October wedding at Hauser Hall with a family style menu

Congratulations Denise and Matt!  "Chapel of Love" was on the radio at work on the morning of your wedding day, and it was a perfect day.  We loved the deep red accents - the bridesmaids' dresses, centrepieces, and the napkins - a simple way to make this beautiful space your own for the day. 

Denise and Matt chose a family-style meal for their wedding, with platters brought to the table for guests to serve themselves.  This is a great choice to keep the wedding meal casual and intimate, but the tablescape needs to be planned carefully to allow for enough space. 

 The finished dining room set-up at Hauser Hall

 

We set the dinner and salad plates at each place to keep service flowing during the meal.  With a family style meal, all courses are brought out to the tables on platters to share, and this little detail meant we didn't need to slow down the meal by bringing plates out for each course first.  Plus, the red napkins really pop on the white background.

We love all of the useful little decor details at Hauser, like the shelves downstairs - perfect for showing off your personal photos or finding a temporary home for the cream and sugar sets until dessert! 

The wedding cupcakes, to be served as dessert, from The CakeBox

 

 The cake topped was handmade by a friend (and perched very carefully atop the cupcake tower!)

 

 

Personalized wine bottle labels, love it!

Co-op student Tasha starts plating for the salad course.  We used a divided platter so the salad toppings could be left for guests to add a little or a lot.

 

 The fabulous serving team for the wedding, thank you for all your hard work ladies and gentlemen! 

 

Chef Kelvin is behind the scenes at every wedding we cater, and here she is slicing the Saltimbocca chicken for each table.

The guests are coming downstairs, and the our team begins serving bread to the room.  With a limited amount of space on the tables at Hauser Hall, we served bread instead of placing bread baskets at each table. 

Gingerbread Oktoberfest heart

Gingerbread heart "Oktoberfest style", made to perfection and donated to the Parent Association of the German Language School of Kitchener as a thank you to their guest speaker who enlightened the students with his presentation "Oktoberfest - Past and Present".  Our co-op student from Conestoga College made and designed the cookie during her last week of co-op placement.  Thank you Tasha, and good luck with your classes this semester!

Select Service and Chef Kelvin nominated for the 2011 Cambridge Times Readers' Choice Awards!

 The nominations are in and Select Service Caterers and Chef Kelvin are up again this year for bragging rights to the best of the best in Cambridge.  Select Service has been nominated for Best Catering Company, and Chef Kelvin has been nominated for Best People -Best Chef.  Voting starts tonight at midnight and runs until October 2nd at midnight.  Registering to vote just requires an email address and a few minutes - register and vote here at the Cambridge Times Readers' Choice site, and watch for the winners announcements later in October.

Don't forget to vote!

KidsAbility thank you reception at Rainbow Lake

A perfect day for an outdoor event, on Sunday September 11, 2011 Select Service donated their time for a thank you reception for KidsAbility.  Guests were invited to browse about a dozen local restaurants and vendors who had prepared one-bite items for the reception.  Select prepared a cube of watermelon with balsamic orange reduction and pistachios - a twist on a classic fruit skewer. 

    

Modern station buffet wedding at the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery

 Congratulations to Philip and Iain!  Their September 10, 2011 wedding reception was intimate with a small group of 60 guests at the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery.  Taking advantage of the contemporary decor, Philip and Iain chose an art deco theme for their wedding, with bright popping red as an accent colour to the sleek modern space. 
 
The menu featured three food stations - salads, pasta/potato, and meat.  We prefer to break up a buffet whenever possible to avoid the dreaded buffet line at weddings.  Guests are free to start at any station they like, and the evening takes on a more relaxed and casual feel.

Guests find their seats and wait for the grand entrance of the wedding couple

 

 Josie greets guests as they arrive to the Gallery from the nearby Grist Mill where the ceremony was held.  The welcome table featured a light and refreshing non-alcoholic strawberry "champagne" punch

 

 The head table - we love weddings at the Gallery, no need to decorate, the exhibits take care of it for you!

 

Imogen working on salads for the buffet stations.

