Most Common Mistakes When Planning Your Wedding Menu

While any caterer, venue and/or wedding coordinator will bring this during the planning process, the four points that we see couples struggling with the most are;

Number of courses - No one wants to sit through endless courses during a wedding. Your guests want to be up, socializing and dancing. We recommend two savory courses, three at most, with toasts and other formalities between courses. Any more than three courses, and your guests will start to lose interest.

Know Your Family - If your family members are not adventurous eaters, make sure there is something on the menu they will like. While it is your day, you don’t want to hear anyone complaining about not being able to eat, or not understanding what any of the dishes are. For a plated dinner, choose one safe dish you know those certain guests will enjoy, and be more adventurous with your other selections.  Another option would be to have a silent option for your pickiest of guests. Just ask your caterer if they can accommodate!

Service Style - The comfort level of your guests will come into play for this. We LOVE family style receptions. They are intimate, encourage guests to talk with each other and looks beautiful. This might be off putting to some guests however, having to share dishes with people they don’t know.  Buffet style is another option you might want to reconsider, if not all your guests are mobile, or if there is not a natural place, close to the tables, for the buffet to be set up. While we don’t recommend changing your wedding plans for one to two guests, it's good to talk these points out with the caterer, venue coordinator and your wedding planner. 

Desserts at the table - We have found that if your crowd is up dancing, and dessert is placed on the tables, no one realizes it is there, and they don’t get eaten. We suggest having desserts set up near the dance floor, for guests to easily grab between dances.  For less mobile guests, you can always ask the servers to bring an assortment to their tables. 

Allergies or dietary restrictions - While you won’t know every dietary restriction or allergy when you initially plan your menu, you might have some ideas.  The main ones are typically, nut allergies, vegetarians/vegans and gluten allergies. Again, while we do not recommend replanning your menu for a few guests, you might want to consider some changes if a large portion of your guests, for example, are vegan. Talk to your caterer to see how they can accommodate, while still keeping the menu true to your vision.