Happy National Macaroon Day!

May 31st is National Macaroon Day and today's blog celebrates this yummy dessert. If you are unsure about the contents of this delish dessert, a definition is provided below as well as some visual mouth-watering stimulation on this sunny Tuesday. Enjoy!


Macaroons - 1st created in France are a meringue-based cookie made from a mixture of egg whites, almond flour, and both granulated and confectionery sugar. The macaroon is commonly filled with a buttercream or jam filling sandwiched between two macaroon cookies. Decedent!!!


Until next time...WEDologize!!!


(photo credits: http://www.stardustpastry.com/; http://www.crazyaboutmacarons.com/; http://www.bobbetteandbelle.com/; http://www.bakerella.com/; http://www.theknot.com/)

Venue Spotlight: Holiday Inn Crystal Lake

I had the wonderful opportunity to check in with one of my former students who is now the Catering Sales Manager of the Holiday Inn Chicago-Crystal Lake Conference Center. My visit of this great location was not only educational, but delicious!

The Holiday Inn specializes in weddings and special events and is minutes away from great shopping, golfing and other fun activities such as the River Boat, Six Flags and museums. With 19 event and meeting spaces, they can just about accommodate any size event. They have a great restaurant in which I had the pleasure of having a wonderful lunch, a gorgeous outdoor deck, a bar that stays open until 11 and a really hip black and white lounge that stays open until 2:00am for the night owls.

Now for the couple who wishes to host their wedding ceremony and reception in the space, they offer some really nice amenities to name a few:

• Personal on-site coordinator;
  
• Award-winning Chef on staff;
  
• Champagne toast;
  
• 4-hour bar; and
  
• Discounted accommodations for your guests and I must say, the rooms are really spacious and comfortable

The per person price is reasonable as well starting at $51.95, minus tax and gratuity. And additions like the wedding cake and speciality linens can be added for a nominal fee. Oh and their provided centerpieces are not the flower in a bud vase, but a really nice hurricane vase that can be used to enhance your decor.

Contact Lena Marnell at 815.477.7000 or lene.marnell@pillarhotels.com for more information and a site tour. She's awesome and won't let you down

Until next time...WEDologize!

(photo credits: www.hicrystallake.com)

A Royal Opps!

Now that the Royal Wedding has now passed and Wills and Kate are moving along with their lives, we must too. But I will say this, I was one of the billions awake at 3am CST to watch the very moments of that beautiful, well-crafted day...BUT!

What were they thinking by using Post-it's on the guests chairs???? I was 100% mortified by seeing this at the wedding of the century! HELLO! Where was their wedding planner or was this a mere oversight??? Can't you see the person sitting in that seat now walking around with a post of their name stuck on their back?!?!?! Okay...enough venting.

I wrote a blog in January about reserving seats for the wedding ceremony - http://wedologize.blogspot.com/2011/01/this-seat-is-reserved-for.html - this may have been a good one for the Royal's to glance at before assigning seats.

Regardless of how you assign guests their seats, it's always classy to have an usher or hostess escort them to their seat. Or should you want to let the guest know where they are seated before hand, include a "within this row" card inside of their invitation ensemble.

Until next time...WEDologize!

(photo credit: www.facebook.com/ThinkSplendid)