Last week I pretty much brain dumped everything I know about alcohol and weddings into one big post over at A Practical Wedding. This is one of the topics clients ask me about the most, so hopefully will be helpful to everyone out there currently planning!

photo: Hart & Sol West

Hog Island Oyster bar? Yes please.

The wedding was catered by Back to Earth, who are incredibly… incredible. Pulling off an event like this without an onsite kitchen isn’t easy, and they more than rose to the occasion.

We worked with Impact Lighting (who are great) to illuminate this entirely-outdoor wedding, and they did an amazing job developing a custom plan for the property (and bringing in a truly silent generator to power it all.)

Congratulations again you two!

photos: the awesome Gabriel Harber

I planned Alissa and Alex’s wedding last year, and I was so thrilled to find out this winter that she’s pregnant with their first baby, who’s due in mid-July.

I’ve known Alissa since I was seventeen (I dated a close childhood friend of hers, and she and I stayed friends after he and I broke up, although it’s worth noting that he and I are still friends as well) and it has been a total joy for me to have had her in my life for the last eleven years. I’m pretty sure I told her that I wanted to throw her a shower approximately 30 seconds after she told me she was pregnant – what can I say, I really love parties.

I’m not a big fan of booze at baby showers (it just seems… slightly mean to drink when the guest of honor can’t?) so we settled on afternoon tea. My parents have an amazing garden, and my fingers were crossed that the weather would be nice enough to hold the party there, and I totally lucked out. The day was unseasonably warm and gorgeous for April, and it ended up being more of an “iced tea” party than a traditional one.

We kept things relatively small (20 guests) and simple  – no games, just eating, socializing, and gift-opening. I didn’t want to go too traditional (aka cutesy) on the color scheme or decor, so ended up with grey, blue, and orange, with touches of gold. The dinosaurs were way too much fun to make, and were a big hit (many of them were gone by the end of the shower – they ended up acting as impromptu favors.)

It was really lovely to spend time with a group of women who were all invested Alissa & Alex’s lives. I cannot wait to hold their baby boy later this summer!

all photos: Emily Takes Photos. You can see more pictures from the shower, as well as some maternity shots of Alissa, on Emily’s blog.

When I don’t feel that I can really help someone in a concrete way, I end up baking a lot – it’s a particular kind of stress release that makes me feel like I’m at least helping… in thought. A good friend of mine is in middle of what’s turned out to be a long hospital stay, and I’ve turned into somewhat of a cookie baking machine – I think I’ve made about 30 dozen cookies in the last ten days (most of them have gone to the nursing staff at the hospital.) I don’t eat chocolate, and so when I got a request for “peanutish chocolatish” cookies I put out a twitter ask for suggestions. My friend Kate came through with the recipe below (chocolate cookies pictured above) which is one she adapted from a Hershey’s recipe, and I’ve now gotten three separate requests for a copy of it. So while I haven’t eaten them myself, I have it on multiple authorities that they’re great. They’re also very, very easy. Recipe below the jump!

Chewy Chocolate cookies with Peanut Butter (Kate’s notes are in parenthesis, mine are in italics)

yield: 4.5 dozen (I’ve gotten 6 dozen per batch twice now)

1 1/4 c softened butter
2 c sugar
2 eggs
2t vanilla
2 c unsifted flour
3/4 c cocoa powder (ya know, NOT the hot chocolate mix… pref. hershey’s, actually, but whatever you have on hand or is easy!)
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1+ c either peanut butter chips (kinda hard to find!), reese’s pieces (or mini reese’s pieces, if those are real), or tiny peanut butter cups (available at Trader Joe’s! personal fave.) (I’ve been using one container of the TJ’s mini pb cups)

Cream butter and sugar well.
Add eggs and vanilla. Blend.
Combine dry ingredients (except peanut buttery thing) in another bowl.
Blend dry ingredients into creamed ingredients.
Stir in peanut buttery thing.
Drop by teaspoonful onto ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake at 350 (preheated) for 8 to 9 minutes.
Do not over-bake. They will be soft.
They will puff during baking and will flatten when cool.
Cool on pan for a minute (I’ve found cooling on pan for 5-7 min is better), then move to wire rack to cool completely.

I started with this recipe from Mark Bittman, and it’s pretty delicious as is, but the best part is that it is SO easy to modify. My favorite (and almost always the biggest hit) flavor of crackers to make is lemon-pepper – simply halve the amount of parmesan cheese, add lemon zest from either 2-3 large lemons or 4-5 small ones, and a really generous amount of rough ground black pepper. Other great additions: sage, rosemary (add the fresh herbs to the food processor before the liquid,) sesame and/or poppy seed (add a handful to the dough and then press more into the top before baking.) I’ve also replaced half the cheese with slivered almonds before, and while it doesn’t make much of a flavor different, it makes the texture a little more crumbly, which is actually somehow great.

*note: you need a food processor for these. also: food processors rock.

That’s the Roli Roti truck you see in the photo, and let me tell you – the food was killer. I eat a lot of catered food, and it competed with some of the best. More photos to come!

I mean, come on, that looks delicious. Right?

photo: Jelly Shot Test Kitchen: Jell-ing Classic Cocktails-One Drink at a Time via Martha Stewart Weddings

I just switched over to summer shades, and am especially loving the two I have on right now: Essie’s Punchy Pink on my toes (it is so neon that literally almost glows in the dark, and as such is hard to photograph) and Chanel’s Mimosa on my fingers, which really is kind of the perfect shade of yellow. It also happened to match the best macaron I’ve ever had in my life (and yes, I have been to Paris) from the Indie Cakes & Pastries booth at Art Murmur this weekend. The cookie pictured is passionfruit, although I also tried their strawberry lemonade & pistachio. All of them were to die for, and I’m currently trying to figure out how to afford having a steady stream delivered to my front door.

Have a favorite summer nailpolish color or secret source for macarons? Don’t hoard your sources, leave a comment below!

*I’m generally more of a snacker than a meal eater. It works well with my kind-of-hungry-all-the-time-but-not-very-hungry-anytime appetite. And with the fact that I work from home, but have lots of on-site client meetings, which means a) I don’t have a set schedule and b) it’s usually easier to just grab something small every few hours/when I get a chance than it is to try and build times for actual meals into my day.