Since I get most of my knowledge from pop culture, I've also formulated my expectations for the wedding based on various movies and television shows I've seen over the years. One of the key wedding related scenes in any good flick is the big food tasting scene. Cake tasting will come later, but we had our first food tasting just last week. Although it wasn't quite what I thought it would be, as in it wasn't purely a tasting at all, but a chance for various vendors to haggle with you and promote their business, it was still a wedding related experience worth remembering for all of time. 
There were hotel reps and officiants and trumpet players and other musical people. All of them wanted to chat and cram their offerings down our throats until we gave in and took their free pamphlets. At one point, one of the officiants cornered Josh and I to have a discussion about a potential Christian wedding. After politely explaining to him we've already booked this aspect of our wedding, he changed the subject to Josh's personal religious well-being and the state of his soul. This stranger, while a man of religion, was very presumptuous in assuming Josh was a lost lamb needing saving. He then went on to rant about people who haven't read the Bible cover to cover don't know anything and don't have a place to say anything. We both smiled and politely nodded our heads to this man's straight-to-the-point religion talk, while simultaneously plotting an avenue of escape. At some point we were finally able to free ourselves from his presence and fled to the safety of a heaping cup of shrimp and grits, but only after Josh promised to give the man a person phone call later that week. 
After that debacle, we made our rounds to sample as much food as possible. Me, to assuage the awkwardness of interacting with strangers, Josh because he's a bottomless pit. We were able to sample some pasta items, mini cheese-steaks, braised beef, lobster mac & cheese, egg rolls, and desserts. Desserts galore! In between the food tasting, I was able to finagle a cocktail. It was an interesting cocktail where they poured liquids over cotton candy and said it was an example of a "signature drink". I guess that could work. 
The whole venue was set up in a blue and white color palette to give us an idea of the things that can be done for our big day. There were lounge areas set up and table settings and an alter. It was revealing to see how they can transform the space to accommodate a particular theme. It was also very crowded. A special source told us 200 brides were in attendance at this event. I had to throw some bows just so I didn't lose a spot in line waiting for a cheese-steak! I hope I do not have a repeat experience on the day that we wed. These bows stop for nothing when it comes to food. 
Overall, it was a pleasant experience to take another step in the wedding planning direction. I hope next we get to sit down and sample some items that may actually be served at our wedding. We want only the best for our guests and need to have as many meetings as possible to eat lots of food and drink lots of beverages to finalize this decision. Also, we still need to do the most important tasting of all - the cake tasting!
