Matching Venue to Menu

“Where shall we get married?” is likely to be the next question after “will you marry me?” and “when shall we do it”?
Before you make your choice, you should also be able to answer the question “What would we most like to eat?”

Venue hire is likely to be one of the most expensive elements of your reception budget so remember; the quality, style and cost of the venue you choose will directly proportional to the quality, style and cost of the food.

Forget this and disappointment is sure to follow, not only for you but for your guests.

Spending thousands of pounds on booking an expensive venue only to serve your guests cheap food, is akin to telling your family that you can’t afford to buy them Christmas presents this year because you’ve treated yourself to a £2,000 pair of Christian Laboutins.

A buffet of bangers and mash looks totally out of place in a palace. A golf club is an unlikely place to find a Michelin star chef (unless it’s Wentworth or St Andrews).

To save on cost and disappointment when it comes to booking your caterer, match your menu expectations to the venue. If you are expecting to eat a simple menu, find a simple venue (barn, marquee, hotel…) whereas if you are expecting impressive eats, find an equally grand venue (palace, castle, mansion…).

Start by asking yourself, what do you imagine eating on your wedding day?

If you imagine a picnic, with gingham checked cloths, bottles of beer, homemade gamepies, scotch eggs and Eton mess look for a rustic barn with long tables and low beams.

If you imagine a buffet of salmon, salads and strawberries and look for a marquee with long chamomile lawns to provide you with quintessential English elegance.

If you imagine a feast of rich winter flavours, lamb, soup, bread, sticky toffee pudding, look for a mansion with open fireplaces and candlelight.

If you imagine something dramatic and unusual with flavours to surprise and delight your guests, then pick an unusual venue a zoo, a museum or a vaulted undercroft.

If you imagine an DEGUSTATION menu with course after course of incredible food, then a famous palace, A COOL PURE WHITE SPACE or a castle is the only backdrop to truly do it justice.

And if you imagined a takeaway pizza and a cold beer… well then I really can’t help you!

This article originally published on The Wedding Community Blog

Thoughts on a hog roast

My most recent article from my role as catering expert on The Wedding Community...

When it comes to discussing wedding menus with my clients, the ‘hog roast question’ is right up there with the ‘cake as pudding question’.

There is a time and a place for hog roasts and it’s not necessarily your wedding day.

But how can you tell whether it would suit your day? I hope this helps.

Don’t have a hog roast if…

1.  …you’re uncomfortable with the phrase “big, bloody, raw, dead pig”

At the end of the day that is what it is; trotters on, head-off, hairy skin crisping, tail waving in the breeze. If you are at all squeamish (or have invited even one vociferously vegetarian guest) advance down this route at your peril.

2.  …you haven’t told your guests

Picture the scene: female guests wobbling across the lawn in their high heels, trying to eat a hot bap elegantly without ruining their manicure or dropping ketchup on their beautiful dresses, tutting as their other halves wipe greasy hands on their new suit trousers. Please, if you are having a hog roast, mark it clearly on your invitation so that people come prepared wearing wedge heels and with wet wipes to hand.

3.  …it was all his idea

Men. Meat. Fire. Often I find the hog roast idea comes from a groom who has whimsical dreams of standing next to the BBQ… sorry I mean hog roast… whiling away the hours with a few beers and a group of his mates. This isn’t what happens on your wedding day. If you don’t believe me ask your married friends about their experiences. Accept that you’re hosting a big event for many, not an afternoon at home for a few.

4.  …you’re worried about the weather

Hog roasts involve fire so cannot be done indoors, hence good weather is essential. In the UK it can rain on up to 200 days of the year, so I urge every couple planning their reception in Britain to “hope for the best but plan for the worst”. However, if you are willing to bet that your wedding day will be on one of those precious remaining 165 days (minus those in freezing winter) then go for it. If you are set on an outdoor extravaganza, better to move the location to Bondi Beach or Provence.

5.  …you want a relaxed atmosphere

Hog roasts (like buffets) do not, as you might think, provide a relaxed ‘eat what you like when you like’ meal. In fact the opposite can be true. The hungry people rush in first, other guests wait politely and end up with less, family cliques move 20 chairs round one table and (ironically) a lot of guests choose to sit and wait for someone else to bring them their food anyway. If you really want a relaxed atmosphere, great service is the key.

Do have a hog roast if…

1.  …you’re looking for vintage style or a rock ‘n’ roll look

Be aware that there is a good way and a bad way to do a hog roast but never a particularly pretty way. For good, see Vintage at Goodward, for bad see local rugby club. No two hog roast providers offer the same thing, so choose carefully and double check that you’re getting ‘English village fair’ rather than ‘kebab shop window’.

