When we arrived Wednesday afternoon, we jumped in our rental car and headed directly over to Chantilly Cakes for our cake tasting! Yahoo! I heart wedding cake!! This vendor comes highly recommended by our resort & florist, so I'm sure everything will be fabulous! We decided on a 3-tier cake with a variety of flavors. We were very pleased that we were able to wrap everything up at that appointment.
* Tier 1 - Almond and chocolate cakes with chocolate mousse filling
* Tier 2 - Amaretto liqueur and raspberry swirl cakes with vanilla mousse filling
* Tier 3 - Red velvet cake with cream cheese filling
We then headed to The Sandpearl. We were so excited to be actually staying where we will be married in a few short months! It gave us a better chance to explore the resort and get to know the staff. One of my favorite things about the resort is that all guests are offered champagne or mimosas on arrival! (You know I LOVE champagne!!)
We had a great view from our room onto the pool and beach areas. It was a rainy, cloudy day when we arrived but everything still looked beautiful!
Here's a few pics of our room. I completely love the in-room Keurig and sanitized remote (which they do every day in addition to their twice-a-day room service)!
Soon after we arrived we had a lovely surprise from our resort wedding coordinator, Michelle...champagne & cheese! We could not have been more please with our arrival!!
After devouring the cheese plate and exploring the resort a bit, we decided to take a walk on the beach in hopes of catching a good sunset. Unfortunately, it was a bit too cloudy for a pretty sunset but we still had a nice stroll.
Thursday morning we headed next door to the Clear Sky Beach Cafe. We found this place when we were down here in March and love it. It's open for breakfast, lunch & dinner. For Sunday brunch they even have a bloody Mary bar. This cafe has good food and is reasonably priced...a great alternative to the higher-priced Caretta on the Gulf restaurant in the hotel. Here's a pic of the patio...
The remainder of Thursday afternoon we spent at the pool taking in the sun...and some drinks brought over by the pool waiters! LOVE!! Our food tasting was scheduled later that afternoon...and let's just say that guests attending our reception will not leave hungry! After the tasting I felt like I couldn't eat again until October!! Everything was fabulous! Here's what we tasted...and had choose from:
Hors d'oeuvres
* Bleu cheese & toasted walnut on cornbread crisp with honey drizzle
* Bacon-wrapped scallops
* Miniature crap cake
* Chorizo-stuffed mushroom with Parmesan
First Course
* Artichoke ravioli with chardonnay butter fondue & tomato basil jus
* Grilled lemon lobster on a porcini grit cake with saffron cream
Salad Course
* Arugula, spinach, bacon & pears with sherry maple vinaigrette & goat cheese souffle
* Heirloom tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, fennel salad, extra-virgin olive oil & creamy balsamic
Entree Course
* New York Strip with Cabernet demi
* Cocoa-encrusted filet
* Herb-seared grouper with lemon-beurre blanc
Such difficult choices! Luckily we get to have all of the hor d'oeuvres...and add a sushi station! Yahoo! We picked one from each of the first course & salad course...keeping it a secret. We also switched up the entree course to allow the guests an option between chicken, beef (NY strip) and seafood (Chilean sea bass). So excited for this meal...as you know we appreciate yummy food!!!
Friday morning we stopped at Starbucks in the hotel and then headed to our appointment with the florist, The Bride's Bouquet. This appointment also went fabulously. I can't wait to see the flowers, which we get to do the day before the wedding in case we want to change anything. After that we headed straight to the Sandpearl pool making a pit stop at Tate Grill (also on the resort) for a quick lunch. This beach grill is next to the pool/beach area and serves up some yummy eats! We'll be eating food from Tate's for dinner after the rehearsal the night before the wedding. Here's a couple of pics...
Friday night we headed to one of our other favorite beach grills that we found when we were here in March, The Palm Pavilion. It's a great place to watch the sunset. I failed to take pics of the place but managed a couple of us.
What a fabulous trip! We headed home Saturday evening after spending the morning at the pool! Thank goodness we were completely relaxed given we were delayed in Tampa for over an hour due to a storm, and received thoroughly soaked baggage upon our return to KC. Now it's back to reality and finalizing all those minute details that come along with a wedding. We cannot wait to share our special day with everyone!!!
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