Nobody missed the meat!
Aug 27th, 2007 by Sharon
I know we vegans sometimes get a bad rep for being preachy or self-righteous. But I’ve always followed more of the “you catch more flies with honey” school of thought. Or in this case “more flies with plant-derived agave nectar” I suppose.
So my biggest hope with our vegan wedding catering was that we’d maybe make a convert or at least find a little more tolerance from skeptical omnivores in our lives. The overwhelming positive feedback we got was one of my most pleasant surprises of the day. Even my notoriously picky Mom was asking me if I could get recipes for her. If you want to go the veggie route for your wedding I have a few tips.
1) Go buffet style. It’s cheaper and people will get to look at the dishes before selecting their choices, which might be less intimidating with unfamiliar food.
2) Make sure at least one dish is something fairly common. We did a pasta primavera that we knew most people would be comfortable with and then went a little more exotic with a wild mushroom phyllo roulade. I also think that focusing on fresh veggies is more palatable than going with meat substitutes like tempeh or seitan. If my parents can’t pronounce eat, they’re not going to eat it.
3) If your budget can handle it, try to get caterers that specializes in veggie cuisine or are creative with their dishes. Serving bland salads and flavorless tofu isn’t going to win anyone over.
4) Don’t forget the cake. Ours was chocolate cake with ganache and buttercream. I tend to think you can’t go wrong with a good vegan dark chocolate. We had people tell us ours was the best wedding cake they’d ever had and I think it’s because we focused on quality ingredients over decoration.
And on one final note, VegNews magazine has an annual vegan weddings issue featuring real couples. Their deadline to submit is this Friday, Aug. 31st. So if there are any other veggie brides and grooms out there, not only do I want to hear from you, but you should apply to be featured in the magazine.
Would that The Beard and I had known about this! We had a meat free reception and were pleasantly surprised to find that people really enjoyed the choices we’d made. We, too, had the primavera, but we also had a sweet curry (in a part of Florida where there is nary an Indian shop to be seen) and some other dishes that we knew many of our guests would consider exotic. Turned out delightful, and everyone left the reception well fed. Plus, we had plenty left over to share with the local halfway house!
We will be having an all vegan wedding too…
I’m glad it went well for you! I think we’re both hoping to open some eyes and possibly get some converts as well
Did you find someone to cater for you? I’ve been looking around for vegan caterers but struggling to find anyone. Various caterers say they cater for ’special diets’ but I’m not sure I would trust it!
Hi Ruth, sorry for getting to your comment so late! We did have caterers. They are called “Back to Earth” and they were wonderful. Where are you having your wedding? I’d be happy to help you scout out some resources.