“Going to the chapel and we're gonna get married, gee, I really love you, going to the chapel of love!”
Congratulations! What an exciting time for you (both) - the engagement, the dress shopping, the wedding reception planning, not to mention what you’re going to serve your guests for the wedding breakfast...
Planning your big day will be incredibly joyful, but it can also be challenging at times too, for example, how many dinners have you thrown in your life for potentially over 100 people?
You and your beloved will be making many tough decisions over the coming months, but your wedding breakfast doesn’t have to be one of them.
1. Get help early
If planning isn’t your forte, don’t struggle on your own. Wedding planners or advisors spend their lives planning the perfect day, every day. And you can bet your bottom dollar that no two weddings are the same.
So if you’re keen to make your wedding as unique as you two are, they can assist you in creating your dream day, including planning your wedding breakfast.
Most dedicated wedding venues will have a wedding planner whose expertise you can draw upon, otherwise ask friends or family for recommendations, or at the very least, enlist the help of a mother.
2. Create a schedule
Having a timeline is key to ensuring the smooth running of your day, particularly when it comes to serving the wedding breakfast.
The last thing you want at the end of a long day is for the food to be delayed because someone wasn’t aware of what the timings were.
If everyone knows when they’re up - from the photographer, to the speeches, to the starters being on the tables, to the band setting up, it makes life much easier for all involved. And it means no guests (or wedding party members) get hangry!
3. How are you planning to serve the wedding breakfast
Knowing what type of wedding breakfast you want to serve your guests will make arranging it (or narrowing down your options) that much easier.
You might know already that you want a buffet or a full waiter service meal, or you might be waiting to see what size your venue is, after all, you might fall in love with a reception venue that doesn’t have the space for waiters to dance between the tables.
If you can’t decide whether you want a relaxed meal or an occasion meal, sometimes your budget will have to guide you - the latter is considerably more budget friendly than the former. Or you could go for a happy medium and have a sit down meal, but with sharing platters instead, significantly cutting down the number of waiters required.
4. You don’t need to do what everyone else has done
If you’re budget conscious, remember, you don’t have to do what everyone has done before you. Sometimes the more personal your choices, the more memorable the day. And being creative and unique doesn’t have to cost the earth.
● You don’t need to have a three course sit down dinner - why not have a hog roast and a dessert table (replete with macarons, of course). Or serve your favourite foods such as lasagne, or fish pie - you’re celebrating love with your nearest and dearest after all, so why not feed them love too?
● Instead of a 5 tiered traditional wedding cake, why not have a tiered macaron display, and serve the macaron wedding cake as dessert?
● Get rid of the blowout extravagant meal and have afternoon tea and champagne instead… or macarons and martinis…
● Rather than have the chefs plate everything up behind the scenes, have them roast joints of meat to be carved at the table by a designated wedding guest.
● Don’t like traditional fruit cake? Replace it with a cheese cake, or macarons (did we mention that already?)
5. Choosing what food to eat
Narrowing down what food you want to serve at your wedding breakfast can be harder than picking your dress. So here are a few things to think about:
● What do you and your beau like eating? This is your wedding day after all - you’ll remember it for the rest of your lives. So do you like Mediteranean food? Traditional English? French cuisine? Finger food? Comfort food like bangers and mash?
● What season are you getting married in? Seasonal food is not only more affordable, it simply tastes better too.
● Don’t serve heavy foods for each course. And avoid repetition where you can. Ie if you’re serving beef for main, don’t have beef carpaccio for starters. You want people to enjoy the meal, not feel full and ready for bed afterwards.
● Consider giving people the choice of what they want to eat when they RSVP so they aren’t disappointed on the day if you serve something they don’t like.
Finally, remember to have fun with it. This is your wedding breakfast, it doesn’t have to be prosaic or prescriptive, this is your day, your memories you’re creating, a celebration of your love. So show your personality and let your mind wander far away from the box.
