Our cocktail hour was outside in the garden on a beautiful, sunny day. Everyone tells us how good the food was, especially the sushi and the lamb and steak carving station! For our reception, we set things up a bit differently. Our party was very large, and was less of a dancing crowd and more of a sit, talk, and spend time together crowd. We set our tables up for dinner in the same hall where our ceremony was held, using large centerpieces, each a tall vase filled with white hydrangeas and roses. A Japanese band played traditional music while everyone mingled.
The appetizer was a baby arugula and endive salad and we offered our guests entrée choices of pan-seared halibut or pan-roasted filet mignon. I had the halibut, which was excellent. Our wedding cake was as beautiful as it was large. It was five tiers of buttercream icing, with alternating fillings of chocolate cake with fudge and yellow cake with pistachio. It went perfectly with the dessert offered by Castle Hotel. There were cream puffs, Nutella chocolate tarts, strawberry shortcakes, cheesecake, chocolate covered strawberries, and more!