Annie Hosfeld Photography
Grounds of Sculpture wedding
It’s a story as old as antiquity: A young couple falls in love and decides to get married. The stress of planning a wedding can put the kibosh on love, but for Daniella Zimmerman and Aaron Gold, the love was preserved, thanks to Teri Lands at Main Street Fine Catering. Lands guided Zimmerman and Gold through the daunting process, including special dietary needs, helping to create a wedding fantasia.
Their special day was held in the brand-new East Gallery at Grounds For Sculpture, surrounded by the artwork of Ming Fay. Fruits of abundance and fanciful shapes in fantastical colors dangle from the ceiling in Canutopia, a 30-year retrospective of the artist whose work has been exhibited everywhere from the Whitney Museum and Queens Museum of Art in New York to the Museum of Art, Hong Kong, and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Shanghai.
Lands, whose vast experience in catering and event planning has been all-encompassing (she is also married to a chef), often starts with sample menus. In this instance, Zimmerman and Gold brought some of their own initial ideas to the table, which Lands gladly helped them to expand upon and realize fully. The menu started with an avocado gazpacho shot before the ceremony, a chilled watermelon cube with feta and mint, as well as an enoki vegetable roll, seared sesame crusted tuna, a black bean pinwheel and Creole fish taco.
“They were seeking something earthy but modern,” says Lands. “Something unique and out-of-the-box. They wanted to create a masterpiece in a museum setting, featuring a world-class artist’s work.”
Main Street Fine Catering was able to offer full-service on-premise coordination, right down to such details as bar height seating and color scheme. “We are a caterer, but we do so much more than the food,” says Lands, whose official title is director of sales for Main Street Catering. “We follow through with each couple’s concept to see it come to life.”
Main Street is responsible for a large percentage of the catered weddings at The Seward Johnson Center for the Arts at Grounds For Sculpture, and has been catering weddings, corporate events, anniversary parties and fundraisers there for 12 years. “We’ve evolved from just catering the food for events to all-inclusive wedding and event planning, offering tables, chairs, china, linens, coordinating tenting, floral arrangements and lighting,” says Lands, who worked as an event planner in the Bay Area before coming to Main Street. “We rent ovens and set up our own kitchens at each location to ensure the best quality and freshness of food. All of these services offered have grown to fulfill the needs of our local client base,” she adds.
Main Street Fine Catering is able to satisfy the growing demands of special dietary needs, from vegetarian to locavore, pescatarian or even gluten free, all while maintaining variety to satisfy a high-end gourmet palate. The Zimmerman-Gold wedding, for example, needed to avoid pork, shellfish and red meat, so the ceviche bar included sea bass with lime juice and cilantro and mahi mahi marinated in citrus and passion fruit.
The 210 guests enjoyed a “Pomme Frittes” French fry bar with toppings ranging from horseradish mayonnaise to zesty barbecue ketchup, served in a bamboo boats. To provide a vegetarian option, an Asian dim sum station offered ginger soy and sweet pea dipping sauces along with clay pot glazed tofu salad and spicy soba noodles served in bamboo cones with chopsticks. The menu continued with maple soy grilled salmon, wild mushroom risotto, farfalle Milanzane and lasagna cupcakes – all before dessert!
“The food was presented as creatively as the exhibit,” says Lands, and the wedding cake was displayed up on the wall, blending in with the artwork.
It was, of course, a day that will live forever in the photos, blog posts and memories of Zimmerman and Gold, who went off on a five-week wedding trip to Europe with stops in Milan, Barcelona and Paris. Surrounded by castles and bridges over ancient rivers, Zimmerman wrote to Lands to thank her. “The wedding was truly perfect!”
You can see Daniella’s review on weddingwire.com along with 40 other reviews.
About Main Street Fine Catering
Main Street Fine Catering is a state-of-the-art full-service caterer and event provider located in the greater Princeton, NJ area. It is a division of Main Street, an independent family-owned and operated company originally opened by Sue Simpkins in 1984, which now encompasses Main Street's Kingston Eatery and Bakery (retail carry-out), Main Street's Euro American Bistro & Bar (full-service dining in Princeton), and Main Street Fine Catering (off premise). Main Street Fine Catering serves both social and corporate clients from New York to Philadelphia from its dedicated 6,000 square foot commissary hub. The company's chef de cuisine and pastry chef — along with their talented culinary team — have produced classic and contemporary menus for everyone from U.S. presidents and national celebrities to local area residents.
For additional information on Main Street Fine Catering, call 609-921-2777, ext. 2 or visit www.mainstreetcatering.com