Wedding Recap: The Rococo Room

 Photo by Don Le of Bliss Imagery

Sure, I've shared my disgruntled opinion about a couple of vendors who turned out to be duds (Hello, MIA hairstylist and unorganized, shady hotel staff) but there were, thankfully, amazing people who seriously went beyond expectations.

One of these star vendors is the staff  at the Rococo Room.

We had our daytime reception at their intimate banquet room in downtown Pasadena, and it was perfect for us. Why?

1) They were extremely organized and super generous from beginning to end.
When we first met with Keith, the venue coordinator, he was very thorough of what he could offer us and how much everything would cost. He was very patient and willing to work within our budget. He even threw in some amazing freebies, like extra appetizers for our guests, or a very minimal room setup fee. Normally, parties have two hours to set up before the event, but Keith gave us extra time on Friday night to get the room prepared. Their staff knew exactly what was going on -- from set up, to the schedule of events, to clean up. The wait staff was professional in demeanor and attire, and the service was simply excellent.

2) Our guests loved their food. One of the things we did not want to compromise on when first planning our wedding was the food. I've had my share of dry, rubbery chicken at wedding receptions, and we did not want to go that route. Even it meant sacrificing a giant guest list, or the grand hotel ballroom, or even thousands of dollars of flowers--we did not want to go cheap on the food. Unfortunately, even if more than half of our budget was dedicated to catering and the venue, the menus in our price range were...disappointing.  Luckily, the Rococo Room offered Zagat rated food that was D-lish.

 Photo by Don Le of Bliss Imagery

Guests were well-fed with plenty of appetizers, salad, a main course and the OMG cake. No, that not what it's called (chocolate mouse cake, really) but the looks and tastes of this cake had you saying that over and over. It's what our photographer deemed the best wedding cake EVER!

 The OMG cake. Photo by Don Le of Bliss Imagery

3) Location. Nestled in the trendy and historic downtown Pasadena district, The Rococo Room is a rare combination of prime location and affordability. The room was the right size for our intimate gathering of 100 people. The outside doesn't look like much, but the room has a rustic charm to it. With Chivari chairs, elegant linens and silverware, there isn't much you need to add to decorate this place. All we had were our orchid centerpieces, the lovely ceremony arrangements a family friend made for us, a few orchid flowers strewn about and some candles.

 Photo by Regina Bunye

Photo by Don Le of Bliss Imagery

4) We could afford it. With two appetizers, salad, plated meal, cake, open bar, champagne and apple cider toast, set-up and cleanup, labor, audio and tech equipment, taxes and gratuity all for 101 people, we paid about $5300 out-the-door. Not. Bad.

Rehearsal Dinner Deets

People have described to me the moment that it finally hits them, the OMG feeling that tells them that Yep, this is really happening...When did I have that feeling? My fiance and I were sitting at our spots at the altar of our church during our ceremony rehearsal and we looked at the faces of our wedding party sitting in the pews. We both turned and looked at each other.

Yikes! We're getting married!!! And it feels sooo good!

We scheduled our rehearsal dinner the Thursday evening before our wedding, giving us all of Friday for any last minute prepping -- which we definitely needed. We planned a lowkey, casual backyard get-together after the rehearsal.

The rehearsal dinner invites I made using a free template from Download & Print, free 4X6 prints from Snapfish, leftover envelopes from our Save the Dates and leftover cardstock from our invitations. Cost for 22 invites plus postage: $10. 

Our church coordinator did a thorough job going through each step of the ceremony, which was a Catholic ceremony without communion.

It's starting to sink in...

Feeling the excitement!

But the rehearsal went much longer than expected. We ended at 7:30 p.m. and our rehearsal dinner was scheduled at 7:30 p.m. We still needed to drive to our family's house to get the backyard ready for the dinner! We invited other guests who didn't need to be at the ceremony rehearsal so we had to get there as soon as possible.

But of course there was bumper to bumper traffic moving at a glacial speed on the 210 freeway. Oh, LA traffic, must you rear your ugly head now???

Despite being nearly an hour late, our rehearsal dinner was still a fun, casual affair at our house.

We used our own tiki torches and my father-in-law borrowed tables and chairs from his work.

For centerpieces and added lighting, my mother-in-law gathered old candles from around her house. It added a nice ambiance to the evening.

The food was a mixture of home-cooked Filipino food, catered Chinese food and grilled short ribs.

Saying thanks to our wedding party. Yep, that's me wearing a silk Chinese top in traditional red and gold, in honor of my fiance's cultural heritage. My guy's wearing a traditional Filipino barong, in honor of my Filipino family.

It was a lovely evening with both of our families coming together and getting to know each other.  And yes, the rehearsal dinner was part of our wedding budget. Including the food, drinks, utensils and all decorations for a dinner to feed 30 people, we spent $230.

