Leah & Dan’s Barn at Walnut Hill Wedding included an all-star cast of wedding pros and some of our favorite menu items.
We started festivities off with Aperol Spritz and our signature Cucumber & Rosemary G&Ts. And what goes better with cocktails than an oyster shucked fresh while you wait?
Taking a moment to properly appreciate the little things- like fresh shucked Pemaquid Oysters straight from the Damariscotta River.
Local Cheeses, Crudité, and Dips always make for a colorful display, and the beautiful farm tables provided by the Barn at Walnut Hill help bring it to the next level.
Lobster rolls. Korean Short Rib Tacos with Spicy Peach Salsa. Deviled Eggs. ⠀⠀⠀Yep. It’s all as good as it sounds!⠀⠀
Dinner started with our Heirloom Tomato and Burrata Salad, followed by a family style dinner.
Whoopie Pies only, please! We love a wedding cake, but when our couples want something else, we’re always game! This was a really fun display to create.
It’s always a pleasure to help make a wedding a beautiful, seamless day but even doubly so when you do it for friends.
We’ve known Ben and Morgan for years (Ben is a talented furniture and cabinet maker with his own company based out of Searsport and Morgan works at Waldo County General Hospital in Belfast.)
Their beautiful home in Morrill was the perfect setting for this backyard wedding. We created a vegetarian focused menu for these guys, and helped work through the logistics of set up and planning.
The night finished with a bang with one of our absolute favorite bands- Soulbenders!
Stationary and passed hors d'oeuvres are both crowd pleasers. This approach also keeps the crowd flowing. ⠀
We love the Sungold Cherry Tomato detail on the escort cards! An assortment of vintage china and hand dyed runners imbued these tablescapes with a truly personal touch.⠀
Lindsay and Mike hosted a beautiful September wedding at Lindsay’s family home in Cushing. This was actually our second time working here- we catered Lindsay’s sister’s wedding back in the first season that Abigale and I ran Trillium together. It was great to see how much the the last five years had changed the landscape at this beautiful home (and was a nice reminder to take stock of how much we’ve changed and grown as a company!)
Classic Old Fashions and prosecco with fresh sliced peaches. Simple, delicious, seasonal.
Clockwise from the top left: Fried Chicken Bites with Spicy Sauce, Slaw, & Pickle! (x2)
Crispy Shrimp with Rosemary Honey & Pickled Chili
Heirloom Tomato & Cucumber Gazpacho
Summer Burrata Salad with Heirloom Tomatoes, Basil, and Pickled Shallots. We love the way they become a part of the tablescape.
Butternut Squash & Rosemary Lasagna, and Seared Halibut with Roasted Tomato Vinaigrette
For Elizabeth and John’s wedding, we worked with the fabulous and talented Meghan Torrieri again. Working with a planner is always welcomed (and encouraged) and without a doubt, she’s one of the best in the area!
She created a beautiful design (with the bride and groom) that included incredible lighting from Griffin and Griffin. Lighting installations framed not just the dining tent, but the dance floor and band. The attention to detail was evident everywhere- with little lounge nooks and light fixtures tucked into the landscape. We included a gallery at the bottom of this post with some of our favorite images of the design.
The overall feel for the day was colorful and welcoming- a real reflection of Elizabeth and John’s personalities!
Passed apps included Seared Maitake Mushrooms on Maine Wheat Sourdough, Arancini with Tomato Caper Relish, Lobster Tostadas, and Braised Korean Beef Short Rib Tacos!
Our Tomato Burrata Salad is a refreshing first course. It’s also delicious with jazzed up with fresh-from-the-farm peaches! ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
The couple decided on a family style meal that included one of our favorite (and rarely ordered) dishes- brown sugar and ancho rubbed pork tenderloin with Maine peaches, tarragon, and fennel. Yes, it really is as good as it sounds!
We finished the evening’s menu with a beautiful wedding cake and assortment of pies, as well as Elizabeth and John’s dueling ice cream choices from Round Top & Shain’s of Maine.
