Simple Pleasures.

Food.

The way I look at it you have about three weeks to bring on the holiday cheer. So for these three weeks I eat, drink and create “holiday”. One of the simple little things I like to do is melt some chocolate in the microwave and then dip about a dozen or so peppermint sticks into the chocolate.

I enjoy this special little holiday treat with my morning coffee or after dinner tea. I could go on to tell you the benefits of adding the peppermint sticks to chocolate martinis for guests or as a special treat for the kids. But I think this one should be reserved as a holiday indulgence between Hip Hostess and you! So enjoy your peppermint chocolate sticks and relax. --b

Happy Birthday Canadian Club, 150 Years Old!

Drink.

Hip Hostess is always on the lookout for eye-catching packaging. When I spotted the 30 Year Old Limited Edition Bottle of Canadian Club we were more than a little impressed. I decided to do a little research to find out what all the hype was about. What I found was a perfect party in the making, Canadian Club is celebrating 150 years of success and also has a very fascinating rich history.

Which reminded me of our post on hot toddies. No one associates women with whiskey…but why not? Whiskey is no more potent than vodka which is perceived as a girl-friendly liquor. So, Hip Hostess decided to break the old-school stereotypes and give it a go.

At our latest all-female party, not only were we serving delicious Canadian Club 30 year Reserve but also going to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the Repeal of Prohibition in the United States (December 5th). We designed small signs to place on serving trays with the fun facts listed below. This set the tone for the evening and got the conversation flowing.

· Legend has it that bottles of Canadian Club were inside cases stolen by Al Capone during an ambush in Chicago on February 14, 1929 - an event referred to today as the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.

· Canadian Club became a favorite cargo item for legendary smugglers like Captain William S. McCoy, who earned a reputation for hauling only quality contraband, not the watered-down knock-offs commonly found during the era. His shipments of top-quality brands like Canadian Club became known as “The Real McCoy,” a phrase still used today.

· The term “bootlegging” comes from the shape of the bottle used to smuggle whisky during prohibition because it would very easily fit into the boot and curve around the shape of your ankle/calf.

· Rumor has it that there are still thousands of Canadian Club bottles sitting at the bottom of the Detroit River from bootleggers who threw it overboard to avoid getting caught.

The result of our all women whiskey party was that we all found an appreciation for the previously intimidating liquor. The 30 Year Canadian Club is incredibly smooth. When you first pour the whiskey it has a sweet almost caramel-like smell. With each sip you get a hint of dried fruit/oak/spice that is very easy to drink. Yes, this is definitely a special kind of whiskey.

If more women turned in their cosmos for CC, we could break the stubborn notion that this rich, moody drink is just for Mad Men. --b

My Big Fat REAL Wedding - The Food

Lesson #4
Traditions can be broken as long as you plan accordingly.

I'm sure that many of you future brides have checklists that you have clipped out of magazines that detail exactly what month each task needs to be done. They are great tools to keep you on track, but I'm here to tell you that you can play around with those a bit...as long as you are never behind schedule. For us, one of those earlier than necessary decisions was our food.

I was ready to talk about food early because I had plans for how this would set the tone of the evening. My husband was ready to talk about food because...well, he's a dude. Our first major decision: Scrap the traditional seated dinner and go with food stations. I had to employ Lesson #2 for this decision (Stick to your guns), since I received the stink face more than once when I told our families and close friends about our plans. But we plunged forward.

In order to add the "So Sean & Amber factor," we wanted the menu to really reflect us. Because of the layout of the space and the amount of people that would be filling it, 2 big stations was the way to go. Now as to not rock the boat too much, we needed to have one station that was typical Midwestern fare - Meat and Potatoes - only kicked up a notch. Instead of rubber chicken and mashed potatoes with a mystery vegetable, we had amazing carved meats with an assortment of sauces, herb roasted potatoes, salads, and more rolls and butter than you could count. That should make all of the diehard traditionalists happy, right?

For our second station, we wanted to choose a food genre that is also universally likable. (As much as I would have LOVED to have had a raw bar, I was pretty sure that I'd be stuck eating everything myself.) So instead, we took the menu from one of our favorite little restaurants in NYC and had our caterer take a stab at it...thus the Mercadito Mexican Station was born. Items like queso fundido, pork tacos with pineapple salsa, and ceviche would never be considered low brow...but at the same time, who doesn't love Mexican food?

These stations were preceded by a full cocktail hour filled with passed hors d'oeuvres that swayed towards the heartier side to ensure that it would be impossible to go home hungry.

