What would be your ideal wedding breakfast meal?

[30not13]

Just that..

Looking for ideas!

Best one I’ve been to we had Dominoes pizza and Greggs bakery. That wedding must be coming up to 20 years ago but I still remember what I ate there.
The bride and groom were students at the time and it meant they were able to invite more people that way as they spent less on catering.

The more traditional but good one that I also remember was a friends wedding a couple of years ago. Huge joint of roast beef on each table, a designated ‘chef’ who got an apron and chefs hat for carving, with all the trimmings per table so you could help yourself. Worked really well.

The one food truck wedding I went to, the food was ok at best and there simply wasn’t enough of it.

If I ever get married it will be a low key affair, bbq/hog roast with plenty of salads and side dishes plus veggie options. Relatively easy but hopefully tasty.

loads of prawns. each as big as a toddler's fist.

If I ever get married it will be a low key affair, bbq/hog roast with plenty of salads and side dishes plus veggie options. Relatively easy but hopefully tasty.

Honestly, I've never been to a wedding when this has been done well. I think the only way to get this to work is to over cater by 50% or something equally mad.

Obviously the meal after they get married, or why would she be looking for a menu?

I went to a wedding with an amazing vegan buffet (I’m not vegan). It delicious. In bowls with serving spoons so not a gross grab stuff with dirty hands kind of buffet.

More or less anything as long as it's served at a normal meal time.

Most people don't eat their largest meal at 3 or 4 or even 5 pm and so hunger cues will be all over the place
(venues try to dictate the oddest times, sometimes)

I went to one which was tapas to start so all served in dishes to the table and people picked their own. Main was beef or chicken , pudding was Eton mess. Main and pudding were nice but the tapas stands out as being lovely and I thought a nice idea to get people that didn't know each other on tables talking a bit more.

You can’t please everyone. I would remember an incredible number of people are veggie, vegan, something-free these days so appropriate catering is essential. Whilst buffets are more logistically challenging I think that helps with the fact it is impossible to just serve one thing to everyone as you can have clear labelling and a variety of foods that people can take/avoid as desired.

I don’t drink and would value something other than water to drink at some point!

cream of vegetable soup with thick cut, still warm wheaten bread
roast beef or breast of chicken, both melt-in-mouth
creamed mash, crispy roasties, selection of veg inc marrowfat peas, gravy
apple tart or (and!!) sponge cake served warm with fresh cream and icecream

A Lebanese / Middle Eastern selection of mezze and dishes on each table.

Best one I went to was a bbq. The bride was Mexican and the bbq meats were amazing, loads of salads and dips. You went up per table and there was no shortage of meat and the salad/potatoes/breads were help yourself and regularly topped up. It was the best food I’ve ever had at a wedding.

My idea of hell is those identikit Manor House/hotel ones, where you get chicken/Guinea fowl/overcooked beef with a selection of dull vegetables. Mass produced food is difficult to get right and often it’s awful.

A spit roasted suckling pig with side dishes.
Absolutely delicious.

I went to an Iranian/Serbian wedding and my main memory is the constant flow of incredible food at dinner, no waiting ages for small platefuls of tastefully arranged stuff. If I get married again I'll want caterers/a restaurant who can do that kind of flow.

Garlic king prawns with ciabatta (starter)

mushroom stroganoff in a filo pastry basket (main)

darck chocolate mousse with a milk chocolate collar (dessert)

The best wedding food I've had was at an Indian wedding.

For mine we had a Caesar salad, beef fillet with dauohinoise and asparagus and a strawberry Mille feuille.

Sea bass for the pescatarians, didn't have any vegetarians.

Handy to know, would hate that to be the case (bit like my friends food truck issue from what I can tell) (not that getting married any time soon is on the cards but you never know 😂 )

Starter: smoked salmon or chicken liver pate.
Main: lamb with new potatoes and veg or roast duck.
Dessert: sticky toffee pudding or cheesecake.

Not a buffet- in my experience there's never enough food, some people always take loads so those going up last miss out, the food looks crap once some people have taken theirs and queuing (for food) has no place at a wedding.

I'd like

Something fishy to start- Smoked salmon, prawn cocktail etc.

Beef wellington or slow roast lamb. Dauphinois potatoes, green veg.

I'm not really a pudding person so cheese for me 😂

But basically- great quality food, enough of it and no queuing or people putting their fingers all over platters or buffet food 🤢

I know this won’t work for everyone but I am British Indian and my husband is English so we had a half Indian and half English wedding. We served Indian food and people raved about it - and still do several years later. Some of the English guests went on to hire my caterers for their (English) weddings.

There are a few advantages to serving Indian food - it can be mass catered without losing quality, you have multiple dishes so it easily caters for veggies, vegans, those with allergies etc, and importantly after an afternoon of drinking, lots of people, including English guests are happy with a curry!

In case of help, here’s a photo of what we served - was about 6pm I think (ceremony was at 3). Before dinner we had circulating canapés (which are not on the list I have attached) so no one was drinking for hours on an empty stomach.

On each table the caterers set out the courses and everyone could help themselves at their table - no queuing for a buffet or anything like that. They replenished each dish when needed so it was basically bottomless. (This was important to me because I have been to a couple of weddings where there wasn’t enough food and being hungry is my only abiding memory of those weddings!)

Steak and triple cooked chips.

At my DD’s recent wedding there were several choices, steak, salmon, Turkey/ham and a vegetarian option. The usual potatoes and veg were served with the meat and fish choices. Everyone seemed happy enough.

There were a couple of starter choices and 3 dessert choices.

Fish and chops
ice cream bar

If you can offer guests a choice I think that's preferable as it's impossible to please everyone with one menu.

The best weddings I've been to have had plentiful canapés at the drinks reception so people aren't starving hungry and have also provided food in the evening (even if just a buffet but I've also been to ones that had fish and chip vans. My sister put on a load of bacon sandwiches at her evening reception which went down well.)

The worst wedding I attended didn't have any extra food in the evening. The couple had wanted to save money which I get but separate evening guests were not happy and everyone was starving. All I can remember is DH and I going home earlier than planned as we were so hungry.

I would say sharing dishes but per table (“family style”) not one big buffet. I’m picturing some sort of Ottolenghi type spread, duplicated on each table - with appropriate adjustments depending on dietary requirements.

I would hate the queuing aspect of a buffet plus the high chance of some things running out or looking unappealing before everyone’s got to the front.

The Indian wedding we went to was fab for this - there was some kind of rotating tower of dishes on each table with curries, rice, breads etc in it so everyone could help themselves but without leaving the table.

I wish more weddings and events served slow cooked food - casseroles, tagine, curry etc - as they are much easier to do a good job of for large numbers, and hold until everyone is seated. Unfortunately they often aren’t seen as “smart enough”.

This was ours! Winter wedding.

Food was outstanding.
Wanted to keep it quite simple.