Wedding menu - help me decide!

[peroxidebrown]

I have to choose my wedding menu and I'm struggling- please help! We have had a tasting and narrowed it down to three options for each. Veggie already decided.

Starters
Pumpkin and butternut squash soup with a Stilton biscuit
Smoked salmon on rye bred
Duck terrine

Main
Duck breast with duck leg confit
Sea bass
Lamb cutlets

Dessert
Chocolate mousse
Clementine cheesecake
Cheese board

DP says he doesn't mind and my head is going round in circles so I think whatever appeals to most people is best. We aren't having children at the wedding and it's a mix of people our age (30s) and a few elderly relatives too.

Duck, lamb, chocolate mousse.

Soup
Sea bass
Cheesecake

Duck, lamb, mousse.

I hate soup as starter, find it too filling. So I'd opt for:
Salmon
Seabass or lamb
Chocolate mousse

Would have picked the cheesecake if it was anything other than Clementine

The duck main sounds lovely, but this is mass catering, by the time it gets to people it will be rubber ducky, that's one reason why so many places offer chicken as its one of the harder meats to screw up. Lambs not great either, but duck can easily be a disaster remembering a dinner for 500 people at a top London hotel where the duck pretty much bounced

I'd go

Smoked salmon
Lamb (or change to a chicken option if there is one)
Chocolate mousse or cheesecake.

Smoked salmon
Lamb
Chocolate mousse

Yummmm (tbh I'd enjoy all those dishes, just don't have duck twice though)

Salmon,
Lamb
Cheesecake

Soup
Duck
Mousse

I'd go smoked salmon, lamb, mousse. But as mousse/cheesecake can be an issue texture wise for many, why not berries of some description?

My wedding was aeons ago but we played it v safe. Starter was a ducky/game pate with melba toast, mushroom pate for the veggies (two); Main was poached salmon/chicken breast in herbed aspic, (flan - or just salmon for the veggies) new potatoes, various salads; pudding was: Strawberries/raspberries in a chocolate basket with sugar strandy guff woven over the top - can't remember if there was ice cream or cream with it. Providing there are lashings of wine and/or champagne nobody will care.

Does sound a bit dated but was 25 years ago.

Mousse and cheesecake can both contain gelatine, and cheeses are often made with animal rennet, so check this is not the case if offering these to vegetarians.

I'd like all the puddings, please.

Thanks everyone that's been really helpful! So we have ruled out soup as a starter based on people saying it will be too filling/ messy.

Starter- Salmon ("safest" option hopefully?)
Main - not going to have bass as many meat eaters may not like fish - still undecided!
Dessert- choc mousse (checking it's veggie).

However- sorry- having tea/coffee/chocs immediately after pudding so does this make cheese more acceptable as there will be chocolates for those with a sweet tooth?

NO!!! No cheese, more chocolate . Joking aside I think the cheese would be a nice idea, I adore soup as a starter though so I'm probably not the best to ask.

That clementine cheesecake sounds delicious too.

Op I think this is very sensible. So many people love pudding and it's a treat - I wouldn't choose cheese for that reason (I don't have a sweet tooth). So long as the duck or lamb come with some pretty safe bits (so the potatoes and veg, say) then you can't really go wrong.

You've got fish twice in the list, and duck twice in the list. Please don't have fish for starter and mains. Ditto for duck.
Soup for starters, purely because I wouldn't eat the other two. I understand why you've ruled it out.
Fish or lamb for mains (we had lamb, when some people heard this, we had some last minute switches to veggie - they assumed main would be chicken, not red meat!)
Chocolate or cheesecake for desert (chocolate preferred).
Congrats on your upcoming wedding!

It all sounds lovely! Nice to see proper restaurant style mains rather than the generic dry chicken breast.

I'd go for:
salmon
Confit duck
Cheesecake

Then maybe you could do the cheeseboard for the evening?

Soup
Sea bass
Chessboard

Would the guests know the menu in advance? I can't stand duck and would have to go for the veggie option if faced with duck....

A cheeseboard isn't dessert though is it?

I wouldn't look at any with anticipation. I would chose salmon and hopefully it would have a decent dressing.

Main-if I was eating out personally I would chose bass but at a wedding lamb would be better.

Dessert. Don't like the sound of any. I am not really a dessert person, I would go for pavlova/eton mess top dessert or something with a good ice-cream. Chocolate tart of some kind would be ok.

I think to get cheese and no dessert is odd.

Soup
Lamb
Mousse

Salmon
Lamb
Cheesecake

Or

Soup
Seabass
Cheesecake

I wouldn't have 2 fish courses. I would prefer soup&seabass but I think salmon&lamb would be more popular for masses

Salmon
Lamb
Mousse

I love cheese and would happily have it for all three courses. Don't think you can really substitute it for a pudding.

We had a cheese wedding cake! Later in the evening served with lots of chutneys and bread. Went down very well..

I really think soup is a safer option than salmon, loads of people don't like fish especially smoked salmon

Itball sounds lovely, don't swap for chicken. There's a reason most wedding meals are boring when the small minority are in mind when choosing the menu

I'd go:
Salmon
Duck or lamb
Chocolate

I don't think you can really substantially a cheese board for a pudding / dessert now that would be a disappointment

Is there a limit in the number of veggie meals that can be catered for? If not (not sure why there would be) then you could possibly include both menus in the invites and ask people to let you know which meal you they require but with a clear note that it's set menu a - veggie or set menu b - meaty not main A and pudding B

Salmon
Duck
Mousse