Wedding planning is cracking on at full pace at the moment, things are really starting to come together, and everything feels very exciting. The wedding spread sheet has more and more columns filled with deposits paid, and the big things are getting ticked off. We’ve sorted the marquee, furniture and toilets. We’ve settled on a color scheme, and started chatting to florists. We’ve booked our photographer, and started trawling charity shops for crockery.
Currently standing right at the top of the wedding to do list is catering. How and what to feed people, who to get in to feed them, and just how much to pay for the whole shebang! Whatever way we look at it, catering is going to take a massive chunk out of the budget, and the food and drink have always been high on our priority list, so we really want to get it right.
Things we want from our catering:
- Really good food. We both love food and love to eat!
- Lots of food. I hate people being hungry. If I’ve got friends around for dinner I’ll always massively over cook. We’re always working through the left overs for days, but I’d much rather we lived off left over pasta salad for weeks than anyone go hungry!
- Something relaxed, a menu that will get people talking and sharing food. Think family style eating, sharing platters and nibbles.
- Someone willing to cater their menus and packages.
- Someone who will let us take control of some aspects of the menu, we’re still planning on getting friends and family to help with the puddings and cakes.
Things we don’t want:
- Boring food. No yawns when guests see the menu.
- Tiny portions (see above)
- Formal dining, nothing that causes guests to break out in a cold sweat over which fork they should be using.
- A really hefty bill…
Andy’s had his eyes on a hog roast from the very start. The thing is though, much as we want informal relaxed dining, I still want it to feel like a wedding. I still want to decorate tables, and standing around a gently turning pig and eating a pork sandwich- while normally right up there with my idea of heaven- doesn’t quite fit with the idea of ‘wedding’ in my head. We’re looking for a compromise. Something that will give us the feel and flavor of a hog roast, but that is a bit more suited to a sit down meal.
So where are we at the moment? Well we think we’re about there…..! With Andy off in Hong Kong we went for a dual attack approach. I searched for what seemed like hours on Google bringing up every catering company in the South East. We’ve looked at everything from companies that will supply a pig and an oven, to companies that will do everything from canapés to after dinner truffles, and throw in a little silver service just to round off the day. From the very reasonable priced, to quotes coming in at a knee-trembling £100 a head (and that’s before you even think about evening food!!). From there over countless emails back and forth I narrowed it down to just a few options that could tailor their menu and their services. As ever, trying to find that delicate balance between what we want, and what we can afford! Last week I went out to Hong Kong to visit Andy (yay!), and talked through all the options over numerous bottles of wine, both coming to the same conclusion about the food and the catering company that felt right.
We’re still finalising the menu, but we’ve found a company that seem very warm and friendly. They’re local, they’re flexible, and their sample menus sound like they might be exactly what we’re looking for. Watch this space!
Jennie x