We very rarely get a chance to work in our home town, so catering this wedding for Claire and Levi (who grew up in Belfast) was a real treat. The couple’s wedding reception was hosted at Levi’s family home, under a beautiful sailcloth tent. It was relaxed, yet perfectly refined and we were thrilled to be there to witness the celebration.
A refreshing, tray-passed signature drink is always a hit with guests. When it’s time to quench their thirst, we recommend two to three unique options for the cocktail hour. Claire and Levi went with Mezcal Mules and Blueberry Mojitos with Mt Gay rum.
Passed hors d'oeuvres are some of our favorite items on the menu. They’re the perfect compliment to a mocktail or cocktail during the pre-reception festivities and something everyone can look forward to.
From left to right: Maitake Mushrooms on Grilled Maine Sourdough with Smoked Tomato Butter and Mini Lobster Rolls with Taragon and Lemon.
You may already gather that we’re suckers for a well shucked oysters! Fresh from the sea, we partner with Pemqauid Oyster Company to serve these delightfully brine-y delicacies. Shucked to order by the oyster farmers themselves, you can’t get a fresher taste of the Maine coast.
Tented receptions are some of our favorites because they afford us an opportunity so see so many hidden spots around the state. Claire and Levi’s reception was held in Levi’s family’s back yard- a huge open field right in the middle of downtown Belfast that we never knew was there. The sailcloth tent added to an elegant yet laid-back atmosphere that was well suited for a family style meal. Dinner consisted of:
Grilled Flank Steak with Chimichurri
Maple-Glazed Grilled Salmon with Garlic and Sesame
Roasted Butternut Squash and Rosemary Lasagna
Wild Rice Salad with Toasted Pecans, Oranges, Shallots, and Mint
What makes a great passed hors d’oeuvre? It has to combine the right mix of flavor (salty, tangy, acidic, herbaceous, maybe just a little sweet) and texture (crunchy, chewy, crumbly, creamy) in one- maybe two- bites. It can’t be too cumbersome to eat, or fall apart in your hand. A cocktail hour is as much about catching up with friends and enjoying a drink as it is eating, after all.
It’s got to be visually striking, something that calls to people from the tray, that makes guests stop a server mid stride and say “ooh, what’s that?” But they can’t be too finicky to assemble (we’ve got lots of mouths to feed and only 90 minutes to do it!) or so delicate that they topple over as soon you try to walk with them.
Few things say “Welcome to Maine!” like a freshly shucked oyster. Briny, creamy, slippery, maybe a little gross if you think about them too long, the oyster is certainly an acquired taste. Being able to throw one back with ease takes practice, and figuring out how you like them (Cocktail sauce? Mignonette? Just a squeeze of lemon?) takes a little experimentation. We can’t think of a better treat for the oyster lover or a better introductory taste for the uninitiated, than the beautiful bivalves from the Pemaquid Oyster Company.
Grown in the cold, briny waters of the Damariscotta River in Lincoln County, the Pemaquid oysters have a clean, bright flavor and literally could not be fresher. All of the oysters at Trillium events come straight from the water to your party, and are shucked to order by the oyster farmers themselves. Guests can belly up to the bar while Smokey tells them all about the farming process, and what makes his oysters stand out. And if you’d like to really go big with the raw bar experience, we can supplement the oysters with jumbo shrimp and Port Clyde crab claws, or pair your oysters with some delicious bubbles!
Pair your oysters with some white or pink bubbles!
Flour, butter, eggs, sugar. Our philosophy on cakes is nothing crazy- they’ve just got to be beautiful and delicious. We love to coordinate with florists and incorporate flowers matching the wedding arrangements so that our cakes are deliciously on theme.
We also offer lots of size options as well. For the traditionalist we can go great guns and deliver a 5-tier monster. Or we can do something a little smaller- 6” and 9” tiers set on a pedestal to go along with dessert bites, giving our clients an opportunity to have a cake cutting while still getting a nice variety of sweet treats.
