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

We were lucky to be able to create some BEAUTIFUL dishes for Utah Valley Bride‘s article on the latest and greatest catering trends.  These dishes are truly indicative of today’s bride.  Whether you are hosting a rustic ranch wedding, a small backyard celebration, or a glam Great Gatsby style affair, people want their food to not only taste good, but be spectacular to look at.  These varying dishes are all geared toward different types of events, but, nonetheless, all are striking in presentation and will be sure to impress your guests!  We love adding special touches like artfully brushing the sauces atop the plate (as seen on the far right photo in the Caramelized Salmon with Fresh Mango Salsa, Fried Rice Noodles, and Balsamic Reduction), or serving drink in mason jars with burlap tied drink signage (as seen on the top middle photo in the Mason Jar Lemonade Trio of Fresh Mint and Lime, Strawberry and Vanilla, and Lavender and Ginger), and lastly the fun misting spray bottle for the appetizers (as seen in the far left photo in the Cumin and Tomato Dusted Shrimp with Grilled Lime and Poblano Mister).  Even adding paper straws and vintage style soda bottles (like in our Old Fashioned Style Creamsicle Ice Cream Soda) or building a dish vertically (like the Basil Encrusted Sea Scallop) can really take a dish up a notch.  We love that brides are looking for more from their catering than just a way to feed their guests.  They want scrumptious food, lots of variety, and creative presentation – and we LOVE it!  Thank you to Utah Valley Bride for letting us come up with some beautiful dishes for the magazine!  We loved being a part of it!  Happy planning everyone!

Check out more stunning dishes and catering on www.culinarycrafts.com!

We here at Culinary Crafts LOVE family style dining and we believe that whether you are planning a wedding or a corporate affair, no other serving style inspires getting conversation going and really interacting with the people around you.  The act of sharing food with your table is the type of thing that instantly brings people together.  With this in mind, we were thrilled to create a beautiful and delicious family style lunch service for the recent Women In Weddings Luncheon at the Red Cliff Ranch!  Utah Bride Blog were thrilled with this trend too and even posted a blog about it today – with some input from yours truly.  Check it out here. That you so much to Utah Bride Blog for sharing this catering trend!  If you are looking for an intimate and fun way to engage your guests, this is definitely the way to go!  Happy eating!

Check out more Salt Lake City, Park City, and Utah County catering on www.culinarycrafts.com!

Photos by David Newkirk

Hi all!  Today, I’d like to post about one of Culinary Crafts’s favorite vendors, Scenemakers!  Scenemakers is one of the BEST event design and floral design companies in Utah.  Seriously, they are AMAZING and we love working with them!  Luckily, we have the opportunity quite often – they even did the florals for The Tasting Room’s grand opening (which were stunning, naturally).  We also did a ton of GORGEOUS weddings this summer with them, but we can’t post them just yet because many of them will be in upcoming bridal magazines, so keep your eyes out!  In the meantime, take a look at some of their stellar work!!!

You may also recognize Scenemakers’s beautiful florals from Mary Crafts-Homer’s wedding last summer!  We seriously love Scenemakers and we are so thankful to call them a vendor partner!  Scenemakers is not only for weddings, either.  They do some show-stopping corporate events too.  They are all around amazing for any event you are having, pretty much.  Keep on being wonderful Scenemakers  Happy planning everyone!

Check out our website at www.culinarycrafts.com!

Images from Scenemakers‘s blog, Logan Walker, and Pepper Nix

We at Culinary Crafts are LOVING ombre and with Mary Crafts-Homer’s daughter, Meagan, planning her wedding right now with this trend in mind, we couldn’t help but post this GORGEOUS inspiration board with all things ombre!  Check it out!

So beautiful, right?  Happy planning and we can’t wait for Meagan’s wedding (which is coming up fast)!  It’s going to be AWESOME!!!!

Check out our website at www.culinarycrafts.com!

Photo Credits From Left to Right – Top Row: Pink Ombre Cake from Call Me Cupcake, Chevron Chair Sign from liddabits, Ombre Escort Cards from Elizabeth Anne Designs; Second Row: Bouquet from Grey Likes Weddings, Ombre Snowballs from Exquisite Weddings Magazine, Centerpiece from Ruffled, Invitation from Anthologie Press; Third Row: Ombre Aisle Design via Martha Stewart, Dresses via Inspired By This; Fourth Row: Balloon Backdrop from Weddings Magazine, Ombre Table from Always a Blogsmaid, Ombre Lips from Eyeshadow Lipstick

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.

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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

One of my favorite trends I’m seeing lately is gourmet picnic luncheons.  Many people choose to host their ceremony or sealing in the morning, but would like to wait until the evening to begin their reception, but what do you do in the middle?  Especially if you are having a destination wedding?  People are flying in or taking the time off to share in your big day and you don’t want to dismiss them for that wonky middle area where they are trying to fill the time between the morning and evening activities.  Some couples and their families choose to high tail it to a restaurant in the area, but its not always very tailor fit to the bride and groom and can end up seeming like an after thought or something you just did because there wasn’t a better option.  Well, you are in luck!  How about hosting a picnic with your family and friends?  On a gorgeous, warm day, you can find a local park, spread out some blankets, and share gourmet picnic lunches with everyone!  And its not only SUPER cute, but a casual and relaxing way for everyone to get to know each other.  Its also a great way to show love and gratitude to your most important people because you created an experience for them that they will never forget!  We are also excited about this trend because Culinary Crafts loves making boxed lunches – either for a family or each individual – with picnic favorites such as pasta salad, baked beans, gourmet sandwiches, and custom desserts for your guests – and let me tell you, they are as beautiful as they are delicious!  In fact, Mary Crafts’s daughter Megan is planning a picnic luncheon as part of her upcoming nuptials and we are having so much fun gather all sorts of ideas to make it unique and FABULOUS!!!  Take a look at some of my favorite inspiration I’ve found for these intimate gourmet picnic lunches, via Pinterest, of course!

Cute, right?  I especially love the custom printed labels and containers!  What a fantastic touch!!!  I hope you will consider a picnic luncheon for your special celebration.  It is sure to be an amazing and fun touch to an already memorable day plus, it doesn’t have to be expensive to be something that your guests will be talking about for years!  Happy planning everyone!

Check out our website at www.culinarycrafts.com!

Photo credits: Board 1 – Martha Stewart Weddings, 100 Layer Cake, and Elizabeth Anne Designs; Board 2 – DIY weddings; Board 3 – Green Wedding Shoes; all found via Pinterest

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