Quail Lodge Resort and Golf Club

Last Thursday, I drove down to Carmel for a site visit and lunch at Quail Lodge Resort and Golf Club.

Greeted by Nick DelPozzo, the Senior Sales Manager, I was welcomed warmly and with lots of smiles. We started off with lunch first as it was already 1pm. We had lunch at the Edgar's restaurant located at the clubhouse and were seated by the window with a wonderful view of the golf course. We both had the Thai-style steak salad with mixed greens, arugula, cherry tomatoes and lime ginger cilantro dressing.

It was light and delicious! For dessert, I had the Valrhona Chocolate Cake, basically, it was a molten chocolate cake, served with vanilla bean ice cream on the side, in an almond tuile cup. I'm so glad I had a salad for the entree as the dessert was sinfully rich and totally satisfied any chocolate craving I had! Kudos to chef Julio Ramirez for the awesome lunch! (He even stopped by our table to say hello.)

After lunch, it was off to the site tour, we met up with Kui Maluki, the Events Manager, to start the tour. We started off with the Peninsula Ballroom and Oak Room. The Peninsula Ballroom holds 180 comfortably with a dance floor. It has cathedral ceilings, 3 walls of windows and an outdoor terrace that overlooks the golf course.

Next to the Peninsula Ballroom is a foyer area which can be used for cocktail hour. Adjacent to that is the Oak Room, it also has an outdoor terrace and can be used as a babysitting area for children attending weddings.

The good thing about Quail Lodge is they only hold one event per day so once you book it for your wedding, you can have total access to their event space and not worry about having to share the space with another couple.

After that, we were off to see the outdoor ceremony site, Quail Meadows, which is just a couple of minutes drive away from the clubhouse. We approached the site through the Barn Loft, which is a rustic building where couples can hold a cocktail hour in the outdoor patio immediately following their ceremony.

Having your ceremony on the lawn at Quail Meadows, you get views of the nearby lake and the tree-covered hillsides. It is very secluded and private and offers a serene setting for a lovely ceremony. You can even choose to have your reception outdoors at Quail Meadows as well.

Here is a view of the lawn from upstairs at the Barn Loft, so gorgeous!

For you dog lovers, the other great point to bring up about Quail Lodge is they are pet-friendly! You can have your furry four-legged buddy as your ringbearer, no problem at all. During lunch, Nick mentioned about an event they have at Halloween called "The Howl-O-Ween Dog Paw-ty". It's a party for dogs and their owners where they have food (for both people and pooches), costume competitions, a dog fashion show and muscial entertainment. How cool is that!

I want to thank Nick and Kui for their gracious hospitality and for spending time with me and telling me all about Quail Lodge!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

When I think of Valentine's Day, I think of sweet stuff; candy you give your special someone, sweet nothings you whisper in each other's ears... I also think of romance and that leads me to think of Paris, the most romantic city in the world (in my opinion). And when I think of Paris, I think of my favorite cookie, the French macaron.

My favorite French macaron is called the Ispahan, it's basically a French macaron with a combination of rose, raspberries and lychee flavors that blend together so beautifully. The Ispahan is created by Pierre Herme, a very talented French pastry chef, who I think is the god of French macarons. (That reminds me, I better get started on working on one of my New Year's resolutions.)

I am going to leave you with this photo of a heart-shaped Ispahan by Pierre Herme, wishing you all things sweet today!

Photo credit: PierreHerme.com

ACPWC Installation Meeting

Last Wednesday evening, I attended ACPWC's Installation Meeting at the Santa Clara Convention Center. I love attending ACPWC meetings! All of us wedding consultants get to catch up with one another and it's a great atmosphere of inspiration and motivation. Especially the Installation Meeting, it usually takes place in February and because it's been a couple of months since we had all gotten together, there's so much to catch up on!

After the cocktail hour, Jennifer Dahlen, Director of Sales at the Santa Clara Convention Center, introduced herself and her staff to us and proceeded to give us a tour of the venue. They recently remodeled their ballrooms and now it has a modern look and feel to it. The carpet has neutral tones so it will be very easy to match it with other colors.

After the tour, we proceeded to a meeting room to continue our meeting. The room had lighting provided by North American Theatre Technology and beautiful floral centerpieces provided by Floral Design Studio.

Before dinner was served, our new Board of Directors for 2010 was sworn in, here is a picture of the  swearing-in:

The delicious dinner was catered by Aramark; we had a cucumber and lettuce salad and the entree was a filet of beef with shrimp, with roasted tomato and asparagus and creamy Yukon Gold mashed potatoes. The beef was so tender that I finished my whole plate (which is usually not the case since I am a small eater)!

Let's not forget about dessert, my favorite course... This evening, the dessert was a personal, two-tiered mini wedding cake provided by Cake Expressions. How cute is this!! It is chocolate cake covered by white fondant. Yummy! Again, polished off the entire cake!

The other reason I love attending Installation Meetings is because we get informed of all the events and educational programs that the Board has in store for the members this year. 2010 will be an important year for ACPWC as we get ready to prepare for a very SPECIAL event next year (to be revealed soon). I am very excited about my new responsibilities within ACPWC this year and cannot wait to start!