wedding menu

Wedding Venue

Finding the perfect wedding venue is one of those magical moments in your wedding plans. As you stand in an elegant, romantic ballroom, or find yourself in a beautifully-bloomed outdoor garden wedding locale, your wedding vision will come to life. Many of our northern New Jersey and New York City brides say that when they found their dream wedding location, they just knew it was The One. They could see all the elements of their dream wedding, see their guests having the time of their lives, and see themselves enjoying their gorgeous celebration.

To choose your perfect wedding venue, begin your research by talking to recent brides and grooms you know who married at the New Jersey banquet hall you have in mind. This is a top way to get the inside story on what it was like to plan with the wedding venue’s staff, what they loved about their setting, what they enjoyed most about the planning process. Talk also to people who have planned bar mitzvahs and bat mitzvahs or other big celebrations at your ideal wedding venues, since they’ll have valuable input, too. Read more…

Wedding Logo Design

Put your personalized stamp on your wedding, in so many ways, with your own wedding logo. It’s a top wedding trend to create your own logo or monogram, featuring your first initials and last initial – or just your married last initial — in an artistic insignia. Artists have taken the traditional monogram logo and given it a beautiful, decorative twist for more visual effect, such as with delicate flourishes above and below the logo, rather than the monogram being in a circle. Or, the logo might be a square, a rectangle with ornate borders, or an oval. Read more…

Wedding Menu

When thinking about your wedding menu – for your cocktail party, your wedding reception dinner, and your wedding cake and desserts, be sure to keep in mind your guests’ special dietary requirements.

It’s now become far more prevalent for our New Jersey and New York City wedding couples to customize their wedding catering choices with a large selection of food items that their gluten-free and vegetarian guests can enjoy. Brides and grooms have read horror stories on wedding websites, wedding blogs and wedding message boards about weddings at which dietary-restricted guests could only pick on a small number of foods. They certainly don’t want that for their own wedding guests, nor do we. Read more…

Wedding Dessert

Wedding guests look forward to the dessert hour with great anticipation. Even as they savor your gourmet wedding menu, they’re looking forward to your spectacular wedding cake, decadent dessert buffet, and sweets stations.  Great desserts make a fabulous wedding unforgettable, as the last taste of your grand wedding impresses your guests tremendously.

Here are the top trends in wedding desserts to inspire you:

• Individual dessert plates: Each guests receives his or her own plate arranged with a trio or collection of fresh-made desserts, such as a crème brûlée, amaretto cheesecake, flourless chocolate cake and a chocolate dipped berry. Another combination may be chocolate mousse, cheesecake with raspberry sauce, and berries. Read more…

Kids Wedding Menu

If you think that kids’ menus at weddings consist of just chicken fingers and mini pizzas, think again. Today’s kids actually enjoy more adventurous foods in their everyday lives, so they’re perfectly happy with most of the items on your fine cuisine wedding menu. Perhaps with the exception of the raw seafood bar, and of course with parental supervision over kids’ food allergies. (Which is why we suggest placing food ID cards by each of your cocktail party menu items and carving stations.)

Here are some of the top trends in kids’ wedding menu choices:

• Sushi. Since many parents prefer cooked sushi choices over raw for their kids, arrange with your wedding caterer to provide displays of cooked-item sushi choices.
• Crab cakes, salmon cakes, lobster cakes, cod cakes…in sizes big enough to require two bites, not small balls posing choking hazards for kids.
• Hummus and pita bread
• Pastas with classic or creative sauces
• Meatballs
• Sliders, either as burgers or pulled pork, and we’ve seen requests for veggie burger sliders for the kids’ choices as well as the adults.
• Macaroni and cheese is always a hit with kids.
• Mashed potato and mashed sweet potato bars let kids create their  own creamy ‘sundaes’ with their choices of toppings.
• Chicken tenders with a trio of kid-friendly sauces.
• French fries cut in spiral styles or with unique flavors.
• Mini pizzas topped with a variety of combinations, from four-cheese to vegetables to tiny bits of sausage.
• Crudites and cooked vegetables served with fun flair at cocktail party stations.
• Fruits cut into kid-friendly shapes, such as smiles, stars, and cartoon characters. Read more…

Carving Station

Your wedding cocktail party menu is one part of your Big Day that guests look forward to the most, and they have great expectations that the food will be excellent, the presentation elaborate, and the choices plentiful. Since guests travel so far to attend weddings, it’s smart to talk with your wedding caterer about creating a cocktail party menu that will surprise and delight your friend and family. Read more…

Wedding Catering

Winter wedding catering focuses on seasonal foods in warm, creamy, comforting textures and rich flavors that turn your wedding reception into a fulfilling feast. Here are some of the top trends in winter wedding catering: Read more…

Wedding Favors

Guests at a wonderful wedding, having enjoyed fine cuisine, top entertainment, top vintages of wine and champagne, and the joyful company of friends and family for your happy occasion would say the experience itself was all the gift they need, but it’s a top wedding etiquette idea to offer a take-home wedding favor they’ll love.

In years past, brides and grooms gave our small wine bottles with their personalized labels on them, and now the top wedding trend for weddings in our Northern New Jersey area is edibles…particularly something sweet.

Here are the top trends edible favors, welcome at the end of your wedding reception: Read more…

Carving Station Trends

When budget wedding guides say to ‘cut out the carving station’ as a way to save money, they’re talking about weddings that are planned in non-bridal locations, and self-catered. At an upscale wedding reception venue, carving stations are included in the entire wedding catering package. So you can very well include a carving station, or two, in your cocktail party plan. Read more…

Wedding Bar

Put the perfect finishing touch on your wedding reception with an exquisite collection of after-dinner drinks. Our New Jersey and tri-state area wedding couples make it a high priority to treat their wedding guests to indulgent wedding drink menu offerings, and even budget wedding couples can enhance their wedding reception package with a list of excellent after-dinner drinks.

It’s become a top 2012 wedding trend to offer guests top-shelf liquors and liqueurs, in addition to coffees, and our wedding bar menus offer some of the top choices in after-dinner drinks. Here are just of the top-trending wedding drinks that can end your perfect wedding reception:

• Espresso
• Cappuccino
• Cognac
• Brandy
• Sambuca
• Ouzo
• Sabra
• Kahlua
• Jameson
• Frangelico
• Anisette
• Bailey’s Irish Crème
• White and Milk Chocolate Liqueur Read more…