Midsummer Kitchen — Local services in Concord

I’m not one of those girls who used to dream of a wedding day. I dreamed about waking up in a big bed with dogs and little kids climbing on me and my husband while we would pretend to sleep or playing with my kids in our yard. I dreamed of love, a full life and a marriage that would last.

While I was super excited to be proposed to by the man I could live out my dreams with and build a life together, I was a little overwhelmed with planning a wedding. All I wanted was a feeling of love, laughter, and to never have my guests waiting on food or drinks because I’ve been at weddings starving during cocktail hour and then fed last. Not my wedding!!! We need energy to dance and have a good time!!

My fiancé and I knew we wanted a small wedding of 90 guests (which was an adjustment at first for our Filipino parents but they supported), have it at a villa with dancing outdoors (we’re a fan of 90s hip hop and R&B!), with nature surrounding us, white linens, fresh flowers and we were a fan of Brazilian BBQ and Irish Mules.

Thanks to Google, I searched “Lafayette Catering” and found Cleodia’s # (owner of Midsummer). She picked up and instantly I knew I wanted to work with her. It was her energy that drew me to her and in understanding how I wanted my guests, my fiancé and I to feel love in the air amongst family and friends, and to be fed / hydrated throughout the celebration. And when it came to the details, she was so proactive and I had complete trust to in her make every single decision for our wedding reception. Often our calls would last 5 min or so because when she had an idea / question, I’d respond with “Yeah!! That sounds good!”.

Here’s how it went down… she created a personalized menu taking our Brazilian BBQ-inspired request and mixed it with Californian flair, family-style theme. We had snacks and light refreshments for our guests who were shuttled to a villa, upon arrival Cleodia’s team had cocktails (Irish mules!!!), beer, wine and appetizers (including mini Cubanos, BBQ sliders, crab cakes & artichoke fritters), and dinner was served shortly after the wedding party arrived (to this day people loved the pork belly, achiote chicken, and baked white fish with salsa verde!!!) and we literally danced the night away with market lights (her idea) under the stars and trees, family, friends around us. I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect wedding reception filled with love and the best catering company / owner...

The Midsummer team did an amazing job catering our October 2024 wedding for 70 people at the UC Berkeley Botanical Garden. Cleodia and the team created a delicious Chinese/Jewish-inspired family style meal that reflected our backgrounds and flavors we love. (Our menu included scallion pancakes, potato latkes with chipotle aioli, smoked salmon on endive, duck bao, orange glazed pork belly, miso salmon, braised eggplant and tofu, steamed bok choy, dan dan noodles ... yum!)

Our guests raved about the food, and many said it was the best wedding meal they’d ever had. The Dan Dan noodles were a crowd favorite and no one could believe they were vegetarian. Midsummer did a great job accommodating for dietary restrictions, and many of their menu selections were already naturally gluten-free or vegetarian/vegan.

Equally as important as nailing the meal, Cleodia was so responsive to every email in the months leading up to the event, and helped with renting additional equipment like space heaters. That really gave us peace of mind that everything would go smoothly day of.

Thanks Midsummer for being part of our...

Midsummer catered for our small wedding reception (~30 people). We were initially interested in them because of their consultation form, that lets you share your story, food interests, and any moments you want to highlight. The menu they put together was amazing and our tasting went great. They were very communicative leading up to the event, and everything went flawlessly at the reception. We had a plant-forward menu with a few seafood options and all of the guests raved about the quality and taste of the food. The salads were so fresh, the salmon was not dry, the toasted items were crispy and hot, everything was great! I would 100% go with Midsummer for...