When our old friend Christy Roper invited us to have lunch with Bricklane Catering’s owner and executive chef, all four of us (me, Ashley Wenz, Ellen Robinson and Katie Huebel) cleared our schedules in a skinny minute and were thrilled to try out a fantastic “new” caterer in town!

The food was absolutely bursting with flavor and yet also so clean and concise in its presentation. Would you care to hear what we had? Here’s the fabulous menu:

First Course

Yellow Grape Tomato Panzanella Stuffed Johns Island Tomato

Baby English Cucumbers, African Blue Basil, Fresh Mozzarella,

Balsamic Soy Glaze, EVOO

(DELICIOUS. We all cleared our plates. Nothing wrong with this kind of thing, and the chef made sure to note that he had grown the tomatoes and basil himself. Love that.)

Second Course

Quatre Épice Rubbed Breast of Duck

Curried Quinoa Salad, Turkish Apricot, Poached Black Cherry, Radish Sprouts, 

Sweet Indonesian Soy

(I didn’t even know I liked duck before this… so tender and perfect. I’m also a huge quinoa fan so this was right up my alley)

Third Course

Pan Seared Pork Tenderloin

Butternut Squash Puree, Sautéed Baby Yellow Beets, Purple Fingerling Potatoes,

 White Truffle Black Pepper Madeira Demi-Glace

(Can I be perfectly honest… I had never had sous vide-cooked meat before. I always run from it ever since my favorite Top Chef Carla totally blew it in the finals with her sous vide steak that the judges hated. But this has made me a believer. Absolutely delicious.)

Fourth Course

Belgian Chocolate Bourbon Mousse

Raspberries, Grand Marnier Pastry Cream, Tangerine Coulis,

Pistachio Brittle, Red Velvet Dust

WHAT a meal… thanks so much to the Bricklane Catering folks!!!

(all photos from Bricklane except the last, from our iphones

At this backyard wedding in Darlington, SC. TEC did this fabulous lighting and the beautiful bride Chelsea and her family basically did all the rest… they made their own linen, the bride crafted her beautiful bouquet… pretty awesome.  The rain came down that night but when the skies cleared, Josh Drake was able to capture these incredible photos of each one of their guests (including myself!) having a blast.

How amazing!

Love these two…

Gosh, we love The Wedding Row. Della always writes up the most inspiring posts and we so very much appreciate the shout outs! THANK YOU!

She just posted a two-part blog post on the rehearsal dinner and wedding of a fabulous couple, Katie and Jason. They were so laid back, so family-oriented and yet also sophisticated and cool. I miss their whole family!

Take a look at the blog posts here and here… Richard Ellis documented the day to perfection.

The rehearsal at Mingo Point:

And the gorgeous wedding at The Sanctuary:

Richard Ellis and his crew were amazing- we appreciate the beautiful photos!

Last week we stopped by The Beaufort Inn for a quick lunch at their restaurant Southern Graces and were completely wowed by what Chef Christopher Hewitt created! Isn’t that the best… to go out for a quick lunch and then leave feeling like you just had a gourmet meal?

The food was so pretty that we took out our phones to take photos- ha! Here is the BEAUTIFUL and delicious “Vertical Cobb Salad:”

“A dramatic stacked salad with layers of avocado, tomato, eggs, bacon, blue cheese and fried shrimp with black pepper buttermilk dressing.” Yes, please!

Another winner was the “Beaufort Bay Shrimp Wrap:”

“Fresh local shrimp stuffed with sausage and lump crab meat wrapped in a wonton skin and flash fried- Served with Garlic Sweet and Spicy sauce. A Three-time winner at the Beaufort Shrimp Festival!”

The restaurant offers a truly diverse menu (I was also eyeing the montecristo sandwich, cheerwine BBQ and fried green tomato and pimiento cheese BLT)- if you’re in Beaufort, you will definitely want to make a stop.

We also were able to spend a few minutes with The Beaufort Inn’s event director Juliann Myers, a total sweetheart and amazing event manager for the space. The Beaufort Inn and their additional venues hosts all kinds of events from bridesmaids brunches to weddings and everything in between. Make sure to check it out here!

How fun is this!!!

Our BEAUTIFUL bride Ashley Grant is going to be featured on Say Yes to the Dress: Atlanta. Aren’t she and her mom the cutest??

I wonder how Monti was in real life…

We’ll keep you posted on when her episode airs… how fun.

You may remember our little write up on our good friends Erin and Tyler’s wedding here…

We just got their photos back from Caroline and I am pretty excited to share them with you. Stunning work, Caroline!

Elizabeth Jones calligraphed Erin’s invitations and they were printed by a personal friend. There’s just nothing wrong with a hand-written note that looks like this:

The groom’s two children were included in every aspect of the wedding day. it was truly a family affair and I’m honestly not sure who had more fun- Erin and Tyler or the kids. Here they are with their sweet dad waiting for the ceremony to begin…

Sweet kiss! Mary Scott’s dress matched Erin’s going-away dress at the end of the night and I know that little lady felt extra special to share something with the bride.

The handsome men:

Erin’s flowers were done by Hunter of SYG Designs… extra special because Hunter is also a dear friend of the bride’s and also was able to attend the wedding and reception after setting up with us all day.

The ceremony was held in the lovely courtyard of the Confederate Home on Mother’s Day, which was purposeful to honor the bride’s mother who is no longer with us, but surely would have been as proud as we all were of her beautiful daughter on her wedding day.

Precious:

Erin used silhouettes throughout the wedding (inspired by a wallpaper she found on anthropologie that we incorporated)

(There’s the paper on CB2 acrylic trays that we bought… and on top are champagne cocktails with homemade honeydew puree made by the groom, who just so happens to be the Executive Chef of the Daniel Island Club. YUM)

The wedding “cake” was traded out for three gorgeous coconut cakes from Peninsula Grill, which was served after dinner with a fresh berry compote (again, created by the groom!). The cake plates were used the night before at the rehearsal dinner BBQ for the cupcakes and then re-purposed for the wedding. Love that.

The main room in the space is a looonnngggg room and we played this up by seating everyone at two long tables. Guests either sat at the “Tyler” table or the “Erin” table as designated by each person’s silhouettes that we framed and scattered down each table. Clever, if you ask me.

Burlap runners and green water glasses from Snyder Event Rentals added a little somethin’ somethin’, too.

Granville‘s served a fantastic, Southern-modern dinner that was served family style. It made for lots of talking and mingling between guests, even ones who may not have met before the wedding. What a great alternative to the more formal sit-down dinner. The meal really becomes a part of the night’s entertainment!

During the dinner we transformed the cocktail space into a little lounge area for some gelato-eating and bluegrass-dancing. TEC strung a few lights over our space and it was perfect.

At the end of the night guests through benne seeds at the newlyweds as they simply ran off to their nearby downtown hotel. Romantic.

I mean really, if they are not the cutest little family you have ever seen than I can’t help you.

Thanks for  letting us be a part of your wedding weekend!

Ok, so she’s not OFFICIALLY a supermodel… yet.

But I’d say with these kind of photos she needs to get on the modeling track real quick, huh? Mrs. Ashley Eil looked absolutely stunning this past weekend even amid the absolutely torturous heat. You’d never know it was 110 degrees with these photos from the wonderful Josh Drake…

I love that she played up her height and gorgeous figure with a more form-fitting gown. What a stunner!

(getting make up from another tall supermodel-type, Leslie Moore. Love her!)

WOW.

love this girl! happy honeymooning… I am sure you are knocking the socks off those Italians