Reception Menu
Wedding guests may say they couldn’t eat another bite after all the fine cuisine at your wedding cocktail party, but your excellent wedding menu they discover on your menu cards when they take their seats in the reception ballroom always seems to get them hungry again.
After your first dance and the toasts, guests look forward to the first course coming their way. Among the top trends in wedding reception menus is unique appetizers chosen to complement the cocktail party menu you provided, and raise the bar in fine cuisine as the wedding reception begins.
Here are some of the top trends in wedding appetizers:
A Sensational Salad: Outdated wedding budget advice has advised couples to eliminate the salad course, but we’ve found wedding menu trends to embrace the salad once again. Given the gourmet menu offerings in salads, it’s no wonder. Now, you’ll find burata and citrus salads mixed with baby arugula, fennel, watercress and frisee. Mixed lettuces are now paired with red and yellow beets, aged Vermont goat cheese, roasted pears, and spiced walnuts. Salads are now part of fine cuisine, and are welcomed by guests who wish to eat lighter, healthier fare as part of a vegetarian wedding menu selection or an organic wedding menu. Read more…
As you read in our recent post, wedding cocktail party catering begins with the selections of fine cuisine at stations, and now it’s time to look at the top trends in hot buffet stations:
Wedding Buffet
Carving Station: Wedding menu trends offer twists on the usual wedding fare, and today’s carving stations go beyond the usual prime rib and glazed ham. Now, you’ll find mouthwatering selections such as tequila lime marinated flank steak, roasted leg of lamb with garlic and rosemary, pork tenderloin with mushroom duxelle, New York Style pastrami or corned beef, roast turkey breast with cranberry orange compote, peppercorn crusted sushi grade ahi tuna, orange and rosemary scented whole roasted suckling pig, boneless rib eye of bison, and more. Our wedding chefs perfect the art of adding a gourmet element to the carving station, making this a top reception catering trend once more, even for budget wedding couples who are pleased to find they don’t have to cut out the carving station if they don’t wish to.
Pasta Station: Again, wedding cocktail party menu trends have given the pasta station a makeover. While you could go with plain pomodoro sauce or vodka sauce on your penne, here are some of the top trends in cocktail party buffet menus for your pasta station: gemelli pasta with broccoli rabe, wild mushroom and shaved parmesan risotto, Louisiana crawfish risotto, spinach agnolotti with artichoke and marscapone cheese and garlic cream, campanelle with saffron cauliflower, crab meat and roasted yellow tomatoes and seafood nage. Read more…
Wedding menu
When creating your wedding reception menu, you’ll often begin by choosing your cocktail party stations, selecting from a wide range of delectable, gourmet spreads that guests often look forward to the most. Your wedding cocktail party sets the stage for each of the upcoming reception menu features, and a top 2012 wedding trend is surprising wedding guests with unexpected cocktail party menu items.
Some of the top cocktail party menu trends include international foods, organic wedding menu items, gluten-free menu items, and unique twists on traditional wedding cocktail party foods.
Here are some of the biggest trends in cocktail party stations, focusing just on the Cold Stations. We’ll focus on hot buffet stations in an upcoming post:
Antipasto: Grilled marinated harvest vegetables, bocchini mozzarella, artichokes, and fire roasted peppers.
Olives: An array of colorful marinated and stuffed olives, with herb dressings. Read more…
