#151: What Am I Crazy?
Sure I'll Cater My Son's 3-Day Wedding Weekend!
The Announcement
A few days before Christmas, Duncan and Olivia texted asking if I might be free for cocktails. Sure, I responded. I set some nibbles on the counter, brought out some glasses and a few bottles to make drinks, and over they came. There was a pile of snow outside on the back deck so it didn’t seem out of the ordinary that they kept their pompom topped knit hats on but it took me a while to register what was knit into the hat edges. When I read the words, Bride and Groom, I couldn’t have been happier and literally started jumping up and down!
They are both avid snowboarders and a snow wedding was what they wanted so it was either wait until the winter of 2024 or pull off a wedding in three months….and three months is just what we did.
The Dream
The dream was to hike up a snowy mountain with their closest snowboard buddies, change into their wedding clothes, get married, snowboard down after, and have a 3-day celebration with friends and family, good music (Duncan’s band), yummy food, snow to play in, with everyone gathered under one roof for the duration. The Big House a VRBO in Cle Elum, WA couldn’t have been more perfect. It sleeps 50 people, has 8 bathrooms, 2 kitchens with 3 ovens, 2 fridges, an ice maker, and is on 8 acres with a beautiful mountain view. Check that off the list and now it was time to think about the meals.
The Food
In Pie Camp, I wrote an entire section about how to make and bake 28 pies for the wedding of a very dear friends’ daughter. At the end of that section I wrote, Would I do it again? In a word, yes, but only for my son, if and when that day ever comes. Well, the day had come and not only would there be pies, there would be breakfast, lunch, and dinner plus wedding cake and desserts for 3 days for 60 people! Was I crazy? Maybe but home food is my forte so, with a little help, I knew I could do it.
I invited D&O over for supper, set my three books out on the table, and sketched out a menu. We picked out supper entrées from Home Cooking, pies from Art of the Pie, and a special crumble that I had created for Olivia from Pie Camp. Good thoughts and blessings for their life together would be put in to everything. Then I began.
I made and froze all of the main dishes in advance. I found some high quality heavy weight stock pots at an estate sale for $15 a piece, borrowed hotel pans, cambros, and a huge cooler from a restaurateur in town to transport food, and started in on a 5-day cooking marathon to make the supper entrées.
Day 1: White Bean Soup
Day 2: Vegetarian Chili, Beef Chili
Day 3: Twice Stuffed Potatoes
Day 4: Vegetarian Pot Pies
Day 5: Beef Enchiladas, Black Bean and Veggie Enchiladas
My dear friend Cindy came to help on pot pie day.
Duncan & Olivia and I made the enchiladas together.
Wrapping, packing, and finding space for everything in my kitchen fridge freezer and chest freezer in the garage were events all of their own. I wish I had a photo of the engineering it took to fit it all inside of them. There wasn’t much space for ANYthing else.
The Wedding Week
My sister Helen arrived from the Virgin Islands on Monday of wedding week and the next morning started the multi-day process of making the cake. There will be an entire newsletter edition for paid subscribers coming up soon about the making of the wedding cake with pictures, video, and Helen’s recipes for each of the cake’s four components.
On Thursday we packed the car…
Helen grabbed a quick photo of Duncan and me, and off we went.
As the last light of the day was fading, Helen and I arrived at The Big House and enlisted the willing help of family and friends to help us unload. My sis and I stowed things away and then sat down to nibble on a bit of Thai take out before heading off to bed. The next morning, the wedding party headed to Blewitt Pass to hike up a snowy mountain for the wedding nuptials…
and Helen and I headed to the kitchen—me to get the wedding supper ready and she to finish the cake.
I loved feeding people over the three days and it was wonderful to hear family and friends say they felt so well fed and cared for. I’ve even been asked if I might cater more special events, but this was a very special one time only event for Olivia & Duncan and our now joined families.
The Menu
Olivia and Duncan’s Wedding Weekend
Appetizers
Dolmas
Feta Cheese
Spicy Fig Jam and Goat Cheese on Crackers
Suppers
White Bean Soup with Homegrown Garlic Scape Pesto
Beef Chili (a family recipe from my sister-in-law Carla)
Black Bean and Veggie Enchiladas
Beef Enchiladas
Twice Baked Potatoes
Vegetarian Pot Pies
Salad
Bread
Oyster Bar
Pacific and Kumamoto locally grown oysters
Mignonette
Desserts
Wedding Cake created by my sister Helen
Pies: Strawberry Rhubarb, Sour Cherry, Mixed Berry
Triple Ginger Pear Crumble
Breakfasts
Crepes made by Olivia’s step-dad, Alan
Yogurt
Fruit
Granola
Bagels, cream cheese, smoked salmon from the Olympic Peninsula
Bacon
Eggs Benedict
Lunches
Bread
Cheeses
Chips and Dips
Fruit
Salad
Leftovers!
Beverages
Cocktails
Mocktails
Homemade Hard Ciders by Duncan and Olivia
Wine from a local Port Angeles winemaker
Coffee and Tea
Be sure to click the little ❤️ below ⬇️ to let me know you were here and leave a comment, too!
So special and beautifully executed! Congrats and best wishes to the newlyweds!
You and Helen truly are super stars. I am still in awe of the array of mouth-watering foods and all the time and artistic effort to create them. Memories of a lifetime! I am so appreciative of ALL your talents and especially the love oozing from your hearth to their sweet abode.