When I initially started planning our wedding, I never thought in a million years that we would go for a buffet - I just figured we'd do the "traditional" 3 course seated meal, but when it dawned that we had to cater for guests that are Kosher, guests that are vegetarean, vegan, lactose intolerant, fussy eaters and kids, we decided to go for a buffet, giving plenty of choice and a less formal affair to our big day.
We didn't go with a Kosher caterer, as they were budget busting... but H2b (as the Jewish one in this relationship) reliably informed me that fish was okay and didn't have to be certified Kosher unlike meat - or something... I don't really understand all the rules I'm afraid (･_･?)
At our taste test we didn't have the opportunity to taste the foods that will be on the buffet, but as a selection of cold meats/fish and salads, I don't think that it really mattered. Whilst we were there, the chefs were preparing dishes for a buffet and we saw them, thought they were well presented so it was good enough for us!
We went for a cold fork buffet, being summer we thought this would be a nice option - especially now that the UK has been forcast a scorching hot summer.... don't fancy having hot soup and roast dinners in that weather!
Our final choices for this has been confirmed in our minds and with our caterer for a long while now, so here they are - photos are just to illustrate - I Googled them (*＾-＾*) The main dishes are:
Sliced Turkey Breast Joint with Cranberry Mayo
Sliced Medium Roast Topside of Beef with Creamed Horseradish
Fresh Poached Salmon Pieces with a Cucumber Dressing - we originally went for a dressed salmon, but thought it would be too much grief with all the bones (I have chokeonafishbonephobia), plus it was extra money per person, so out went the whole salmon, and in came the pieces - but for illustration purposes, all I could find was this ^
For the vegetarians/vegans we chose a Mixed Vegetable Spanish Style Quiche
We have picked five salads to go with the main dishes:
- Mixed Salad: Iceberg lettuce, cucumber & tomato
- Coleslaw
- Greek Salad: Cucumber, tomatoes, olives, feta, oregano and olive oil
- Cous Cous salad: Fried mushrooms, fried courgette and coriander
- Tomato, red onion and basil salad with balsamic dressing
We also have hot buttered new potatoes
and mixed rustic breads
Now, I don't know about you, but after writing that and finding pictures to go with them, I'm really hungry!! I can't wait to see how it all looks and tastes on our wedding day! I think it will go down really well!
The waiting staff will take people up, table by table to the buffet where they will be served. The top table has the option to be served - I figure this is a good idea as #1 I'll have this big huge dress on and trying to maneour round tables will be hard enough, let alone with a plate of food and b) I tend to throw food down myself, so not a good look!! And also mum would prefer to be served. I will want to take a look at the set up before it gets demolished though!!!
We are making menus to put on the tables - I haven't printed them out yet - just in case we *do* change our minds! They will be mounted like practically all the other stationery, on purple card and then black card.
TTFN xx
If I was an insane person I would TOTALLY have done our wedding catering. I come from a catering background, and every party I've catered for at home as well as the catering for our engagement party was kick ass! But realistically, on our wedding day, the last bit of stress I needed was making sure food was being handled and cooked properly.
So have had to put my trust into an outside caterer... we visited their unit out in Essex - the stress getting there was unbelievable - took I think 40 minutes to get around the roundabout (＞。≪) when normally that should take 5!!! Never seen traffic like it!
As we had chosen a buffet menu, for some reason we couldn't try out the dishes - but I guess cooking a joint of beef, or a hunk of turkey for two and a half people (the half being my son!) wasn't viable for them? But we got to try the canapés and the desserts we had picked.
Anyway, we finally made it and sat down at a table presented with our chosen canapés. We visited Magpie last summer and our choices have changed slightly, but I only have photos from the taste test we did then.
Mini Vegetable Spring Rolls with Thai Chilli Dipping Sauce
Cocktail Vegetable Samosas with Mint & Yoghurt Dip
Mini Jacket Potatoes with Sour Cream & Chives
These all tasted fine and satisfied 3 of the 4 veggie choices we had. The mini jacket potatoes were so cute! I love all things mini ♥
The fourth veggie choice was
Goats Cheese and Red Onion Marmalade Tartlet
Sadly this tasted as unappetising as it looked （ ｀´） so we struck that off the list!
