The first thing you should know if you’re planning to serve French food for your wedding is that you will need a pretty solid budget. Once you got this out of the way (we’ll go over pricing later), it’s time to think about your menu and because French cuisine is pretty sophisticated, you really have lots of options available. In the end, everything will be based on how fancy you want your menu to be! The one thing that is important though is making sure you found a catering company whose chef is actually French – trust me there are too many clueless chefs coming out culinary schools who wrongly think they can cook French food! SERVICE Contrary to other foods, this one will be easy: if you want to serve French food at your wedding, you will need to spend extra bucks on waiters as serving gourmet food buffet-style will ruin the good impression you are trying to make; of course you could argue that you can find French food at buffets – for examples at Las Vegas’ Paris hotel – but it’s no classy experience. MENU IDEAS Your choice of appetizers will pretty much depend on your budget. You can serve something simple like a salad with warm goat cheese or calamari’s. A little pricier, you can offer a charcuterie platter usually composed of saucisson (like salami but way better), smoked ham, paté and cornichons. But if you want something more luxurious, I would recommend Fois Gras or even smoked salmon. When it comes to entrees, you can go with something easy like chicken cordon bleu but I would recommend a steak, which can come with various sauces (pepper, tartar, blue cheese & more). As a side thin “allumette” fries, vegetables, mushrooms or potatoes gratin will be a good match. A nice piece of fish such as salmon will also work. The French always have cheese before dessert so you will need to present a nice platter of cheese with some good artisan bread. Be warned that cheese can be pretty expensive and if you want to do things well, you can’t use cheap, tasteless cheese. I would suggest serving at least Brie or Camembert (stronger taste as more fermented) with Roquefort (blue cheese – Société Roquefort is popular but average, Papillon Roquefort is way better) , goat cheese (plain, no herbs or add-ons) and Emmental or Gruyere. These are your basic cheeses and it will already be a bit pricey but you can spend even more on more sophisticated cheeses such as Epoisse, Munster, Roblochon and more. Just make sure you buy actual French cheese, no Canadian, Spanish or Dutch cheeses please! Finally, you can also get an authentic French wedding cake which is usually a Croquembouche made with choux pastries and caramel. You can, in addition, serve Macarons to complement the cake. Regarding alcohol, it also depends on how far you want to go budget-wise. First, the French usually have an aperitif before eating: Kir...
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For those of you not familiar with that term, gourmet food refers to haute cuisine or culinary arts. You usually find in that category luxury items such as lobster, caviar, salmon, foie gras but also elaborate cuisine such as French food as well as sophisticated dishes with an aesthetic presentation. Of course, this means that you will need a pretty large budget, with prices starting around $80 per person and going as high as $300 a pop. When it comes to service, this is one where you will need waiters as you just can’t serve gourmet food buffet-style (it’s called etiquette). You should also make sure that your guests are familiar with these types of foods, as these dishes have distinctive flavors and texture. There is no typical gourmet menu as those plates are very varied but we can certainly give you a few menu ideas by listing some of the most popular gourmet dishes across the board: When it comes to seafood caviar, smoked salmon, scallops and oysters are a sure bet while French foie gras (liver paté) should satisfy meat-lovers. For entrees, lobster is probably a favorite, but it can also be salmon with a champagne sauce, an expensive steak prepared with a sophisticated sauce (wine sauces, reduced sauces, truffle sauces) or, a duck comfit. Popular cooking styles include nouvelle cuisine (smaller dishes emphasizing presentation) , fusion (mixing various ethnic styles) or any innovative dish created by a gastronomic chef. If you’re going for a gourmet wedding lunch or dinner, you will probably order your cake from a higher-end pastry shop, but you should know that you can also find gourmet desserts, which usually are small dessert pieces presented in a very fancy way. As a side note, a gourmet meal should be accompanied by fine wine (usually French) and champagne so you will also need to pay special attention to your alcohol selection – sorry that one-buck-chuck won’t do the...
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Wedding cakes come in various shapes and flavors. Choosing the right cake will be based on your personal taste, the number of guests and most importantly the price, which isn’t cheap. Here are some elements you should take into consideration when shopping around for the right cake. FLAVORS The most popular wedding cake in the US is probably that white fondant cake which, personally, I extremely dislike. That said all kinds of flavors are available from chocolate to vanilla, fruits and even carrot cake. These flavors can come as mousses, fondants and frosting. We recommend tasting all the flavors available to make sure you find what you like best and don’t have any bad surprises on the big day. SHAPES The classic shape is a tiered cake but other shapes are starting to be popular, more particularly square, round or pyramidal cakes. In a different style, some couples also choose cupcakes or croquembouches, which are French desserts composed of a pile of choux pastries bound together by caramel. As for the dimensions, they vary depending on the number of guests but it seems that wedding cakes have been getting taller the last few years. DECORATION Cake toppers are still standard but, these days, you can get more creative than just showing the groom in a tuxedo and the bride in her white dress. A particularly fun option is to have them customized to your likeness or anything else you want. Other than that, with pastry chefs becoming more and more sophisticated, the sky is the limit from hearts to flowers, birds, mountains, beaches and even Disney characters! Last but not least, let’s not forget about the writing and this is something you should pay close attention to, as bad writing can ruin a beautiful cake – as you would ask to try various flavors, ask for some writing samples. PRICING This is probably the most painful part as wedding cakes are pretty expensive. The price will of course depend of the cake you choose – the more complex it is, the most expensive it will be – as well as your number of guests. The best way to compare wedding cake prices is to know the value of a slice. If you base your budget on that ratio, expect to pay somewhere between $2 and $20 per slice. That said, one trick that some couples use is to present a stylish fake cake for the pictures and then serve slices of a cheaper...