Next up: Getting ready for the big day!

Rehearsal Dinner Downlow

As most of you know by now, our budget includes our rehearsal dinner for about 50 or so people. I couldn't imagine throwing another mini-wedding reception at a fancy restaurant with our budget, so we decided on a no-frills, home-cookin' casual affair in my FSIL's backyard.

But we're not scaling back on formality with our rehearsal dinner just because of our limited budget. We actually prefer it this way. We're just as excited about our laidback backyard BBQ/potluck as we are with our semi-formal wedding reception. We wanted our rehearsal dinner to be an opportunity where both families would feel comfortable interacting and getting to know each other. No seating arrangements, buffet style with some tables and chairs in the backyard. The menu? We're not sure yet, but we envision a mix of catered Chinese food with some homemade Filipino and Samoan food. We're probably going to fire up the grill with some Korean BBQ (my fiance's favorite). Maybe some candles and paper lanterns for a little decorative fun. Just a good ol' family get together with great food! We've had family parties for about 50-70 people and we've always had tons of food leftover (all on a budget of about $400-$600!)  That's usually how we roll anyway when we celebrate, so having a casual, initimate get-together before the big shebang will be well worth it!

What are you planning for your rehearsal dinner?

Food tasting = yummy, free food!

Last night, we had a food tasting at our reception venue to help us decide on our menu. We already had an idea of what we wanted, but since the Rococo Room offered us a complimentary food tasting, why not? I mean, who can pass up free food?

As soon as we started planning our wedding, we knew we wanted quality food. So I'm really excited about our choice of venue because of its reputation for great food. It's a zagat-rated restaurat in Old Town Pasadena and the service is first rate. Oh, if you already don't know, you'll see from this post that I love taking pictures of food. Nothing piques my senses like photos of food. It's kinda like food porn, I guess.

Anyhooo...the first items we tried were the appetizers -- bruschetta, spanokopita, mediterranean stacks and beef tostadas.

The bruschetta (right) were delicious -- a taste of fresh tomatoes, balsamic vinegar and garlic. A nice tasty snack for a warm summer afternoon. The spanakopitas (middle) were crispy and surprisingly filling for such a small appetizer. The mediterranean stacks were just OK. Can't really get excited over cucumber, tomato and feta cheese. Although the feta cheese was pretty good. I don't even like feta too much, but this cheese was mild, not too salty or bitter.

The beef tostadas brought an odd mix to the mediterranean flavors. Being probably half a bite-size portion, this was quickly nixed from the list.

beef tostadas

We unanimously decided on 2 appetizers, the spanakopita and the bruschetta.

We also decided on a caesar salad, much better than the overpowering flavors in the Greek salad. I usually like strong flavors, but the Greek salad was soaked in balsamic vinegar -- although the Greek salad was much prettier on the plate. But taste always triumphs over presentation, at least to true foodies!

Caesar Salad

 

Greek Salad

Because of previous visits to the restaurant, we already had an idea of what we wanted for the entrees. The boneless, chicken roast is delicious and hearty, and the salmon is fresh, moist and is dressed with a nice hollandaise sauce.

The marsala sauce on this chicken is killer and the meat is tender! Always my pick when I eat here!

The salmon is D-lish!

We were allowed one other dish for the food tasting, so we decided to try their grilled rib-eye steak. We knew this might dangerous since the steak was a bit expensive, and if we loved it, we might be tempted to go over our budget. But why not? Who can pass up a free steak?

Grilled Rib-eye Steak

I thought the steak was good. I didn't think it was dry and it was tasty. But the three people in our group voted nay on it. It was just OK, they said and they liked the chicken and the salmon better. That was totally fine with me since 1) those were my top two picks anyway and 2) it keeps us within budget!

Now, for dessert! We tried the chocolate mousse cake and the tiramisu cake. I tried the chocolate mousse cake before and have since have had at least one great dream where I'm reliving the heavenly moment.

Chocolate Mousse Cake

Drool.....

 

tiramisu

Unfortunately, we can only pick one cake. Being the chocolate lover I am, I leaned heavily toward the chocolate mousse cake. But my future sis-in-law pointed out that the CMC isn't really a cake. It's more like a chunk of decadent chocolate filled with even more decadent mousse. The tiramisu has more of a cake texture.

Hmmm, personally, I think taste triumphs over texture. Besides, are people really going to have a fit because their cake doesn't have the fluffy texture of an average cake? CMC wins!

After our tasting, I realized our guests are going to go home with a tasty, filling lunch! Our waiter explained that the portions in our tasting were about half of what the actual portions on the day of our wedding will be. No stingy pieces of meat here!