DECISIONS DECISIONS

FIRST DECISION:

What kind of food Will be offered. A Plated Lunch or Dinner? A Full Buffet? Casual? Formal? – what time of day? – all the usual thing a Bride & Groom must decide. That and the Number of guests of course.

 Then Add the Who, How Many, and What form of all those Food Allergies. And how on earth to accommodate them.  

COULD they ALL be accommodated?? The decisions here dictated all the next steps ending up with the research/meal planning ideas ball dropped into my lap..

The Next step of this process what pinpointing what the meal is to be theme-wise. They picked an Afternoon TEA with a Served Buffet

Our Reasoning: Simplicity & Presentation – 

while most don’t think of January as a Spring event. Here in our desert valley we frequently have up to 70-80F weather in January. By the time the real spring arrives we can sometimes be in the triple digits. This is a major factor in picking what is probably going to be an outdoor venue.

Usually, according to a top chef I know, to keep costs reasonable one has a Plated menu. In this, the sponsor (the bride & groom) can control food costs by knowing precisely how much of each food is needed for a specific number of people.

In an Open buffet, on the other hand, as he explained it; there are often people who will take larger portions than average & in order for everyone to have access to all foods presented there Must be more food available than for just the head count.. unfortunately this frequently leads to wasted food & $$ at the end of the day

However, if you have a “Served Buffet”, you need Fewer Servers and they don’t have to be professional ones. (believe me a sit down, plated meal, Is HARD WORK for the servers (that’s why there are professional servers for events) & generally family & friends while well meaning generally don’t have the skills to do this quickly & without problems. Serving single items at a buffet table is way easier & less difficult for family/friend helpers.. we want them to have fun too, not stressed out from working the tables!

The thought also is that a “TEA” puts guests in the mindset of not horrifically formal & a lighter FUN meal of mostly finger foods will be without mess. (after all, the guests/family are all “Dressed Up” and a spaghetti dinner might not be very easy to manage….)