It’s national Tequila day, and I thought I might find some interesting tequila recipes for your wedding.
I don’t usually share food blogs, but I thought for Tequila day, I would make an exception. I scowered the internet looking for fun and interesting drinks, main courses and deserts. There were so many options it was hard to just pick a few. Also, I have a hard time following recipes. I tend to use the recipe as a guideline. I was glad I had family in town this weekend when I was preparing everything. They were my guinea pig.
Drink — Blackberry Lemonade Margarita
Let’s start with the drink. I have a family recipe for a frozen margarita, but I wanted to try something a little different. I LOVE blackberries and thought a black berry lemonade sounded very refreshing for a summer wedding drink. It’s also so pretty. This drink was sweet, tart and strong.
How did it go? Boy is this a strong drink! It could make you forget feelings.
My changes — Most of my family is on a strict diet. I replaced the sugar (that actually goes into the drink) with Truvia and I used a 90 calorie lemonade from the store.
Main Course — Tequila-Lime Pork Tenderloin
How did it go? I made some adjustments to the recipe but basically, I had a really big piece of meat (that’s what he said) that did not cook in the amount of time the recipe stated it should. I didn’t think it would. My mom was a bit inpatient so the edges got a bit charcoaled because we cranked up the heat in the grill. It was a little dry, because it was cooked too fast.
My changes — The main course I made several changes to. First, and foremost, I brined (2 qt water, 1/2 cup of salt and a dollop of minced garlic) the pork loin (8lb for 5 hours). You are supposed to brine an hour per pound, but the recipe didn’t call for brining and I was only doing it to open the pores a bit to allow more of the marinade in. The second change I made was to substitute half of the orange juice with triple sec. I also took the remaining marinade, added cornstarch and boiled it to make a sauce.
Cake
I was going to make something, but I ran out of time and I was afraid the dessert would be left for me alone to eat… no one wants to eat cake alone. Instead, I will direct you to a bakery I discovered.
Bundt-Cake-A-Holic is a Houston area bakery who makes boozy bundt cakes and wedding cakes. They have a VIP cake that has Silver Patron in it. I assume it is sort of lime flavored. I was really impressed with the prices, especially for the wedding cakes.
What does all this have to do with weddings and wedding photography? meh 🤷♀️
Alcohol and good food. That’s the correlation.
One of my all time favorite wedding photography shot at a wedding is the sparkler grand exit. They are fun, elegant and at times, unpredictable. The warm glow you get from a sparkler image really mimics the glow of the newlyweds. Generally, sparklers are pretty uniform but I love it when I can capture a sparkler that has sputtered and shot a line of fire down the image. Sparkler exits can be tricky to the untrained, though.
Teal, pink, Lemon, Lime, violet
1. Make sure to schedule time before your wedding for group photos. Photos of bridesmaids with bride, grooms men with the groom. I know they love you, but once the bar opens, you might have lost them for the evening. If you want to do a first look (which I LOVE!) or even a first touch (holding hands around a wall or door so you can’t see each other), make sure to put aside 20-30 minutes.
4. One of the biggest things I always suggest is to do the cake cutting somewhere immediately after you start feeding your guests to right after your toasts. I do this because the sooner you start serving cake, the more cake will be consumed by the end of the night, and the less you have to take home. Cake is awesome, but not 4 days in a row.
I’ve shot weddings where the venue served a special desert instead of cake (there was still a cake cutting, but they didn’t offer any of it to the guests). I’ve shot a wedding where the couple had a giant rice krispie and some cake-pops in lieu of cake.
