Wedding Catering and Menu Etiquette
Dallas, TX – Your wedding day is, in many ways, less about you and your future spouse than it is all your friends and family. While you do need to make sure your needs and expectations are met first, you also need to be understanding of your guests and any special needs they might have. One of the areas this particularly applies is in your menu. It’s here that your wedding catering service has the opportunity to shine. Choosing the right wedding catering service will mean the difference between happy guests and unhappy ones.
You need to keep in mind, for starters, that you can’t please everyone. For example, most people who have nut allergies know enough to ask when they’re concerned that a dish might have nuts. This doesn’t mean you can’t try, however. If your wedding caterer is service a dish that may have ingredients people may be allergic to, you can always ask them to label the dish with a simple label stating that “this dish may contain wheat, eggs, soy or nuts” or whatever ingredient is in question. This practice is becoming more and more common. If you have plate service instead of buffet style, you might include a note to that effect in the menu.
Another area of concern for your wedding catering service is vegetarians at your wedding. Even if you only have a couple of vegetarian guests at the wedding, you should try to make some arrangements. If you have a sit-down dinner, you should try to have one vegetarian choice. Try to choose a dish that will appear to other guests as well, such as a pasta primavera. If you have a buffet style reception, it’s easier for your guests to directly choose.
If you have vegan guests, it becomes even more complex. In many cases, your wedding catering service can provide an option that doesn’t contain animal or dairy products. If you have vegan guests, you should definitely have this conversation with the caterer ahead of time.
In the same vein, if you are vegetarians and feel very strongly about not serving meat at your wedding reception, you may plan a vegetarian dinner. Many of your guests may really enjoy trying something different on the menu you’ve planned. At the same time, a good host does keep their guests in mind. If you think your guests might see your menu as too exotic, you can consider offering one entrée to the meat eating crowd.
You should also be considerate of diabetic needs. Make sure you have plenty of food offerings that aren’t terribly high in sugars, in addition to all of those wonderful wedding desserts we have all come to know and love.
Finally, make sure these sorts of considerations are made when it comes to appetizers and the cocktail hour, as well. Make sure that there is something for everyone to eat at every stage of the reception.
Your wedding caterer will be able to help you take everything into account and plan the perfect menu for your perfect day. Choose the right caterer to make sure all of your needs are met.
Biographical Info: Phillip Crum is the Chief Idea Officer of Sir Speedy Walnut Hill located at 2414 Arbuckle Court Dallas, TX 75229, and is committed to the idea of helping small business owners do a better job of finding their next customer or client. He also runs a local search marketing firm, MarketingMeasure and employs those additional capabilities in the overall marketing services menu of offerings. Phillip can be reached at 214-213-7445, or pcrum@MarketingMeasure.com.