Co-founders of Caviar & Chips Catering, Jonathan and Marc walk us through how they go about crafting a bespoke wedding breakfast menu for their clients. We hope it gives you some ‘food for thought’ (couldn’t resist the pun!)
Even before you start
We’ve prepared some really nice table picnics for wedding parties that they can enjoy whilst getting ready for the big day. Having a small buffet prepared and ready for you and your close family and friends in the lead up to the ceremony can be a lovely and relaxing way to enjoy the preparations and ward off hunger pangs that can induce stress and frayed emotions. Alongside a glass of fizz you can stroll into the ceremony satisfied and happy having enjoyed the start of things to come.
Perhaps a canapé reception
Having a canapé and drinks reception to follow the wedding ceremony is a great starting point to get your guests mingling and breaking the ice. If there’s a nice outdoor area such as gardens or woodland then have a nice selection of four or five canapes for your guests while you have photographs taken.
We often suggest a couple of meat options such as delicious chicken wrapped in Parma ham with tarragon mayonnaise and chive or perhaps mini-Yorkshire puddings with a thin slice of beef and horseradish for a classic, English taste. For a fish choice salmon blinis with black caviar are a classic and then for vegetarian or vegan options, cherry tomatoes with black olive tapenade are full of flavour and great colour.
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Starters for your wedding breakfast
The wedding breakfast can take a variety of styles. We’ve catered for formal sit-down fine dining menus with five courses and matching wines. But then we’ve also provided sharing platters for more informal dining with boards and bowls that pass around the table and a selection of dishes to choose from to experiment with different flavours.
For a starter course, a fish option can be a nice way to start or perhaps a sharing mezze or tapas style sharing board. A popular choice can often be a ham hock terrine and a nice vegetarian alternative can be prepared in a similar way.
Try a seasonal main course
For your main course, consider the timing of the day and the time of the year as you could introduce some really nice seasonal dishes such as lamb in the spring and early summer or venison in autumn and winter months. This too could influence your vegetable choices whether that’s asparagus in warmer months or root vegetables when it’s colder. One of our award winning dishes is lamb loin wrapped in Parma ham served with fondant potato and a rosemary jus which looks beautiful on the plate, tastes incredible and is really filling too.
Thinking about your wines in a similar way could be helpful too. We’d suggest having a white and a red and then either still or sparkling water on the table. We’d recommend that you factor in that your guests will have approximately half a bottle each so bare that in mind if you’re ordering your own wine.
Have your cake and eat it for dessert
It’s not uncommon to meet a couple where one likes fruit and the other chocolate or one wants a warm dessert and the other cold. Our solution tends to be; have both! A duo or even trio of desserts is a great way to satisfy both yourselves and your guests and we prepare mini versions of desserts such as chocolate brownies, cheesecakes, tarts or crumbles that really feel like you’re spoiling your guests.
We’ve also seen the wedding cake replace dessert or offering a cheeseboard with port and pork pies can be a really nice conclusion to your wedding breakfast.
Evening food, drinking and dancing
For evening food, whether you go for hog roast, BBQ, pizzas or paellas it tends to be the case that your guests are grateful for the opportunity to break from the bar and dancing and enjoy some good wholesome food.
We hire out our converted piano bar that makes a great centrepiece at the venue. We often bring this with a selection of gins, rums, whiskies or cocktails. We have a vast selection of drinks menus and there’s been some great weddings where we’ve enjoyed trying to find a selection of gins that match the couples’ place of birth, where they met, where they live and where they’re getting married.
Visit the Caviar & Chips Catering stand at the National Wedding Show where we’ll be sampling some of our food, running a competition to win a dinner party and beon hand to talk through menu ideas for whatever style of wedding you’re planning.