From a cancelled trip in Italy to a food-filled gathering of friends in this Polish castle. A moment five years in the making.
From a cancelled trip in Italy to a food-filled gathering of friends in this Polish castle. A moment five years in the making.
In early 2020, Tam Minh Le—a Texas-born, Vietnamese-American food entrepreneur and storyteller—was selected for a culinary scholarship in northern Italy. The program promised a gathering of global food thinkers, mentored by chefs like David Chang. But the pandemic had other plans, and the trip never happened. Instead, Tam was left with the chance to plan something of her own—when the time was right. A little while later, that chance took the shape of a 32nd birthday celebration at our storybook castle in western Poland. That stay in The Palace at Osowa Sien was relaxed, grounded, and full of good company and food. Sixteen friends enjoyed daily brunches, a sunlit picnic in the palace park, and a candlelit feast on the final night.
As Tam later wrote: “At one point I had a spreadsheet of 25 castles, and yours was our top choice. I’m so happy it worked out.”
That first visit wasn’t meant as a scouting trip. But in hindsight—it was exactly that.
Let’s be frank—when you live and breathe food, as Tam does (and hubby Steven, by extension), you know the value of a getaway where good meals and great conversation flow seamlessly. This time, though, Tam didn’t have to do the cooking; she entrusted us with that instead.
The group had doubled in size since their first stay here, and thirty guests flew to Poland for a long weekend.
Tam and Steven had the essentials covered, but they also knew the secret: when the people are good, time flies—so less planning is often more. The only fixed points were the important ones: delicious meals, good friends, and the right place to enjoy them. No tight schedules. No flashy productions. Just authenticity.
Friday night opened with a candlelit barbecue & bonfire on the terrace: handmade sausages with wild garlic from our village abattoir, mushroom “steakettes” marinated in miso and finished with a tahini milk, and burgers grilled to order from locally raised, grass-fed, grain-finished beef.
Inside the tavern—just steps from the terrace, through open double doors—a rustic farmhouse table was set with lemony orzo tossed with fresh herbs (a nod to Tam’s love of lemons), a tangy slaw, and a stonefruit and heritage tomato salad drizzled with locally cold-pressed camelina oil.
Dinner ended the way all good dinners should: with something seasonal, homemade, and just sweet enough. Local pastry chef Emilia Kluczyńska baked a yeasted cake filled with cherries, currants, and gooseberries from her father’s orchard—fruit he tended after long days restoring stucco in historic buildings as a master craftsman.[Read more about her here.]
It set the tone for the wedding weekend to come: food as the backdrop to togetherness.
The weekend moved between two moods. If the days leaned rustic and sun-soaked, the evenings slipped into something softer.
Mornings were slow; lunches stretched long into the afternoon. Nobody was watching the clock—time simply didn’t matter. The terrace took on Tuscan tones: the soft ivory of the castle walls as a backdrop, accented with citrus fruits, rosemary and lavender in terracotta pots, and earthy textures. Guests followed a loose dress code of beige and pastel linens that blended into the overall aesthetic. Our sun-soaked wicker-and-glass tables lined up like a caterpillar across the patio, while their deep chairs with cushions invited hours of sitting, eating, and doing nothing much at all (arguably life’s true goal). Wine carafes clinked as the hum of conversation mingled with music, and fairy lights flickered in the old oak beyond as the afternoons stretched on.
And among all those long, lazy lunches, one stood out in particular: Saturday’s Neapolitan pizza truck parked just outside the castle.
Saturday lunch brought a dose of Neapolitan delight. Daria and Patryk—a local couple and founders of Włoskie Niebiosa—rolled their mobile pizza truck up to the castle. With 48-hour fermented dough and a blazing 480°C fire, they turned out pies in about ninety seconds—crispy, chewy, perfectly blistered.
Guests wandered between the orchard and terrace as pizzas came out of the oven, choosing from several varieties and plucking slices from a red-and-white checkered table scattered with lemons and bottles of olive oil. Casual in the best way, it flowed naturally into what became a beautiful evening.
When the sun began to set, the night shifted into what Tam and Steven called “ethereal elegance”: airy, candlelit, and calm. A disco ball hovered above the dance floor, catching the last of the daylight and scattering it softly as night settled in. The palette leaned toward cream and pastel, while many guests wore traditional Vietnamese áo dài in shades of ivory, beige, sky blue, and deep navy. The party itself carried a quiet retro vibe—flash photography, throwback details, a touch of shimmer.
Everything was intentionally understated too. No towering floral arches. No overproduction. Just Tam and Steven, surrounded by their closest friends, and a handful of trusted professionals to manage the rest. That intimate guest list, a clear sense of style—Tuscan by day, ethereal by night—and trust in only a few key hands made the whole thing feel effortless.
You can explore their visual moodboards here:
Wedding Day Photography Moodboard
Entire Stay Style Moodboard
And while the evenings embraced this relaxed vibe (or spoko, as you’d say in Polish), the wedding ceremony itself was even more deliberate and yet relaxed.
