain overshadows the day, we are so thankful to have our ballroom as a back-up plan. The wedding turned out excellent and the bride and groom were able to get some very creative and beautiful pictures outside (with umbrellas) and we were so happy to be a part of their most memorable day… no matter what the weather!

April 18 Highgrove Wedding

The flowers from our wedding last Saturday were just gorgeous! The bride was from Jamaica and wanted to incorporate the bright, vibrant colors and flowers from her homeland to really add something special to the day. Expressions of Love Florist did the amazing centerpieces and decor which looked amazing in the ballroom. The cake was done by Sweet Memories (included in all our wedding packages) but the most impressive part was the hand made bride and groom gum paste figurines that sat next to the cake… amazing replicas of the bride and groom. Congrats to the happy newlyweds!

One of the larger centerpieces on the guest tables

The sweetheart table, fireplace, and cake table

The white Buttercream cake

The fabulous gum paste figurines of the bride and groom

A close-up shot of one of the smaller centerpieces

Another view of the ballroom

The ballroom

The ceremony overlooking the lake

April 11 Highgrove Wedding

Take a look at some of the sweet pictures from our April 11 wedding. The bride brought in a lot of her own hand drawn signs that were a great touch throughout the house and ballroom. Doing something as simple as writing out signs in some fun fonts can add so much interest to your wedding without having to spend a lot. You can use chalkboards or canvases or even pieces of wood that you paint over. Visit your local craft store or Pinterest for some excellent ideas!

The gift table in the main house

Super creative idea for the "guest book"

Another creative idea for the table assignments.

Each of the guests received a Koozie as their favor.

The gold and white cake was elegant and gorgeous!

The decor at the fireplace in the ballroom

A great sign to have at the bar!

Wedding Tip of the Day

It's time for another one of our favorite wedding tips… some insight that we've gathered over the course of the past 12 years to help make your wedding day even more memorable.

This couple loved Sno Cones and so they incorporated them into their wedding with us!

Share something personal and unique with your guests.

Make your wedding experience one the reflects you both and sheds some light into the personal aspects of your relationship with your guests. Maybe you have a favorite book or poem that you both love and want to share something from during the ceremony. Maybe you have a card that your spouse-to-be gave you early on in your relationship and you want to share the sweet words during your ceremony. Perhaps you both love a certain food-- maybe from your first date or a fun time in your relationship that you can include on the menu at the reception. Another unique idea is to share your love story with your guests, either visually through a video throughout the night or during the champagne toast time. 

Whichever way you incorporate something a little special into the wedding, it will not only be unique and meaningful for you two, but will also leave a lasting impression on your guests as well. Make your wedding one that stands out among all the rest with a little something for everyone to remember. 

How To Pick The Perfect Wedding Shoe

Your wedding shoes are one of the most important accessories on your wedding day. Whether you want a statement shoe that comes in a bright color with a stiletto heal, or a simple white flat, you want to consider what is most important to you and what will work best with your dress. Emmaline Bride has some great tips for choosing the best shoe for your day and how to avoid some common mistakes, and if you are completely set on going with an adorable flat, you definitely want to check out this article on Wedding Wire

Whatever you decide to go with, choose a shoe that shows off your personality and makes you feel beautiful and amazing on your wedding day!

Chef Vicky: What Makes Coming to Work So Fun

Part of what makes coming to work so good are the folks you stand next to and labor with. 

Our newest chef on staff is Liz and she has become our go to person for pastry and so much more. When I find success in a batch of French macarons that do what they should in the oven and the color matches the Pantone on the dresses for the event I have to send a picture to Liz and share. She gets me and my battle with those beautiful cookies!

Recently I had the opportunity to see a play that starred two of my team members' kids in, "The Wizard of Oz". They rocked the house and did an amazing job with their performance! To see the level of proudness on the parent’s faces – they really were busting at the seams with joy. It was contagious  - go Kimberly and Christie!

I still look forward to coming into my kitchen after 27 years.

Blessed – you bet…

Spring Signature Cocktails

Who can resist a beautiful, colorful, delicious cocktail? Instead of just offering your guests the standard beer and wine bar, why not include a specialty drink or two that really makes a statement... and looks amazing at the same time! 

Here at Highgrove we have a custom menu of signature cocktails created by our bartenders that can fit your wedding theme based on color or season. Some of our most popular drinks include: Highgrove Zinger with Melon, Cucumber, and Smirnoff Citrus or our Strawberry Blonde with Lemonade, Strawberry, and Gin or for a fun Mocktail, our Rosemary Limeade with Fresh Rosemary and Lime Juice.

We love making custom drinks or incorporating your favorite "His" and "Hers" drinks into your wedding as well!

Spring Wedding Flowers

What an amazing time of year to get married... Spring! The flowers and trees are in bloom everywhere you look, and the abundance of in-season flowers to incorporate into your wedding are in no short supply. One of our favorite things to see at Highgrove are wedding designs that incorporate the season into the look and feel of the wedding. There is just something so fitting about seeing beautiful flowers blooming outside on the property and then watching as the ballroom is decorated in the same bright, vibrant, airy, colorful and fresh flowers. 

You can check out a listing of the top Spring flowers in the Bridal Guide's article. This write up highlights some of the best in-season florals to use for your beautify day.

April Open House

Don't forget to mark your calendars for our upcoming April Open House, 

Saturday, April 18 from 10:00am-noon. 

We will have delicious food for you to sample (all hand crafted on site, of course!), a fun and festive Spring mocktail to try, and the Garden Ballroom will be decorated and set so you get to truly experience the full affect of what your wedding at Highgrove could be like. We will be onsite and ready to answer any questions you may have. We look forward to showing you around our amazing property and sharing with you why Highgrove truly is A Place Like No Other, For A Time Like No Other.

Chef's Corner: Thoughts on Cooking and Family

By Chef Vicky

Food, family, celebration – what’s not to love?

So tradition in our family is you get to choose your birthday dinner menu– whatever your heart desires - we aim to please!

Sometimes it’s fresh made fettuccini with Alfredo sauce, or it may be duck, or thick burgers on the grill or with an ice cream sundae bar for dessert.

It’s collaborative – and this is where the fun really resides, cooking with others. It takes the heat off of one person, brings new ideas for how to prepare a dish, and let’s face it, we all wind up in the kitchen anyway so why not put everyone to work!

This week, my daughter Angela prepared a dish she had done for my birthday a few years ago.  Asian food is one of our family’s favorites and she was making a Thai dish for her husband, Daniel’s birthday. It was beautiful with all the crisp veggies and nutty curry sauce. We plated each dinner using the bottoms of the bok choy for garnish since they looked like flowers when you cut off the good stuff. We get excited about stuff like that…

 

Every pot in the house was used and piled by the sink as we made our way onto the patio for dinner under the stars. Food, family, and a tradition of celebrating life together – yeah, I can do this. 

We engaged our good friends years ago with this tradition and the result is a packed out kitchen, layers of food, laughing, and more memories of what food made together for someone else does to you. More than nourishing the belly – it nourishes one’s very soul. This is a Vietnamese dish called Hot Pot.

Our dear friends Thuy and Thao and young Julia prepping my birthday meal recently

Julia has a passion for food and is on the path to being a chef herself. In high school it thrilled her to get things like a stand up mixer, kitchen gadgets and Julia Child’s cookbook.

Yeah, she’s the real deal, and you can catch her at Lafarm doing her thing and loving it.