Tenomania.com

"There is no sincerer love than the love of food," said George Bernard Shaw. While you and your sweetie may disagree, your wedding guests will most likely be eager to fill their bellies with tasty treats. A little menu planning can easily woo the crowd. Here are ten tantalizing tips to make your wedding meal memorable — and have your guests licking their lips:

1. Dream Up a Theme

One of the most fun (and often easiest) parts of developing a theme wedding is deciding the menu. From a traditional New England clambake to a spicy Southern barbecue, theme-wedding menus create a fun, exciting, and memorable event. It might even be the way you eat the food that stays in your guests’ minds — cracking crabs at a Maryland riverside wedding, nibbling satay at a Thai-inspired city garden reception, or roasting marshmallows over the flaming bonfire at a wedding "campsite."

2. Go Regional

There are many people who take culinary vacations, traveling through countries in search of the local fare. Turn your wedding reception into its own culinary vacation by creating a menu featuring regional specialties. It may be foie gras from the Hudson Valley, spicy chicken wings in Buffalo, or even the largest cheese spread ever seen in Wisconsin.

3. That’s Entertainment

Who said that food only pleases the palate? You can devise a wedding menu where the food preparation is as flavorful as the food itself. Consider a sushi bar complete with professional sushi chef — the performance of slicing and rolling turns simple ingredients into works of art right before your guests’ eyes. Or perhaps French chefs donned in aprons and hats will create flaming crepes tableside. Find a wedding caterer who can pull it off!

4. All in the Family

Something in between a sit-down meal and a buffet, family style offers a natural way to get tables of guests talking while creating a very festive and homey atmosphere. Each dish is delivered to the center of the table and guests pass them politely (or grab and hoard, depending on your family). Italian food might be an obvious choice, but Asian, Mexican, and Indian cuisines work well here too.

5. That’s So You!

The wedding day is all about the bride and the groom, so why not plan a menu that has special meaning to the two of you? Perhaps your first date was at a baseball game — why not serve hot dogs? Or maybe the two of you love to fly fish — highlight freshwater fish on the menu. Or he proposed over a romantic picnic lunch — recreate the magic by recreating the meal. When your guests think about what they ate, they will automatically think about the couple of honor.

6. Presenting…

The eyes have it — when it comes to remembering things, that is. Your guests will very likely recall a fabulous-looking buffet table before they remember what foods it featured. Be creative — instead of serving soup in a bowl, have it ladled into a hollowed-out acorn squash. Or have asparagus tied up like a present with leek leaves. You could even serve coconut shrimp inside a coconut and garnish with a tropical flower.

7. Less is More

Sometimes the simplest foods presented in an elegant, bountiful manner have a more memorable effect than a wide variety of offerings. Colin Cowie offers this advice in his book For The Bride: "You can make a statement of style with one or two spectacular dishes. For example, instead of having ten different tray-passed appetizers during the cocktail hour, serve mountains of jumbo shrimp or sliced smoked salmon." Remember, KISS — keep it simple, sweetie.

8. Ride with a Trend

Trends come and go and if you can jump on one before it’s passé, all the more power to you. Ask your caterer what’s up and coming. Perhaps she’s got some unusual idea that will make the kind of memorable statement you’re looking for. It might be something as homey/funky as a mashed potato bar, complete with your choice of spuds and toppings, presented in a martini glass. Or maybe a true Belgian treat — pommel fritters served with the traditional mayonnaise in paper cones. Just remember — they’re trends, so plan accordingly if you’re setting up your wedding menu a year in advance.

9. A Honeymoon Preview

Don’t worry-we’re not suggesting anything X-rated here! Just that you consider planning a menu based on your honeymoon spot. If you’re off to Venice, serve a spread one could imagine eating in a gondola. Or if Hawaii’s your destination, feature luau fare (without the flame-eaters) — perhaps even the spit-roasted pig. Maybe it’s Japan where you’ll be spending the week — how about a Tepanyaki station (Japanese barbecue), where guests choose raw meats, shrimp, veggies, noodles, and sauces and watch it get stir-fried. Get honeymoon ideas, if you’re not sure where you’re off to.

10. Five-Star Elegance

If dining out in the fanciest of restaurants is your idea of luxury and you happen to have a lot of dough, treat you and your guests to gourmet, white-glove-service dinner. Plan a multi-course meal, complete with a refreshing intermezzo (with hot lemon-scented towels after the fish course, of course). You can choose from French or Russian service: With French, the waiters prepare food on stands set up next to the table and then serve individual plates; Russian service features white-gloved waiters who carry each course on a large tray and serve guests directly from it. For that added touch, offer a different complementary wine with each course.

Original artical source – TheKnot.com

Think having a green wedding has to be complicated? It doesn’t. Here are ten easy ways you can green your big day.

1. Choose a green location to have your wedding and/or reception

This could be a park, a museum, or a local charity venue. You could also look for hotels or restaurants that are green, either by serving organic menus or adopting a code of green business ethics such as recycling, buying local and donating part of their proceeds to charity. Check listings such as Green America’s (formerly Co-op America) National Green Pages.

