Ah oysters — the food of love. Oysters have been worshiped by food enthusiasts throughout history. The Greeks served them with wine and the Romans so thoroughly adored oysters that they sent thousands of slaves to the shores of the English Channel to harvest them.

Hemingway wrote vividly about them in his memoir, A Moveable Feast: “As I ate the oysters with their strong taste of the sea and their faint metallic taste that the cold white wine washed away, leaving only the sea taste and the succulent texture, and as I drank their cold liquid from each shell and washed it down with the crisp taste of the wine, I lost the empty feeling and began to be happy and to make plans.”

Every oyster has its own unique flavor profile. Salty, sweet, some having undertones of cucumber, fresh melon, copper — all of these factors are dependent upon the waters in which they thrive. A little hip tip for an event — have a member of the catering team be on hand to serve and discuss which oysters the guests are eating. A little lesson never hurt anyone.

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Flowers? - check. Dress? - check. Shoes? - check. Groom - ? Let’s be honest for one itsy-bitsy minute - while the groom getting down on one knee started this whole process, once he stood back up it was your show. If that leaves him feeling a bit sour from the whole experience, at least consider sweetening him up with his very own cake! A groom’s cake is a sweet and touching custom that dates back to Victorian days. The unmarried women would take home a slice of the groom’s cake and place it under their pillows to help them dream of their own future husbands. It is a time-honored tradition that can easily be incorporated into any wedding (albeit without the sleeping bit - 500-count Egyptian cotton pillowcases don’t mix well with fondant.)

Cakes can be served either at the wedding reception or at the rehearsal dinner the evening before. If served at the reception, be sure to place his cake on a separate table apart from the wedding cake. Each cake deserves its own limelight.

Variety is the order of the day for the groom’s cake - chocolate, fruit, cheesecake, and red velvet are all the rage. But it’s not so much the taste as the cute, slightly gimmicky, maybe a bit tacky, but generally playful and irreverent approach to decorating it. In the midst of the very well orchestrated collection of colors, themes, and flowers that you’ve worked so fervently on, a cake themed after golf, fishing, or sports teams is a light-hearted way to create a non sequitur. But whatever you choose, keep it a secret. A surprise groom’s cake is a wonderful way to pay tribute to the man who has probably endured a lot during the wedding process and deserves his own special moment that he (and the guests) will always remember.

Make it cheeky, make it playful, but mostly make it all about him.

Does even the thought of the traditional reception make your collar start to tighten? Not all that excited about sitting at the bridal party table apart from all your guests? Skip the stress of picking out the menu and wine pairings, bypass any seating chart fiascoes, and avoid excessive formality by opting for a cocktail reception.

Cocktail receptions are a fresh, modern approach to the age-old dilemma of planning your post-ceremony festivities. They create a relaxed atmosphere where mingling rather than table hopping is the order of the day.

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