Picks for your Cold-Weather Celebration
Fall and winter weddings offer delectable opportunities to treat yourself and your guests to rich, satisfying food and drinks. Indulge! You can savour soup, present hot signature drinks, serve full-flavoured mains and sauces, dish up popular comfort foods as late-night fare, and bring on the decadent desserts. These on-trend choices will help guide your menu decisions.
Individual Attention
Separate, individual servings and personal, sit-down meals are still very much on trend, since people remain quite mindful of personal space and the need to be safe. You want your guests to feel pampered and at ease. Appetizers should be self-contained. Shot glasses, skewers, ramekins, muffin tins and martini glasses all work well to ensure distance is maintained.
Hot Stuff
Do you love coffee and liqueur? Hot chocolate? Consider a full-service Hot Beverage station for later in the evening. You can offer a variety of liqueurs, gourmet coffee options and garnishes. Make sure there is someone to serve each guest so that there’s no concern about physical distancing.
Sweet Decadence
Fruit pie and whipped cream? Moulten chocolate lava cake? Crème brûlée? Why not. If you have a sweet tooth, show it and end your first meal as a married couple with spectacular sweetness. If you’re opting for an event with full-service food stations, consider the wow factor of a liquid nitrogen ice cream bar stationed next to the hot chocolate bar.
Soup to Sip
Warm up your guests with fun and comforting canapes, such as appetizer-size servings of soup, with a garnish of grilled cheese. Roasted red pepper and tomato soup are welcome and eye-catching. You can also try novel garnishes such as warm pretzels or breadsticks.
Visual Splash
Ensure your signature cocktail is as visually appealing and timely as it is delicious. In fall, an apple martini, a whisky sour, cider or mulled wine will hit the spot. In winter, a chocolate martini, a cranberry punch or a berry margarita will make a splash.
Personal Favourites
Whether it’s the cocktail hour or late-night snack time, share your favourite comfort foods with family members and friends. Crowd pleasers such as poutine, pizza, mac and cheese, BLTs, nachos and chicken bites can all be presented in canapé-sized formats.
Sit Down and Enjoy
This is definitely the wedding season for a sit-down, full-service, multi-course dinner. People are still skittish about buffets and family-style, pass-the-plate meals. Instead, if your guest list is small or moderate, you can go all out to spoil your guests with a divine, gourmet feast. For an extra flourish or layer of comfort, you can request that wait staff wear gloves while serving the different courses.
