One of my most favourite weddings was an Italian Wedding. My friend, Anna, first generation Italian got married shortly after graduating high school. It was a morning wedding. Full catholic service but hardly any one came to the church. Just immediate family and the Canadian guests. The first reception was a 10 course meal. There was a soup course, antipasto, salad, separate courses for veal, chicken and rabbit, pasta, etc.... Can't remember every course, but the meal was amazing. Started about noon and went through to about 3:00 PM. Then everyone took a break, and came back for an evening reception. Dancing, etc... and at 11:00 they put on another meal, with breaded veal cutlets, pasta, pizza, desserts, etc... Italians really know how to put on a wedding.

~Ann

klseivard, my family tends to have those "potluck" receptions where everyone brings something and it's all homemade. My oldest daughter even had a whole pig roasting out in back of the reception hall.

I have much preferred those meals to the "catered" ones available locally which usually consist of baked chicken, some sliced unrecognizable stuff that is called beef, potatoes in some incarnation, canned vegetables and white bread, plus some bakery cake. Ugh. And that was in a country club in a ritzy Detroit suburb, I was appalled when I found out what that cost per plate.

Definitely not the Italian wedding reception that Ann T is talking about.....

Yours sounds delicious!

Annie

I have never attended a wedding like you describe sounds fabulous. Most weddings I have attended have been at banquet halls with varying degrees of food. The best has been my BIL who served filet mignon and shrimp as the entrée. The worst I have heard of but did not attend was a few years ago. I babysat my nephews so my SIL and BIL could attend one of their employees' weddings. She had it at a nice banquet hall somewhere in Indiana. The kicker was there was no food. Nothing. My poor SIL didn't eat all day expecting to be eating too much at the wedding and ended up starving all night.

This post was edited by Melissaki5 on Tue, May 7, 13 at 1:03

I went to a great wedding a couple weeks ago and it was an outdoor Southern theme to the food, sort of! Shrimp and grits, bbq sliders, batter fried green tomatoes, coleslaw, then...a bruschetta bar with lots of different interesting toppings, a magnificent cheese table, cheesecakes and pound cakes for dessert, a great bar.
The brides mother is a foodie and was wildly influenced by a trip to Italy and the food was the best I have ever had at a wedding. I've been to some really nice restaurant dinners but this was more interesting and the food superior in quality.

The worst wedding I ever attended was a formal affair in the evening at a toney, God-awful expensive hotel.The venue, flowers, and the bridal party's clothes must have eaten up their budget, so the only food was tiny platters of the smallest appetizer bites I have ever seen and a punchbowl of really bad wine punch. The guests were so hungry (expecting a sit down dinner) that a lot of them went into the hotel bar and bought food to bring back to their tables. My hubby was so hungry that we left early and stopped to eat on the way home.

The best wedding (and most fun) I ever attended was held in a beautiful old barn on a ranch, with a western theme.The bride wore white cowboy boots with her antique lace wedding gown, which had been her grandmother's. The bridesmaids were all dressed like dancehall girls from the 1880's and the groom and the groomsmen all wore western style white shirts and stetson hats. The bride and her dad arrived in an antique open carriage pulled by a beautiful pair of matched horses, with the wedding flowers braided in their manes and tails. The food served was barbeque and the dancing was an old-fashioned square dance, but everyone had a real blast and it's still talked about today. The bride's family didn't have much money to spend on that wedding, but it was so well done and so pretty that no one cared. Every guest had a great time, got some great food, and no one wanted to leave.

My 1st wedding was perfect. We had a backyard luau! I did hire a wedding planner and she was worth every penny. Colorful tables, beautiful flowers, delicious food stations including seafood, fresh fruit, Kalua pig, etc. There was a full âÂÂTiki Hutâ bar in addition to the popular serve-yourself Margarita machines. We had a 3 piece calypso band, Hula & fire dancers, and even an Elvis Impersonator who I was not in favor of at first, but turned out to be a big hit.

Sadly, that marriage didn't last, but I have a beautiful daughter and lots of fond memories.

My second (and last) marriage, we just hiked into the local mountains with our closest friends - just 10 of us in all - including children. I picked wild flowers along the way for my bouquet. DH's best friend became âÂÂdeputizedâ for the day (legal in CA - not sure about other places) and married us under âÂÂGrandfather OakâÂÂ, near a rushing waterfall. We all went out for Mexican afterward. Also perfect. :-)

This post was edited by jeri on Tue, May 7, 13 at 17:16

Jeri, my first wedding was low budget as I was 18, and I don't even remember what we had for food!

My second wedding was held on the shore of a small lake with my girls, my grandkids, my parents and one good friend. Thirteen if you count the pastor and his wife. We went to a local restaurant afterward but I don't remember the food at all. We did go to Joe's Gizzard City the next day though. (grin)

Annie

I had the ultimate privileged of being a guest at a major Chinese wedding banquet in San Francisco, about 1980. My grad-school friend was a true CAP -- Chinese American Princess who married the only son of an equally prestigious family.

The restaurant closed for the night, it was in a tourist location in the Cannery, near Fisherman's Wharf, but nothing about the food was touristy.

I have no idea what I ate, but it was an amazing experience.

I lost touch with my friend, I hope the marriage lasted and that they have had such amazing banquets for their children!

Most interesting wedding I went to was in LA.

It was in an outdoor wedding catering place, food was great, music was great, but the greatest part was:

When the minister announced "I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride".

While the newly weds were kissing there was a sudden sizable earthquake. The earth moved.

dcarch

The most memorable food I ever have had at a wedding was in the mid-1960s at a posh private social club in Ohio. As a harpist and string musicians played, we went down a short buffet line to pick up a small plate, a puff pastry shell, and then we chose between creamed shrimp and creamed chicken. There were other areas in the room with fresh plates for cut-up fruits and salad, and they served wedding cake later. It was wonderful!

I much prefer something like that, or the homemade spreads described above, to the mystery meats so often served now.

Agree. The two most amazing weddings (food wise) I was ever at ,were, Italian, and East Indian. Totally amazing food, and endless ammount of food! Very memorable!!