Special days deserve special attention to recreate special memories. When Thomas Caterers of Distinction was contacted to do this beautiful wedding at the couple’s grandparent’s farm they made it very clear that they wanted to serve the bride’s grandmother’s famous lemonade as guest arrived by bus before the ceremony. Always accommodating to such requests, of course the event designer said, “Absolutely just send us a recipe.” We received a hand written note “can of Minute Made OJ, Country Time Lemonade, sugar ….” At the tasting the entire family was present and we wanted to confirm the exact blend of ingredients for the lemonade so we brought out the small piece of paper and said “Mimi, can we ask you about your recipe?” What proceeded was a 15 minute story about how important this beverage is to the family and how the caterer who catered the bride's sister’s wedding really messed it up. It suddenly became clear that extra special attention was going to have to be taken with this special request.
A final site visit was scheduled to the farm. We took that opportunity to have our chefs mix up a batch of Mimi's lemonade for us to bring so that Mimi herself could test it. Leaving the jar with Mimi, we toured the beautiful property where we were able to get inspiration for the way the welcome beverage station would be displayed. When finished we returned to the house to see what she thought. “You’re close, I just had to add water a couple times, but you’re close”. We tasted the glass of our lemonade that she adjusted and then she brought out the pictures of hers and we were able to bring some back to our chefs to compare.
On the day of the event we whipped up the special blend on sight, gathered all the parts for the beautiful display and arranged all the elements. There was only one more very important thing to do….. Get the Mimi stamp of approval. So we filled up a glass and went searching high and low for Mimi who was finally found by the barn where the family photos were being taken. She was handed the glass, took a sip, looked up and smiled, “PERFECT.”
The beautiful beverage station was a hit. The city crowd from NYC loved it. Many guests had their pictures taken with the display. One couple smiled and said, “how often do you see something like this? A wooden ladder with galvanized pails leaning up against a wagon being pulled by a tractor, all just to serve lemonade”… I guess in NYC, not very often. But the absolute best part of the afternoon was seeing the joy on the family's faces as the memories came flowing back; sipping on the lemonade surrounded by the farm where it was always served.
