The biggest cost of our wedding...

...is the food.

Today, we had a meeting with our reception hotel to try the food. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the food was so delicious, all of the choices. My favorite has got to be the hor oeuvres. Here are our menu breakdown:

Hor Deouvres (3 choices):

• Chicken Satay with Thai Peanut Sauce
• Grilled Teriyaki Beef Skewers
• Seared Sea Scallops Wrapped in Bacon

First Course

• Baby Greens with Cherry Tomatoes and Cucumbers Served with a Vinaigrette Dressing or Creamy Parmesan Dressing

Second Course:

• Panko Crusted Chicken Breast Stuffed with Spinach, Cheese and Pinenuts served with Yukon Gold Mashed Potatoes and Seasonal Vegetables, OR
• Sliced Beef Sirloin Served with Yukon Gold Mashed Potatoes and Seasonal Vegetables, OR
• Wild King Salmon and Pernod Rice Pilaf Served with Seasonal Vegetables and Red and Yellow Pear Tomato Vinaigrette

Third Course

• Wedding Cake

All courses served with fresh baked rolls and sweet butter. Freshly Brewed Regular and Decaffeinated Arabica Bean Coffee or Selection of Specialty Teas are also available.

Also, what came with our food package is two bottles of wine per table. We chose a Carbenet and sauvignon blanc. There is no corkage fee or cake cutting fee. Additionally, there is one hour of passed champagne during the cocktail hour. The price per person with all of the above is $65.95, with an additional sales tax of 8.25% and service fee of 22%.

With our guest list of 100 people, the total for food, including tax and service is approximately $8,700.

However, the package does not include other beverages, such as soda or ice teas. Since my family are big soda drinkers, we will have a soda station which will cost us $10 per pitcher. We're thinking we might need 20 to 30 pitchers which will add an additional $300-$400 bringing us to low $9,000. We are committed to a minimum food and beverage balance of $10,000. With that said, we will have a cash bar of which we will pay $1,000. I think this is a very reasonable balance for Northern California.

A big plus is that the hotel was recently renovated in November 2008 and the inside is very very modern. I love it!

I can't believe the wedding is coming together. There is so much to do left, yet the biggest items are all done. We also paid the remaining balance today of $4,500. It is the biggest expense we have left!

It's T minus 68 days from here on out.