Everyone is sending well wishes for your special day, but ever since your in-laws, parents, and siblings got involved in the wedding planning, it doesn’t feel like the day is going to be “yours” at all.
Maybe you have your heart set on a champagne toast, but your father-in-law doesn’t drink and doesn’t want to pay for alcohol at the reception.
Maybe your fiancé's siblings want to make their famous fried chicken for the rehearsal dinner, but it doesn’t fit with the Tuscan theme you’d imagined.
Maybe your mother has the seating chart all planned out and is horrified that you’d like guests to seat themselves after filling a plate at the buffet.
Sigh. You get the picture. Once you start the wedding planning process, it’s easy to make the big day more about what your guests want than what you want.
We encourage you to make this day as personal as possible, which means making the choices that feel best to you. Still, there are times when a little compromise can go a long way.
Here are five common wedding planning challenges we see in the catering business, plus five creative fixes that will get you what you want and maybe even make your in-laws happy, too.
1. To Imbibe or Not to Imbibe?
The wedding challenge:
Some of your relatives may be less inclined to celebrate with alcohol than others. A teetotaling parent or an in-law who is willing to help pay for the reception (just minus the booze!) might mean you’re stuck with the alcohol bill. If that's the case, you’ll soon discover that wine, beer, and cocktails for a crowd aren’t cheap. You may have to negotiate how much booze you include in your reception, if any.
The fix:
While Beau Catering does not have a liquor license, we do have the insurance to cover having alcohol served at the events we cater. What does that mean for you? You can purchase your own alcohol (without the markup!) and we will serve it to your guests with no corking fee. Problem solved!
2. Clash of the Cuisines
The wedding challenge:
If you were raised in the South, your family may be expecting a southern cooking extravaganza at your wedding reception: fried chicken and biscuit sliders, fried green tomatoes, and mac n’ cheese.
But what if your fiancé's family is from Jamaica, and are expecting a nod to Jamaican culture? Then you'll need to consider jerk chicken instead of fried, plantains instead of tomatoes, and coconut rice instead of black eyed peas.
A clash of cuisines can definitely put happy couples in a pickle.
The fix:
Find a creative caterer who can blend two types of cuisines into innovative and delicious dishes that will please people on both sides of the aisle. Interview your caterer in advance and ask questions about how they’d blend the cuisines you have in mind. And check out our video to see how Beau took on the Southern-Jamaican wedding challenge!
3. Buffet Table Blues
The wedding challenge:
The buffet is a more casual, laid back way for guests to enjoy food at your wedding. A plated meal is more formal, and it may also cost more. If you were getting married in 2020 or early 2021, pandemic protocols required that all meals be plated. However, if your wedding is several months away, a buffet may still be on the table. Nevertheless, your more traditional parents may have their hearts set on a seated meal with a specific seating schedule.
The fix:
The wedding buffet problem can actually be a pretty simple fix. If you want a buffet and your parents want a seating chart, just do both! Your guests can enjoy the buffet while also returning to the table you’ve assigned them.
4. Traditional Cake or Trendy Dessert?
The wedding challenge:
When it comes to wedding desserts, there are so many more options than there used to be. The traditional tiered wedding cake with bride and groom atop is still a big hit with many of our couples, but we’re seeing more and more people branch out to include a variety of desserts for their guests to enjoy. Still, deciding on the right dessert can be tricky. If you have your heart set on a traditional cake cutting photo, you may not like your Maid of Honor’s suggestion to use a donut wall instead (and your wedding photographer may not either).
The Fix:
In this case, you can have your cake and eat it too, and so can your Maid of Honor! Order a small, traditional wedding cake so that you can get your proper cake cut (and a proper cake cut photograph!). Then choose from a variety of desserts that guests might enjoy: donuts, cupcakes, pies, cookies, or a s’mores bar!
5. The Tent Lament
The wedding challenge:
Yep, renting a tent can be expensive, and you’d much rather be spending that money on flowers or really great wedding favors or your honeymoon! Besides, what are the odds it will rain on your wedding day?
We hate to tell you this, but we’ve been to lots of weddings and there seems to be a universal law about rain at weddings: if you don’t have a tent, it’s gonna rain.
The fix:
Honestly, we don’t have a great fix for this one. If you choose an outdoor wedding venue, we strongly recommend you spring for the tent. That said, if you don’t like the idea of a wedding tent but still want an element of the outdoors at your wedding, consider a bucolic wedding venue where it’s easy to invite the outside in, like a renovated barn with huge doors that can be left open. If you go without the tent, just make sure you have a Plan B.
For more wedding planning inspiration, follow us at @beaucatering. Interested in having Beau cater your wedding? Fill out a proposal request form.
Happy Planning,
The Beau Catering Team
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