food & an italian miracle

i went back and forth about food for the wedding.  it is such an important element...especially to me & patty!  growing up with my italian grandma was ripe with polenta, rizi & bizi (rice & beans, grandma-style), zucchini soup, homemade pasta & sauces and my favorite, green gnocci (gnocci with ricotta, spinach & ham...believe it or not, i've made a vegan version!).  anyway, not having a huge budget, my original idea for the wedding was a potluck.  i love the idea of our friends and family participating in the wedding.  one of the most special and amazing weddings i've ever attended was a pot luck.  i truly felt a "part of" and i wanted to create that feeling at our wedding.  that said, i didn't want to "force" or require anyone to do anything...so i decided on a hybrid: part catering, part pot-luck!

we'll see how it goes, but if there is even one pot-luck dish, i will be excited...some of our friends are amazing cooks!  as far as the catering goes, i resigned myself to adding it to the budget. well, here's where the italian miracle part comes in:  my dad offered to not only pay for the catering, but the alcohol as well!  my dad being the conservative, catholic italian man has had a hard time accepting this "gay daughter" thing...but what an amazing turn around!  we were not expecting our parents to help with the weddings at all, but what a wonderful gift!

i enlisted a friend, who is just starting her catering business (more on that later) to help out.  i want to keep it as organic and local as possible & i'm really excited to see what she comes up with.  

as far as alcohol goes, patty & i aren't really drinkers ourselves, but we thought we should provide for the guests.  i ordered some organic wines & beers from northern california & sent them to my brother & my dad to do a "taste test."  we also ordered an organic prosecco (an italian bubbly made in the region where my family is from)...we'll see what my dad thinks.  so we will have a red, a white, a beer and prosecco.  buon appetito!