‘Item 7’ is one of the agendas that guests look forward to in any wedding. Besides what is a Saturday owambe without food. This goes to show how important what is on the menu is a key determinant of a successful wedding.
Before the dancing, bouquet tossing and drinking commence, your guests and you will need stay energised. As much as you want to keep to your budget and dietary restrictions, choosing your reception menu involves more than listing off your favourite dishes to your wedding caterer. If you have trouble coming up with the wedding menu, follow the tips below:
1.Budget
Food stuff can be expensive. Ensure you know your limit before you dive into selecting the food menu for your wedding.
2. Number of guests
In addition to the budget, the size of your wedding guest list determines how to choose your wedding menu. A larger number of guests equals more mouths to feed. If you want to save cost, consider spending less per plate. If you have got some extra room in your budget, you can go for more expensive dishes.
3. Serving style
The catering serving style you choose also determines what types of food make it onto the wedding menu. You may choose a budget-friendly option of cocktail style catering or the traditional – but costly – plated dinner.
4. Consult your caterer
Crafting your wedding menu may be stressful but also fun. To save you from stress, consult your caterer. They probably have dozens of dishes suggestions and will be up to speed on wedding food trends. They may also be able to help lower the cost of your plates by offering up cost-efficient substitutions.
5. Wedding theme
Matching your wedding menu to the overall theme of your reception is a nice move. If you are having an outdoor wedding, you may want to consider a buffet or family-style meal. Hosting something with a touch more elegance? Maybe choose a more refined plated meal.
6. Dietary restrictions
You don’t want to add chaos to your reception by triggering one of your guests allergies or accidentally feeding meat to a vegan friend, so pass the information. Oftentimes caterers are up to the challenge of creating separate dishes for them, but they would need to know in advance so that they have the supplies on hand. If you don’t want to go around asking everyone personally, you will want to leave space for them to indicate dietary restrictions on their wedding RSVP card.
7. Have back up
The more food, the merrier. While you don’t want to go overboard, ordering a few extra dishes is a good idea. You have no idea how hungry your guests will be, so having backup is imperative. No one should be hitting the open bar on an empty stomach or leave the venue hungry.
8. Drinks
Ensure you have made provisions for drink as well. You should consider everything from cocktails to liquor are in order.