Champagne

Of course New Year's Eve is a popular time for a little bubbly, but so is a wedding and I'll just bet there is one in your future. In order to make the very best choice for the type of champagne to be served at your wedding, I recommend the website Henri's Reserve. Not only does the site include very comprehensive information regarding champagne, but it also sells champagne tasting gifts. What fun!

Click on the "Education" tab on their site to get a plethora of information on champagne including

this easy to follow guide:

Classifications are used to refer to sweetness (or its absence, called dry). Producers can regulate the sweetness by controlling fermentation. For example, stopping fermentation early leaves some natural grape sugar in the finished wine. Below is a listing for your reference (and yes, Sec usually means dry - but not in Champagne!)

1. Brut: dry, less than 1.5% sugar
2. Extra Sec: extra dry, 1.2 to 2% sugar
3. Sec: medium sweet, 1.7 to 3.5% sugar
4. Demi-Sec: sweet, 3.3 to 5% sugar (dessert Champagne)
5. Doux: very sweet, over 5% sugar (dessert Champagne)

Many of the weddings we have planned in the last couple of years have served Prosecco as the "champagne" Prosecco is actually an Italian sparkling wine. In Italy, Prosecco is enjoyed as a wine for every occasion.

Outside Italy, it is most often drunk as an aperitif, much like Champagne.

 

Like other sparkling wines, Prosecco is served chilled. Unlike Champagne, Prosecco does not ferment in the bottle and grows stale with time. It should be drunk as young as possible and preferably within three years of its vintage, although high quality Prosecco can be aged for up to seven years. Compared to other sparkling wines, Prosecco is low in alcohol, about 11 to 12 percent by volume. The flavor of Prosecco has been described as intensely aromatic and crisp, with flavors such as yellow apple, pear, white peach and apricot. Unlike Champagne, appreciated for its rich taste and complex secondary aromas, most Prosecco variants have intense primary aromas and are meant to taste fresh, light and comparatively simple.

Another popular drink at weddings is pink champagne. Normally when they make a Champagne, even though they use "red grapes", they take the skin away immediately so that none of the red color from the skin affects the overall color of the Champagne liquid. In order to make a Champagne a pink Champagne, all they have to do is let the skins sit with the liquid for a short while. The longer it sits together, the more pink the liquid becomes. Pink Champagnes tend to taste a little fruity, but they can be sweet or non-sweet depending on the maker. You'll want to look up the website for a given maker of pink Champagne to know exactly what flavors are in a specific Pink Champagne you want to try.

Pink Champagnes certainly make pretty Champagne cocktails too. 

 

Wedding Movies for Everyone

Wedding movies have become so much more then just your run of the mill chick flick.   Snuggling up together on the couch for a movie and some popcorn just got a whole lot funnier.  Below is a list of five great fiance-friendly films about weddings.

1. The Hangover

2. Wedding Crashers

3. Bridesmaids

4. The Wood

5. Sixteen Candles

This is a Great Bridal Show

Crabby

Hotel gifts are a wonderful "We're so glad you are here." first impression for the guests travelling to Baltimore for your wedding. In addition to the traditional Berger Cookies, Goetz Caramels and Jeppi Maryland Mix, here are two more fun items to add to the gift bag:

This personalized bag of seafood seasoning costs as little as $ 1.50 each. Available from J.O.Spice in Baltimore. In addition, throw in a pair of these cute personalized mallets for fun (1.85-2.95 each).

Thinking of You

With a number of first responders in our family, we pause to especially remember those firefighters and police officers in Newtown, CT who are grieving along with the rest of the country. In their training, first responders are taught what to do in so many different situations, but who could ever even imagine what they would be called to do on

December 14th at Sandy Hook?

 

Often putting aside emotion during calls in order to do their job to the best of their ability, it would be super human for these emergency personnel not to be emotional about this tragedy. We hope they heal and find solace in the fact that they offer comfort and safety to so many so often.

It's Christmas!

Merry Christmas and sincere wishes for a wonderful day filled with love and fun.

Kindness Times 26

My sisters and I have decided to together participate in 26 Random Acts of Kindness in memory of those sweet people lost in the Connecticut shooting. The idea is simple: Perform one act of generousity for each of the victims lost at

Sandy Hook and share the results with others.

 

Today is day # 1 and we'll report to each other and to our followers. Follow me on Twitter for updates @BaileyWeddings.

We would love to hear about your random acts too.