Catering - Confirmed yay

We locked in our caterers over the weekend, Hot Rock Events + Catering, they will be providing our canapes, soup stations, and wedding cake!

Hot Rock Events + Catering are based in Merewether, Newcastle, run by husband & wife team Michael & Melissa Carroll.

Hot Rock Events + Catering

I had been emailing back and forth with Melissa re options, and then Mr Mel and I went for a taste test a few weeks back.  The food was just delicious and both Melissa & Michael were lovely, very laid back, and interested in what we're trying to achieve with our food.

When we arrived we had thought we'd do canapes, then a spit, but after a bit of brainstorming, we ended up going with canapes and a hot soup station, as it will be winter, soup should hit the spot!

At this stage we're tossing up between 9 and 12 canapes and a hot box of either rissotto or noodles, or fish & chips, per person, plus soup, bread rolls etc.

Hot Rock will also provide our wedding cake, we've decided to go with a cupcake stand, in keeping with our 'finger food' theme, with a small top cake that we will use to cut.

We're yet to decide the flavours and colours, but we're thinking we'll probably use the green from the flower scheme we're leaning to 

Flower scheme - cake colours probably going to be in same range

We've paid our deposit and have a few months to finalise the menu, which is good as we're having trouble whittling down what we'll go with!

We can choose between:

Served cold

Assorted sushi- nori omelettes, Atlantic salmon + cucumber, poached chicken with avocado
Rare peppered beef with baby spinach + parmesan on a crouton
Smoked salmon on a pancake with sour cream + chives
Prawn cocktail with seafood sauce in filo cup
Thai style prawn, pork + chicken on fresh pine apple + watermelon
Fresh soft cheese (or goats cheese), roasted tomato + basil tartlets
Greek salad skewers - olive, feta, cherry tomato, cucumber + lemon thyme
Poached chicken, apple, celery + walnut ‘Waldorf’ on costini
Mediterranean frittata topped with onion cream + olive
Sesame cracker with tofu, avocado + coriander

Served Hot

Spicy lamb meat balls with garlic + yogurt
Thai fish cakes with cucumber dipping sauce
Chicken san choy Bau
Pumpkin + sage risotto balls
Polenta wedges topped with pesto+ roasted capsicum
Zucchini flowers filled with ricotta, sundried tomatoes + basil (summer time only)
Savoury tartlets with pistachio nuts + blue cheese
Mini beef pies with tomato sauce
Mini sausage rolls with tomato sauce
Mini hamburgers with slow cooked onions, tomato, lettuce + bbq sauce
Spinach + cheese filo triangles

Standing Dishes

Noodle Boxes:
Thai style glass noodle salads:
Avocado + Tofu/Chicken/Beef/Pork/Duck/King Prawn

Paper Cones:
Crumbed or Battered Fish + Chips – tartare + lemon
Salt + Pepper Squid with shoe string potatoes

Bowls:
Risotto:
Chicken, mushroom + shallot
Lemon thyme, prosciutto, pecorino + goats cheese
King Prawn + pea risotto with basil + mint

Cous-Cous:
Fragrant lamb backstrap with pistachio, mint + saffron cous-cous
Grilled chicken breast with Mediterranean vegetable cous-cous
Fried five spice fish pieces with cucumber + garlic yoghurt with plain cous-cous

So as you can see the choices are staggering! Wish us luck!  :)  I'll get into cake options on another post!

Flower Scheme

After much googling to see what flowers are in season in Winter, we, well let's be honest, I (poor Mr Mel has little input on it heehee) have decided on our flowers for our surprise wedding.

Because it will be end of July, mid winter, we're going with a white and pale green theme, and I just adore the floral display below from Lily And Rose.

Green Cymbidium Orchids, Leucodendrons and Dodder Vine

At this stage we're going to have mainly white, with pale green features, through flowers, and maybe seat sashes and/or tablecloths for the cocktail tables & stools.

An update on progress so far, given it's just over 5 months till d-day!!

Catering - we're meeting with our preferred caterer this Saturday at their kitchen near Newcastle

Decoration - I've received a few quotes, and will visit the showroom of a local supplier to have a look at options, she has decorated the Hall for previous weddings, so it will be great to get some input.

Also scanning Ebay to see if any deals on fairy lights to hang on the ceiling of the verandah and in the hall itself.

Catering

Our plan is to cater cocktail style, with a couple of servers wandering the crowd with plates of canapes, as I've mentioned earlier it's the first time our families will meet, so we want some serious mingling, and I don't think that would happen at the usual sit down dinner reception.

We're getting quotes from 5 local caterers, and have 1 hot favourite at the moment.

They're doing either 9 or 12 canapes per head, plus cream, fresh berries, coulis to be served with the wedding cake, plus coffee & tea for $21 or $25 per head, depending on which way we go. Plus they'll provide 2 servers, 1 kitchen hand and a barman for the night, for an additional fee.

We're going to their kitchen at Merewether next week for a tasting, then to sign up!

Examples of canapes we'll be having

Then we're looking at getting a spit roast, at around $10 per head, meat only, we'll do our own salads.

The Hall has tressle tables & chairs available as part of the hire fee, so we'll set up a few tressle tables, for salads, coffee, tea, drinks, and have chairs setup inside, on the verandah, and on the lawn, so people can still sit, but just not sit and not talk to anyone bar their neighbour :)

We're hoping the wedding/party will run from 3pm till early hours of Sunday morning, so want to ensure everyone is well fed, especially given it will be the middle of winter!

We will provide all of our own drinks, with the caterer providing a barman for 5 hours, then it will be help yourself type setup.

I'll post the list of canapes, plus a better idea of the overall costings for the food, once we've confirmed the caterer we're going with.