Some months ago we were asked to provide the venue for the wedding of a local woman and her English fiancé. We were only too happy to comply, and the day they set for the big event was 28 January 2012, which seemed like a million years from when they first contacted us. But sure enough, thanks to the inexorable progress of time, the day eventually arrived, and thus this afternoon at 3pm the guests began to arrive and at 3:30pm the vows were exchanged and at 3:45pm the champagne was poured. As luck would have it, they had just about perfect weather for their wedding–sunny skies with white puffy clouds, warm (nay, hot) temperatures, and all that, which was extremely fortunate, since just two days ago we had a strong southerly come up (that’s Kiwi-speak for winds coming up from Antarctica, which equate to cold temperatures). In fact, in some parts of the South Island, it even snowed the other day, and the Kakanui Ranges just outside of Oamaru are now snow-capped, despite the fact that it’s high summer.
For the big event the bridal couple wanted us to make three canapés–our signature baked brie with chutney, something with salmon and something with beef. The salmon dish I made was gravlax salmon with cucumber dill pickles on blini with dill mustard sauce and the beef I made was sous-vide Tuscan roast beef sandwiches with horseradish sauce and sprouts. For the wines, we had a NZ bubbly and a Sauvignon Blanc and an Australian Shiraz, along with beer and juice. The guests seemed to enjoy the food a lot (the brie in particular!), and we ended up having not too much leftover. By 5:30pm the bridal double-decker bus had arrived to take the guests to the reception and we were able to call it a day.
Here are some photos to give you a taste of the event:
Totally gorgeous! Good luck to the happy couple!
By: dasong927 on 29 January 2012
at 5:20 am