Bite-Sized News

Tiffany and Brian Lombard got married in front of 24 friends and family members at Merchant & Trade on Nov. 21, 2020.

manager position, so they packed up and moved again. Brian worked in the kitchen at Hawkers Asian Street Food for a few months before he landed the executive chef position at Foxcro Wine Co.

Their lives seemed somewhat settled, nally. In November 2019, they went to Puerto Rico to celebrate their birthdays— hers is the 20th, his the 22nd—and came home engaged. They planned a wedding for Nov. 21, 2020, at Playa del Carmen in Mexico and invited 100 guests. So much for plans: By June, it was clear they’d have to cancel.

They always knew they wanted kids and decided to try for a baby as long as their wedding was on hold. They assumed it would take a while. But in September, they learned Ti any was pregnant. They wanted to be married before their baby was born, so they kept their original date of November 21, the day between their birthdays, and scaled it down to 24 guests.

Ti any found a strapless white dress o the rack at Savvy Brides and through her connections in the industry booked Merchant & Trade for a roo op ceremony. She found face masks on Etsy that read, “spread love, not germs,” for each guest and hired Kacie Amann of Honey Belle Events to handle the rest. “I didn’t want to be doing what I do for work on my wedding day,” Ti any says. “It was actually really nice having a small, intimate wedding where you really got to visit and talk to everyone.”

To stay within the indoor mass gathering limit of 10 people that had taken e ect just days before, they rented both of the hotel’s ballrooms for the reception and arranged 6-foot spaces between the four-top tables. Guests enjoyed passed hors d’oeuvres and a steak dinner followed by a Celestial Cakery raspberry lemon wedding cake, which doubled as their gender reveal. The cake topper, which Brian found on Etsy, was a silhouette of a kneeling man kissing his wife’s pregnant belly.

Their honeymoon remains on hold. But the Lombards are content coming home to each other at the end of a long workday, where there’s usually a hot meal and good company waiting—some stability, nally, even though it’s happened under strange circumstances. “If I’m working late, she’ll call to ask if I’m hungry and whip something up—she’s learned a few things over the years,” Brian says. “She knows I’ll cook anyway but makes me feel like, ‘I got this, kick your feet up.’”

They’re also preparing to welcome their newest guest, a girl, in May. They hope to move into a house this summer, where Ti any can create a cozy yet sleek pink oral nursery. “That attention to detail you have in hospitality follows you into your own home,” she says, “and just about everything else you do.”

BITE-SIZED STORIES

Foodie Tidbits on a Small Plate

800° WOODFIRED KITCHEN, a cra pizza concept that launched in Hollywood in 2011 and has expanded to 10 cities, including Miami, New York, and Chicago, opens in SouthPark’s Phillips Place this month. Look for wood- red pizzas, salads, and grain bowls as well as family meal deals.

Atlanta-based COLLIER CANDY COMPANY has opened a second location in Optimist Hall. The ve-and-dime-inspired store sells a mix of new and vintage candy and premium sodas.

THE BELLA CIAO opened in the space formerly occupied by Vapiano in uptown. Expect made-from-scratch pasta and pizza, plus calzones, salads, and grain bowls.

Jim Noble’s latest venture, THE JIMMY, will open in the former Nolen Kitchen space in Myers Park. The bistrostyle eatery will serve co ee and pastries by Copain in the morning and Mediterraneaninspired dishes for lunch and dinner.

Jamie Barnes and Greg Williams, chefs and co-owners of the popular WHAT THE FRIES food truck, will open a brick-andmortar restaurant on PinevilleMatthews Road. The truck will take a temporary hiatus when the restaurant opens in early 2021. —Taylor Bowler