Wooo, party!! Wait, I have to feed them?

nerdily_ever_after · July 2017

So we finally hashed out a date and settled on a vendor that was way under budget and would accommodate that date - Halloween of 18! Which was a lot harder than we thought it would be. The venue, Huntsville State Park, is gorgeous, and will host about 75 people. Groovy, that's not too many people for either of us! So it's a Legend of Zelda wedding on Halloween, and we encourage guests to come in cosplay. Best party ever!!

Except that the food has me drawing a complete and total blank. I think about the menu and hear the wind blowing over the desert. We figure the time will be afternoon/evening, so we know we have to feed people more than cookies. The cookie table, however, is all I have figured out XD

Because it's a state park, we have to provide our own catering. Kay. My MoH's husband has a catering company and I know his food is amazing. But I have absolutely no idea what to tell him. I thought about trying to have an all elvish-inspired sit down menu, but there aren't many cookbooks for Lord of the Rings or Legend of Zelda.

After looking up Halloween menu ideas, all I got were lots of booze and pumpkin spice and pumpkin soup and pumpkin ravioli... Tasty as those are, it's a little much XD Buffet leaves me with the same blank. And Halloween party foods I found were all little kid stuff.

So what do you feed 70 people at a fantasy wedding on Halloween that celebrates nerds other than lots of Pocky?

charlotte989875 · July 2017

Knottie2474783c430b1a5a said:

So we finally hashed out a date and settled on a vendor that was way under budget and would accommodate that date - Halloween of 18! Which was a lot harder than we thought it would be. The venue, Huntsville State Park, is gorgeous, and will host about 75 people. Groovy, that's not too many people for either of us! So it's a Legend of Zelda wedding on Halloween, and we encourage guests to come in cosplay. Best party ever!!

Except that the food has me drawing a complete and total blank. I think about the menu and hear the wind blowing over the desert. We figure the time will be afternoon/evening, so we know we have to feed people more than cookies. The cookie table, however, is all I have figured out XD

Because it's a state park, we have to provide our own catering. Kay. My MoH's husband has a catering company and I know his food is amazing. But I have absolutely no idea what to tell him. I thought about trying to have an all elvish-inspired sit down menu, but there aren't many cookbooks for Lord of the Rings or Legend of Zelda.

After looking up Halloween menu ideas, all I got were lots of booze and pumpkin spice and pumpkin soup and pumpkin ravioli... Tasty as those are, it's a little much XD Buffet leaves me with the same blank. And Halloween party foods I found were all little kid stuff.

So what do you feed 70 people at a fantasy wedding on Halloween that celebrates nerds other than lots of Pocky?

What foods do you normally eat? What are your favorites? Start there. Or ask your caterers what they recommend. I wouldn't try and extend the theme to your food. People don't care if the food "matches" they care if it's good and if there was enough to fill them up. That's it.

On the theme stuff; it's totally fine that you want to highlight your shared interests/things you care deeply about. You absolutely can (and should) wear anything you want. But please don't ask or tell your guests what to wear. If you'll be wearing cosplay and know many of your guests would be interested you can spread it by word of mouth that guests can also dress up, but I'd stay away from any suggestion or request on invites or websites. It may make guests feel like they have to dress up or shop for something they don't have specifically for your wedding.

lnixon8 · July 2017

Theme foods are great for kids parties, not so much for adults. Once you have your budget shop around other caterers and restaurants (not just your MOH's husband- you might come back to these baords next year if things don't go perfectly) and ask what types of apps, entrees and sides you can get for 70 people for that budget.

nicgetsknotted · July 2017

If you want to tie your halloween theme in a little bit, how about blackened steak, glazed carrots and mashed potatoes? It's still adult food that people know and enjoy but it would bring the Halloween colors to the plate.

southernbelle0915 · July 2017

I admittedly don't know that much about Zelda, so this might be way off, but could you do like a medieval feast?

So serve the meal family style at each round table with like mushroom soup or meat pottage, roast beef/chicken/some kind of game and/or smoked fish, mashed potatoes, veggies, bread, pot pies, spiced wine, etc. Your appetizers could be cheese, breads, olives, stuffed mushrooms, deviled eggs, dried fruits, nuts, and cured and smoked meats. You could save money by just serving wine and beer (if doing alcohol). Your dessert could be cakes, fruit tarts, pasteries, etc. How you decorate the app stations and dessert stations would go a long way in incorporating your theme.

