we might as well deem july the month of wedding appointments because in addition to picking out our wedding bands and taking out engagement photos two weeks ago, we also had our tasting with our wedding caterers.

since our wedding venue requires you use one of their four recommended caterers, it was nice to have our options already narrowed down when we went to make the selection. due to my laundry list of dietary restrictions, S took the lead on picking our caterer (you’re welcome, future wedding guests). and let me tell you, he took the job seriously. we perused each and every one of the menus and assessed each vendor’s overall vibe and after a thorough analysis, we ultimately opted for the wild thyme company for its hearty and unique offerings and rustic vibe.

having been a guest of many lovely nuptials over the past decade, i’ve enjoyed sit-down dinners, stood in buffet lines, and experienced many options that landed somewhere in between. but after witnessing the success and ease of family-style service at two recent weddings S and i attended together, we knew we wanted to replicate a similar experience on our own day. so once we knew how we wanted to serve our guests on our big day, we worked backward from there to determine just what we would be serving them.

last friday afternoon, as instructed, we came HUNGRY and ready to taste. we arrived to find two place settings with our tasting menu printed and draped across. i’ll admit, having the menu there was super helpful since it had been a few months since we had made our selections (i honestly had kind of forgotten what we had picked!).

first up were our hors d’oeuvres. we had selected five from a list of 50 or so to tray pass during cocktail hour. while i don’t want to completely spoil the spread for our guests,  i will say my favorite pick comes bacon-wrapped ;). since most of them also involve cheese and/or gluten, i entrusted S with the taste testing and i’m happy to report that all passed with flying colors.

next up was our main meal. when the chef brought everything out on a platter (as shown above), i was immediately taken with the gorgeous presentation. it’s true what they say, you really do eat with your eyes first! while i nibbled on the lemon-thyme roasted salmon and roasted vegetables, my favorite part of the meal was the delicious golden beet salad with mixed greens, humboldt fog cheese, oil cured olives, pistachios, oranges, and a pomegranate vinaigrette. i loved how unexpected but harmonious all of the flavors were.

last but certainly not least was our dessert. we knew we wanted to offer our guests a sweet treat other than cake so after some brainstorming, we landed on doing a brownie bar which we are particularly excited about. the chef prepared four types of brownies for us to sample, including a snickerdoodle blondie and my personal favorite, a reese’s peanut butter brownie which i essentially deconstructed to get to the whole peanut butter cup that was baked inside the batter. i have a feeling the chocolatey confections will go over big because let’s be honest, who can resist a gooey brownie?

the whole experience was so quick and easy and assured any lingering doubts of whether or not we had chosen the right caterer for the job. i feel really confident that our guests are going to leave well fed and happy!