Wedding Inspired Wednesday {No. 16}: Wood Decor

        Browsing Pinterest and Etsy I have found some wonderful wooden accents to use for wedding decor. I have especially been looking for ways to incorporate it into the way we display our food items. My parents have access to plenty of trees on their property in Livingston, and my fiance's brother, Will, clears land for a living. I figured I would try to find things that would put them to work and add their own touches to the wedding. Below are what I found so far.

Now not only could you use this as a dessert display, but cheese and fruit, hors d'oeuvres, etc. Source:

I am dying for a cake stand such as this one. However, the lone stand with the round slab makes me nervous. I would rather opt for one sound, thick slab of wood - then carve our signature onto it that we have used throughout our stationary. Source: Etsy

Another way to display your food - I would love a few of those wooden square slabs to display our pre-made cocktails in mason jars. Source: Etsy

I think this is a great rustic way to display bar options!! Source: Style Me Pretty

I love this food display! It is so simple, but makes a statement. This wedding was fabulous and you should definitely check out all of their awesome ideas using the source link :-) Source: Green Wedding Shoes

Brazos Valley Bridal Show Spring 2012

         Our final two vendors are paid for!! YAY! Below is our FINAL vendors list:

Location {Ceremony & Reception}:
Double Creek Crossing - the fabulous owner: Leah



Entrance to Double Creek Crossing



Looking over to the reception area from the ceremony area

Looking out over the reception area and surrounding land from the entrance of the reception area

Photographer:

Michelle Peyronet with Peyronet Photography

Videography:
Cinema Candy


Rachel & Ryan from Cinema Candy on Vimeo.
A video clip from a wedding at Double Creek Crossing by Cinema Candy
        We were so excited to book Cinema Candy! Our alcohol bill came back $1,000 cheaper (Yea if you know us, it is probably hard to believe it came back $1,000 cheaper and not $1,000 over lol) We hadn't budgeted for a videographer and were having major regrets from what we heard from others - so when we stumbled upon Cinema Candy at the Bridal Show we handed over our credit card without hesitation and booked them! So excited!!! :-)


Rentals/Wedding Planner/Wedding Coordinator:
Lacey Baze with Details

Wedding assisted by Details at Double Creek Crossing

Caterer:
Buppy's
Finally booked the caterer at the show too! We are excited to have Buppys cater our rehearsal dinner and reception dinner - they are phenomenol with fabulous food choices. We will have a split menu to cater to our theme of "City Girl Meets Country Boy" - Pecan Crusted Fried Chicken vs. Grilled Salmon with sides to match! Can't wait!


Alcohol:
JJ's

Luke with JJ's will be helping us provide our specialty cocktail served in Mason Jars - Pumpkin Mojito

Cake:
Cinderella Stories

Photo "booth":
MyLivePhotos

We loved this concept because you can fit more people into the shot! Its a backdrop with a flat screen TV facing you to see, either you can click the hand held clicker to snap photos or the attendant can, then there is also a flat screen facing the party so they can see what you are doing - while photos aren't being taken, the ones already taken are on a slide-show mode. Photos are then made available immediately online that night for direct downloading. Props and different color backdrops available :-)

So there you go! Of course floral and stationary will be done by myself and fabulous family/friends - so stay tuned for those as they begin falling into place. <3

Homemade Beer!

          My fiance is a beer-lover to say the least. He tries a new beer any chance he gets, & seeks out every micro-brewery he can find when we go on vacation. On our Colorado road trip back in 2009 I am pretty sure we went to ~7 microbreweries  - & he tried each beer they had at each one. lol I indulged & tried a few as well, but the higher alcohol content + the higher altitude put me on my butt after just one. :-P
         This Christmas I had wanted to buy him a home-made beer kit so he could brew his own beer. After searching & searching I came across the perfect one at William Sonoma while shopping for my Dad's Christmas gift, Brooklyn BrewShop. Unfortunately, Henry was with me at the time so I had to buy it while he was there. Let me explain - living in Cleburne we have to drive 30-60 minutes to reach a decent mall - more of about 60 to get to a William Sonoma. Now multiple places have beer kits, but William Sonoma had a beer-kit with a GLASS fermenting jar - that is the biggest difference. However, Henry was not allowed to use the beer-kit until Christmas day. :-)
          We finally got a free weekend to get the process started - while I up-cycled an old kitchen light frame, Henry started on his home brew. :-) I took some photos along the way. It will be 4 weeks until we can actually try the beer to see if it was a fail or success. :-) 

Making the "mash" 

Straining the hops - putting the brew into the fermentor

Adding yeast to the brew

The set-up for fermentation - blow-off tube in sanitized water so the jar won't blow-up as the yeast ferments, & to prevent contamination from entering the tube into the brew, therefore killing the yeast - that would be no good!

         Now the fun of waiting 3 days before the next step!

Pumpkin Mojito Recipe

           I love fall, mojitos, and pumpkins!!! So naturally when I saw a Pumpkin Mojito recipe my jaw immediately dropped and I fell in love. Straight from work I went to Two Bucks Liquor, taste tested about 5 different shots of alcohol, bought my rum and headed home to make my mojitos. They were - are - delicious, I am currently drinking it.

          For those of you who love all things pumpkin, here is the recipe!

Ingredients/Instruments:

• 5 oz white rum - I chose Matusaiem Platino Rum - closest rum we could find that tastes like the rum Henry had in Cuba (yes Cuba, but that is for a later story)
• 40 mint leaves
• 4 Tbsp Pumpkin Butter - We could not find it in August so we used Pumpkin Pie Mix Spiced
• Juice of 2 limes
• 4 Tbsp Brown Sugar
• 8 oz Club Soda
• Muddler
• Mojito glasses

Serving Size: 2 nice, strong glass fulls

Directions:

Muddle mint leaves, sugar and lime juice. Add rum, pumpkin and club soda. Mix well, add ice, garnish with extra mint leaves and ENJOY!

The great thing about this is the perfect caramel like taste the brown sugar provides - the pumpkin appeals more to your sense of smell as you sip the drink, only lightly adding flavor without overpowering the original mojito flavor. And of course it gives it the fall orange color :-)

Variations:

• add 2 extra Tbsp of Pumpkin Pie Mix
• Substitute Pumpkin Pie mix with Pumpkin pie liqueur (which usually isn't in season now during August, but can be specially ordered if you ask!) We will be trying this whenever it comes in. :-)

Have any fall cocktails you love? Feel free to share!! <3