Cupcake Crazy!

Are you as crazy about cupcakes as we are?

Are you having a cake or cupcakes at your weeding?

Kathryn.. Your Lady in Black and Wedding Director

Advise to our B&G from Kathryn: "Do not loose focus and spend all of your time and energy on "things" for the day. Focus on the experiences of the day in itself."

Congratulations and welcome to the Forest House Lodge family!

My name is Kathryn Gardenhire, Wedding Director at the Forest House Lodge and I am very much looking forward to working with you to make your special day an unforgettable one! To help start you off with planning I have included a packet of “homework” as I like to call it. It will help me begin your planning process and assist me as well in reaching your every expectation of wedding organization.

In addition to the planning process, I also coordinate multiple events throughout the year that serve various functions for you as a Bride and Groom. Through these events you will be able to meet other Brides and Grooms, get to know staff, and get a taste of our incredible cuisine. These events will also allow you to observe the warm, friendly, and extremely fun environment that our Lodge provides and what’s more, we get to know you better and find out the special, little details that fulfill your dreams on your big day!

I want you know that I am here for you every step of the way. Please feel free to contact me anytime whether through email or phone. I definitely prefer email due to its speed and its ability save requests or ideas you have; I then have the ability to search and find. Unlike most coordinators and directors in our industry, I organize and direct close to 80 weddings a year and usually have 80 to 95 Brides and Grooms on our books at any one time. As one might assume I am a very busy person, but I am never too busy for you! Please do not hesitate to call or email me with any questions you may have. 

Lastly, I am also available for planning consultations on Wednesdays and Thursdays or any day we do not have a wedding. These one-on-one consultations generally take
about 2 hours and are priceless! I urge you to find time to come up and play so we can go through your details, wishes and hopes to53g6ether. Everyone here at Forest House Lodge looks forward to helping make your dr3eam day everything you hoped for and more!

Much love and happy planning,
Kathryn Gardenhire 
Wedding Director 
foresthouselodge@yahoo.com 
916.969.7108

Fun Facts about Kathryn: 

Favorite color is mustard yellow

She eats a primal diet and enjoys bacon and cheddar mashed fauxtatoes

She was born in Decantur, IL and raised in GlenCarbon, IL

Laura..Your Service Manager!

Dear Bride and Groom,

Hello and congratulations on your big day! My name is Laura Wilburn and I am the Service Manager here at Forest House Lodge. Along with the Wedding Director, and the culinary and bar team, my staff of event technicians and servers and I will be attending to every detail to make sure your day is everything you imagine it to be.

Our industry is one that is based on warm care and detailed perfection, so my 25 years of experience in the field have allowed me to meet the challenges of the changing needs and requests of more than 70 weddings per year. As your service manager, I will be there for you from the set up of your customized banquet room through all of your meals and hors d’ouevres to assisting the coordination of wedding details and specifics.
My greatest focus is to ensure that, during your wedding day, you have peace of mind and a stress-free atmosphere as you prepare to enjoy your time with your new spouse, your family and friends. 

Please feel free to contact me via my email with our Wedding Director so I am free to pass information along as well.

Welcome to the Forest House family!

Laura Wilburn
Service Manager foresthouselaura@gmail.com

Chef Mark

Chefs Advise for our Brides and Grooms; Eat off the same fork now & then. It is very sensual and reminds people of your connection. 

(Do it in public.) 

To Our Brides, Grooms, Friends and Family,

Like so many young professionals, I began my culinary career as a young man simply wanting to survive and sustain a lifestyle. How things change...that was 1975 and in thirty-five years I have had the good fortune to meet and work with some of the most incredible and influential people in the culinary industry. These incredible luminaries helped shape my career and skills, and they taught me the essence of food, they taught me the elation of fine cuisine. Of these experiences, it is Forest House Lodge that has allowed me to “give back” to people through one of the highest forms of love I know - cooking for others. I am so glad that you have chosen to trust us in serving you on your day.

Our kitchen team that will be preparing your cuisine has over 70 years of collective experience and are proficient in many types of cuisine and are always keeping up with trends in health and diet, organic farming, and in sustainable foods as well. We understand how important the tradition of sharing a meal is and what a great part food plays in the making of your special day. We strive to make everything we produce during your event the best we have ever done and our goal is to give you quality beyond your wildest expectations.

We are always open to suggestions, our non-wedding days are available for consultations and we are always up for a challenge! My kitchen has a motto in fact, and it might suffice to tell you that we live by it each and every weekend: “Making Memories, Delivering Dreams and (my personal favorite) Exceeding Expectations”. My intent is that our tastings instill the confidence in our quality and a belief that

we can surpass your goals for this cornerstone event in your life.

Please feel free to converse with me at your tasting so we can further the details of your culinary plans. I do love to talk food! To your love, health and long life.

S.M. Cook Executive Chef Forest House Lodge 

Some fun facts about Chef:

2 girls

He was born and raised in Naples Italy as a Navy Brat

His hobby is music

Favorite colors are Red and Gold

8 Way to get your Groom involved...

I found some awesome ideas on how to get your Groom involved in the planning process. Thank you OffBeat Bride. 

