Check out this fun video on the Tasting Room that CEO Access & Bride Access created! The Tasting Room is truly a versatile and AMAZING space whether you are planning a wedding or hosting a corporate or social event! Happy watching everyone!
Check out more Salt Lake City, Utah County, and Park City catering on www.culinarycrafts.com!
Even though we are almost into the full swing of wedding season, some of you still may be searching for stellar vendors to make your event AMAZING! With that in mind, I thought this ever-so-helpful advice from our very own Mary Crafts-Homer would be perfect for anyone looking for a top-notch caterer. These “Top 5 Questions to Ask Your Caterer” are a good way to find out which caterer will fit your taste, style, and budget – so you can sit back and relax, knowing that you’ve picked the best fit for you and your wedding! Check it out!
1. Let your caterer know your budget up front and ask what would be the best fit for your event based on that budget. You may want a 7 course plated dinner for all your guests but that definitely adds major cost to your bottom line – so unless your budget allows for it, let the caterer suggest other options – such as a gorgeous dinner buffet with similar food options to cut your cost. If the caterer won’t work with your budget or tries to upsell you an event you aren’t sure you can afford – be wary. Also make sure that you trust your caterer enough to give you ideas you wouldn’t have thought of yourself, but also make sure that they keep your vision at the forefront. It’s your day, after all!
2. Ask if there are any additional costs for labor, alcohol service, gratuity, etc. that will be added into your final total. This is especially important if you have a tight budget and do not want to be surprised with the final bill the week before your wedding. Most caterers will outline any additional labor costs, extra staff costs, alcohol provider’s costs, and also suggest a gratuity based on your cost. Make sure you are aware of the costs involved and plan for your budget and there will be no surprises at the end. Also, remember the gratuity is based on the service provided. So your gratuity should reflect your overall happiness with the event and service.
3. Ask if the food is prepared on-site or in a kitchen off-site. Culinary Crafts prides itself on preparing their food at the event site (which is one of the reasons it is SO delicious and fresh). This allows you to plan for how much space the caterer will need to prepare the food and plan a layout where they will have their “back of house” or prep area. You don’t want to be figuring this out on the day of – you’ll have more important things to focus on!
4. Ask if they are a full service caterer or not. Meaning, are they just going to show up and make sure the food is taken care of? Or are they going to make sure that the layout is the way that you (the client) have envisioned? And that the cake shows up? Or that the rental company has delivered the chairs and linens you ordered? Culinary Crafts will make sure all facets of the event are taken care of from layout to set up to execution. Of course, a wedding planner would do this as well – so if you have hired one, Culinary Crafts will work closely with the planner to make sure everything goes off without a hitch. One less thing to worry about on your wedding day!
5. Ask other wedding vendors and past client about their experience with the caterer you are considering hiring. No matter what the reputation is of the caterer, you should ask vendors and clients you know and trust about their experience with the caterer to find out if they would recommend them or had any problems with them. It’s always important to know who you are doing business with. It’ll make sure you are happy in the long run!
Happy planning everyone!
Check out more Salt Lake City, Park City, and Utah County catering at www.culinarycrafts.com!
Photo by Logan Walker, A Pepper Nix Photographer
One of my newest FAVORITE trends for the upcoming year are the Chef’s Table dinners! This experience is perfect for any event and really makes the meal part of the overall entertainment. The chefs are right there, table side, discussing the food, showing techniques and plating, and serving the meal for the guests. Guests are enthralled as they learned about everything from the importance of local products to how to extract your own vanilla. Whether you are looking to wine and dine your guests, or just looking for fabulous dinner in the most intimate of settings, this is by far my new favorite way to dine! Check it out!
We loved this super chic and lovely event, plus the food was AMAZING!
Here Mary is letting the guests know about the meal they are about to watch Culinary Crafts’s staff prepare in front of them!
The staff plated and prepared each guests’s plate, making sure they all looked FABULOUS!
Ryan even torched the Bistecca for the entree in front of everyone which was a definite thrill. The flame thrower is always a crowd favorite!
