Pizza Party!
I have always loved to make my own homemade pizza, dough and all, and one of the first gifts Brad bought me when we were dating was a pizza making set from Williams-Sonoma. We have a lot of fun making pizzas and coming up with creative toppings.
Brad's parents are hosting a rehearsal dinner for us (thanks, Dee and Dick!), which will be a great opportunity to spend time with family and out-of-town guests the night before the wedding. For our rehearsal dinner we really wanted to do something unique, and wanted to keep things very casual. Brad found this mobile pizza maker, Basic Kneads, which we think will be really fun. They'll park a converted FedEx truck that's outfitted with a wood fired pizza oven in front of our house, and guests can walk up and order their customized pizza any way they like. As a couple who fancies ourselves as keeping up with the latest food trends, we're excited to showcase Denver's hot street food scene for our guests. They've also got a 5-star rating on Yelp, with uniformly excellent reviews. Great find, Brad!
There will be some antipasti and a green salad to balance out the meal. Beer will come from a keg of Peroni in our home bar; keeping with the Italian theme. And of course there will be wine. Lots of wine.
Brad's parents are hosting a rehearsal dinner for us (thanks, Dee and Dick!), which will be a great opportunity to spend time with family and out-of-town guests the night before the wedding. For our rehearsal dinner we really wanted to do something unique, and wanted to keep things very casual. Brad found this mobile pizza maker, Basic Kneads, which we think will be really fun. They'll park a converted FedEx truck that's outfitted with a wood fired pizza oven in front of our house, and guests can walk up and order their customized pizza any way they like. As a couple who fancies ourselves as keeping up with the latest food trends, we're excited to showcase Denver's hot street food scene for our guests. They've also got a 5-star rating on Yelp, with uniformly excellent reviews. Great find, Brad!
There will be some antipasti and a green salad to balance out the meal. Beer will come from a keg of Peroni in our home bar; keeping with the Italian theme. And of course there will be wine. Lots of wine.
Dessert
We haven't yet decided what to do for dessert. We're considering making "muds" an ice cream concoction from Brad's childhood. (Not a mud pie.) But we're concerned it'll be too messy and require too much hands-on time, which would interfere with us just hanging out with and enjoying our guests.
The other idea we have is for me to make a giant s'mores cake. I found a recipe for the cake pictured at left on Sweet Tooth. I've made s'mores cupcakes from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes cookbook. They were really good and don't use convenience ingredients like jarred marshmallow fluff or pre-packaged brownie mix. (I'm not big on using processed ingredients in my baking.)
So my plan is to test out a combination of these two recipes. The graham cracker cookie bar from the Sweet Tooth recipe is probably needed for stability, but I'd like to fill it with the homemade chocolate ganache and marshmallow from Martha's recipe. It may take a few tries to get it just right--I hope Brad doesn't mind being my guinea pig. :)
The other idea we have is for me to make a giant s'mores cake. I found a recipe for the cake pictured at left on Sweet Tooth. I've made s'mores cupcakes from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes cookbook. They were really good and don't use convenience ingredients like jarred marshmallow fluff or pre-packaged brownie mix. (I'm not big on using processed ingredients in my baking.)
So my plan is to test out a combination of these two recipes. The graham cracker cookie bar from the Sweet Tooth recipe is probably needed for stability, but I'd like to fill it with the homemade chocolate ganache and marshmallow from Martha's recipe. It may take a few tries to get it just right--I hope Brad doesn't mind being my guinea pig. :)
Another dessert idea, individual red velvet cake parfaits. I just love the way these look. If I don't make them for our RD, they'll definitely be kept on the list for some future party.
Cake Topper
I bought this tandem bicycle cake topper from etsy seller heatherboyd and love it. It ties in perfectly with our invitations. We're going to use it on the rehearsal dinner cake (if we have an actual cake), and will probably display it on the cake table at the reception.
Take Home Treats -- Whoopie Pies
This great idea came from the September 2011 Brides board (The Knot) moderator Love is Bald. I am also an avid baker and could have a lot of fun with this. My thought is to package them in wax paper sleeves (like bakeries use for cookies), sealed with a sticker that says "Kathleen and Brad are Getting Married Tomorrow! Whoopie!!" I've been experimenting with recipes, and have found I can make these a few days in advance as they keep very well.
