CITY OF FLORISSANT SEWER BACKUP SUPPORT AND RESOURCE FAIR NOV....
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This Dining Diva Says ‘I Do!’ as the Newlyweds Host Backyard Reception
North County Businesses Play Big Role
By Lisa Kampeter
It just didn’t seem right if I skipped over a big Dining Divas event this year. The one where I turned in my Engaged Diva title for a Newlywed Diva one. After all, aside from the obvious sacred event of the nuptials, it was quite an outing for the Dining Divas, food and all.
My now Husband Diva and I had the added pressure of hosting our reception at our home…in a tent in the backyard. Great idea because then we could decide when we wanted the party to start and when we wanted it to end. Bad idea because there was a lot more extra work getting everything ready.
Fortunately, the Latecomer Diva used some vacation days right before the wedding to help us (along with many others) with all the preparations. The Social Diva was given the perfect responsibility…shopping! And she was in charge of the Bride Diva the day of the wedding. The Creative Diva shared her talents with some of the added details for the decorations. And several other Divas topped it all off with their culinary abilities; they baked the desserts for the reception.
You see, the Husband Diva and I didn’t follow many of the traditions your typical wedding would have. Being a more “mature” age, we didn’t think many of them were necessary. Like a traditional wedding cake. Don’t get me wrong. We love wedding cake and love when others have them at their weddings. We just wanted our cake to represent us. Like most everything else at our wedding. So the Dining Divas and some other friends volunteered to make our cakes and desserts that represented us the best. His favorite is his Mom’s rum cake recipe. My favorite is yellow cupcakes with chocolate icing. Nothing fancy but all us!
The Divas did not disappoint. Secretly, as I watched them serve dessert to the guests, I hoped we’d have lots of leftovers. All the desserts were delicious!
As I mentioned, we had the reception in our backyard. Ultimately, it turned out beautiful. In the process, we said “never again”. As a small business owner in Florissant (C. Wilson Land Maintenance), it was important for us to support North County businesses as much as possible when getting everything ready.
We had to lay sod over a big portion of the backyard (over our driveway), and we got that from Schroeder Sod Farm in Hazelwood. Our bushes and mulch came from Waldbart and Sons Nursery.
Our fall theme worked perfectly for our outdoor wedding. We planted mums throughout the property and used them as centerpieces on our tables. The mums we purchased were so beautiful and with the most vibrant colors, and thanks to Karen from Goeke’s Produce on St. Ferdinand for picking us out such lovely flowers.
It was great fun finding the great pumpkins and gourds at Theis Farms on Hanley and even more fun adding them to nature’s decorations. Of course, you can’t leave out the straw bales too, which we found at Handyman Hardware for a great price. And thanks to Meyers Farm for letting us cut down some cornstalks to use as well. These were just a few of the great small businesses in North County that made a big difference to us.
We’ve been together for almost a decade so I’d say we’re not the most traditional couple.
And our wedding wasn’t either. We didn’t have a wedding party, just a flower girl and a junior bridesmaid. I loved when people asked us “well, who would be your witnesses?” and our answer was “well, hopefully all of you at church. We were married at Sacred Heart in Old Town, and our florist Beth from Bloomers Florist told me the church is so beautiful, that I didn’t need to spend the extra money for elaborate flowers there. She kept her recommendations in my best interest. And our flowers were beautiful.
And speaking of Sacred Heart, I am so lucky to be a parishioner and to have been married at such a wonderful location. The musicians, the wedding coordinator, the servers, the clergy…they helped make everything so special and so sacred to us. If you haven’t been to a mass there, you should check it out. It really is all about community.
We used a local photographer, Mykaela Tinker, with AmberSky Photography and what a class act she was. Being that we didn’t want to do all things “traditional,” she had to be even more creative and patient.
When you plan an outdoor wedding at your home or any event for that matter, it sure is good to know you have people there handling the details. One big detail is the flow of cars and parking, and it was comforting to have help from reliable people and a group of friends from Busken Construction to handle it.
Teacher by day, DJ by night, Jason Betancourt of Crucial Entertainment was very entertaining with the music. And the group serenading this Bride Diva with the Carpenters “Close to You” was probably the highlight of the night for me. It used to be my signature song in my Single Diva days.
And being that this space is allocated for the Dining Divas, it’d be ridiculous if I didn’t talk about the food. But I saved it for last for a reason. Again, we didn’t go the traditional route on many things. And especially the food. We didn’t want your normal reception food. We wanted “fall” food that we loved. We had White Chicken Chili (just like my recipe and our favorite), Beef Chili, Macaroni and Cheese, Pulled Pork Sliders, Italian Beef Sliders, Salad, Green Beans, and Cornbread. Everything was wonderful! Thanks to Catering To You located on New Halls Ferry.
We love my white chicken chili recipe, and they did such a good job making it for 20 times the number of people I’ve ever made it for. Their beef chili was so good even my Dad said he’d wished he’d gone back for more. Lucky for him, we shared more with him the next day.
The sliders were just what we’d hoped for. Tasty and different and just enough of a meat and bread ratio to hit the spot. The salad was a great representation of what St. Louis salads are famous for. And when I said I wanted green beans, I said, “Like my Mom would make…not the fancy crunchy kind, but the good kind.” And Catering To You’s were better than good! Credit goes to Helfer’s for the amazing cornbread. It was so good it was like dessert! I had to hide some of those leftovers.
Catering To You did a phenomenal job with the food, with the service, and surprising to me at the end of the night when we retired into our home, with their cleanup! Our kitchen (and the rest of the house for that matter) looked great! They did such a great job making sure we didn’t have to do a thing and that we just enjoyed ourselves. And enjoy ourselves we did!
The Latecomer Diva’s husband said “Let’s do it again next year.” Probably not. But what we can guarantee is that we are going to continue to support local North County businesses. Why wouldn’t we? They helped us throw an amazing party…with Diva approval! In my book, you can’t get a better review than that. And hopefully, we’ll get invited to someone else’s catered party courtesy of Catering To You. Otherwise, I guess this Newlywed Diva and her Husband Diva will have to turn into Wedding Crasher Divas.
