Things to Think About When
Planning the Meal For Your Wedding
- Are you planning
to have a sit down meal or a buffet for your wedding?
- Will there be any other food
served other than the dinner or lunch? For example, will there
be a buffet served later at night during the wedding
dance.
- How formal is your wedding
going to be? Will you be planning a full five
course meal, cocktail party or something in between for your
wedding reception meal?
- Will you be hiring a caterer
for a rental site, using a social group, doing the food yourself
or is there an in-house caterer at the place
of the wedding reception you have chosen?
The food you serve at your wedding
is important no matter what you are serving. How it is served
is just as important and should suit and reflect your wedding
style. If your wedding is very formal you will
want to have a sit down meal that is served. If your wedding
is more casual, a buffet style meal is very appropriate. Even
cocktail parties can come off as very elegant if they are put
together and executed right. Some people have very strong preferences
about how the meal is served at their wedding.
Obviously, the cost will go up with the level of formality and
what type of food is served as well as who prepares and serves
the food.
Choosing Your Wedding Caterer
When choosing
your caterer try experiencing them first-hand
at 
someone
else's special event, or get a reference from someone you trust.
You want to be able to evaluate them for yourself or at least
have the judgment of someone you trust, if possible. You will
be able to evaluate how professional the serving staff is and
how their food taste. If this isn't an option for you, be sure
to ask a lot of questions and observe how professional and personable
the caterer is when interviewing them.
Special Diet Wedding Guests
If you can accommodate
for wedding guests with special diet requirements,
such as diabetics or vegetarians, they will be very thankful that
you thought of them and made things easier for them. Often, events
like these can be quite a challenge for them.
Food
Safety For Your Wedding
The last thing you want is your wedding
guests to take home a bad case of food 
posioning
from your wedding. It is no way to make your wedding
memorable. Food safety is especially important if you are providing
your own food. Caterers should be well trained in food safety
and be certified in "Food and Safety". If you are serving
your own food take extra care in how it is stored, served and
prepared. Food should never sit out very long unless its on ice.
Meats should always be cooked through to the required temperature.
Food serving and preparation areas should always be clean and
fruit and vegetables should be washed and should never touch meat
or a surface where meat has been with out thouroly cleaning it.
If you're having an outdoor wedding, food safety is extreme important.
Food should never sit out in the hot sun. It should be kept in
a shaded area for only a brief time and should also be covered
to keep out debris and insects.
Serving Napkins
Always have extra napkins available for
your wedding guests. Take the time to fold the
napkins with a little flare. This really adds to the look of the
tables. If you are using paper napkins, order 1 1/2 times the
number of wedding guests you are expecting to
your wedding reception for dinner
napkins and you will need approximately 3 times the amount of
wedding guests for coaktail napkins for the bar.
Heritage Dish for Your Wedding
A nice idea is to serve a favourite dish
from your heritage at your wedding reception
dinner. Try to have something that goes with
your other dishes or choose a separate dessert to go with your
main meal. You can even have the recipe and the family history
written out on cards for your wedding guests
to take home and enjoy.
Chocolate Fountains
Chocolate fountains are becoming more
and more popular. They can be 
bought
or rented. They are available in different sizes to accommodate
all your guests. You may wish to have a couple of smaller fountains
with different types of chocolate running in them. Usually dark,
white and milk chocolate are available to choose from. Chocolate
wafers make for very smooth chocolate that flows nicely. You will
probably need between 8 to 30 pounds of chocolate depending on
the number of guests and how long it will be running. You can
serve them with fruit, pretzels, cookies, Rice Krispy squares,
and even marshmallows. Yummy! The smell that comes from a chocolate
fountain is simply delicious and will surely make your wedding
guests smile. You may want to have the fountain running at your
nighttime buffet, at the time of your receiving line, or at your
dessert table or bar. You can decorate around them to make them
go with your decor but I would suggest putting down napkins around
the fountain so that chocolate spills can be quickly cleaned up.
Count Yourselves In
Don't forget to count yourselves and
any professionals that will be eating at your wedding
reception when totaling your wedding guests list. Ask
your photographer, videographer, officiant, disc jockey and band
members if they will be eating with you.
Water Bottles
You may want to have bottled water on
the tables especially if your wedding is taking place in hot weather
and your location is not air conditioned. You don't want anyone
fainting from the heat. Consider having both sparkling and still
water available for your wedding guests. You
can even dress up the bottles by tying a ribbon in your wedding
colours around the neck of each bottle or having a special label
put on each of the water bottles.
Dressing Your Tables
If you can afford to use an overlay of
linens on your tables it will add a lot of decorative detail to
the room. Using two coloured tableclothes or lace-like tableclothes
over a solid coloured cloth adds detail and a romantic feel to
the room. Another great way to add sparkle to the room and the
tables is to use small indoor lights under sheer fabric. It will
give a beautiful glow to the room. Make sure that the lights are
of a very low wattage so that they don't burn the fabric.
Buffet and Wedding Guests Table Set-up
For buffets, you may
wish to mirror the food on both sides of the tables to help the
line move faster. Have people line up on both sides and move in
one direction. The napkins can be stacked between the plates or
wrapped around the utensils for easy and quick distribution. The
glasses should be placed with the beverages for easy access for
your guests. You may also wish to have your Master of Ceremony
announce how you would like the guests to start at the buffet
so there is a steady stream of people going up, not everyone at
once. If your guests' tables are numbered, you can either have
the even numbered tables go first or have the tables go up in
groups of five tables. (Tables 1-5 then 6-10 and so on.)
Cocktail Wedding Reception
If you are having a cocktail wedding
reception you may want to have a few food stations like
roast beef, seafood, appetizers, and dessert to mix things up
a bit. You can even have a candy bar so people can pick their
own candy for their favour.
Creative Drinks
It can be fun to invent a new drink for
your occasion celebration only. Give it a fun name and serve it
as a punch or at the bar. Make sure people are informed if it
is an alcoholic beverage. If it's a drink you really like to can
serve it at any of the parties you host in the future.
Little Things to Add to the
Look of Your Wedding Meal
-
Different bread varieties
-
Multicoloured sugar crystals for tea
and coffee
-
Lemon slices served in the ice water
-
Cappuccino/espresso bar
-
Sprigs of fresh herbs as garnish
-
Butter molded in special shapes like
hearts or bells
-
Wait staff offering freshly grated
cheese or pepper at the guests’ tables
The Table Setting
The table setting can really
add sophistication to the whole overall look of the tables. Take
the time to make sure the tables are done up right, paying attention
to all the details. Each place setting should be 24 to 30 inches
wide to avoid overcrowding. Settings should be 1 inch from the
edge of the table. Lay cutlery in the order they will be used.
When dessert and tea and coffee are served the cup and saucer
should be placed to the right of the dessert plate with a teaspoon
placed on the saucer. You can save table space by placing the
dessert fork and spoon at the top of the setting as shown below.
Napkins can be placed to the left of the forks or placed on the
dinner plate or in the water glass.
Back to
Top
