Bello Photography Buzz – bellophoto.net | Facebook

One of our favorite wedding photogs, Christine and Andy provide a great mix of wedding and just plain fun photos on their blog!

Desiree Spinner - desireespinnerevents.com/blog/ | Facebook

Desiree is a local event planner and always gives us great inspiration on her blog with a mix of wedding, food and design posts sure to get your creativity spinning!

Northern Images Studio280 Photography - studio280photography.com | Facebook

Destination photographer Tom Davis shows plenty of Cape Cod weddings on his blog but he also gives us shots of warmer climates during the cold Cape Cod winters, and for that we thank him!

Style Me Pretty - stylemepretty.com | Facebook

Style Me Pretty is one of the best wedding blogs out there and they have a category focused on Cape Cod weddings showcasing some of the fabulous events around the Cape!

Have a favorite wedding blog we missed? Let us know about it in the comments so we can keep up!

For being so active and helping us get such a great turnout for our first contest, the other six contestants will receive a $100 of f their wedding cake. Thanks to all the contestants and voters!

For all of our couples (or soon to be couples!), check out our newly engaged checklist with tips and guidance for planning your wedding. Our next post on how to choose the right vendors will be live this weekend — stay tuned!

Final results:

We are so excited for those brides and grooms getting engaged this holiday season. To help keep warm as the snow approaches and inspire a few “I do”s, check out this video of Ashleigh and Henry’s wedding at the Mack House we catered back in September.

A special thanks to Damon Dietz from Absolute Media Productions for the video. Great work!

Truly, a fairy tale wedding!

Last night, I had the distinct pleasure of introducing Massachusetts Senate President Therese Murray at her re-election campaign kick-off fundraiser. Terry and I have been friends for a long time and have done great work together helping improve the education system in Massachusetts. The Senator is also a strong advocate of health insurance reform, a very important issue for me, as a small business owner.

The fundraiser took place at the Brookside Club in Bourne – a truly beautiful venue. With speeches, schmoozing, great food and almost every elected Democrat in the state, the night could not have gone better!

Go Terry!

Un-Birthday Mini Cupcakes

Queen of Hearts Tarts
Heart-Shaped Raspberry Tarts

Cheshire Smiles Shortbread

Jam Tomorrow Scones

Rabbit Treats
Ginger & Carrot Cream on Date Nut Bread
Cucumber & Mint Tea Sandwiches
Curried Chicken & Apricot Puffs

House of Cards
Diamond, Heart & Spade Shaped Tea Sandwiches
Peanut Butter & Jam, Egg Salad, Ham & Cheese

Lemonade, Iced Tea & Brewed Tea

And take a look at the decor!

Here is some more information about Hidden Hollow:

Proceeds from the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party went to Hidden Hollow, Heritage Museums and Gardens’ Family Adventure Garden. Specifically designed for families with children ages 3-8, this new space will open to the public on April 1, 2010 and will feature several activity areas, including a tree house, large outdoor instruments, a nature art table, block building, sand play, a worm farm, fort building, an amphitheater, and places to climb, crawl, play and learn while enjoying nature together.

Research shows that children benefit greatly from experiencing the natural world and that these benefits have a lasting impact, especially when positive outdoor experiences come at an early age. You have likely noticed yourself, however, that children in today’s world are growing increasingly disconnected from nature. The mission of Hidden Hollow is to reconnect children with the natural world by making developmentally appropriate nature education an enriching part of the lives of our visitors. In addition to being a lot of fun, we are hoping that Hidden Hollow will be the first certified Nature Explore Classroom in New England. This national initiative, sponsored by the Arbor Day Foundation and Dimensions Educational Research Foundation, recognizes organizations that have made a commitment to providing outdoor spaces and programming to help children use the natural world as an integral part of learning.

Congrats to Heritage Museums and Gardens on a successful event!

Each summer we get the whole gang together to remember what’s important. And let me tell you, there is no question that we are a BIG Italian family!

That’s me right down front with the kids. And it seems like we have a growing number of the Fam working here at The Casual Gourmet. My sister Mary (right in the center) is my Operations Manager and my son Dave (taking the picture) is my IT & Marketing Manager.

And in case you have ever wondered who caters the caterer’s party… well it’s the caterer, of course! We had a fabulous meal of fresh fruit, orzo salad, roasted vegetables, shrimp salad and roasted tenderloin. All topped off with strawberry short cake!

It was a great day and we got lucky that the sun came out! Although the food was great, the people even better, everyone agrees that the best part was watching the little ones having fun!

The Festival kicked off on Sunday, May 31st with a Grand Opening Tasting at Rectrix Aerodome in Hyannis.  Casual Gourmet was proud to be a Silver Sponsor of the entire festival and was at Rectrix handing out some delicious 30th Anniversary cake and chatting with festival goers about our services.  (I even got to meet and chat with Billy Costa from “TV Diner” who served as Master of Ceremonies for the event!!)

Throughout the week Casual Gourmet also participated in Cultural Receptions from Provincetown to Falmouth, providing a cake at each.  At the Falmouth cultural reception, held at Highfield Hall,  we not only served cake but had a great food display which included Baja Fish Tacos, Spicy Avocado Pate and Crudite.

The week wrapped up with a Tasting Finale at Heritage Museums and Gardens in Sandwich where guests not only had a chance to sample food & wine but were able to wonder through the lovely gardens at Heritage.  While I was busy handing out cake to the many festival goers, not 200 yards away Casual Gourmet was also catering a wedding on the grounds of Heritage Museums & Gardens.  We were certainly thankful when the sun came out in the afternoon!

Here are just a few of the wedding cakes that went out and a couple of photos from the lovely wedding at Heritage:

Farmer's Market Tomato Salad

Spring at the Casual Gourmet means tasting, tasting and more tasting!

Each weekend Chef Robert has been extremely busy preparing a spectacular spread of hors d’oeuvres, salad and dinner entrees for our 2009 brides to taste.

Rosemary & Black Pepper Grilled Filet of Beef

Each bride chooses between 8-10 of our mouth watering butlered hors d’oeuvres in hope of narrowing their selection down to the 5 or 6 that will be served on their special day.

One or two fabulous salads come next, then it is onto the main entree.  Whether the bride may be interested in a plated dinner, a buffet or a station party, Chef Robert prepares bountiful

Assorted Cupcakes

portions for them and their loved ones to try and discuss.

As a finale, we treat all brides to a variety of cake and filling flavors that they can choose from for their wedding cake.

If you are a 2009 Casual Gourmet bride and have not scheduled a tasting call us today!

CATIEs are awarded by the International Caterer’s Association, the preeminent organization of catering professionals,
with more than 1,000 members worldwide.

It’s an honor to just be nominated for this prestigious award.

Enjoy photos from this remarkable event! (And check back at the end of the Month to see if we’ve won!