But the main obstacle of our station wedding was the seating. We did not do assigned seating for our wedding. This was sort of the point of why we chose our venue and this kind of eating structure. We wanted to encourage people to keep mingling and moving so that it was a "party" atmosphere...not just an extension of our ceremony. So we provided as many traditional dining height tables as possible both inside the reception and outside in the garden, but then we also added high-top cocktail tables throughout along with seating at the bar. It worked like a charm. In the end, it was these breaks from tradition that our guests loved the most.

And don't forget to plan for yourself. My amazing caterer, Blue Plate Catering, assigned a server to us for dinner and dessert. They set a two person table for us in the garden (just enough away from the action) to allow us a little private time for our first dinner as husband and wife. Had we not made that provision, we may have never eaten...or had the pleasure of this special moment in our night. --a

Wedding Paper Divas Giveaway

The month of November was very exciting at Hip Hostess. We had many things to be thankful and excited about: holidays, parties, family & friends, sponsor discounts and increasing readership.

Hip Hostess has been up and running for about 11 weeks now and we are very thankful for the opportunity to do what we love on a daily basis. We have been very fortunate to run across many talented and special people in our quest to bring our readers the very latest and greatest of products, tips and advice mixed with a few satirical comments.

This month we are proud to bring Hip Hostess readers our first ever Destination Wedding Invitation Contest. Wedding Paper Divas has been kind enough to offer one of our Hip Hostess readers a $100 gift certificate! The contest will run from December 8 through December 22nd. We ask that you envision your ideal destination wedding and then visit Wedding Paper Diva’s Signature Collection and select the design that best represents this destination. Save your design in an account on Wedding Paper Divas and then share your inspiration and card design with us in our comments section.

To help you get started I found a list of the Top 10 wedding destinations of 2009.

As for us, Brandi would choose the Grand Hyatt in Kauai with Floral Flurry Invites.

Amber would choose the Inverlochy Castle in Scotland with Color Burst Invites.

My Big Fat REAL Wedding - Color

Lesson #3
Think Big Picture.

Alright...I have a date, a venue, a dress and shoes...what the heck are my colors? Here I am a person that preaches how great inspiration boards are and I'm making decisions left and right without having "a vision."

So it was time for me to take a breath and think about what the future Mr. Hip Husband and I wanted to accomplish from our day. Both of us decided that we were totally fine with breaking rules as long as our guests would come away saying, "That was SO Sean & Amber." It may not be an inspiration board, but it was our mantra.

With this in mind, we quickly knew that we were not going to have an early ceremony. Neither of us are morning people in the least, and I did not picture my perfect day starting with hair and make-up shortly after dawn. A late start time worked for us because we also didn't want any lag-time between the ceremony and reception. It was our goal that within 5 minutes of us being pronounced man & wife, our guests would be sipping on their first cocktail.

Believe it or not, the time of day was the deciding factor in the colors that we chose for our wedding. An evening wedding tends to set a more formal tone (perhaps black & white), but we didn't want things to be too fussy either. So we needed to pair the formality with a bit of whimsy. This is where lighting came in. We very much wanted to take advantage of the candle treatment options at A New Leaf because it really highlights the raw architectural look very well. So our challenge was picking a focal color that would be bright and cheery at 6:00 when we had a decent amount of daylight...but would also create some luminescence at 8:00 when the sun had set and candles were our main source of light.

Shades of green didn't cut it. Pink starts out nice but loses it's luster. Orange begins Summery but at night turns to Autumn. Finally we decided on Lemon Yellow with Black & White. Thus I learned Lesson #3 - Think about the big picture - just because the color looks good while you are looking at it in your apartment, doesn't mean it will work all night long at your party. --a

Turning Honey Into Wine.

Drink.



Mead—made from fermented honey, not grapes—is one of the oldest alcoholic beverages in the world. I sampled my first glass of Mead at the Renaissance Faire in upstate New York. Although it takes a little getting used to, it is still a rare treat.


It smells a bit like honey and flowers, but with a sharp alcohol undertone. It doesn't taste sweet, but has a nutty, bitter-edged honeyed flavor, almost like dry sherry. I was drinking it alone, but it would probably be good with mild seafood or chicken.


In some parts of Europe it is traditional to give newlyweds enough Mead for a month, this is suppose to bring much happiness and fertility. Some believe this is where the word “honeymoon” originated. For many years the states where a bit Mead challenged, but thanks to Brother’s Brooklyn Buzz we to can have many smiling fertile couples.


Brooklyn Buzz’s Mead can be found at Chelsea Wine Vault and Astor Wine & Spirits for $13 a bottle. It is well worth trying at least once, especially since it is affordable, and you’ll be supporting a small, local, sustainable business. I recommend yelling “Huzzah” after each drink, it adds a little something.

Tasty Infusion

Drink.

