Food for Thought

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Michael and I decided to make breakfast for dinner on Sunday night. We purchased a new brand of pancake mix (the kind you buy in the bottle and just add water and shake to make). It sounded like a good idea at the time…until we both wound up sick.

This incident got me thinking about a wedding I attended a few years ago. My friend Dave ate some of the mashed potatoes and became violently ill. He threw up for an hour before we finally had to take him to the ER.

The potatoes weren’t bad nor did they have traces of salmonella or anything kooky like that. In fact, this food disaster was completely preventable. Dave is allergic to chicken and the mashed potatoes were made with chicken broth. It was a simple error that was easy to overlook.

Whether you’re having a full sit down dinner or a buffet, you may want to consider the dietary needs of your guests. Most wedding etiquette guides preach that it’s not appropriate for guests to make dietary request unless they are solicited. Guests are told to simply not eat if you serve something they can't consume or to eat something before the wedding just in case they have food allergies or religious dietary restrictions.

If you’re inviting someone to your reception, I would imagine it’s because you want them there and want them to have good time. How much fun will it be for your college roommate to starve herself because she’s allergic to wheat or for your cousin to go off her diet because you wanted everything deep fried?

A wedding reception is a party, and as a good host you should ensure all of your guests are having fun and enjoying themselves. If you are having a large receptions and can't accomodate everyone, your best bet is to choose on basic meat dish (like chicken) and one vegetarian dish (for people like Dave). A buffet is easier since you can serve a variety of foods for guests to choose from. If you're having a smaller wedding and your budget and caterer are more flexible, you can include an additional dietary card with the invitation that asks your guests to mention dietary needs.

A favorite solution of mine to communicating your menu is Wedding Menu Cards.

Wedding menu cards are heavy stock single cards that contain all of the elements of the meal, including appetizers, entrees, wines and other beverages. By including this information, your guests will know ahead of time what's being served and can communicate any issues.

Menu cards can be as basic or personal as you’d like. If your menu has sentimental meaning, you should include the reasons for your choices (e.g. we’re having steak because that’s what Scott ordered on our first date etc.).

Here are a few example menu cards. Look them over and tell me what you think:

*Note: sample Menu Cards were taken from Paper Style