Eat Well Catering and Feasts has become notoriously famous for providing our couples with the freshest works of delicious art! The Lily Crew is always so impressed with the team’s dedication to creativity and professionalism. It’s no wonder you’ll find their well-crafted food at many fantastic, local events including One Night Twelve Kitchens at the Midwest Culinary Institute, the Cincinnati Zoo’s Zoofari and Taste of the NFL for the Freestore Foodbank. Eat Well takes each event to the next level with seasonal food, hospitable efficient service, and creative unique presentation. And for those who meet with their team onsite, you will be amazed at their fantastic office/work space.
I know you will enjoy their team’s take on crafting a meaningful menu!
Enjoy!
Libby
When you’re planning your wedding, there are so many moving parts and questions that might be floating around in your head. What venue will offer the best backdrop for your ceremony, and will it be available on your date? Will the flowers in the bouquet match the color scheme? What about decorations, the DJ, the rings, and all of the guests… and what about the food!? With so many to-dos to cross off before the big ‘I do,’ finding a caterer who will execute a meaningful, tailored menu for your big day can feel like a daunting and tricky task. Luckily, eat well has some tasty tips on how to make sure that your menu is an extension of your wedding and not just another check off the list.
Before we begin looking into specifics, we need to talk about the elephant in the room: wedding food. For many people, food is often left to the end and is one of the first things that gets bumped off the priority list if budgets get tight. This can lead to a negative experience for both you and your guests. Many of us have either experienced or heard the tales of weddings with beautiful ceremonies, dazzling décor, and heartfelt toasts, but then there’s the unfortunate ending where the food leaves something to be desired and your guests go away hungry and disappointed.
When it comes to choosing your wedding menu, here is something to think about:
Your wedding is the first celebration that you are your spouse will be throwing together, and it’s the first meal that not only the two of you are going to share as a married couple, but that you’ll be sharing with your dearest friends and family.
Every couple has a specific vision for their big day, and whether that be a sophisticated farm fête, a chic and contemporary celebration, or a classic evening soiree, every aspect of your wedding should fit into and support that vision… and yes, that includes your food. So, let your menu do its job and express your unique essence, and let it embody and express the vibes that will be helping to set the mood for your memorable wedding.
So now let’s talk specifics. As a catering company that has executed our fair share of weddings, we’ve come up with three simple tips on how to create a menu that will reflect your unique vision and leave guests wanting a whole lot more.
Two Bite Cincinnati Cheese Coneys
It’s no secret that your wedding day is meant to be all about you and the wonderful display of love between the two of you. No two couples are the same, so celebrate that and incorporate it into your wedding! An easy way to do that without being over the top is by integrating some of your favorite flavors or foods into the wedding menu. Our popular “Two Bite Cincinnati Cheese Coneys,” a tiny twist on the beloved classic, never fails to enchant and delight guests as they’re passed around in time for appetizers and cocktails. They’re a good way to make a nod to the Queen city, especially if the city is a big part of your life, or if you have out-of-town guests. Give them a small taste of one of the things that Cincinnati does best and bring a smile to the faces of your guests who already know what it’s all about.
“Tickled Pink” Macarons (raspberry cheesecake filling)
So, we already know that wedding planning takes time and loads of effort, but one of the things that can make that process easier is having a vision which inspires you, and that you can build around. For many couples, part of that vision is the color-scheme. If you’re planning a forest-themed wedding, you’ll want to incorporate earth tones, pastel colors with a pop for a more contemporary or chic wedding, and gold and silver accents for a wedding full of classic glamour. And while many people expertly incorporate those colors into invitations, the cake, and the decorations, some stop short at the menu. Incorporating your color scheme into your food is an easy (and of course delicious) way to keep those vibes going until the very end. These macarons are an adorable example of how easy it is to tailor your food to your color-scheme. We actually color matched these “Tickled Pink Macarons” to the invitation for a recent Bridal shower, and we took it a step further. Not only did we match the macaron shells to this blushing bride’s color-scheme, we created a filling that matched as well! Made with a raspberry cheesecake filling, these delicate desserts were the perfect complement to the bright pastel vibe of her shower and left her with countless compliments.
Roasted Autumn Vegetable Salad (baby carrots, beets, and acorn squash over a bed of baby spinach, candied pecans & dried cranberries, with maple balsamic vinaigrette and micro arugula)
Our final tip on how to make your menu meaningful and unique is to incorporate seasonality into your dishes. The date that you choose to have your wedding on is a deliberate and important decision, and each season has a specific feeling associated with it. In the summertime everything is fun and vibrant, and your guests are going to want food that is fresh and light. On the other hand, fall is a chillier time full of warm tones and bountiful harvests. Each season has a particular feel, and mother nature provides us with an exceptional array of delicious foods for each. When you tailor your menu to incorporate the fruits and vegetables that flourish during the time that you are holding your wedding, two things will happen. First, you’ll encapsulate the vibe of that particular season. Deep reds, yellows, purples, and oranges offer a cozy compliment to autumn while pastels and shades of green will get your guests in the mood for spring. Matching your menu to the season will also result in a fresher, and most likely less expensive, menu. Using peak produce will allow your caterer to ensure that mother nature is doing her part to make your menu the best that it can be. A good example of a seasonally appropriate dish that we’ve created for a couple is this “Roasted Autumn Vegetable Salad.” This salad, which features fresh fall ingredients like maple, cranberries, and earthy but sweet squash and carrots embodies the unique flavor of the season and presented a delicious array of what fall does best.
Hopefully these tips give you a little taste of how to keep your menu meaningful and have inspired you to take another look at your food plans. If you give your menu a little love, it will give it right back and will supply you and your guests with the energy to party away, and keep talking about your day for years to come.