1. Talk to him

It's a common misconception that the bride plans the wedding and it is the role of the groom to just show up wearing a suit. If your guy hasn't participated in the planning yet, it could be that he has no idea that he's even allowed to! So the first step is to come right out and say, "I'd like us to plan our wedding together." If you're lucky that'll be all it takes to get him to enthusiastically climb aboard the crazy wedding planning train! If not, no worries, keep reading…

2. Support & encourage his ideas

You can't ask him to be involved and then shoot down all of his ideas. He's gonna get frustrated with that pretty quickly and then you've blown your chance to have him as your partner in planning. 

Offbeat Bride reader, Kathleen, put it well when she said, "Give him support and encouragement. When James comes to me with an idea I usually just tell him that if it is important to him and if he thinks it will make our day better, then let's go for it! Which is why I am having a graveyard/tombstone wedding cake — despite the fact that our wedding is nowhere near Halloween."

3. Relax Your Inner Control Freak

Once you've mastered being supportive of your groom's ideas, then you gotta be willing to go along with those ideas even if they didn't fit your overall wedding concept.

For the other 4 ideas... hop on over to the offbeat bride.

Insurance..How and what to purchase for the Forest House

Forest House Insurance Information

Below is a listing of the information generally needed to securely insure and protect both yourself and your wedding investment through liability and cancellation coverage.
Liability
Title of Policy: Special Event Limited Liability with Host Alcohol (required) Additional Insured to be named on your policy:

• Patrick and Monica Nickel
  
• Nickel Corporation
  
• Forest Ranch Associates
  Address:
  
• 24590 Main Street Foresthill, California 95631
  
  
  • $1 Million in coverage
    
  • Radiant and Emerald Package: 24 hour coverage
    
    

• For Grand Sierra Pointe, please use FHL address
Details of Coverage

• Heart Package: 48 hour coverage
Cancellation

Title of Policy: Cancellation/Postponement (recommended) Details of Coverage
• Coverage is enacted in budget plateaus in order to cover entire wedding cost. This can include multiple vendors as well as deposits. 

Memorial Tables

There are always those people who touch are lives forever. They may have been you superhero of a father, a teacher of a grandmother, friend who made you sparkle or maybe a sibling. Whoever they are, I would like to think that "If Heaven Weren't So Far AWay" they would be here.

One special way to honor them during your wedding is through a Memorial Table. I love this Memorial table because the DIY book picture frames can easily be brought home and incorporated into your daily life.

Will you be honoring your passed love ones at your wedding? How will you do so?

Bouquets Inspiration

I was recently talking to a Bride about choosing the perfect bouquet for her wedding day. For some, this is just an added piece of decoration and bring beauty to the ceremony, for others, these flowers could represent more. For me, I chose flowers that I fell in love with. My purpose and personal touch came through the wrapping that help the bouquet together. It was my mothers veil. I loved that I was able to incorporate her wedding day into mine without having to feel obligated to necessarily "wear it"

Credit to Bella Lu Photography for these photos

Thank you Kristi with the Posh Posey for my beautiful flowers!

How do you feel about your bouquet? Will you be adding anything personal to yours? If so, what will you be adding? 

Headpiece or Veil? What is your style?

Do you tend to lean towards to more tradition style of a veil? 

Or do you tend to lean towards a more modern day headpiece style...

Whatever your style... the popularity of both of these items are still huge! You should have no problem finding a way to take either of these and making them uniquely your own.

The Mullet Cake Revolution

The Mullet Cake Revolution

The wedding cake is one of the highlights of the night when it comes to "formal events". But how about wowing your guests with a little bit of "elegance and glamour in the front and personality and party in the back?!"

Shortly after I started working at the Forest House, I began to realize there was such a thing called the "mullet cake". This was surprising to me as Monica has several requests for this hot new trend. So, of course, I just had to do a blog about it!

As I began doing "research" about the mullet cake, I found that our definition of this 'double-personality' cake may not be as popular as the traditional cake but nothing ever stopped us in the past from starting a new trend! (When Googling "mullet cake" you come up with actual pictures of people's pictures on a cake of them with a mullet. It made for an entertaining few minutes.)

So.... as the Mullet Cake Revolution begins, here are some of our favorites done at the Forest House by Monica, as well as some of  the main facts about what a mullet cake is and if it is something you might want to do at your wedding!


The Jeep was a replica of the one our Groom drove.

If your considering a mullet cake for your wedding here are a few ideas to help spark your creativity.

1. Do you and your fiance have a love affair with sports?
2. What about your favorite place to travel?
3. Hobbies in your life?

