Food for Thought

By Stuart Lee

From buffet to sit-down, Asian to Southern, picking the right food to serve can be a headache! Three of Cary Magazine’s Elegant Weddings Gala Caterer Sponsors — LM Restaurants, The Matthews House and Urban Food Group — offer simple tips on how to create your wedding day spread.

What are the current trends in catering?

Urban Food Group: There seems to be much more focus on quality ingredients as well as local and organic. Also, clients are looking for unique items that have a big wow factor.

LM Restaurants: Casual, heavier appetizers and lighter meals.

The Matthews House: We tend to see less of the formal sit-down type receptions. Instead, brides are utilizing indoor/outdoor creative displays and stations.

Tips for a budget-conscious bride:

The Matthews House: Determine your budget and prioritize in such a way as to entertain your guests well. Choose an alternate day of the week, such as a Thursday, to have your wedding, when rates are generally lower. Also, look at a shorter timeline for cocktail hour.

Urban Food Group: Look for venues where additional rental items, like tables and place settings, are not needed. Restaurants are great options for receptions, because, in addition to generally not requiring rental fees, these items are already included, so more of your budget can go toward the actual food and drink.

Creative ideas for interactive stations:

Interactive stations work well with large crowds, especially when trying to create a less of a formal atmosphere. The Matthews House

1)      Pasta: the guests can choose from homemade pastas, sauces and ingredients to mix in. Urban Food Group

2)      Nachos: for a more causal stetting, guests experiment with eclectic nacho toppings. LM Restaurants

3)      Grits: allow guests to create unique combinations by offering shrimp or blackened chicken along with a variety of cheeses and condiments. The Matthews House

4)      Chilled seafood: serve an assortment of shrimp, oysters, clams and crab claws accompanied by an array of condiments. LM Restaurants

5)      Crepes: guests can see them made and participate in choosing ingredients. Urban Food Group

6)      Stir-fry: Each guest can pick out the ingredients for their meal, and then take it to a chef where it will be prepared for them in a wok.

To make the food stand out:

The Matthews House: Variety is the key: utilizing the brightest and most colorful fruits and vegetables, edible flowers and creativity in displaying the foods.

Urban Food Group: Don’t be afraid to try some new things. So many clients are concerned with having a menu that everyone will like. Instead, mix in some new and exciting items with some more universal choices.

LM Restaurants: Themed receptions allow for the greatest amount of creativity. Right now, eco-friendly/green is very popular. We use native and natural grasses for decoration and cook on slates over a portable fuel source.

Is it a good idea for couples to provide their own special family recipe to be served?

LM Restaurants: Yes. Most recently we did a New Orleans-themed wedding, and we re-created the bride’s grandmother’s jambalaya and red beans and rice. It was exceptional and very well received.

What are some of your popular menu items?

The Matthews House:

1)      Pecan Encrusted Marinated Salmon

2)      Chicken Roulade

3)      Shrimp and Grits

4)      Beef Tenderloin grilled on-site

5)      Sweet Potato Fries and Fried Okra with homemade bistro sauces

LM Restaurants:

6)      Crab Dip served as a station or passed in mini martini glasses with crostinis.

7)      Prime Rib carving stations

8)      Sushi stations

How should couples accommodate children at their wedding?

Urban Food Group: Always provide different food options for children. In addition, they will probably not sit still long enough for a four-course dinner, so consider having an activity table with coloring books and puzzles for when they get restless.

LM Restaurants: We provide a child-friendly server to monitor the children during the entire reception. They occupy the children with bubbles, puzzles, coloring books and crayons. The children sit at a separate table, decorated like the other adult tables, but set up with kid-friendly dishware. PB&J sandwiches with no crust are always kept on hand.

The Matthews House: Hire sitters with three children assigned to each sitter.

How do you make comfort food, like sliders and macaroni and cheese, trendy?

LM Restaurants: Do a twist on the classics. For example, we often do a four-cheese Mac ’n’ Cheese. As for sliders, the trick is to get creative with the buns and toppings. Great bun options include sesame or poppy seed buns or crusty, flaky bread. Toppings can include assorted mustards, various arrays of pickles, avocado and bacon bits complemented by a wide variety of cheeses.

Urban Food Group: Comfort foods can add a real sense of fun and whimsy to a reception. Putting a new twist on these items, like lamb sliders with feta and cucumber relish, can move them from the realm of bar food and into the realm of appropriate reception food.

What is the most interesting food you have served at a wedding?

Urban Food Group: We did a “Fair Food” themed reception by serving a lot of deep-fried foods on a stick! Needless to say it was memorable.

The Matthews House: A unique all seafood reception with a menu including mussels, octopus, sushi and shrimp.

How does a couple decide on a signature drink?

The Matthews House: Canvas their friends for input and then choose the most popular among their group.

LM Restaurants: Consider two factors: It’s their favorite drink and it coordinates with the theme.

Urban Food Group: Start with the menu and the season, then try to pick something that goes with both. It’s also fun to play with the color of the drink by making it coordinate with the wedding colors.

What was the most unique signature drink you have served?

LM Restaurants: For an “Under the Sea” themed charity event we served blue drinks with floating ice cubes that lit up.

The Matthews House: The Lady Penelope, which is composed of Matthews House Champagne with vanilla flavored vodka and fresh strawberries or raspberries 

Urban Food Group: We had a bride who wanted a light blue drink to match her colors, so we did a tropical drink of rum, pineapple juice, coconut milk and blue Curacao.

To create a unique place setting for each guest:

1)      Customize menus and take-home favors to your personality. For example, if you are having a country club wedding, make your menus look like golf score cards. Urban Food Group

2)      Utilize color contrast through mixing and matching china, glassware, chargers and napkin rings. The Matthews House

3)      Use natural elements like rock, stone, slate, granite or large leaves for place mats or chargers LM Restaurants

If a couple’s goal is to keep guests mingling, what is the best way to keep sitting to a minimum?

LM Restaurants: Scatter bistro tables around the room with mini appetizer platters centered on each one. Pair this with limited seating tables and you’ll keep your guests moving around. 

The Matthews House: Offer more high cocktail tables, stations and chairs around the room instead of traditional guest rounds and sit-down dinner themes.

2010 trends in color schemes:

LM Restaurants: Natural colors, like sand (brown), water (blues) wind (white) and trees (greens).

Urban Food Group Chocolate paired with pastels has been big for about three years running, but bright colors are starting to emerge again along with more metallics.