One of the best features of having our wedding at a restaurant we enjoy is that Fiance and I already know our guests are in for some good eats. But how to choose from an endless array of possibilities on the catering menu warranted the need to schedule a tasting with our coordinator, Wendie. Butlered hors d’oeurves, stationary appetizer displays, intermezzos, mouth-watering entrees; after looking through the four page menu of possibilities, I thought to myself “Yes, all of the above.”

Wedding reception tastings are important – and not so easy! Developing our menu for our tasting was an exercise in restraint, and I dreaded the thought of having to make a final decision (a common theme in my wedding planning to date).  I edited three iterations of my e-mail back to Wendie indicating which items had a shot at being on the final menu and should be prepared for our tasting, wrestling with whether or not requesting the filet mignon, crab-stuffed shrimp, crab-stuffed tilapia, and crab-stuffed crab for our tasting would come off as a bit greedy. In continuing with our environmentally-friendly theme, I decided that less would be more and picked items that were locally grown and raised, organic, and within our budget. I thought I had whittled down the list quite nicely, but Wendie gently indicated that I still maybe overdid it just a tad. The size of my eyes vs. that of my stomach often gets me into trouble, which also explains why I have slid backwards on progress towards my weight loss goals, but that’s a topic for another day.

When Fiance and I arrived to the BrewWorks for our tasting, we were given another quick tour of the facilities, which was helpful since we haven’t seen our venue since June, and it has drastically changed to the tune of offering another finished floor.  The new room in the penthouse of the building was even more spacious and beautiful than the one we had initially reserved. And yes, Wendie informed us, it would be available for our wedding date. Already, our day was getting off to an auspicious start.

After the tour, we were lead to our private tasting room, where a table had been dressed in our chosen wedding colors (burgundy, black, and silver) and the tiered votive candle centerpiece had been lit for some fine Sunday afternoon ambience. The head chef at the restaurant presented us with our meal, poured us two glasses of champagne, and bade us a happy feast. While we dined over hummus assortments, cheesy puff-pastry appetizers, and mango salsa-topped salmon, Wendie helped us plan the structure of the day – you know, trivial details such as when our ceremony would be starting, whether we wanted to be seated at a headtable or a sweetheart table, band or dj (that question seems to pop up frequently), and so forth.

And after we had our share of four courses and bubbly, there was only one thing left to do:

Visit a baker for our cake tasting.

Did your caterer provide a tasting prior to the wedding? What tips would you give brides prior to attending their tasting?