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LeAnn Garris, from Wilmington, and her fiance Aaron Lazar, from Cherry Hill, N.J. love to cook, and they enjoy watching The Food Network. When the cable channel announced its “Let The Food Network Cater Your Wedding” contest last year, they didn’t think they had a shot at winning, but they entered anyway, submitting a five-minute video about themselves and their interest in food. And they won. The show’s producers were intrigued by the culinary challenges of combining elements from two very different cultural backgrounds: Aaron’s Northeastern Jewish heritage and LeAnn’s Southern Baptist roots. The Southern side of the equation had already led the Garris family to choose Beau Rivage Golf Club for their reception. They liked the clubhouse’s “Southern Plantation” look, Mrs. Garris said. The Food Network needed to find a local wedding coordinator and a caterer who could prepare a menu devised by its on-air chefs. They chose Pamela Jenkins of Pamela’s Wedding & Event Planning, and Gene and Claudia Costa of Bon Appetit Catering. The wedding took place, and the reception was filmed, in November 2004. And the guests at the Lazar-Garris wedding all had bit parts in a TV show that aired in mid-March 2005. Jenkins and workers from Party Suppliers & Rentals and a moving and storage company worked all night to transform both levels of the Beau Rivage clubhouse for the production. Costa had to set up a mobile kitchen in tents, and hire 27 servers, to accommodate the volume and variety of food. Mrs. Garris praised the TV producers for how they managed the show. “They were never intrusive and let the couple do whatever they wanted.” |
Photo by Jay Curley / Jay-Cyn's Creations
Photo by Jay Curley / Jay-Cyn's Creations
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| The menu included an appetizer of latkes
with salmon, above, and entree of mahi-mahi with asparagus, bottom
left. Columns hung with ruscus greenery decorated the Beau Rivage
dining room, which opens onto an airy porch, right. |
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Photo courtesy of The Food Network |
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Published by Cape Fear Images, Inc. | 5621 Athens Lane | Wilmington, N.C. 28405