2. Serve an organic and local menu

Supporting local farms and businesses is important and your food will be fresher. Try to find a caterer that uses local and organic ingredients to make dishes. Everything from your cake to your appetizers, even your drinks can be organic but even just a little bit counts.

3. Send out invitations printed on recycled or tree free paper

Companies like Twisted Limb offer beautiful wedding invitations made of recycled, handmade paper.

4. Wear a gorgeously green gown

Your eco-friendly wedding gown may be something borrowed, a family heirloom, a gently used dress, or a vintage beauty. It could also be made from sustainable eco-friendly fabrics like bamboo, hemp, organic cotton or peace silk. The options keep growing everyday as new eco-designers appear or traditional designers add eco-friendly selections to their lines of wedding gowns.

5. Less is more

Opt to cut out all the unnecessary extras like favors, menus, place cards and things that are not needed. This saves resources and money.

6. Get creative with your décor

Nature is full of beautiful items that can be sued to decorate then be returned to nature after the wedding; rocks, twigs, flowers, potted plants, trees, leaves…Use the bountiful options nature offers to create stunning decorations, centerpieces and more. Once the wedding is over these pieces of nature can be placed in your yard or garden.

7. Ditch the disposables

Forget about disposable plates, napkins, silverware and all that. Opt for rented items that can be washed and reused over and over again. If you are having a small intimate wedding you would even consider purchasing tablecloths, plates and tableware that you could reuse in your home after the wedding.

8. Candle light is extremely romantic

make it eco-friendly as well by using natural soy wax or beeswax candles. Regular candles are made with paraffin, a petroleum based product. Not a green choice.

9. Green your transportation

Arrive to your destinations in eco-style with hybrid or electric vehicles. You could even provide transportation for your guests with buses that run on biofuels.

10. Have a great green honeymoon

After your wedding plan to stay close to home or travel to an eco-resort or hotel to keep the green going after the big day.

Wedding cake is definitely the most special attraction of a wedding (after the bride off course!!!) Keep these tips in mind and avoid making a mistake when it comes to the most special cake you will ever have!!! 

1. Too Big

Your cake should be proportionate to the number of people you’re serving. A five-tier cake is not appropriate for a wedding with 100 guests. Sometimes, the larger the cake, the more that can go wrong.

2. Too Small

Again, make sure your cake is in proportion to your wedding. Your baker will know how big your cake should be based on the number of guests. 

And don’t assume some of your guests will pass up the cake. It’s better to have extra cake than to run out.

3. Ask Questions

Don’t feel embarrassed to ask questions. It’s your wedding and your money. Asking how long before the wedding the cake is baked, whether the cake is ever frozen, and who delivers the cake are all valid questions and your baker should be happy to answer them. There are many resources available on the web with suggested questions to ask your baker.

4. Rethink the Top Tier

After a year in the freezer, your cake will taste like just that: a cake that’s spent a year in the freezer. It’s fine if your baker includes the top tier with the cost of the cake, but don’t pay extra for it. Instead, consider buying a nice bottle of wine on your honeymoon and drinking it on your fist anniversary.

5. Whatever You Do, Don’t Make Your Cake!

And don’t allow your mother, sister, or best friend to make it. You (and your mother, sister, and best friend) will have enough to do the day of your wedding. Leave the cake to a professional.

6. Don’t Expect a High-End Cake on a Low-End Budget

Generally speaking, when it comes to wedding cakes, you get what you pay for. A cake that costs $7 per serving should be made with better quality ingredients by a more highly skilled cake artisan than a cake that costs $2 per serving. Be realistic about your budget and what you can afford, and adjust your expectations accordingly. Hoping that a $250 cake will taste and look the same as a $1200 cake is a set-up for disappointment.

7. Bring Design Ideas

It’s best to meet with your cake designer after you have a few things in place, such as the venue, flowers, and invitations. That way, she will have a good idea of the look and feel of your wedding, and can work with you on the design concept. Coming to the table with nothing, or leaving it all up to the designer, can prove very frustrating for both of you. It’s best to bring a few photos of cakes that appeal to you. Some designers will replicate a cake exactly while others prefer to create original designs.

8. Plan Ahead

A reputable cake designer will only accept a limited number of commissions per weekend so he can spend a lot of time with each cake. Many wedding cake bakers book up early, especially during the wedding season, so plan to secure your baker at least six months in advance. Be wary of a baker that accepts a last minute order, and always insist on a tasting.

9. Color

If you want a specific color on your cake, don’t leave it to chance. "Tiffany blue" can mean many things to many people, and color on computer monitors can vary greatly. Instead, get paint chips from your local hardware store to give to your baker. Be sure to look at them in all kinds of lighting—daylight, fluorescent light, evening—to be sure it’s the color you want. A good cake artist should be able to match it exactly.

10. Stay Calm

Know that if something goes wrong — whether with your cake or any other aspect of your wedding — chances are you’re the only one who’ll notice. Instead of getting upset and letting it ruin your day, have a drink, laugh it off, and enjoy yourself.