Hi everyone! I've been lurking for a while trying to figure our the best etiquette to have a completely vegan reception for our guests at our wedding next May. My fiance and I have been vegan for many years now and paying for food that isn't vegan would be completely against our morals, and when every event and restaurant we go to ends up being a struggle to find something to eat we do not want our wedding to feel that way at all. That being said we want to make sure our guests really enjoy the food and that there is a variety that has something for everyone. We didn't want to go crazy with the "mock meat/cheese" products because those seem somewhat deceptive and are not always received well by meat lovers. Here is what we have so far that has been proposed by our caterer:- Mixed Green Salad with Seasonal Berries, Toasted Walnuts & Lavender Vinaigrette
- Vegan “Chicken” Pot Pie with Seasonal Vegetables
- Stuffed Squash with Blackened Tempeh (Smiling Hara) & Braised Baby Chard topped with Fried Leeks
- Garlicky Mashed Potatoes
- Smoked Broth Braised Collards
- Three Bean Salad with Fresh Herb Vinaigrette
- Roasted Broccoli with Lemon, Garlic & Sunflower Seeds
- Cornbread with Sorghum “Butter”
We also have several options we can substitute in if we don't like one of the menu items or think something else would go over better with guests.
Substitutions:
- Lentil & Mushroom Sheppard’s Pie
- Ratatouille
- Late Spring Vegetable Pasta with Fresh Herbs
- Wild Rice & Quinoa Salad with Sugar Blanched Pecans and Sour Cherries
- Wilted Sesame Kale Salad with Braised Radishes
- Green Beans w/ House Smoked Sea Salt Almonds
- Maple Roasted Buttercup Squash
- New Potatoes w/ Lemon, Chives and Olive Oil
- Spicy Mustard Greens w/ Cumin
- Saffron Roasted Cauliflower
- Herbed Squash Casserole
We aren't having a true cocktail "hour" as we are doing a first look/family pictures before the ceremony, so will only have about 30-45 of down time as guests walk up the hill from our ceremony space to the reception space, where dinner will be served almost immediately. That being said we decided to go light on the Hors d’oeuvres. Do you think we should have more than this? (Short ceremony at 4:00 pm and dinner at 5:15 pm)
- Crudités - Fresh Vegetables with a choice of “Really Good” Vegan Ranch Dip, Smoked Tomato Hummus or Green Tomato & Charred Corn Basil Salsa with Pickled Okra, GF Wafers & Sourdough Crostini
- Bar Snacks: Cumin Fried Chickpeas
One final question, should we announce that it is a vegan only reception before the wedding? It's going to be buffet style so people can pick and choose whatever they want, and there is going to be no "food choice" option on the invites. I'm not trying to trick people into eating vegan food, but I also don't want it to go to waste because some people are just so turned off by the word vegan that they refuse to even give the food a chance.