How did you choose?

Denise40 · November 2014

I'm pretty much going with this specific cater. They said we could do tasting before or after booking them. They sent me like 20 pages of food choices, from horsdoeuvres to entrees. How did you choose for the tasting?? I'm overwhelmed with choices.

AddieCake · November 2014

Our venue didn't do tastings, but how we chose for what we ended up with was 4 appetizers that we figured were the biggest crowd pleasers. For the main meal, my dad's only request was that there be salmon, so we picked that and then as I am a very picky eater, we chose chicken cordon bleu b/c it was one of the few things on the menu that we figured was universally liked and that I would eat "as is" and not be picking or scraping at. For sides, we did rice pilaf and green beans almondine b/c I like them and we figured they were universally liked. I definitely think when choosing food, you need to keep the guests in mind and choose things that the masses will like. Sometimes I watch wedding shows, and I just can't imagine people liking some of the overly fancy or odd foods the couples are considering.

Denise40 · November 2014

@AddieCake‌ thanks for the info. When fiancé gets back in town we will look over the list and narrow it down. Is it a good idea to have 2 entrees on plate or give a choice of 2?

allispain · November 2014

OP, I would give a choice of two entrees. Some people (like DH) don't like their food to touch foods they won't eat (he doesn't eat seafood and would not be happy to find some on his plate, for example).

Also, I just want to second Addie in that you should definitely pick foods that you think the majority of your guests will eat. For example, in our appetizers, we had 2 vegetarian ones, one seafood one, and two meat ones. Then for the entrees we picked a steak and a chicken as well as a roasted veggie tortellini for our vegetarian guests. For sides, we had mashed potatoes and green beans. That way, we made sure we appealed to everyone as best as possible. It wasn't necessarily what I would have picked for just myself (I'm a foodie), but it wasn't about me, it was about our guests.

Denise40 · November 2014

@allispain‌ thank you for that info. I don't have any vegetarians so that helps. I was thinking a choice but thought having 2 entrees would have been better. Choice it is

ShesSoCold · November 2014

I agree with picking foods that apply to the masses. H and I did a cocktail style reception so we picked something like 20 different food options. We picked a few that we were personally really excited about and then picked a few that would likely be crowd pleasers. We had a cold seafood and sushi bar, so we left any seafood out of the pasta options. We had a prime rib, so we put chicken on of the flatbread options - stuff like that.

I think once you narrow down the choices to suit your budget, then see what you're excited about and what is typically universally liked, the choices won't be too hard.

Denise40 · November 2014

Thank you @ShesSoCold‌

atlastmrsg · November 2014

I picked menu based on what my FI and I loved, what fit our venue (very Southern), and tempered with what would be well-liked in general. You won't make everyone happy, but we kept with Southern staples, especially in our passed appetizers, so people who don't like sushi-grade fish, etc. wouldn't feel alienated. We had things like shrimp and grits spoons, strawberry-brie-almond pops, hot brown crostini, deviled eggs, etc. passed during cocktail hour. It all went very well and set a good tone--lots of southern comfort food--for the dinner, dessert, and late night passed mini breakfast items (chicken and waffles, mini eggs benedict, country ham biscuits, root beer foats...)

atlastmrsg · November 2014

Denise40 said:

@AddieCake‌ thanks for the info. When fiancé gets back in town we will look over the list and narrow it down. Is it a good idea to have 2 entrees on plate or give a choice of 2?

I personally don't tend to love duo entrees. One tends to seem like an after thought. ie--after eating a really nice filet, I don't really want a piece of chicken with cream sauce on it.

Denise40 · November 2014

atlastmrsg said:

I picked menu based on what my FI and I loved, what fit our venue (very Southern), and tempered with what would be well-liked in general. You won't make everyone happy, but we kept with Southern staples, especially in our passed appetizers, so people who don't like sushi-grade fish, etc. wouldn't feel alienated. We had things like shrimp and grits spoons, strawberry-brie-almond pops, hot brown crostini, deviled eggs, etc. passed during cocktail hour. It all went very well and set a good tone--lots of southern comfort food--for the dinner, dessert, and late night passed mini breakfast items (chicken and waffles, mini eggs benedict, country ham biscuits, root beer foats...)

That all sounds yummy!

vmj23 · November 2014

For hors doeuvres separated out the choices into categories (beef, chicken, vegetarian, seafood, etc) I then tried to have an equal selection from each to make sure there was something for everyone. For meals we only got to pick 2 so i immediately knew i would do a beef and a chicken (plus a vegetarian). We only got to try 2 at our tasting so i picked the two that i thought we were most likely to choose but i ended up going 2 options we hadn't tried but at least the tasting gave us a good idea of what the food was going to be like.

Denise40 · November 2014

@jenni1221‌ thank you for your ideas! That really helps

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