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A buffet – originally the French word for a piece of furniture where you store plates – means placing food on tables where guests can come serve themselves. This is the cheapest option when it comes to serving food as you don’t need to spend money on waiters and, as a result, it has become a very popular solution for weddings Before thinking about having a buffet, you should do your homework as it does not work for all foods: any expensive meal should have waiters serving the food and this is certainly not suited for French and gourmet foods as well as haute and nouvelle cuisines – it’s the etiquette! It however works well for Italian, Indian, Chinese, Mexican foods as well as BBQ. The only thing you have to worry about is making sure the food will remain appropriately hot (most entrees) or cold (desserts and some seafood); for this reason, you will still need a couple people supervising your buffet making sure the food is in good condition and restocking what’s missing. Of course, this doesn’t mean you can’t have a few fancy dishes at your buffet either. If you do, we recommend having one person serving these dishes to make sure your guests don’t overstuff their plates with the most expensive stuff – usually a good idea when you have higher-end seafood (lobster, scallops, caviar) or meat (for example, prime rib). Also, you might also need help if the food isn’t easy to serve – for example, cutting a ham, making omelets, etc. But even if you need a couple people, having a buffet will be way cheaper than having...
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Choosing Indian food for your wedding is a good idea, as a wide variety of tasty dishes are available: You can serve seafood, lamb and chicken accompanied by rice, spinach, pineapple, potatoes or tomatoes in some delicious creamy sauces made with coconut milk, curry, lentil, herbs and more. You even have plenty of vegetarian options, which will allow you to make all your guests happy. The only thing you really have to worry about is how spicy it will be and we are of course recommending going for mild to avoid any issue – trust me, you don’t want to go spicy hot and have everybody in pain. SERVICE Of course, you could have waiters coming to the tables but the good thing about this kind of food is that it can be served buffet-style, which will save you quite a few bucks. MENU IDEAS You can offer appetizers, entrees and desserts plus provides a special menu for vegetarians. To get started, you can serve fritters made with fish, shrimp, spinach, eggplant, cauliflower or onion, spicy potatoes or even spicy melon. For the main course, you can go with classics such as chicken tikka masala (chicken cooked with spices), chicken korma (chicken cooked in coconut milk), lamb korma (lamb cooked in coconut milk with spices), prawn masala (cooked in sauce), prawn tandoori (grilled with spices) or fish tikka (grilled tandoor-style). All of these entrees can be accompanied by rice – mostly variations of basmati rice with saffron – and breads – flat, balloon, tandoori, fried. Vegetable and fruit salads can be added as well. As for vegetarians, they can enjoy dishes made with paneer (fresh cheese simmered in sauce or croquettes), spinach, seasoned potatoes, veggie curry, bell peppers, cauliflower and eggplant As for desserts, if you want something typical rather than or in addition to your classic wedding cake, you can serve milk dumpling, rice pudding, carrot pudding or pistachio ice cream. When it comes to drinks, several non-alcoholic beverages are available including the popular Masala Chai (mil tea with spices) and Lassi (a drink made with yogurt). PRICES The prices for an Indian wedding menu are average: for the food and non-alcoholic drinks, expect prices to start around $50 per person (not including wedding cake and alcohol), which is pretty...
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Having a BBQ menu for your wedding is great idea as everybody loves a good BBQ plus it’s pretty cheap. Of course you might argue that you don’t want your wedding to look like a picnic but that’s where you should make sure your decoration and presentation have a wedding feel. SERVICE You obviously don’t need servers for a BBQ and can just have a buffet, which is another way to save some big bucks; also it will make for a more convivial ambiance. MENU IDEAS For starters, chicken wings, stuffed mushrooms, potato wedge, fried green beans, spinach dip and fries are your best bet. For entrees, your cheaper option is definitely burgers and sausages but, to be frank, it might be a bit too casual for a wedding. I would recommend at least ribs, grilled chicken and pulled pork (full plates, not sandwiches), which are favorites. On the higher end, you can serve nice pieces of steak (filet mignon, New York strip, ribeye, sirloin) or seafood (grilled shrimps, scallops skewers). When it comes to sides, you can have French fries, mash potatoes, mac can cheese, veggies or salads. If you want to offer desserts, besides the traditional wedding cake, peach cobblers, cheesecakes, chocolate lava cakes and ice creams are typical choices. For drinks, you can have lemonade, ice tea but also margaritas and beers. If you want to go the extra mile go for red wines from France or from the Napa valley. PRICES This is the best part for you as the cost should be pretty low, making it one of your cheapest catering options. While we recommend selecting a good BBQ place to cater your wedding, keep in mind you could also save some money by buying the meat yourself and just found a few people to handle BBQ duties – you can hire some cooks but you might even be able to put some relatives or friends to the task for free. Whatever option you might choose, starting prices should be around $15 per person and it could go up to $50 (not including wedding cakes and...
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