I got love in my tummy

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Our caterer choice was another easy choice. While there are plenty of good caterers in Santa Barbara, we narrowed the choice to two and went with our gut ;)

We attended a wedding show in September at the Earl Warren Showgrounds in SB. The main reason I wanted to go to the show was to meet the people of Pure Joy Catering who had a booth at the event. I had visited their website frequently for a few weeks, and looked over their menu soooo many times that I wanted to experience what they were all about. As luck would have it we were approached by Colleen, the event planner who happens handle all Pure Joy catering at our reception venue (our location must be that popular). She gave us her card and we contacted her a bit later about their availability, contracts, menu options, etc.

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Pure Joy was founded by Executive Chef Lynette La Mere, is a community staple, and even The Knot Best of Weddings 2008 Pick for Best Central California Caterer. They offer full service catering and special event planning to Santa Barbara, Montecito, and surrounding areas. With an experienced team of event managers and staff, they are able to work with you to create proposals, discuss menu items and service style, help with rentals, design a lovely space, and bring your vision to life. And I love seeing their vans parked around the city :)

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Their menu is filled with variety to fit your style (meat, seafood, veggie), specialty stations (mashed potato bar, ceviche station, wok station), and a nice array of side and salad options. But my favorite part of their menu is the dessert options! More specifically the cheese cake bar and ice cream sundae bar, which would definitely delight our guests with an end of the night treat. These bars allow guests to get a scoop of cheese cake or ice cream and choose from a variety of toppings like warm caramel dulce de leche, fresh raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, chocolate chip, oreos, sprinkles, toasted almonds, coconut shavings and M&M's. Mmm mouth is watering.

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I love PJC's website. It's very accessible, menu items are listed so you can anticipate what you like and don't like, they provide a helpful vendor page that lists SB vendors they have worked with before, there is a photo gallery of yummy inspirations, a location source page helps brides scoute places in SB, they offer green efforts, and there is ease in contacting them.

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Colleen has been a great help with planning so far. We will probably meet with in the next month or so to discuss the lay out and design of our venue. We have just had our first tasting (more on that soon) and will be attending Pure Joy's Exclusive Annual Bridal Tasting and Open House in March.

How did you find your caterer? Was it a simple process? What was your favorite part?

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side note cos I love the Lakers: Obama endorses Kobe :)

Blog title is from song by Ohio Express