How to Plan a Wedding Menu

Wedding bouquets, wedding flowers, wedding menus, oh my! So many big choices, you think you might cry! Okay, so that's a bad rhyme, but you get the point. Choosing a wedding menu is an important part of wedding planning. Of course, you want your guests to enjoy the food, but beyond that, you want to make sure that your guests can even eat your food. For example, you can't accommodate everyone, but you can have a vegetarian option. You may not want a Kosher wedding, but you can have one dish that's either milk or meat, but not mixed. There's a delicate balance between a non-accommodating and over-accommodating menu, and you've got to strike that balance.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Think about what type of wedding menu you want: do you want a sit down meal? A buffet? A cocktail reception style menu? Once you determine this, you'll be able to figure out how you want to structure your meal and what foods you want to serve at your wedding.

2. Consider prices and option. A sit down meal will cost the most, with a cocktail reception or buffet costing less. However, a sit down meal offers the benefit of having more courses, if that's what you're looking for.

3. Choose whether or not you'd like to have a cocktail hour. Of course, this costs money, but the foods at cocktail hour are generally fun, and are very enjoyable. Decide whether you want an elaborate cocktail hour or a simple one. An elaborate one may have many stations and options, and a simple cocktail hour may just feature the wedding venue staff walking around with finger foods.
   
   You have a lot of options with this: do you want an extravagant cocktail hour, or a fun, simple one? When it comes down to it, a simple cocktail hour can be just as nice as an elaborate one, especially if you provide fun, comfort foods like mini pizzas, mozzarella sticks and crab cakes.
   
   However, if you want an elaborate cocktail hour, a sushi bar is a great option. So is a cheese, fruit and cracker platter. It's all up to you.

4. Decide whether you want to have fun foods or fancy foods at your wedding. You can have a very upscale style wedding with delicacies, or a fun wedding with everyday, enjoyable foods. There's something to be said for veal dishes, but there's also something to be said about simple things like chicken parmesan over linguine.

5. Think about the people that are coming to your wedding. If you know that you have several vegetarians attending your wedding, be accommodating and offer a vegetarian option. If there is one vegetarian, let the wedding venue know in advance so one special entree can be planned. However, if there are several vegetarians, make things easier by making a vegetarian entree one of your selections.
   
   For a sit down meal, this may be tricky, since you generally choose around three options for your guests. Often, those options consist of a meat, chicken and fish option. Why not switch it up and offer options such as a meat dish, a fish dish and a pasta dish? Or chicken, fish, and pasta? Even non-vegetarians may love eggplant rollatini or penne vodka.
   
   For a buffet, this is pretty easy. Make one or two of your wedding dishes vegetarian-friendly. Pastas and vegetables are sure to be a hit with meat eaters and non-meat eaters.

6. Think about other dietary preferences. If you have some Kosher guests attending your wedding, you don't necessarily need to have a Kosher menu, but you may want to avoid specifically non-kosher foods (like shellfish). Or, you can just make sure to have both Kosher and non-Kosher type foods. Have your shellfish, but also offer a meat dish without any dairy, or a non-dairy dish. You don't need to necessarily make your whole wedding Kosher, but you should offer something that people who follow Kosher laws can eat.

7. Consider people with allergies. You don't have to avoid foods that may cause allergic reactions in one or two guests, but you do need to let those guests know in advance about those menu items. There's no reason not to have peanut butter cookies with dessert, but you need to let anyone with peanut allergies know in advance so they do not eat the peanut butter cookies.

8. Think about themes for your food. It may be a fun option to have an Asian menu for your wedding. It's not necessarily traditional for most American weddings, but the food can be delicious and crowd pleasing. Plus, this will make your wedding stand out in your guests' memories.

9. Decide what you want to do about dessert. Some people choose to just serve wedding cake or wedding cupcakes (which are the least expensive options). However, others like to have extra desserts. You can have cookies delivered to each table, or have a full dessert buffet. Also, decide if you want to have coffee and tea service at each table, or a coffee and tea bar.

10. Decide whether you want to have an open bar. Generally, this is a good idea, and is greatly appreciated by guests. However, if this isn't for you, that's okay. It's just another menu decision that has to be made.

[mommierose]

on 3/1/2009 Excellent advice on how to plan a wedding menu! 5*