Personally, I wouldn't try to go with Halloween themed food or decor. It would make it seem more like a Halloween party than a wedding. You are having a wedding and it HAPPENS to be on Halloween - not the other way around.

However, asking people to dress a certain way is against etiquette. The most you could really do is tell people that the bride and groom with be in costume...IF someone asks you directly.

ei34 · July 2017

If you want the food to "fit", I'd lean more towards what's fresh in autumn- apples, pears, cabbage, wild mushrooms...the pumpkin soup and ravioli both sound delish. Think whatever is seasonal in your area. As opposed to a forced Halloween/Zelda menu. If you really want a look, I'd lean more towards standard food (apps, crudités, sandwiches/wraps, pasta dishes- it's a day time wedding right?) on Halloween platters. Or Zelda-colored platters (sorry I don't know anything about Zelda!).
Just as example, my twins' second birthday is this weekend, and it's a Thomas the Train themed party. I'm just serving my normal day time party spread, and the dining room table will have a blue Thomas tablecloth with their trains scattered around the food. I'm not serving food that looks like trains or is train-themed.
Ditto PP re dressing up being via word of mouth, not written anywhere.

CMGragain · July 2017

I think you are overthinking this. People care about food. They don't care about themes when it comes to eating.

I know all about Zelda. My kids are both nerds. Daughter had a groom's cake with Dungeons and Dragons on it, but it wasn't a theme wedding.

Be careful about overdoing your theme. "Wedding" should be the most important word in your guests thinking, not cos-play. What about your relatives who might not be into Zelda? Will they be comfortable with your plans?

southernbelle0915 · July 2017

CMGragain said:

I think you are overthinking this. People care about food. They don't care about themes when it comes to eating.

I know all about Zelda. My kids are both nerds. Daughter had a groom's cake with Dungeons and Dragons on it, but it wasn't a theme wedding.

Be careful about overdoing your theme. "Wedding" should be the most important word in your guests thinking, not cos-play. What about your relatives who might not be into Zelda? Will they be comfortable with your plans?

I know what you're saying, but to the bolded, who gives a shit what they think? As long as they're properly hosted with a comfortable venue and food/drink for the time of day (and not asked to wear costumes!), whether they like Zelda or not is totally irrelevant.

Unless someone is choosing offensive or emotion provoking decorations, like a Nazi theme or something, how they decorate is whatever.

charlotte989875 · July 2017

southernbelle0915 said:

CMGragain said:

I think you are overthinking this. People care about food. They don't care about themes when it comes to eating.

I know all about Zelda. My kids are both nerds. Daughter had a groom's cake with Dungeons and Dragons on it, but it wasn't a theme wedding.

Be careful about overdoing your theme. "Wedding" should be the most important word in your guests thinking, not cos-play. What about your relatives who might not be into Zelda? Will they be comfortable with your plans?

I know what you're saying, but to the bolded, who gives a shit what they think? As long as they're properly hosted with a comfortable venue and food/drink for the time of day (and not asked to wear costumes!), whether they like Zelda or not is totally irrelevant.

Unless someone is choosing offensive or emotion provoking decorations, like a Nazi theme or something, how they decorate is whatever.

I agree; except if there's an expectation or suggestion that guests also dress up to go along with the theme. I don't think guests have to "get" or be a part of the theme for it to be within etiquette, but no one should be expected to dress a certain way either.

ahoywedding · July 2017

Could you ask the catering company if they have a fall seasonal menu? Most of the companies we looked at had pretty standard main dishes but noted that the sides & some of the options may vary by season. You could choose two or three more basic main dishes, and fall-ish sides, like pumpkin something, apple/walnut salad, root veggies...OMG fall veggies are so good.

Halloween-themed food seems to sometimes come off like a kid's party. However, I don't see anything wrong with fun, Halloween desserts! Fun cookies, fall bars, a candy table (you could get those cellophane pumpkin bags for guests to take some home), etc.

DrillSergeantCat · July 2017

charlotte989875 said:

southernbelle0915 said:

CMGragain said:

I think you are overthinking this. People care about food. They don't care about themes when it comes to eating.

I know all about Zelda. My kids are both nerds. Daughter had a groom's cake with Dungeons and Dragons on it, but it wasn't a theme wedding.