We also chose the following non-veggie canapes
Smoked Salmon on Granary Squares with a Chive and Cracked Black Pepper Finish
Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce
Mini Fish n' Chips
This was yummy - we asked if they would be able to do them in little cones instead of shot glasses - they said it was something that they were looking into - I don't know if they ever did - I'll ask them next time I email. It would be great if they could, I think they would look so much cooler in little cones!
Mini Hamburgers
The buns were too cute, the burger a little chunky, and to be honest a little plain looking, but they tasted delish. We've asked if we can have them made into cheeseburgers instead to give a bit more oomph about it. They were also a lot bigger than I expected - the ones we had at the wedding fayre was teensy weensy! I'm glad they are bigger - at £2 a bite, they are one expensive canape!
Overall we enjoyed all of the canapes except for the tartlet, and the smoked salmon thing was a bit boring, but we had plenty of time between the tasting and the wedding, that we could change our minds... in fact the caterer said she rarely has couples who have what they originally picked on their wedding day!
TTFN xx
We found our caterer through the recommended list from our venue...
Magpie Catering
When I initially phoned them, the lady I spoke to was very enthusiastic, very helpful and sent out a pack which had lots of different menu plans - plated meals, hot fork buffet, cold fork buffet, canapes, different evening buffet ideas... which grabbed my eye and made me think "these are the caterers for us"
We went through all the different choices and decided that as it was going to be a summer wedding, and given that we have lots of people with different dietary requirements that a cold fork buffet would be the way to go. Whilst our wedding is a formal affair, it's not uber formal, and I wanted to have some informality with the food - people getting up, choosing what they want to eat rather than having a piece of poncy food placed in front of them appealed to me.
We knew we wanted to have a canape reception after the ceremony and there was a long list of different ones to choose from, varying in price from just 50p up to £2.50 per piece.
A little story - we went to a wedding fayre out in deepest darkest Essex - way too far for our guests to travel too, (and also waaay over our budget!) but they had these great caterers there who walked around trays of canapes - duck spring rolls, mini bagels and cute mini hamburgers.... we had to have them! However, they turned out to be waaaay over our budget too! BUT we then saw magpie also did all of the things we thought would be cool at our wedding, so problem solved!
We booked a tasting with Magpie to see if the proof really was in the pudding!
TTFN xx
When looking for venues, H2b and I were keen on finding a venue that would allow us to have our own choice of caterers. For a few reasons....
- value for money - we found many packages that came "lumped" with a venue to be way overpriced for what you get
- variety and choice - again, many packages had standard, soup/roast/apple pie combo - much too boring for us!
- dietary requirements - we have Kosher, vegetarians, vegans, lactose intolerant, fussy and kids to contend with!
- something a bit different to what you normally see at weddings in the UK
So after we tracked down a beautiful venue that we loved, we also had the luxury of having the option of our own catering!! BONUS! As well as being able to supply our own alcohol for during the welcome reception and through the meal - without the addition of corkage!
（ ＾＾）
So the hunt was then on to find a caterer that would fit in with all of that...cue searching Yell.com for local caterers and sending off for brochures, menu plans, quotes etc etc. Some were more than helpful, giving me rough estimates over the phone (reason #1), some were not - some were down right confusing and I couldn't figure out their prices!
Then the brochures and menu plans came through the post - the boring ones (reason #4) went straight out the window!
We narrowed it down to 3 caterers who seemed to have a nice choice of menus (reason #2) on paper and wanted to see what they were like in person. We have found through the whole wedding process that the vendors who are helpful, enthusiastic and polite have got our vote (and our cash deposits) over the, well, total opposite of that - it still amazes me how rude some vendors were/are....
Two of the three caterers came and visited us at home. The first one, on meeting and showing us photos of his food just wasn't for us... food was a little bit too poncy, and to be honest, the photos were very 70s looking - kinda like dad used to do back in his catering days in the 70s and 80s!
The second caterer, well, wow, OVERBEARING is an understatement. By this point we had very clear ideas of what we did and didn't want, and she seemed to shout us down at every opportunity she could, and she walked away with a plan that was the total opposite of what we wanted - she had to go!
I spoke to our third caterer on the telephone, and she was very accommodating at the initial contact - sent us out a great menu/info pack which as I read through I fell in love with...after showing it to H2b who also though their ideas were good, we booked a tasting session with them - I was very confident that they would be the caterers for us!
TTFN xx
