Weddingbee Blog

We like to call ourselves “Aspiring Foodies,” (a term that pretty much means that we can recognize more celebrity chefs than performers on DWTS and go to schmancy dinners as often as we can find in the budget), so the fact that we booked our caterer out of convenience without ever tasting their food sounds pretty nuts. I actually said as much to the catering manager when we showed up last week for our tasting (10 months after we signed a contract!). The words “I mean, wedding food is known for being terrible” even came out of my mouth. Thankfully he rolled his eyes at me and said “Not our food,” then he brought us out our first round of appetizers.

The first two rounds were so good I forgot to take pictures, but I’m convinced that our caprese salad on a stick and BACON wrapped scallop are going to be a big hit. The little cherry tomato and mini buffalo mozzarella ball make a perfect mouthful, while the bacon wrapped scallop was a glazed piece of heaven. Really. I’m a sucker for grilled cheese and tomato soup, so the bite-sized sandwich and soup shooter were right up my alley. Next up in our round of passed apps were a buffalo chicken tender and shredded pork carnitas on grilled plantain chips. Can you say yum? Last up was a langostino taco in a homemade mini taco shell and a slider with tater tots in a martini glass.

Baby Gherkin!

The salad course is actually going to be brought to the table with an individual plate for each person before we jump into the family style extravaganza. The caterers took a non-traditional look at a Caesar salad that had both tomatoes and anchovies (don’t worry, the guests can remove the anchovies if they’d like). After each table finishes their salads, the plates are cleared away, new ones are brought over and dinner is served.

“Billboard” Caesar salad

We got lucky and the caterer has actually done family style before, so they know the best way to serve the food without waste and without clutter: waves. The first wave is going to be maple glazed pork tenderloin with grilled asparagus and mashed potatoes as sides. The second wave is going to be blackened tilapia with dirty rice and corn bread as sides. Then the final wave is home style macaroni and cheese with a mushroom ragout on the side. Just in case you’re a vegetarian or you don’t do pork or you’re anti-fish, we are going to have a menu at each seat so that the guest knows what’s coming and doesn’t feel like he or she needs to fill up on the first course or eat just asparagus and mashed potatoes.

Our entrée tasting was served on one plate because the two of us don’t need a family style tasting for 18

Our only worry coming out of the tasting was how to accommodate our one vegan guest (who is also a bridesmaid) in a food sharing dining experience. But once I brought it up, the caterer made a note, and we’ll be getting both a vegan salad AND entrée for her! Seriously, that was too easy. All we have to do is make sure that the servers know who she is, which will be pretty easy since she’ll be at our table, and we’ll be all set.

Did you book a caterer without every trying their food? How did your tasting go?