"You Must Have Been Born in the South"

On my last post I talked about the venue and decorations for our most recent wedding at Stoney Cattle Ranch in Heber, UT. If you missed it, read about how she combined a feminine look with the cowboy look.

Now lets get to the good stuff. Our bride recently moved from Alabama and she wanted the food to be a real Southern buffet. On the menu we had Fried Chicken, a Shrimp Boil, Blackberry Cobbler, Grits, and Coleslaw, along with other items. Most of the guests were out of town and stayed for the entire reception. We made sure the guests were well fed as they partied all night long.

Our crowd pleasing Southwestern Sweet Potato Cakes

Caprese skewers: red and yellow tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, balsamic dressing and basil

Our famous Pork Crostini

Shrimp Boil Tray: fresh shrimp, red new potatoes and corn on the cob. Served with option of clarified butter or cocktail sauce.

Our fried chicken made the brides father remark, "You must have been born in the South because this fried chicken is SO good!"

 Instead of a big wedding cake, the bride chose to have a smaller cake. She wanted white on white with fresh flowers adorning the top. We served the guests a vanilla cake with a white chocolate buttercream frosting.

Then for the grooms cake we had a multi-layer "dirt cake", complete with chocolate rocks, Oreo dirt, and gummy worms.

Southern Rustic Wedding: Stoney Cattle Ranch

One of Stewart Mountain Lodging's venues is called Stoney Cattle Ranch. It is a beautiful barn and home in Heber just off the highway. Last week, we catered a rustic southern wedding there and the reception was stunning. 

The bride chose to go with a feminine cowboy theme: she had all the girls in lacy cream dresses with cowboy boots and the men wore 3 piece suites. For the guest tables she had beautiful arrangements of flowers in cream and white with soft greens with burlap and bark-covered vases.

The bottom floor is a big (clean) barn area. Twinkle lights were wrapped around every post and even formed a little canopy. We had all 6 of our buffet tables off to one side- that really helped the flow of hungry guest traffic.

Our buffet tables were decorated with burlap, wooden trays, different risers, and rustic tea lights.  We used very little metal trays because we wanted to go for more of an earthy feel.

We had these cute chalkboards for signage

The bride wanted real silverware for her guests to use. We served them in bark covered vases.

Adding height to the buffet really makes for a great visual appeal as well as it being easier for guests to serve themselves.

And take a look at the bunches of flowers added to the buffet. Gorgeous! I love the cream, white, green, and brown color palate.

We filled different shapes and sizes of mason jars with combinations of cocoa beans, pepita seeds, rocks, and craisins

The glow off these candles is so beautiful

All these pictures are just of the main floor. The upstairs has a very nicely decorated living room, and a few smaller rooms off to the side. It's a great little condo with a full kitchen, great for big parties or a cozy vacation.

Stay Tuned: Friday's post will be all about the food from this wedding

Picnic Nuptuals

We love original weddings! It's fun for us to pair menu items with the theme in addition to decorating the buffet. This picnic theme really worked for the bride and for the venue too; it was in a beautiful backyard in Highland.

On the menu were our signature pulled pork sliders with optional "angry onions"...

 

...mini potato bites with an herbed cheese spread...

I just love the signage we made for this wedding!

...handmade meatballs with three different sauces: lemon-thyme cream sauce, chimichurri, and a southwestern sauce...

It was fun for the guests to come back several times and try a different sauce with each visit!

...and we made a new appetizer, Italian bites with marinara dipping sauce.

These Italian bites are filled with melty mozzarella cheese.

For drinks we served our Brazillian Mojito in individual milk bottles. It fit so well with the Bride's theme!

 This was an interesting decorating task. Picnics are very causal: eating on blankets, serving drinks out of coolers, etc. However, weddings are on the opposite end of the spectrum. We decided to display the various finger foods on long buffet tables, and incorporated little picnic touches: daisies in mason jars, wooden crates, picnic basket, and burlap.

 Congratulations to the bride and groom! We sure loved being a part of your celebration.