Eat Your Heart Out
Go ahead: Dare to think beyond the round white plate. Serve a crazy signature cocktail with a funny name. Treat guests to your favorite chunky oatmeal-raisin cookies. Have pizza delivered as the party’s winding down. The most important trend in catering today is having the food and service reflect your personal style.
Yes, you want to please as many palates as possible, but that doesn’t mean choosing stodgy standards or bland flavors.
Go ahead: Dare to think beyond the round white plate. Serve a crazy signature cocktail with a funny name. Treat guests to your favorite chunky oatmeal-raisin cookies. Have pizza delivered as the party’s winding down. The most important trend in catering today is having the food and service reflect your personal style.
Yes, you want to please as many palates as possible, but that doesn’t mean choosing stodgy standards or bland flavors. Local caterers dish about the hottest trends in wedding fare—the ones guests love as much as the couple planning the event. We hope this list will inspire your planning and encourage you to try something new. Who knows? Your favorite childhood comfort food, a clever hors d’oeuvre or sassy sweet course might be the next big thing.
Creative Hors d’Oeuvres
The decadent little bites served during cocktail hour don’t have to be poked and prodded with toothpicks. “We’re doing over-the-top hors d’oeuvres and presenting them more creatively,” says Jim Apteker, owner of the State Room in Boston. “We might serve shrimp shumai in a Chinese soup spoon, a little demitasse with a few sips of lobster bisque, or a fun presentation of shrimp on a stick, like a lollipop, with a grapefruit vinaigrette.”
You can make it really personal by requesting hors d’oeuvres cut into the shape of your monogram. “Everybody is introducing initials and monograms in any way they can,” says Holly Safford, owner of the Catered Affair in Hingham. The best type of food for this culinary art is anything involving a pastry or starchy base—say, a savory tartlet, canapé of smoked salmon, or herb butter and pumpernickel bread.
Tapas
So-called small plates (bigger than hors d’oeuvres, smaller than entrées), which lend themselves to sharing, are making waves at restaurants, and they are a convivial choice for weddings, too. “If a couple wants a very social, interactive wedding, tapas are great,” says Linda DeFranco, co-owner of Tables of Content Catering in Boston. “We serve it on a lazy Susan in the middle of the table, so everyone at the table can try everything.”
You could go with traditional Spanish tapas—garlic shrimp, roasted red peppers, and bites of serrano ham—or try an Asian-inspired selection of small plates with dishes like tamarind barbecue beef satay, ginger duck satay with crushed pineapple, and pan-fried Peking dumplings with a selection of dipping sauces.
“For an August wedding, we did a salute to summer with gazpacho shooters, lemon-sage risotto cakes, and spicy smoked chicken, black bean, and avocado empanadas with bowls of lime crème fraîche, garlic aioli, and summer salsa,” DeFranco says.
Seasonal, Local Cuisine
Celebrate the season of your wedding—and the destination—by using fresh, locally grown ingredients. “Most diners are becoming more knowledgeable about what’s in season and the fact that those foods taste better,” says Geoff Gardner, chef and co-owner at Sel de la Terre restaurant in Boston, which caters weddings. “So offer them a tasting menu that reflects this.”
In New England, couples can take advantage of the seafood bounty and the summer harvest of produce with tomatoes and corn. Earlier in the year, look for more-delicate flavors. “The first course at a catered event was a pea and asparagus soup with fresh sautéed morels,” Gardner says. “It epitomized the season.”
Upscale Food That’s Fun
Stuffy wedding food is definitely out. Don’t be afraid to serve a mix of comforting favorites—Safford recently prepared buffalo wings with Frank’s Hot Sauce for the wedding of a couple who went to college in upstate New York—with more-fancy dishes.
“We like to take comfort food and present it in a beautiful way,” Gardner says. “We might do a black angus rib-eye with ratatouille and pommes dauphine. At its core, this is traditional steak and potatoes. The components are familiar but done in a beautiful, creative way.” You also could offer, say, mini lobster rolls alongside elegant blini with caviar and crème fraîche.