I am a huge fan of signature cocktails - they are an easy way to add a personal touch to any event. Recently Hip Hostess had the pleasure of hosting a Casino Night in an upscale private club in downtown NYC. In true Hip Hostess form, we wanted to incorporate something that was new, unique and memorable. Since the venue provided a full bar, we had an inkling that our male-dominated party would make Scotch the drink of choice. So we decided to put a new spin on the signature cocktail, having it double as our dessert course.

As you may have read earlier on the Hip Hostess blog, we have been experimenting with infused vodka. Recently we had success with a Caramel Infused Vodka and Amber had an epiphany that it would make a delicious White Russian…..she was right! Toward the end of the evening, the servers passed around our signature White Russian. They were made with our homemade Caramel Infused Vodka and served in chocolate shot glasses garnished with lingonberries. The presentation was beautiful, the drink was a success and it was a great way to end the evening. –b

My Big Fat REAL Wedding – The Bridal Attire.

Lesson #2. Stick to your guns.

Few things about my wedding stressed me out as much as shopping for my dress. At the airport coming back from our engagement trip, I made my first bridal magazine purchase. Dress after dress had staggering prices…some as much as 25% of my reception budget (gotta love those Oscar de la Renta dresses). I was convinced that I had just bought the super fancy magazines with super fancy dresses. Two days later, I bought a couple more magazines…same thing. It gave me ajada.

But on the positive side, I quickly learned from my fancy magazines what styles I liked best. So armed with this knowledge, I went to a Reem Acra sample sale to see if I actually looked alright in this style. The third dress that I tried made me cry so I bought it on the spot. I saved some serious coin on the dress and detachable train (75% off), which afforded me the opportunity to splurge on shoes and accessories – such as my Badgley Mischka shoes, JCrew Slippers for the reception, and the amazing satin hair flower/broach from Gabriella New York.


But I have to tell you, as amazing as it was that I was able to find my dress about a month and a half after I got engaged, I learned my next lesson: once you make a pivotal decision, be confident in it and don’t second guess yourself. With well over a year before I would actually walk down the aisle, it was very difficult to not look at the 1000’s of dresses in bridal magazines and not think “did I make the right choice?” You cannot do that to yourself…whether it is a dress, a venue, or invitation…you will drive yourself crazy.

As for me, my wedding dress and all accessories were a hit. No one else even knew that I had lost sleep lusting over that Oscar de la Renta. --a

My Big Fat REAL Wedding - Date & Location

Lesson #1.
It is all about making your guests’ lives easier. Suck it up.

My Hip Husband and I got engaged on my birthday – March 3, 2007. It was so amazing and we were just glowing with excitement. But when we first shared the news with all of our friends and family, what was the first thing that they asked?

“Do you have a date?”

Thus with barely anytime to absorb how amazing it is to be a “fiancé”, we were starting to compromise…I mean plan. You see, Sean and I live in NYC. About 75% of our guests live in the Midwest (Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan). The other 25% are scattered throughout the US. So even though it would have saved us so many flights, we decided to have our big she-bang in Chicago. It’s a main airport hub for many airlines. It’s drivable for our Midwestern crew. It’s also a really fun city.

Now, I have made it no secret that I hate to be too hot or too cold (75 degrees and sunny, people!), so that narrowed our possible months to May/early June or September-ish. Ideally we would work with a 3 day weekend to give our family maximum party and recovery time (we are not a reserved group).

For our venue, I did countless hours of online research looking for anything that didn’t look like too stodgy or didn’t have hideous carpet. I then found A New Leaf, which is now pretty well known. But at the time, it was a breath of fresh air to me in my search. I took the only weekend day that they had available in my set criteria and ended up with August 31, 2008 – the Sunday of Labor Day weekend. I was now getting married in a city far from convenient on a date that made me a perpetual fiancé, but I learned my lesson…it’s all about your guests. --a

My Big Fat REAL Wedding.

Lessons from a Hip Hostess Wedding.

As event planners, we have very strategic ways that we approach all elements of an event. The idea is that no matter what budget, we want to make the most impact that we possibly can with every part of the evening. As a bride, you are bombarded with an extraordinary amount of images and ideas everywhere that you look. Because there is so much emotional attachment to your big day, it can be very difficult to let go of some things in order to best serve the overall picture - like falling in love with a cake that costs more than a down payment for a car…so you have to save money by serving Old Milwaukee from a keg. It’s all about perspective.

As a recent bride, I think that I can speak fairly accurately from both sides. So over the course of the next couple of weeks, I’m going to share elements from my wedding and the thought process that I used behind it. It wasn’t easy being objective when dealing with my own day, but thankfully my planning side of the brain beat out the impulsive side. I hope this is helpful to any future brides out there…and it will also give you a glimpse of how Hip Hostess operates. Don’t hesitate to shoot us an email with any questions or thoughts. --a