Guest Blogger: Black Tie Barbecue

We are so excited to share this post from Black Tie Barbecue with y'all today! We love to work with them, and know you are going to love all the advice they have to share on choosing a reception menu. As their name describes, from barbecue to a black tie meal, everything they make is delicious. To see more for them follow them on Twitter@BlackTieBBQ or check out their website!

Help for Choosing Your Wedding Reception Menu

We are so surprised at how many couples have no clue what type of food they want to serve at a very important event- their wedding! They ask us to choose or they just want to be presented with a “package.”

Why don’t we want to choose our first wedded meal?

“But I have to choose based on my budget,” you might say. There are options within every budget range. We choose what we eat everyday, based on what we like, and what we have a taste for even if we are choosing between fast food restaurants on opposite sides of the road or between the cans in our pantry or the frozen meals in our freezer.

So now that we have decided to exercise our right to choose the cuisine at our wedding – how do we decide? We’re not going to decide for you. We want you to ask yourself a few questions in different areas: Preferences of the Couple, Preferences of the Guests, and Wedding Style.

Preferences of the couple

· What do you order when you go out to eat?

-Tapas? Chicken breasts and a vegetable? Steak and potatoes?

· What kind of salad do you usually order? House salad or spinach with sesame ginger dressing? Cobb salad? Chopped salad? Ceasar?

· Do you like foods you can make at home or do you like to see a more creative plate when you are eating out?

· What hors d'ouevres do you get excited about when you are at a party? If you are looking out the corner of your eye for a waiter to return for a certain tasty bite, what is on that tray?

Preferences of the guests (remember you can’t accommodate everyone perfectly– consider the majority)

· Are your guests heavy meat eaters?

· Will a large number of your guests eat seafood? Including shellfish?

· Are your guest partiers – will they take a few bites and get back on the dance floor?

· Are your guests willing to stand? Or do they need to be seated and served as much as possible?

· Are your guests adventurous? Or will they prefer common, comfort foods?

· Do your guests eat a lot? When it comes to food, do you need to steer your budget towards quantity (you know who you are if these are your people).

Complementing Your Other Wedding Plans

· Would you like to share regional specialties of your wedding location or hometown with guests?

· Is your wedding modern? Do you want cutting edge cuisine? Or would you like to take traditional foods and serve them in a contemporary vessel or manner (which is a very modern thing to do now)

· Informal? How informal? Baskets of homemade potato chips informal?

· Would you like your food, perhaps just your appetizers or desserts, to compliment your wedding colors? Yes, this can be done without sacrificing taste! (but notice I said compliment, and not match)

These are some of the questions we ask our brides and couples in our wedding consultations. It helps us create a custom menu that the couple can be excited about serving to their guests (and eating from their to-go box after the wedding). Ask these questions of yourself and your fiancé and see what kind of menu you and your caterer come up with!

Bio

Black Tie Barbecue is a full service catering company in Atlanta, Georgia. We call ourselves Black Tie Barbecue because we love to do traditional barbecue as well as elevate meats smoked and grilled on a charcoal grill to fine dining through preparation, accompaniments, and presentation. We love celebrations so much that we throw several special events ourselves throughout the year. Visit our website to find out about our upcoming events (including a low country boil this month!) and come party with us and taste our great food!