Sean and I both love pickles. Early on in our relation, I got a wild hare and wanted to make pickles, and Sean totally indulged me in this seemingly ridiculous project. Mostly because he loves pickles, but also because he loves me. That pickle-making project was an adventure and resulted in lots and lots of pickles, and the sure knowledge that I had found my guy.

When we decided to get married, and started planning the big awesome party, I knew I wanted to take on some of the food-related aspects. I had no illusions that I could cater the darn thing, but I wanted to make some kind of contribution, and pickles were a natural choice: They are easy to make and can be done way ahead of time. We’re planning on setting out jars of our homemade cookies pickles on the tables, as little aperitifs, of a sort, during cocktail hour. I think it’s got a great retro feel to it (I always remember my Grandma putting out a dish of sweet and sour pickles and canned black olives before dinner, and it feels so deliciously ’50s to me).

I decided that we should make the pickles in batches of 6 pints at a time over the course of several months, so that the project didn’t feel too overwhelming. We made our first batch last weekend. Luckily, as I predicted, this turned out to be a fairly easy project and it didn’t take too much time.

We used a recipe from Put ‘Em Up by Sherri Brooks Vinton, as well as following her excellent instructions for canning them. I think for the next batch we’ll dial down the sugar (which Sean actually suggested, and I resisted because THE RECIPE). But yay! I’m so glad to have been able to check off that task on our list, and am looking forward to a few more pickle-making afternoons this summer.

I can hardly believe it’s already June, and as of today, only four months until the big day. Whoa.