The ever talented Ryan doubles up on torches to bake the green beans with a parmesan cheese garnish. SO YUMMY!
This event was held at our venue, The Tasting Room, in downtown Salt Lake City! We loved the rustic chic look of the event!
Guests were greeted with these rack of lamb appetizers, a sommelier who educated the guests on wine pairings, and Culinary Crafts’s staff preparing the menu’s offerings. So fun!
This event even featured Culinary Crafts’s chefs leading a cooking demonstration on the proper way to grill this GORGEOUS Utah trout. Yum! I love being able to go and enjoy fantastic food and then go home and replicate the techniques in my own kitchen! Well worth it, in my opinion.
We love that these Chef’s Table events are popping up in our future events and really think that they are a great way to serve our delicious food. At Culinary Crafts, we consider ourselves lucky to have the creme de la creme of staff members who can be out on the forefront of an event and serve in style! Happy cooking everyone!
Check out our website at www.culinarycrafts.com!
Photos by Kelli Bramble, a Pepper Nix Photographer
It’s here!!! The 2013 Sundance Film Festival started yesterday and we are SO excited! We have even more amazing events that we are involved in this year and we can’t wait to rub shoulders with the best of the best! The festival goes through the 27th, so make sure you catch one of the many AWESOME films that are available! Happy movie-going everyone!
Check out more Park City, Salt Lake City, and Utah County catering on www.culinarycrafts.com!
I hope everyone had an excellent holiday weekend! I know at Culinary Crafts, we were chock full of GORGEOUS events and spending time with our families. Such an excellent way to spend any weekend! Today, I’d like to get back with an excellent new idea for any event you may have – Painting With a Twist! What is that, you might ask? Well, Painting With a Twist is a company located in Murray that hosts painting parties! An artist guides everyone in the group through a step by step class learning how to replicate a painting of your choice, and at the end, you get to take home a beautiful piece of fine art that was painted by you. Awesome, right? You can join a class to try it out yourself or if you are looking for a bridal shower, holiday party, or birthday party idea – you can rent the whole facility for a private painting party and select a painting from a variety of options! How fun is that? Plus, what a wonderful keepsake for you and up to 40 friends to keep to remember the day. We are excited to let our clients know about this new and different option and hope you find it a great creative way to make your next event AWESOME! Happy painting everyone!
Check out our website at www.culinarycrafts.com!
Photos from Painting With A Twist
Today, I’d like to share one of Culinary Crafts’s newest favorite vendors, In the Event! In The Event is a super high end, technologically wow-ing event rental company with custom rentals for the most over the top dreamer! Ali Dempsy from In The Event says this about the company, “In The Event is a full service event design company providing the ultimate in products and services to our clients throughout the U.S. We are the only wireless LED decor house in the Utah area, specializing in modular LED furniture, modular tables, bars, cubes, walls, towers, and dance floors. We pride ourselves on bringing innovative event design and decor to the Utah area. With an emphasis in corporate events, we manufacture many items in house to offer our clients custom products and design that will keep company events exciting and new each year.” That doesn’t mean that weddings can’t use them for an over the top club feel, or a super AMAZING LED dance floor, or even a snazzy lounge area with your custom monogram to toast the newlyweds! Here are just a few of the AWESOME events to showcase the great stuff the do.
The also have a guarantee that every event is 100% unique, meaning that they never duplicated and get creative with their offerings to make sure your event is 100 % yours and totally tailored to you! PLUS, they are GREEN! We love our partners in enviromental stewardship, as if we did think they were the bee’s knees anyhow! This company is definitely a must for the event that needs something a little bit over the top and out of this world, plus they are super nice! If you are planning an event, definitely check them out! Happy planning everyone!
Check out our website at www.culinarycrafts.com!
Images provided by In The Event
Editor’s Note: When we previously posted this event, the designer credit for Kim Albers Events was left off in error. We sincerely apologize to Kim and have added it now. We are so proud to show off another astounding event by Kim Albers and are always excited to be able to do such FABULOUS events with such a wonderful vendor partner!