2.  …you’re wearing a frock (not a gown) or jeans (not a suit)

I know firsthand that long, expensive, structured, embellished bridal gowns do not mix (in anyway) with grease, grass, mud, ketchup, smoke and a bap. However, rock and roll weddings, short, funky, 50’s-style frocks, bohemian style summer dresses and medieval bustiers look fabulous.

3.  …you’re inviting less than 50 guests

The average pig will serve 70 people, as a snack, so I think 50 people per pig for a meal is perfect.

4.  …it’s your pig

I did a fantastic wedding for a foodie couple who had raised their own pig for the purpose of having it butchered for their wedding. They provided the finishing touches to the meal (herbs, greens, flowers) making it so very personal. I love creating bespoke menus; it is a message to your guests and a reflection of who you are. We had the most amazing day in their Orchard and it all felt absolutely right.

5.  …you never want to speak with your vegetarian friends again!

Seven Course Summer Heaven

Every so often I am lucky enough to meet a couple for whom their special day is quite literally all about the food. Here is an example of a seven course degustation menu which I took great delight in creating for Daniel and Frank.

Some course choices are personal to their story, some were inspired by their travels, some were just an excuse for a seasonal treat. Everything was utterly delicicious and enjoyed over the course of a long midsummer's evening by sixty special guests in The Orangery, Holland Park.

Canapés

Wasabi seared beef and watermelon with pickled ginger and coriander

Ricotta cakes with oven roasted plum tomatoes and basil

Fresh herb blinis simply topped with crayfish tails and a spaghetti of cucumber

First Wine:

Lugana Doc Trentino, Tenuta Rovegelia, Italy

Amuse Bouche

Demi tasse of chilled grape and white almond soup

Starter

Ham hock ravioli with pea veloute and truffle oil

served in a saturn bowl

Second Wine:

Chablis, Henri La Fontaine, France

Fish

Stuffed sardine

filled with pine nuts, brioche, chervil and raisins

Sorbet

Lemon, parsley and gin sorbet

served in saucer champagne glass with lemon slices

Third Wine:

Gigondas Domaine de la haute Marone, France

Main

Guinea fowl filled with spinach and ricotta

on smoked garlic mash, wilted spring greens and tarragon jus

Cheese

Trio of European cheese

with membrillo, grapes and walnut bread

Dessert

Sicilian lemon cheesecake with macadamia crust,

lime mousse with frosted berries and glazed tarte au citron.

Aperitif

White sambuca shots with coffee beans

To Finish

Fine tea, cafetiere coffee and fresh mint tea

Hand made petits four

Five Unforgivable Wedding Food Faux Pas

I am privileged enough to be the food expert at The Wedding Community offering wedding specific advice to hundreds of couples in the throws of organising their big day. Here is a taster of a recent article...

I have worked on over one thousand weddings and the following choices have never, ever worked well for the guests, the couple nor the caterer.

1. Replacing Pudding with Cake
I am evangelical about this, so much so that I have dedicated a whole article about it, here.

2. Marrying Early but Eating Late
Beware the “black hole” between the end of your ceremony and the first bite of food. If you are marrying any earlier than 3pm, your guests will not have had lunch (trust me, they wont) and will need feeding twice. Some form of food should be made available within half an hour of your nuptials and guests should be taking their seats for the main meal within two hours of the confetti falling.

3. Changing Seats after the Starter
If you’re intending to play musical chairs, don’t make the first move until after the main course. As a caterer and a passionate foodie, I can think of nothing worse than a beautiful dish drying out and crusting over in a hot cupboard as the post-starter speech inevitably drags.

4. A Selfishly Whacky Menu
There is a difference between serving delicious food to delight everyone and food so unique that the majority of your guests won’t touch it. Yes you might have eaten stuffed sardines on your first date, yes I appreciate that Nigella is heralding a fois gras renaissance but what goes uneaten goes unappreciated. Oysters, veal, fois gras, offal... proceed with caution and ask you caterer for advice. They’ll know what will leave guests full versus what will leave them famished.

5. Icecream in a Hot Marquee
There is a memorable episode of BBC’s The Restaurant where one hapless duo learn the hard way that marquees don’t come with freezers. Instead of ice cream and poached pears, they end up serving lukewarm “vanilla soup” to one hundred horrified VIPs at the Hurlingham Club. Caterers can do incredible things but keeping sorbet, icecream and frozen desserts at the necessary minus 23 degrees Celsius in outdoors in the sun using only a cool box is beyond even our magic.

Free Thinking "Free from" Menus

For some reason January seems to be the time of year when clients begin to worry about the health of their guests, perhaps after information gleaned and lessons learnt around the festive dinner tables.
Many of my clients are apologetic about allergies but in fact I love the challenge of finding a menu that delights and surprises their more sensitive guests.