Be careful about overdoing your theme. "Wedding" should be the most important word in your guests thinking, not cos-play. What about your relatives who might not be into Zelda? Will they be comfortable with your plans?

I know what you're saying, but to the bolded, who gives a shit what they think? As long as they're properly hosted with a comfortable venue and food/drink for the time of day (and not asked to wear costumes!), whether they like Zelda or not is totally irrelevant.

Unless someone is choosing offensive or emotion provoking decorations, like a Nazi theme or something, how they decorate is whatever.

I agree; except if there's an expectation or suggestion that guests also dress up to go along with the theme. I don't think guests have to "get" or be a part of the theme for it to be within etiquette, but no one should be expected to dress a certain way either.

Exactly, and it sounds like there is an expectation that people dress in theme.

MobKaz · July 2017

CMGragain said:

I think you are overthinking this. People care about food. They don't care about themes when it comes to eating.

I know all about Zelda. My kids are both nerds. Daughter had a groom's cake with Dungeons and Dragons on it, but it wasn't a theme wedding.

Be careful about overdoing your theme. "Wedding" should be the most important word in your guests thinking, not cos-play. What about your relatives who might not be into Zelda? Will they be comfortable with your plans?

I laughed out loud at this, @CMGragain. My SIL is a huge gamer. He recently completed his Master's. Our gift to him was airfare/hotel/ticket to BlizzCon in California this November.

I love my nerd kids and their spouses

downtondiva · July 2017

scribe95 said:

I would choose a pretty standard menu and use your cake to play up the theme, maybe a soup. The food is so key. It makes a wedding in my opinion. And if you go messing too much just to meet an arbitrary theme I think that would be a shame.

I agree. Cakes and other desserts could be a fun way to play up your wedding theme, but I wouldn't recommend extending it to the rest of the food. Getting too clever with it could come at the cost of quality and may just end up screaming elementary school Halloween party. Keep the rest of the food more standard, maybe with some autumnal flavors as PP's have suggested.

I also have to join in with PP's on the costume thing. Even if you are just "encouraging" people to wear costumes to the wedding, people may feel obligated, and that's not really fair. Not everyone is into cosplay or dressing up for Halloween. This means they'd have to go out and buy and/or put something together for your wedding that could cost them a lot of time and money. If your guests who are into cosplay come dressed up of their own accord, that's okay. But I strongly recommend that you not say or do anything to dictate how guests dress for your wedding.

missfrodo · July 2017

scribe95 said:

In addition to using the cake for the theme also a signature drink would work!

This made me think, you could have a graphic of 8-bit Link holding up whatever food/drink is being served, along with a description (ie, "roasted carrots with almonds") instead of a plain description card if you decide to go buffet-style (like how he "holds up" a rupee or other item when he finds it). That way, your food table is technically still themed to Zelda, but the food is whatever your caterer provides. Personally, I think roast meats and seasonal veggies would be perfect for this type of event, as it's nothing too fancy and would be something I could see them serving in that universe. I think some sort of "triforce" signature drink, maybe with 3 liquors or something, would work well if you haven't already chosen a signature cocktail. I'd also suggest hot spiced apple cider for that time of year!

knottiec0607c2fda3eba98 · July 2017

Do not do you food the theme but put a theme around the food stations if your having an open buffet. The deserts I would make it to your theme. People really do care about food and if it take good then they are happy. You can always do fun apps.

MesmrEwe · August 2017

1) Book MOH's husband's company professionally
2) Give MOH's husband your budget and guest count, DO NOT stress about the actual menu over a year out because food ingredient prices are subject to change and what is cheap this year may be expensive next year. And even then, it's about appealing to the masses.
3) Eat, drink, and be married! Work the theme in to your desserts where you can be adventurous, not the main meal.

Australian_girl_in_Paris · August 2017

SO there are actually a bunch of theme things you can do - I know there's a GOT cook book. Or you could do I kind of 'medieval' themed banquet?
do so research and find things you like.

Even if I wasn't into dressing in costume (I am) I think you can add it as optional and people can do it if they want. I've seen pictures of weddings that had a theme where some guest didn't get into it and it was fine.

It's true the actual choosing of food is one of the last things we did so don't stress.

Wooo, party!! Wait, I have to feed them?

Re: Wooo, party!! Wait, I have to feed them?

Choose Another Board

Search Boards