Cake, Food, & Beverage Tasting = Best Day Ever.

One of the things you look forward to the most during wedding planning is the food tasting. And let me tell you that our food, cake, and beverage tasting was out-of-this-world.

Carrie arranged it so we had two cake tastings and our food tasting, all on the same day, one after another so we didn't have to drive up multiple times just to take a bite of a cake.

My Dad, Mom, Lilly (yes Lilly...she wanted to go for a ride!) and I drove up to Waterbury Saturday, November 21st, for our first cake appointment. It was at the Vermont Cake Studio which was within a cute Vermont General Store. We met with Perrin, the owner and head baker. Carrie had sent her a few pictures of the cake design I was going for, and the flavor I was interested in. The Vermont Cake Studio had great presentation. They had a nice table set up and prepared for our tasting and Perrin had designed a mini cake with one of the designs Carrie had sent her. It was adorable! We tasted the cake and it was delicious! It was so light and fluffy, not to sweet, and very flavorful. She really captured the taste I was going for, and it really brought to essence an end of spring/summer wedding. It was perfect...(with a few modifications). Another plus was she said with all her wedding cakes comes with a complimentary "top layer" ( so another mini-cake) that we can freeze for our one-year anniversary, which is such a great idea. We were really pleased after the first cake appointment.

The second cake appointment was with a local Stowe baker and she actually met us at the Lodge. Her cake was I guess you could say the complete opposite of Perrin's cake. She went with more of a 'pound cake' so it was thicker with a fancy thick frosting.

Both cakes were great, however it was an easy decision and I couldn't be more pleased with our choice!

We then moved onto the food tasting. This is reason #343482390480 why I LOVEEEE my venue. We walk into their main dining-room and they had set up a private table just for our tasting. They set up the table as they would for my wedding, so they used my linens, my plates, my silverware, glasses, etc (all except my floral arrangements, gifts, etc. of course!) A week before our tasting I had submitted a list of things we wanted to taste. They had also presented a pretty-menu listing in order of our tastings.

After we were seated, they brought out the signature cocktail they created for us. They made a "girly" and a "manly" verison of it. It was perfect, delicious, pretty, and it had a pink tone to it! So Signature Cocktail done!

They next brought out the first round of passed hor'dourves. They were all presented beautifully and tasted amazing. After we tasted those they brought out the second round of passed hor'dourves. With SML strive for customer satisfaction they said they could make anything we requested, anything at all. So with a few new requests, i.e. sushi, it was an easy decision on our passed hor'dourves.

They then brought out a couple white wines for us to taste and chose for our dinner wine.

The next course was the soup. I had requested a tomato-bisque because it is my favorite soup. Their bisque was hands-down one of the best bisques I've ever had, it was perfect.

The next course was the salad. With a few modifications the salad was perfect.

They then brought out a couple red wines, and we chose one to serve at the table.

Finally, it was time to taste the entrees. We had requested to taste a chicken, a fish, and the fillet. All were amazing (according to my parents...they had to taste because I only eat chicken). Their head chef came out and introduced himself to us and to see how the tasting was going and if we had any questions. He was so nice and it really did enhance the evening! With a few requests and changes our entree is pretty much almost decided. Our entree we decided is not "Jess" friendly, but the SML is preparing me a special meal of whatever I chose :) So its a win-win!

When we thought we were going to explode or fall asleep from all the tasting...they then brought out the last course...the dessert. They prepared three different pre-cake desserts, all which were incredible, but one really stood out from the rest.

I can not express how excited I am for our wedding menu. It is phenomenal. The SML is everything I could ever dream of, and their food is nothing less then what I expected from them. I can not be more excited to share all of this with you in about 5.5 months!!

Another sidenote worth mentioning. The following weekend was Thanksgiving which meant Jeff was coming home! We froze the cakes from the tasting so he could taste them as well! He of course picked out the same cake I did :)