I'm Gonna Be A Wedding Crasher!!!! UPDATED WITH MINI REVIEW

My FILs were invited to a wedding at Land's End for August 11 and they are very close friends with the father of the groom. When they mentioned to them that we're getting married at Land's End they insisted that we 'crash' the cocktail hour so we could see how everything runs and maybe even pop our heads into the ballroom to see how it is set up. I'm so excited - expect a mini review!!!

Hi everyone, went to the wedding this afternoon!

So, the ceremony was held at Land's End. What a great way to save money on flowers! Hahaha. The grounds at Land's End are so beautiful, especially at this time of year, it just couldn't have been nicer. As we walked in, we were served champagne with blueberries floating in it. FH commented that the champagne was particularly tasty. My FMIL really loved that touch too, and the only thing she said she might've done different was have mimosas too. The ceremony in the gazebo was really beautiful and went off without a hitch. One thing that was a little nerve wracking for me was that there were ferries leaving periodically during the wedding and they were literally a stone's throw from where we were. All of the people on board were very respectful and actually didn't make a peep. But, it would not have been too hard for someone to have screamed something obnoxious if they had wanted to. In the end, I think the bride and groom got an extended cocktail hour out of the ceremony taking place at Land's End, because they didn't use the full hour allotted for the ceremony and cocktail hour began right afterwards. That was definitely a big plus!

As we left the ceremony for the cocktail hour, waiters and waitresses in tuxedos were waiting for us on the walkway holding cosmos, appletinis, strawberry daquiris and pina coladas. Everyone around was raving about this, and saying they 'have never gotten drinks so quickly' at a cocktail hour before. Also, every single person was told 'COCKTAIL HOUR INSIDE AND OUTSIDE' which made me really happy because that was one of my concerns - someone else on here had posted that nobody realized there was additional food inside. I don't know if the people at Land's End read these threads or what, but there is NO WAY people didn't hear that there was food inside and out!!! And, the only thing that they had inside that they did not have outside was the vegetable crudite table with all the antipasto, breads, dips, etc. Otherwise there were duplicate stations inside and outside.

There were two bars open - one inside and one out. This was a wedding with 210 guests and we never waited for drinks. There was an abundance of table room - almost everyone was able to get a seat outside and there were also some people at tables inside. One thing that was probably a little bit of a problem for some people was that there were 2 or 3 tables without umbrellas. On a day like today, the shade was so key! But that was really minor, because there were plenty of places to retreat to if you got too hot.

As far as the food - everything that was passed tasted great! We must've been offered something to eat every minute and a half! THe service really was outstanding. One of the best things was the chicken cordon bleu - my FILs and me and FH all thought it was great. FH also loved the seared tuna. For stations, they had the spanish station - the paella was great and I'm a huge guacamole fan so I loved that. They also had the asian station. The chicken was awesome, and the dumplings were really great too - I ate everything I put on my plate. They had eggrolls and neither FH nor I thought they were very good, but that was probably the only food that wasn't fantastic! They also had a carving station with some sort of beef and horseradish sauce that was great.

The father of the groom also took us in to see the ballroom, since we were leaving before the main portion of the reception started. The room was filled with low centerpieces and, contrary to my fears, it didn't look empty at all. It looked beautiful, and I now have absolutely no reservations about using 1/2 high and 1/2 low CPs. Other than that, I really didn't get to see too much of the ballroom, because FH and I didn't want to overstay our welcome!

Well, FILs are still at the wedding, so I'll post again to say what they thought of the rest of it. Overall, FH and I are totally thrilled with Land's End and can't wait for our own wedding. I can only pray we have weather like today - it was absolutely perfect and the atmosphere was unbeatable. Between that and the great food, abundance of drinks and attentive waitstaff - it was perfect!!