Surf ’n’ Turf
Asking your guests to check off chicken or fish six weeks before your wedding intrudes on the romance and elegance of carefully selected invitations. Skip that step, but you can still accommodate everyone by offering an updated dual entrée.
We’re not talking about unidentifiable white fish and basic beef. “When brides don’t want to have menu choices on reply cards, we’re doing sophisticated versions of surf ’n’ turf,” says Jaime Hamlin, owner of a catering and party design company of the same name on Martha’s Vineyard.
Combinations Hamlin has presented include fire-roasted sirloin over grilled polenta with roasted shallot vinaigrette served alongside lobster tail and mango-curry butter; jumbo shrimp with black-pepper butter with grilled sliced tenderloin on a bed of lemony watercress; and roasted sirloin and swordfish with a light sauce of extra-virgin olive oil, lemon juice, parsley, capers, black pepper, and garlic.
Authentic International Flavors
As America’s collective appetite becomes more adventurous, the widespread appeal of international flavors grows. So if there’s a world cuisine that you adore, and especially if there’s a cuisine that reflects your heritage, serve it—and be sure it’s the real deal. “We’re doing a lot of Indian weddings, and guests love the food—naan breads, tandoori chicken, samosas,” Apteker says.
The State Room can bring in a sushi master to prepare maki and sashimi in front of guests. Safford recently combined fare from Sweden (crispy duck with lingonberries and glögg) and the Philippines (beef adobo) to honor the heritages of both the bride and groom.
Cheese Tables
Cheese is the new wine: Foodies everywhere are clamoring to learn about vintages, cheese-producing regions, and exciting new blends. “We’re doing cheese tables more than we ever have before,” DeFranco says. “We present an array of 15 to 20 gourmet cheeses, and each has its own sign explaining what it is.”
Alongside the cheese, serve fresh and dried fruit, candied walnuts, baguettes, and crackers. The ideal time to offer cheese is post-entrée, before dessert. Include a mix of standards like cheddar and Gouda with a few lesser-known options, such as small-batch goat’s and sheep’s milk cheeses from France and Spain. “Including an array of blue cheeses is becoming big,” says DeFranco.
Sweet Intermezzo
Intermezzo is the dessert version of an amuse-bouche (that little something a chef might send out from the kitchen before the starter, to whet the appetite). Spark guests’ sweet tooth with a plate of miniature chocolate truffles or an individual serving of fresh fruit sorbet, DeFranco suggests. For the sorbet, think about what’s in season: raspberry or blueberry in summer, citrus fruits in winter and early spring. Mango, lime, and pear also are popular choices, says DeFranco.
Personal Pastries
Add a little extra sweetness to the day by offering a selection of cookies and mini-pastries in addition to (or instead of) cake. This is the perfect opportunity to show off your style by featuring your favorites like Toll House chocolate-chip cookies or cannoli from the North End.
DeFranco says tables that emphasize chocolate—perhaps in the form of cookies, tartlets, truffles, brownies, bars, chocolate-dipped strawberries—are always big hits. Brookline’s Party Favors bakery assembles a knockout “truffle tree.” “It’s very cool and memorable,” says owner John Pergantis. “Guests always rave about it.”
Bold Shades, Simple Designs
White might be right, and tiers may be joyful. Wedding cakes, though, can be whatever you want them to be. “Anything goes when it comes to cakes,” Pergantis says. “But lately we’re seeing a trend away from elaborate, overdone cakes and toward more simple, tasteful design, either in all white or very bold colors.”
This could be an elegant white cake with a clean white fondant bow, or something in eye-popping color combinations, such as rich chocolate brown and pink, black and pink, or burgundy and gold. Another statement is skipping the formal tiered cake in favor of trays or tiers of gourmet cupcakes. Just remember to have extras, because guests love them.