 

The salad station set-up.  We used a round table to allow guests to access the platters from all sides

The potato and pasta station, featuring individual scalloped potatoes, rosemary and garlic roasted baby potatoes, and finished-in-front-of-you rotini pasta with tomato and grilled vegetable sauce

The meat station, featuring ricotta and sage stuffed chicken breast in a white wine sauce and Wellesley apple butter glazed pork tenderloin.

What a wedding! Jessica and Mark's Sunday brunch

The final day for Jessica and Mark's wedding weekend was a relaxing close to the festivities, with a traditional Sunday brunch for close family and friends. The brunch featured a French toast bar, omelet bar, breakfast pastries, and coffee, tea, and cappuccinos. After the brunch, guests stayed around during the afternoon to swim in the pond.

A quick change of linens from Saturday's wedding, and the dining room takes on a whole new look

The beautiful flowers featured over the weekend were from CWD Flowers, and were presented in white milk jugs that the bride had collected over the last year

The favour baskets were a nice touch provided by the bride's family, featuring items from local companies, including the Baden Coffee Company, and Wellesley apple butter

What a wedding! Jessica and Mark's big day, an upscale country tent wedding for 175 guests

The big day has arrived! After more than a year of planning, countless back and forth emails, and lining up all of the details, it's here, and we're ready to 'wow'!

The wedding day started early for our team, setting tables and getting everything into place, and for guests, the day started in the early afternoon with a 2:30 ceremony, followed by a reception at the pond, and dinner at 6:30. 175 guests enjoyed food, drink, and sharing Jess and Mark's day at the farm.

Select's AMAZING set-up team, putting all of the little touches together in the dining room

The finished guest tables

The ceremony chairs were set-up down at the house, in the same spot as last night's Rehearsal Dinner. After the ceremony, Select's team moved the chairs up the hill to the tent to be used during dinner

A horse and carriage brought the bride and groom to the ceremony site, and then gave rides to guests during the reception

Select's lovely ladies ("cigarette girls") were ready and waiting inside the house during the ceremony with trays of afternoon treats

Each tray featured candy apples from Martin's Family Fruit Farm, candied with love by Brittles N' More in Waterloo, small two-bite bags of pink cotton candy, and bags of buttered popcorn, available in little boxes or big bags for sharing

After the ceremony, guests were directed to move toward the pond for an afternoon of refreshments and entertainment while the bride and groom had pictures done around the property

The lemonade stand, ready to greet guests as they came over to the pond after the ceremony. A large galvanized steel trough was filled with bottled water and ice for guests to help themselves to. A caricature artist and magician kept guests entertained during the afternoon by the lemonade stand

Steph and Kate are busy pouring drinks for thirsty guests - we featured a refreshing unsweetened iced tea and pink mint lemonade, served in mason jar mugs

The formal entrance to the tent, with courtyard seating available for later in the evening when the sun died down

The bride's display table of pictures and special pieces.

The food stations are prepped and waiting for guests to move up to the tent for dinner

Renate and Grant are ready for their first guests at one of the two mocktail bars. Jessica and Mark each had a signature drink of their own, along with three other juice-based refreshing concoctions. Each drink featured fresh fruit or candy as a garnish


The sweetheart table, ready for the bride and groom

The barbecue station is up and running, featuring striploin steak, cedar planked salmon, balsamic marinated vegetable skewers, chicken skewers, and half cobs of corn

Josh is busy keeping with demand alongside the barbecue station, but he's having a great time

The refreshing salad station, featuring a wide assortment of options for guests to try a little of this and that

The pasta station was a big hit, with three different sauces to choose from, and a great assortment of add-ins to customize your dish

The candy buffet, provided by the bride. Each guest filled a small mason jar with their chosen candies to take home and enjoy

Kelli keeps a watchful eye over the dessert station during speeches. The cupcakes and cookie pops were provided by The CakeBox

Some of the cookie pops featured Jessica and Mark's wedding logo, provided by The CakeBox

Select rounded out the dessert selection with a wide variety of pink and white finger desserts, including miniature cheesecakes in lots of different flavours, Bakewell tarts, coconut ice, cheesecake pops, and domino cookies

Later on in the evening, Select passed around little trays of miniature diner foods, featuring onion rings, shoestring fries, mini hamburgers, and mini hot dogs (with ketchup of course!)