Today I want to share a recent Bar Mitzvah we did at one of our favorite venues, The Leonardo in downtown Salt Lake City – and what a show stopping event it was! The theme, David’s World Tour, was a fantastic over-the-top experience for the guests and was chock full of fabulous florals, extraordinary decor, and, of course, delectable food! I think this event definitely shows that The Leonardo is a one of a kind venue for a beautiful wedding or an extravagant affair fit for a rock concert! Take a look!
Congrats to David! Culinary Crafts loved being a part of your Bar Mitzvah and being a key component to such a AMAZING event! Happy planning everyone!
Check out our website for more at www.culinarycrafts.com!
Photos by Kelli Bramble of Pepper Nix Photography
Designed by Kim Albers Events
I am so sorry for the lack of posts, dear readers, but believe me it is for a good reason!!! We are so excited that our space is just about to open and we are putting in all of our time (and blood, sweat, and tears!) to make sure everything is perfect – and believe me, it’ll be worth the wait! Stay tuned for news and updates coming soon! Happy weekend everyone!
Check out our website at www.culinarycrafts.com!
Today, we have exciting news to share with you! Mara Marian-Harwood of Events by LMG (who we love!) has taken over private event sales of the historic (and GORGEOUS) Salt Lake Hardware building in downtown Salt Lake City! This space is an unsung hero of venues in the downtown area and we are so excited to see Mara take it and get the word out! We love this venue and you can see past blogs of the events we’ve done there here and here. We even have a new wedding to show you that was held here and catered by yours truly! This wedding was chock full of delicious food, custom details, and a bright and poppy color palette! Take a look!
The Salt Lake Hardware building is SERIOUSLY a gem of a venue. Exposed brick, rough hewn beams, heavens scraping high ceilings with giant skylights, vintage tile work, and gorgeous architectural details throughout, it is a one of a kind building for all out of this world events!
The pizza was tailored specifically for the couple! Pear and gorgonzola, finnochiona salame and black olive, and traditional margherita – all were stellar!
These desserts were AMAZING and had something for everyone! Culinary Crafts’s housemade gelato was butler passed to the guests who had the choice of lemon sorbetto or pistachio (or both!) As if that wasn’t delicious enough, they also had their pick of the chipotle chocolate cupcakes, red velvet cupcakes, strawberry shortcakes, and fresh fruit tarts – plus guests were given custom labelled favors of rich and delicious caramel corn from the Nutty Kernal! Yum!
If you are looking for a venue that is like no other and is centrally located in downtown Salt Lake, look no further! The Salt Lake Hardware building is diverse, beautiful, and amazing – plus Mara is great to work with! We are so excited to see this space take of under her management! (Also stay tuned for news of another downtown venue that will be opening soon involving yours truly!) Happy planning everyone!
Check out our website at www.culinarycrafts.com!
Photography by Heidi Ann, Logan Walker of Pepper Nix Photography, and Kelli Bramble of Pepper Nix Photography
We here at Culinary Crafts recently came into some old, rustic whiskey barrels (i.e. we saw them, fell in love, and HAD to have them) and we are SO excited to start using them for our weddings this year! From dessert and cake displays, to buffet stations, to lemonade stands and favor tables – whiskey barrels find a home and purpose for so many things. Plus, they are just beautiful! I love the texture, the look, and the vibe you get from something with a story and a past. Not all shiny and new, these whiskey barrels have the look of time about them, and it is SO good. We are so looking forward to incorporating them into our event, but in the meantime, here are some of our ideas and visions for all the thigs we can (and will!) do with our newly procured barrels! Take a look!
Stunning, right? And perfect for a rustic and romantic wedding in a mountain setting, if you don’t mind me saying! Happy weekend everyone and look forward to seeing our barrels make appearances in Culinary Crafts events soon!!!
Check out our website at www.culinarycrafts.com!
Photo credits – Board 1 (Clockwise, from top left): Sara & Mallary Photography, Tonya Joy, Rustic Wedding Chic, and Loverly; Board 2 (from left): Heidi Claire and Style Me Pretty; Board 3 (clockwise, from left): Style Me Pretty, Pen n’ Paper Flowers, and Inspired Bride
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