A Hudson Valley Kamayan Wedding

A dazzling kamayan dinner under the summer sky in High Falls, New York. It was a year in the making with M & P who had a clear vision for their wedding celebration. It was a fun (and funny) amalgamation of Taiwanese and Filipino cultures, gathering together over colorful, comforting food. The wedding favors were custom designed Garfield (as the groom) and Snoopy (as the bride) matchboxes; the placecards were realistic strawberry candles with tiny tags served on silver platters.

We set up a temporary kitchen in the barn at Callisto Farm, located about 100 miles away from New York City. We marveled at the scenery, taking in the rolling hills and saying hello to the grazing goats and adorable donkey holding court in the field.

Vendors

Venue: Callisto

Planner: Just Say Yes

Photographer: Eloise Photography

Bar: Byroads

Catering: Family Party Catering

Team: Jenn de la Vega, Kate Ray, Emily Drucker, Liz Lawrensen, Edison Cummings

The Wedding Menu

We anticipated a hot day ahead, so we set up buckets of iced refreshments as well as a jug of calamansi juice as guests arrived and found their seats for the ceremony.

Cocktail hour began with passed jelly shots from Solid Wiggles, one of our favorite vendors. We also sent out special hand-rolled longanisa in the blanket, featuring sweet Filipino sausage in a flaky pastry and black sesame seeds.

Dinner was the ultimate kamayan. We wheeled our giant rice cooker around the tables with a wagon and laid the foundation for an epic meal. We bolstered the rice with pancit Canton, a Filipino noodle dish with Chinese roots; and a copycat recipe of the tofu skin noodles from the restaurant Din Tai Fung.

To accommodate dietary restrictions, we strategically placed our mains at each table: chicken inasal, Taiwanese pork chops, cedar smoked bangus, Sichuan beef skewers, vegan sinigang soy protein, and tofu sisig bursting with calamansi juice.

We dotted the display with grilled local vegetable skewers, pickled cucumbers, fresh mango, pickled mustard greens, and corn on the cob. Of course, we included small dishes of sweet chili sauce and our housemade sawsawan with jujubes.

Dessert started with lots of Asian fruits. Ripe mango, rambutan, and watermelon slices sat atop traditional bamboo trays from The Philippines.

The fresh cream pandan wedding cake was designed by 99 aka Mina Park, a New York based baker. In Architectural Digest, she says,

"I like to think of fabrics when I am making cakes. [...] What kind of makes my cake design specific to me is that I’m working with whipped cream, so it’s always going to have a softer look. The edges are not as sharp as a buttercream cake. Still, it doesn’t mean there’s no definition, but there’s definitely a look to it, just purely from the material that it's made out of."

A unique dessert offering we collaborated on was a hot taho and shaved ice bar! In the Philippines, taho is a breakfast dish of steamed tofu with brown sugar syrup. We set up various flavors of syrup, colorful mochi bites, and chopped fruit so guests could choose between a hot or cold treat. The groom's parents flew the silver taho containers from White Swan in The Philippines, too.

Last, but certainly not least, we set up a late night Shin Ramen tower with a hot water kettle for guests to get an extra energy boost for tearing up the dance floor. We also brought out "his & hers" hot dogs dressed with Filipino atchara with banana ketchup and pickled mustard greens.

A Party Tip

A big lesson we learned about kamayan was about the banana leaves. We've arranged many of these dinners before, but haven't done it on a 90F degree day in direct sunlight. When you set up for a wedding, the tables must be ready first so that the florist can come in with flowers and other items like candles or glassware can be placed.

Since we were not using traditional tableclothes, the banana leaves (which were doubling as plates) needed to be laid out first. About 1 hour later, the banana leaves started to burn! It severely reduced the surface area that could cover the tables and they shriveled up. We used all of our extra stock to cover as much of the table of possible. It ended up looking more like kamayan "islands" than a bountiful row in the center of the table.

We discussed this issue with our wedding planner and the couple as soon as we saw it happening. Together, we all decided to move forward as planned, albeit looking a little more avant garde than intended. A preventative measure for outdoor kamayan meals is to rent a tent to shade the tables so that the leaves will not get ruined.

Learn more about kamayan from our exhaustive guide.