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planning your menu

Planning Your Wedding Menu

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Planning your wedding menu should be nothing short of delicious!
So…Eat, drink, and be married! Believe it or not, the food at your wedding is often just as important as the dress you wear! You and your guests will remember this delicious part of your wedding for years to come.
If the catering is provided by the venue, you should start talking specifics and having tastings about three months prior to your wedding date. This is important if you are having a seasonal menu and utilizing local ingredients. Create a signature menu that matches your season. Identify four or five key items that are easily identifiable as seasonal foods. For example, serve a strawberry and walnut salad during a springtime wedding or butternut squash soup in the fall. Ask your caterer for a list of fruits that are in season during your wedding.

On the other hand, if your venue does not provide catering in-house, you’ll want to start interviewing as soon as you have the location booked. Look for caterers who are familiar with and knowledgeable about your venue, or type of venue. Your venue may have a list of recommended or preferred vendors that they enjoy working with and there are no additional fees.
With a variety of guests and taste buds at the wedding, the menu needs to appeal to a wide range of people, so here are things to keep in mind:

• Avoid overly spicy food
• Consider allergies and dietary requests-such as shellfish, gluten, dairy, and nuts
• Consider Vegetarians – make sure the caterer can offer a vegetarian meal
• If you’re reception is outside, make sure the food you serve won’t spoil quickly
Enjoy the tasting; this is a part of the planning process that you and your fiancé can truly enjoy together and have fun with. Make sure to sample everything from the hors d’oeuvres to the wine (if you’re serving alcohol) when you interview caterers, and take notes!

Once you’ve finalized the menu, it has become a popular trend to print it out and place it on the table. This is a great décor addition, but is also a nice way of letting guests know what they will be eating. Some people even include a teaser in their invitations and/or on the wedding website. This can be handy especially if you are sensitive to your guest’s food allergies.
Planning the menu for your wedding can be loads of fun. It is your opportunity to be creative and personally expressive.

Sweet sign of Spring

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Spring has sprung!  And whether it’s Easter, impending wedding season or just a celebratory mood that this time of year finds us in (having survived yet another Chicago winter) we have sweets on the mind!

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We’re always on the look out for new and exciting desserts and alternative wedding cakes and while we have touched on some of those new trends, we are in awe of an up and coming idea that has us literally salivating and running for Fannie May. That’s right, artisan chocolates are all the rage and we can’t think of a fancier occasion than a wedding to bust out the finest chocolates around for you and your sweetie (and guests, of course!)

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Not to be confused with candy bars (a la the super chic Amy Atlas), artisan chocolates can be individually served on trays after dinner or placed on the reception tables with small signage designating each flavor. What’s more, they can even be perfectly paired with a wine or after dinner cordial to make their intense flavor even more delectable. Here’s where things can get extra creative; like pairing a dark chocolate orange peel with a simple splash of Grand Marnier or a Bailey’s Irish cream with an espresso bean truffle-this need trend takes a deeper look into the likes of foodies and their guests on the most important day of their lives.

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Here in Chicago, we turned to Katherine Anne Confections in Logan Square and her inventive flavors and concepts for further inspiration. Brides have long been using her services for gift bags and welcome treats and now are following this new trend all the way to lavish trays of passed chocolates and towering displays of what else, CHOCOLATES! The confectioner is even holding special classes in March where students can create their own truffle flavors and leave with bags full of goodies.  All we can say is: sign us up!