Southern Hospitality - Rehearsal Dinner

When making selection please choose the following:

2 Appetizers 1 Salad 1 Vegetable 2 Starches and 2 Entrees. Chef Mark will add appropriate additions and condiments

Southern Hospitality

Appetizers:

v Smokey Pulled Pork Sliders

v Deep Fried Artichoke Hearts

v Popcorn Shrimp Remoulade

Salad:

v Traditional Green salad

v Bacon Bleu Cheese Romaine Heart Cobb

Sides:

v Green beans with Fire Roasted Peppers

v Honey Buttered Corn on the Cob

v Steamed Broccoli and Cauliflower with Brown Butter

v Red Beans and Rice

v The Bacon Mac and Cheese

v Roasted Garlic Smashed Red Potatoes

Mains:

v Southern Fried Chicken

v Shrimp Etoufee

v Smothered Porkchops

v BBQ Chicken and Ribs Combo

v Cajun Jambalaya

Dessert:

v Cinnamon Sugar Beignets with Berry Compote and Ice Cream

Things to accomplish during the wedding rehearsal

Rehearsal dinners are a great way for bridal parties and families to get to know each other, relax and prepare for the big day to come. Your rehearsal dinner can be anything from a formal event, themed party or a casual jeans and t-shirt styled event.

Here are a few things that you "take care of" at your rehearsal dinner:

Thank you's to family and friends for all their love and support; we have all been to the wedding where dozens of family and friends want to talk... let them say what they want but do it at the rehearsal dinner.

Hand out gifts to your bridesmaids, groomsmen and family ( if doing gifts)

Groomsman cake- Why spend the money on a grooms cake just to have it make a 30 second appearance? Display the grooms cake at your rehearsal and use it as your dessert for after the rehearsal dinner as well.

Slide shows- Slide shows are a great way to reflect with family and friends on where you came from and what you've become. Use the rehearsal dinner as an intimate opportunity to reflect with the people that mean the most to you.

Grooms Cakes

An Old Tradition for a Modern Wedding

If you've attended weddings recently where there was not one but two cakes, you may have enjoyed what could appear to be a charming new trend: The groom's cake. The fact is, the groom's cake isn't new at all. With origins in the 17th century, the groom's cake is really a very old wedding tradition, somehow lost and now rediscovered for the most elegant of wedding receptions.

The history of the groom's cake is as varied as its flavors and shapes. Some sources say it originally was a rich, dark fruit cake without icing; some say it was a fruit cake with white icing to match the bride's cake which was decorated with spun sugar.

Still others take the lore a step further and say the groom's cake became the top layer of the bride's cake and was not served to guests. Instead, it was placed in a tin and drenched in brandy to preserve it for the celebration of the couple's first anniversary.

Many know the groom's cake as the confection that was wrapped in individual, silver or white boxes monogrammed with the couple's initials and tied with fancy ribbons. These dainty packages were distributed to guests as wedding favors to take home.

In the South, the groom's cake tradition has enjoyed renewed popularity in recent years, especially with single, female guests. Legend has it that if they take a slice of the groom's cake and place it beneath their pillows at bedtime, they will dream of their future husbands. Credits to Jan Kish for the article on Grooms Cakes

Today, remnants of these various traditions remain or have evolved into other wedding customs. For instance, couples still reserve the top layer of the wedding cake for their first anniversary, but it no longer needs to be preserved in brandy. And although the Southern groom's cake customarily was a dark fruit cake, it now comes in any flavor, shape or color.

Many couples are designing groom's cakes baked and iced to reflect the groom's hobbies or interests. Original and engaging, groom's cakes have resembled the groom's antique car or cowboy boots, while others in traditional cake shapes have sported hunting scenes or his favorite hole on the golf course.

In the past, groom's cakes, which were separate from the bride's cakes, were either cut and wrapped to be eaten after the reception, or they were served from another table for those guests who preferred a darker, richer cake.

Today, the groom's cake is still sliced and served separately, usually by a member of the wait staff. Some couples prefer to offer the groom's cake at the rehearsal dinner, a fitting time since the groom's family hosts the occasion.

Whatever time or theme you choose for the groom's cake, it is a charming tradition that adds a distinctive, personal touch to your wedding festivities while honoring the man you just married.

Thank you to Monica Nickle from Forest House Lodge for the Cake photos!

Napkin Folding

Simple Turned Elegant.

Trying to be creative and impress your guests at the dinner table? Think of the most simple item included in each plate setting, the napkin. Yes, the napkin, something so simple can be the perfect item to spruce up the dinner tables at your wedding.  This can be done through the easy process of napkin folding. The art of napkin folding took off around 1880. Since then many new styles have appeared. Napkin folding is still used today primarily for special occasions, such as the wedding. You can choose the perfect style to fold your napkins to fit in with the theme of your wedding. 

The simpler styles of folding seem to be what's in and more elegant.

Simple, yet elegant with pearls.

It's said that napkin folding originates from origami.

An easy way to add color and elegance to a simple setting. 

Serving dinner buffet style?

Napkin folding even provides a creative way to display guest name plates and even decorations. 

Folding your napkins or adding decoration/place cards is a great way to add depth and texture to your tables.

What creative ways would you fold your napkins?