Logan and I grew up in the same home town and had mutual friends so knew of each other, but had never really talked. Years later we bumped into each other at a concert in Madison on my birthday, and I was surprised to see a familiar face in a sea of people so I said hello. We chatted briefly and then went our separate ways.
Logan used our mutual connections to track down my number and texted me the next morning. Over time, our text exchanges evolved from a daily check-in to more meaningful dialogue. We really got to know each other through those conversations, more than I would have thought was possible. After several months we had an actual conversation by phone and it didn’t take long from there to arrange our first date. Three years to the day of our first date, he asked me to marry him.
We are both foodies and love to entertain. We enjoy creating menu plans and experimenting with new recipes for our friends and family. When we began the wedding planning process, we knew that our celebration had to be all about the food.
We had a short engagement with only 4 1/2 months to plan everything. Within that short window, my dad passed away unexpectedly. It could have been a very stressful and unpleasant time, but Michelle and her team were amazing throughout the entire process.
We hosted our wedding and reception at the DC Estate Winery. We had a vision of offering several food stations where our guests could sip cocktails and eat different foods throughout the night. We wanted the food stations to be a reflection of us. We met with Michelle at Francesco’s and within minutes knew she could make our vision a reality. Michelle introduced us to her dad and the catering chef at our first meeting and we could see the passion and love for food from the whole team. While Francesco’s is a well known Italian restaurant, they didn’t hesitate to accommodate our “off the menu” requests.
We welcomed our guests prior to the ceremony with signature cocktails:
Brandy Old Fashioned and Red Wine Sangria.
We provided 3 food stations:
“Italian Honeymoon” (We traveled to Italy for our honeymoon)
Mini chopped salad cups, crab cakes, and chicken Milanese with lemon thyme butter sauce and tortellini
“BBQ” (We are both KCBS certified bbq judges)
Pulled pork, spicy mac n cheese, coleslaw, and cornbread
“Old Fashioned Supper Club” (We love exploring Wisconsin Supper Clubs)
Sliced prime rib on a pretzel bun with horseradish cream sauce, loaded baked potato station, Brussels sprouts, and a relish tray.
For dessert we offered 3 flavors of gelato instead of a wedding cake.
As we hoped, everyone raved about the food. We couldn’t have been more pleased with the entire process. From planning to execution, everyone from Franchesco’s was not only accommodating, but seemed to enjoy the process of helping create our perfect day.
As is often the case for the bride and groom, we were so busy the night of the wedding that we barely got to taste any of the food. We often discussed wishing we could go back to our own wedding as guests so we could experience how great it really was. Last year I decided to make that happen. For Logan’s 40th birthday I threw him a surprise party and called on Michelle at Franchesco’s to recreate our wedding menu for the party. She made it happen and everything was delicious....again! This time I got to enjoy it. Logan was again so busy that he didn’t get to try much of the food for the second time, so who knows… we might just have to try this again some day.
We could not recommend Franchesco’s more highly!