As evening fell, guests gathered in the Ballroom for a 19:00 ceremony that felt more like a shared moment than a staged event—that was exactly the point. It looked effortless, but every detail had been considered. Tam and Steven noted these in the planning guide we’d shared and even held a quick rehearsal after lunch to make sure the flow felt natural. GreenSnap Studio captured it all beautifully.
The result? No altar. Just dozens of flickering candles on long, ivory linen-draped tables, soft music, and Tam and Steven standing in front of the massive south-facing windows, bathed in early evening light, as their guests looked on from communal tables. Their friend officiated. Tam wore a traditional beige linen áo dài with a minimalist golden khăn đóng. She was radiant.
Dinner followed, with a pause after the first few courses as the couple slipped away for golden hour photos in the palace grounds—just the two of them. Working with trusted partners, communication flowed easily. We staggered courses so the main dish was served once the couple returned, giving guests time to top up their glasses and enjoy a relaxed pause.
By nightfall, candlelight deepened. Glasses clinked. The disco ball turned. Later, the couple shared a slow dance under its dazzle while friends passed the AUX cord and took turns as DJ. Cozy. Unpretentious. Entirely them.
Proof that you don’t need a 20-supplier production team to make magic happen. With a clear vision and the right people, less truly became more.
A hyper-seasonal dinner, rooted in Old World hospitality and served family-style: savory zucchini muffins (with the addictive, movie-theater-popcorn flavor of freshly ground dill seeds), roasted pepper butter, a cucumber and charred green bean salad from the garden, and mushroom quiches wrapped in phyllo. A chilled tomato alla vodka soup followed—a palate-brightener and a nod to the first tomatoes of summer.
The main courses featured chicken thighs marinated overnight in Polish kvass, wildflower honey, and whole grain mustard—then slow-cooked sous vide and finished on the grill—served alongside Riesling-and-orange-marinated pork neck from our village and salt-roasted new potatoes with a splash of apple cider vinegar.
And then came the pasta.
In the lead-up to the wedding, we gathered notes on Tam and Steven’s tastes and dietary needs, as we do with all of our group organizers. Tam’s love of pasta stood out, along with her sensitivity to cheese and her fondness for bright acidity—as did her story about the chance she once missed to study in Italy. Together, these details doubled down on the idea that pasta wasn’t just a like, but a love—something worth celebrating at the table.
So we set out to create a dish that felt uniquely Tam, seasonal, and true to our style: flavour-forward, farm-to-table comfort food built on a few simple yet exceptional ingredients. After days of testing and refining, we landed on a bronze-cut mezzi rigati, cooked al dente and tossed in a sauce of roasted oxheart tomatoes, pink peppercorns, and red currants, with thyme—finished with a garlicky, herbed sourdough crumble. A little sweet, a little tangy, and full of personality. It’s since become one of our early-summer staples.
Dessert was simple yet thoughtful: our signature lemon–almond sponge cakes (inspired by an old Sicilian recipe), made with free-range eggs and a splash of local cytrynówka (Polish limoncello without the cloying sweetness), lightly drizzled with honey. Ginger–pear–pepper tartlets by Emilia followed, along with 100 macarons prepared especially by a local café.
The day after the wedding was slow and restorative—by Tam and Steven’s design. A group of guests, including the couple, paired sauna sessions with full-body massages: both deeply aromatic thanks to natural Polish herbs and oils. That evening, we served a casual buffet dinner: pulled pork (get the recipe here), kasza, summer salads, and crisp Hasselback potatoes. Simple, hearty, and a tasty conclusion to a celebratory weekend.
Tam and Steven had stayed in The Palace at Osowa Sien before. The first time was about discovery—the sense of stepping into a place that felt almost too storybook to be real. This time, it was about returning. To the castle, yes, but also to a feeling they wanted to share: slow mornings, familiar spaces, and the comfort of being surrounded by their closest people.
Their wedding wasn’t about starting fresh, but building on something already begun. The castle became theirs again—not just a backdrop, but a lived-in space filled with candlelight, long tables, and plush chairs that invited lingering conversations.
That’s the beauty of intention: whether it’s your first visit or your tenth, it’s less about overplanning or trying to reinvent the wheel—as weddings so often do—and more about creating moments that stay with you, ones that feel once-in-a-lifetime while you’re living them.
Want to see it for yourself?
Watch the Instagram highlight reel here.
Planning your own food-forward wedding or private celebration in Europe?
Email us at hello@castlerental.com to begin your journey at The Palace at Osowa Sien.
Interested in a venue where your weekend can feel like an extended dinner party with your closest people?
Let’s make it happen.
When Tam Minh Le’s culinary scholarship in Italy was canceled in 2020, she found her way to a quiet castle in Poland instead. Years later, she and Steven returned with 30 guests for a weekend wedding filled with good food, candlelight, a Neapolitan pizza truck, and the ease of being surrounded by their closest people.
