Celebrating Marriage Equality

So happy that our President Barack Obama has come out in favor of same sex marriage. Here in New York State we were all ecstatic last summer when the legislature passed the Marriage Equality Act. In this day and age, people of all inclinations should be able to legally share their lives with one another. This has really changed the face of the wedding industry, as the old traditions make way for new forms of expression. The possibilities are endless. How great to see two male figures on the top of a wedding cake (or two women, as the case may be). All notions of "what's appropriate", in terms of dress and fashion, the type of party to have, how to decorate, invitations, music - it's all up for grabs!

We were honored to cater a fabulous wedding celebration last September here in Woodstock for Steve and Matt. Here are the menu highlights from their very special day:

Passed Appetizers  
Bacon Wrapped Dates  
Mushroom Parmesan Risotto Cakes  
Truffle Mousse on Red Wine Biscuits  
Citrus Poached Shrimp, Bloody Mary Cocktail Sauce

Autumn Harvest Bisque

Buffet Dinner  
Poulet Roti Grandmere, roast chicken with mushrooms, bacon and pearl onions  
Whole Roasted Shell Steak  Butternut Squash - Sage Bread Pudding  
RSK Farm local mashed potatoes  
Vegetable Wellington
Chef 's Seasonal Vegetable Medley  
Bread and Butter

Dessert  
Cutting Cake as the Wedding Cake  
Assorted Homemade Cupcakes  
Catskill Mountain organic coffee service

One of the greatest challenges we faced with this dinner was the served butternut squash soup. We took this on like you would if you were a contestant on Top Chef! It was the end of September and most likely it would be a cool evening. Not a problem to keep the tent warm for the guests, but how would we have the warm soup on the tables awaiting the guests when they first sat down from the cocktail hour?

We had to take into consideration that from the moment we told the guests to sit down to the guests actually sitting down could be at least 15 minutes. So the bowls would have to be piping hot when we put the soup in them, then taken by the waiters to the tables awaiting the guests - hopefully still hot and nourishing.

We devised a way to bring hot bowls to each table and then pour the hot soup into each bowl just minutes before the guests sat down. We hope they all have wonderful memories of their first sip of our delicious Autumn Harvest Bisque!