Photo by Lara Swanson
Over Thanksgiving we had our first tasting. Caterer #1 was wonderful. They were very committed to being environmentally responsible through a variety of different projects, and the food was exceptional. Then, over Christmas, we had two more meetings with different caterers to see what was out there. Caterer #2 rocked our socks off! Not only was the food good, but the coordinator that would handle our wedding was so helpful and seemed like such an asset in planning this wedding from afar without an official wedding planner or DOC.
When we left the meeting Ginger was totally sold. She knew that if I was working with this caterer, I would be way more calm and collected. The caterer was willing to take on setting up things like escort cards, calling vendors the day of, and all of the details of our wacky wedding time line.
What wacky time line you ask? Well, after pushing the wedding date to May to satisfy the rain concerns, we ran into a new problem. We have to wait longer for the sun to set, because Jewish weddings are typically held after Shabbot has ended. Our ceremony will start at 8:30pm, and I couldn’t make our guests wait that long to eat. So, Ginger and I decided to flip things around. We are going to start with a cocktail hour and seated dinner. Then we will have the ceremony in the garden. Afterward, we will celebrate with toasts, dancing, and cake back in the barn.
So I was thrilled to meet someone that could help us figure out how to stage everything, and had tons of experience at our venue. Caterer #3 came off flaky and didn’t seemed too focused on the food (crazy, right?). During each of the meeting we asked the caterers about whether they had done same sex weddings before. Caterer #1 said they had done a gay family member’s wedding. Caterer #2 said they had just done a nice lesbian couples wedding. Caterer #3 joked, “No, we are all bigots here.” What? Why play down our question? It’s perfectly reasonable for us to ask about this. We just want to know we aren’t the first same sex wedding this staff has seen. We want to feel comfortable on our wedding day. I thought it was telling that they made a joke instead of being able to site at least one same sex wedding they had done when we pressed for a real answer. So, that left us with two really superb options. Would it be Caterer #1 or Caterer #2?
In the end, we decided we felt more comfortable with Caterer #2 because of how detailed oriented and helpful they were. We didn’t want to move too far away from the “green” principles that endeared us to Caterer #1, so we asked Caterer #2 to add some language in the contract about sourcing as much food as possible from local and organic farms. Here’s our menu and some “green” catering ideas I came across during the process:
Photo by Lara Swanson
Passed Appetizers:
Seared Ahi Tuna (we had sushi on our first date, and most of our dates after that come to think of it); Bacon Wrapped Scallops; Lobster Mac and Cheese (we met in New England, and also YUM!); Angus Sliders; and Fried Green Tomatoes (a little taste of New Orleans)
Family Style Dinner:
Greek Salad; Grilled Lamb Chops; Seafood Paella with mussels, shrimp, clams and scallops* (my family has a tradition of serving paella for special dinners); and Marinated and Grilled Vegetables
Some things you can ask your caterer about to make your wedding more environmentally and socially responsible:
1) Ask if they can use local and organic ingredients where possible. This way you are supporting local farmers whose methods are more sustainable, and less carbon is used sourcing the food.
2) Replace bottled water with pitchers at the bar.
3) Use Fair Trade certified coffee which provides coffee farmers with a living wage.
4) See if your caterer can donate leftovers to local shelters. Our caterer couldn’t do this due to some local regulations, but maybe your’s can.
*I know shellfish doesn’t always go hand in hand with Jewish weddings. But, uh, our temple hosts a Shabbot crawfish boil for JazzFest, and we are Maryland-ers so….
