“Say yes before you are ready” should probably be the logo for EYHOE…or the mantra I should have tattooed on myself…or drawn on with a Sharpie for a few days lol (I am not that daring haha). But much of my business/culinary success has been through diving in full-force without much thought. I find that when I do not give myself the space to over-analyze, then I also do not give myself the space to stress out either, especially when already committed, because at that point I have to figure out how to pull it off! So when I was given the offer to cater a “surprise wedding” (engagement party that turned into a wedding!) I of course could not decline, even though, to date, I had never catered for 125 guests, especially for a wedding! I knew I could pull it off though…maybe…

To my happy surprise, the wedding day catering went flawlessly, without an over-cooked or under-seasoned morsel in sight! The lovely bride and groom, Dana and Santos, were quite a daring couple, surprising all their guests (and bridal party!) with a wedding!! Everyone thought they were coming to celebrate their engagement, but all the guests were in for quite a surprise when the newly- engaged couple excused themselves and returned in a dress and tux, with a full-on (totally stunned/shocked) bridal party to boot!

The Big Surprise

If planning a wedding is not crazy-hectic enough, I can’t imagine what the bride, Dana, must have gone through pulling off a surprise wedding all by herself (well with the help of her future hubs too!). I remember hearing shrieking at one point and I later found out that it was when Dana had slipped away to put on her wedding gown, and then called all her closest friends/bridesmaids (well, soon-to-be) into the room, and they all started screaming when they realized what was happening. They then had 20 minutes to choose a bridesmaid’s dress – Dana had purchased gowns in 20 different sizes and styles for the girls to choose from! – and then be ready to go for the ceremony! Later in the night I spoke with a few of the bridesmaids and they were SO shaken-up by the entire experience, they felt they had walked into their own surprise party and were walking around (in gorgeous gowns!) in disbelief.

The “engagement party” was under a pavilion, with high top tables, a wine bar and my tablescape full of appetizers. Little did the guests know, there was a trail that led into the woods, but once you got through the woods, there was an open field, where Dana and Santos had spent the prior day/night and all day leading up to the big event getting ready.

I think what got me most of all about the entire experience was that the location of all of this was held at Camp DeWitt, which is one of the Girl Scouts Headquarters for SJ, so this essentially took place on a campground (a very new and nice campground)…and guess what? Everyone involved in the planning camped out the night before the engagement/wedding ceremony and the wedding night too! You know what that means, NO showers! And it was HOT and muggy out that day too! I give mad props to Dana for looking as beautiful and flawless as she did, especially with no shower on-site!

Appetizers and Desserts

My food was served throughout the entire engagement/ wedding day from cocktail hour (allll my “bites”), through the main meal (my apps accompanied a food truck’s menu) and of course, all my mini-desserts! I served 12 appetizers in total, and the hits of the evening were def. my guacamole “cups” with jumbo shrimp, chicken and avocado salad “cups”, and lasagna “cups”…what can I say, just call me the “creative culinary (edible) cup lady” LOL.

For dessert there was an array of dessert shooters, chocolate truffles, cheesecake-filled strawberries, and since fall is right around the corner – apple dumplings!

Many Hands Make Light Work

The overall experience was truly awesome, I learned and grew a lot, not only as a chef, but as a business owner. There were a lot more details to this event than any other I have catered (check out the tablescape!) so I was forced to be extremely organized and forced to delegate work, since it was totally impossible for me to do it all myself.

The biggest hurdle for me was figuring out quantities for each menu item “were all 125 people going to devour the cheese truffles, and only a few eat the bruschetta?!”. “What if no one touches my food and heads straight to the food trucks – hello cheese fries!” All these questions swarmed through my head. But after combining my knowledge from previous catering experience, consulting with other peers/chefs, and just doing some straight up research on wedding catering, I figured it out! Like I said, I said “yes”, and ready or not, I had to figure it out.

When I first started my business, I said I would never be a “caterer”. Well, never say never, because now I am wedding-caterer! But shhhh don’t go around telling people that, one wedding a year is good enough for me haha. But now back to my comfort zone …until I hear wedding bells singing my name…