When you are planning your wedding, the food has a major role to play. Deciding what to serve your guests is one of the biggest problems you could face and also represents a large chunk of your budget. Get it wrong, and you risk ruining your guests’ day. Get it right and you’ll create memories that will last a lifetime. In this article, we look at some of the worst foods that you can serve at a wedding to help you avoid making a costly mistake.
Where’s the Variety?
Whether you’re a meat lover, obsessed with fish or passionate about chocolate, it’s important to include plenty of variety in your wedding menu. Just because you love a particular food doesn’t mean that your guests are going to love it too, so catering for all tastes is important. Make sure that you accommodate the needs of as many of your guests as you can, with a vegetarian option for non-meat eaters, and be sure to ask about any food allergies so you can make sure your caterer can supply something suitable. If kids are on your guest list too, take care to add at least two child-friendly meal options to your list and you’ll avoid meltdowns at the dinner table.
Don’t Go Over the Top
Remember that you and your spouse are your reception’s main attraction, not the food. While you may think that it’s impressive to opt for a “made at the table” dish, it’s going to cause a lot of time-consuming hassle to prepare everything perfectly for every guest unless you’re having a very small affair. Also, if you opt for something too complex, your caterer will take forever to get each course out to the guests and, while it’s a good idea to have a gap between courses, nobody will appreciate dining on luke-warm food that is sub-par. It’s much better to choose something delicious but simple that your guests are certain to enjoy than something that is complicated and over the top.
Avoid Raw Food
You don’t want to risk poisoning your guests, so any dish that involves raw ingredients such as steak tartare should be left off the menu for safety reasons. If you absolutely must have oysters at your reception, make sure that you choose a caterer who is an expert in providing a raw bar – better safe than sorry!
Don’t Leave Them Hungry but Don’t Over-Feed The Guests
One of the key rules of a wedding reception is to have plenty of food to keep your guests full. While mini versions of your favourite foods may sound quirky and fun, you need a more substantial main meal if everyone is going to enjoy dancing and drinking the night away. While making sure that there is enough to eat is important, it’s also essential not to make them so full that they can’t move after dinner! Wedding guests don’t need a fine dining experience that lasts all night, they want to enjoy having fun with their family and friends and getting down on the dance floor. Three courses is quite adequate and will fit nicely into an appropriate timeframe, leaving plenty of fun time afterwards.
Don’t be too Exotic, but Don’t be Boring Either
You and your new spouse may revel in tasting exotic and unusual new foods but some of your guests may not be so adventurous. It makes sense, therefore, to play it safe when it comes to choosing food to suit a crowd. While both of you may be excited to try something out of the ordinary on your wedding day, opting for something that has a wider appeal is going to fit in much better with your celebration. Try to include a range of items on the menu that are going to suit the tastes of the majority of your guests – remember that keeping them happy is a big part of your special day. That said, your wedding day should be a fun time, so you can be a little quirky if you like. There’s no need to feel pressured into serving the traditional classics that seem to appear at every celebration. Prawn cocktails may have been appearing on wedding menus since time immemorial, but there is no need to add them to yours unless you want to. Why not go for an inspired, modern twist on the classics instead, such as shrimp in panko breadcrumbs with a tangy dipping sauce? You don’t even need to go for a traditional wedding cake if you would rather serve something more modern such as doughnuts or cupcakes instead. Take the time to discuss your requirements with your caterer so that you can come up with some fun and creative options that will suit all tastes.