Food for Wedding Reception
One part of your wedding that will create a lasting memory for your guests is the food. We can all recall sitting down at a new restaurant with high expectations and then being terribly disappointed in the food. Do not let your guests remember the food at your wedding with a bad taste in their mouths. During your planning process, decide upon and include a variety of options available to suit any palate.
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Pre-Dinner Drinks
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As guests arrive, it is nice to have a drink station or open bar available for them to grab a cool drink or hot coffee. Along with your drink selections, provide light, crunchy snacks like pretzels, a vegetable tray or a mix of various nuts. Another option is to provide a table with "toppings" for your drinks. Sliced fruit like pineapple, oranges, lemons and limes, cherries, cinnamon sticks, nutmeg, and whipped cream are all excellent options,
Appetizers
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Before the main course is served, have appetizers available for your guests. Keep them bite-size and finger-friendly. Options like canapes, tiny puff pastries, chips with various dips like hummus or warm spinach dip, and miniature quiche work nicely. A fruit and cheese tray is also a nice contrast to the richness of most other appetizers.
Make sure they are not too heavy or too abundant---you want your guests to still be hungry for the main course.
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Main Course
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Your main course can be anything from dainty to messy. If you are having a classy, sit-down reception, serve food to match. Options range from beef wellington, filet mignon or stuffed chicken breast with creamy potatoes, bacon-wrapped asparagus, hot rolls and a crisp salad. On the other hand, if you have a casual, outdoor reception, have a barbecue complete with potato salad, baked beans, macaroni and cheese and miniature cornbread muffins.
For vegetarians, have a dish with tofu or a vegetable lasagna or pasta option. Those non-meat-eating guests will be grateful they are not stuck eating all of the carrot sticks off the vegetable tray.
Dessert
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Of course, there will be wedding cake---but that doesn't have to be the only dessert option. Set out trays of tiny tarts, brownies, cookies and eclairs or provide a candy buffet, where guests get to fill their plates and little take-home boxes with chocolate candies, jelly beans, wrapped truffles and chewy gummy bears. Also consider serving coffee, as many people enjoy drinking it with dessert.
Other Ideas
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Many couples like to give edible treats to guests to take home. Ideas like homemade baked goods, special truffles with the wedding date piped on the top, or a jar of locally produced jam are all wonderful options that will never end up collecting dust on a shelf.
If you plan on having table assignments, use fruit as the guests' guide. Have Table 1 be apples, Table 2 pears, Table 3 oranges and so on. Their table assignment can double as a snack on the way home.
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