to market

If you've been reading awhile, you might recall one teeny tiny detail about our wedding that I haven't made much mention of here: My partner-in-crime and I are making most of the food for our seventy-some guests.

Before you start wringing your hands on our behalf, I'll stress the word most.  We are hiring someone else to roast the pig.  The original plan there was for my man and my foodie brother to roast the pig in a giant hole in my parents' backyard.  Somehow, my folks managed to talk us out of that one.

And dessert is definitely going to be a group effort.  My brother--off the hook with the whole pig thing now--is bringing a few pies.  My Aunt Kathy has pledged two sheet cakes.  "Our" cake--the one that will feature the little cake toppers I've been yammering on and on about--will be made my littlest sister.

Which mostly just leaves the easy stuff to us.  Potato salad, coleslaw, and corn muffins.  And a yet-to-be-determined vegetarian option.  (Yes, we know, the clock is definitely ticking on that one...)

We're using an old family stand-by for the slaw recipe, making the cornbread recipe from the 1976 edition of Joy of Cooking, and looking to Martha for some All-American Potato Salad.

So today, we hit the road with a battle plan, lots of spare shopping bags, and maybe a little bit of trepidation.  Our list looked something like this:

32 lbs potatoes

9 medium heads of cabbage

24 stalks celery

17 bell peppers

And so on.  I'm sure you get the idea.  In all honesty, the food shopping went better than I'd imagined.  We put the priority on local and organic and only had to make a few tough calls.  

Things on the drinks front, though, was a little more challenging.  Everyone on the Internet has advice for you on figuring out how much alcohol to buy to entertain a crowd of seventy people.  Nobody can help you calculate, though, how many people will prefer wine to beer, whether the Pinot Grigio will go down better than the Chardonnay, or who will turn their nose up at a perfectly good IPA.  There was a lot of guessing going on today.  A little bit of arguing and desperation, but mostly guessing.  And we're really, really hoping we guessed right.

We did get a little excited about the beer shopping, though, once we found the "Local Beer" section.  We bought a few "sampler" packs from Great Lakes Brewing Company, some Buckeye Beer, and a Cincinnati classic called Burger to help wrap things up at the end of the night.  We're happy to have lots of Ohio beer to serve at the party.

We were thrilled to see, though, when we finally returned from our shopping market extravaganza, that a nice little treat from Washington was waiting for us.

Our much-anticipated case of cider from Wildfire Cider has arrived! Ohio beer is great, but we're excited to be able to share a real taste of Washington with our wedding guests.  In fact, I very nearly cracked open the first bottle when I opened the box, but I managed to restrain myself.  I'll have to be very, very good about not sampling the wares before Saturday evening rolls around...

Tomorrow, we make the coleslaw.  Wednesday, the potato salad.  The corn muffins don't come until Friday.  Oh, and a vegetarian entree will have to get crammed in there somewhere, too.  Also, there's the pinata. And the pennants.  And I have an awesome new idea for the table numbers.

Nobody panic.  We've got a plan.  Really.

fresh

A few months ago, I had a chance encounter with a fellow bride-to-be who lives in my beloved Ballard neighborhood.  We're actually getting married on the same day in June--although our weddings will be two thousand miles apart.  She had a lot of beautiful ideas for her ceremony and reception, and by the end of the conversation, I was kind of wishing I could just skip my wedding and go to hers...

One of the most brilliant things she's done is to find a few of her "vendors" at our local farmers' market.  Both her "caterer" (a mobile wood-fired pizza operation) and her entertainment (some extra-talented buskers) are regulars at the Sunday market.  I was really taken by the idea--I cannot get enough of the market--and now whenever I'm on our weekly shopping trip, I start having fantasies of a "market wedding" of my own.

If you took it to an extreme--and I do adore extremes--you could really do this up.  Just imagine:  Obviously, you could find your wedding food at the market.  You could hit up one of the vendors for prepared meals, or get really nervy and put things together on your own.  For starters, I'd recommend some cheeses from Mt. Townsend Creamery, carrot crudites from Nash's, and maybe some wine from Seabreeze...

You could find your flowers here, of course.  Plenty of brides have rushed through the market on a Saturday morning--or sent a trusty bridesmaid--to pick up some fresh blooms for the afternoon wedding.  Depending on the time of year, you could also go with some seasonal fruits or veggies for centerpieces.  Heirloom pumpkins at a fall wedding?  Awesome.  Martha would totally approve.

When there's space for it, our market also hosts artists and craftspeople, along with the farmers.  That means you might be able to find your wedding jewelry here, too.  Handmade soaps for your bridesmaids?  Check.  Jars of gourmet hot sauce for the groomsmen?  Yup.

I know, I know.  Maybe I'm being a little gimmicky here, but I do think it's a really fun idea.  I hope there are brides out there somewhere doing something exactly like this.  In fact, I hope that someone is planning a wedding at their neighborhood market.  When you get right down to it, my favorite weddings are about food and community, and where better than the farmers' market to celebrate something like that?