Gluten Free

Salmon trio – tartar, Gravadlax and parfait with micro shoots and herbs

Rack of Salt Marsh lamb with creamed golden polenta

and a symphony of summer vegetables

White chocolate and passion fruit bavarois with summer fruit compote

Wheat Free

Aubergine palette - involtini, walnut, parsley stuffed baby aubergine

and Iman bayaldi with wild rocket with chargrilled wheat free flat breads

Roasted fillet of scotch beef on a lemon and thyme new potato cake,

fine French beans and homemade Béarnaise sauce

Lemon and banana parfait with Verona chocolate and banana wafers

Nut Free

Ham Hock and Foie Gras terrine

with round lettuce hearts and curried apple compote

Toasted brioche

Pan roasted filet of Sea bream on a roasted garlic

and spinach pomme puree with pepperade and a lemon beurre blanc.

Trio of citrus – lemon brulee, fresh lime cheesecake and blood orange sorbet

It is important for me to point out that unfortunately although a caterer can select an allergen free menu choice,  it is viturally impossbile to guarentee an allergen free kitchen. When I am working on a nut-free menu we sanitise everything and remove nuts from the kitchens but this merely reduces the risk of trace rather than irradiating it.

Simon Says "Flaunt it at Fifty"

During the Naughties, it was the footballers wives who helped bring a new meaning to the term "extravagant party". In the TwentyTeens, my instinct (and my bookings diary) is telling me that it will be successful men in their forties and fifties who will dominate and redefine the entertaining scene as we know it. In the next twelve months the likes of Bono, Gary Lineker, Jeremy Clarkson, Jonathan Ross, Hugh Grant and Simon Le Bon will all be looking to hit five-oh in style and will no doubt set a high bar (literally) for anyone turning 50 between now and 2015 (take note Piers Morgan, Matthew Freud, Noel Gallagher, David Cameron etc).

Leading the charge is Simon Cowell whose fiftieth birthday extravaganza at Wrotham Park was a watershed moment for the private party industry. Since then, I've noticed a marked rise in enquiries from discerning gentlemen who know what they want, are proud of their success and want to celebrate their half century accordingly. Simon opted to serve his guests with mini bowls of comfort food: prawn and lobster martini, chicken soup (with the infamous alphabet spaghetti), shepherd’s pie, fish and chips followed by apple pie, rice pudding and bread and butter pudding. I was recently asked to create an equally as impressive yet slightly more flambouyant menu in honour of two successful film directors holding a joint 50th birthday party in a transparent, pink carpeted marquee beside their candlelit barn conversion and moonlit swimming pool.

Canapes

Ricotta cakes with slow roasted vine tomatoes and basil wafers

Cucumber boxes of fresh feta, mint, parsley and purple shiso cress

Watermelon cubes with seared beef and pickled ginger

Brioche croutes with caramalised apple and Foie Gras

Crisp bread cups with quails egg Caesar salad

Starter

Chermoula red mullet on roasted baby fennel

with lemon yoghurt and chive oil

Duo plate of roasted tomato tatin

with a parmesan basket of yellow cherry tomato, feta and olives

Main

Slow roasted fillet of beef wrapped in Prosciutto

served with oregano polenta, fine green beans and rich burgundy sauce

Involtini of chargrilled aubergines

with spinach, goats cheese and salsa verde

Dessert

Vanilla panna cotta with English raspberries and Grappa
served on a square, pink Venetian glass dish

Pink Cocktails

Tanqueray Berry Collins

Absolute Mandarin Cosmopolitans

Pink Mocktails

Sparkling Raspberry and Elderflower

Minted Watermelon Cooler

Late Night Munchies

Bacon sandwiches with ketchup and HP sauce

Cheese toasties with anchovies and Worcester sauce

Late Night Shots
Spiced Bloody Mary's

Hot double espresso
Iced grappa with lime

Winter Feasting

Food is a winner in the winter and there is possibly never a better time in the year for a foodie to wed. The cold compels us all to seek solace from our plates, to gather with other like minds, to feast, indulge and celebrate.

If you are seeking inspiration for a winter menu, think British and focus on seasonal. Winter is the time when the tastiest of ingredients come to fruition and markets groan with fabulous and inspiring ingredients ready to be transformed into comforting feasts.

Whilst most foods are available all year round, they can taste awful when eaten out of context with the season. Never trust a caterer who wants to serve you strawberries in December!

My advice when planning a winter or late autumn menu is to go for a hot starter with homemade bread, a deep and rich main and a nostalgic favourite for desert. Mouthwatering and delicious.

IDEAS: Forest mushroom soup, dark venison, local game, Cumberland sausages, braised red cabbage, sticky toffee pudding, molten chocolate fondant, fruit crumbles, jugs of hot chocolate...