Wedding Wednesday: The Tasting

The Movable Feast at Bruisyard Hall (from The Movable Feast's Facebook page)

Do you know how many different horrible puns I could have used as the title of this post?  Lots.  That's how many.  The fact that I opted for the simple and direct route speaks to the respect I hold for you, dear readers.  Though it is true that we got a taste of what our wedding reception will be like in just over three months... sorry!  I couldn't help myself.  Let's just get to the point of today's Wedding Wednesday, shall we?

You might remember the story of how we chose The Movable Feast to be our caterers for our wedding.  In the eight months since I wrote that post, I've bugged Helen countless times with questions and changes, and she's been completely patient and flexible in response - she's really fantastic!  I've felt so taken care of by her, and our tasting when my parents and I were in England recently absolutely confirmed that.

Mom and Dad and Jon and I took the train from London to Suffolk on Monday morning a few weeks ago, and Jon's dad picked us up at the station to head to Helen and Justin's house.  (Helen's the business and Justin's the chef, you know.)  Jon's mother joined us, and we six arranged ourselves around a table with Helen, who explained that she'd laid out a few different types of cutlery and glassware for us to choose from.  I'd selected the basic option when I signed our contract, so it was a lovely surprise to see different possibilities!  We ended up agreeing on the most traditional pieces, of course, but it was fun to discuss.  (For the record, we're not renting anything above or beyond the norm that's offered by our vendors for our wedding.  Yes, tables like this are gorgeous, but Jon and I are happy with classic white linens and china, which can look quite understated and will allow the other decor to make a greater impact.  This was an easy place for us to keep costs down.)  We also ran through the order of the evening, which was actually the first time the six of us had talked it through together!  Thank goodness Helen made sure to keep us on task, or we'd have never gotten to the food...

We picked three starters to try, three mains, and four sweets.  (In the end, The Movable Feast is going to do our desert buffet as we decided we don't want the other sweet options to be too cake-y.  That way the actual wedding cake will get all the attention it deserves!  Though that cake isn't to be confused with the cheese cake, obviously.)  I've decided I'm not going to tell you exactly what we tasted or what we picked because I want it to be a surprise for those of you who are coming to our wedding, but you might be able to guess from the photos I took on the day, as horrible as my food photography is.  The starters and mains we didn't end up picking from the tasting were so good that our amazing caterers are going to turn some of them into canapés for our cocktail hour!

One of my favorite things about Helen and Justin's approach is that they don't want any of the "specialty" meals for vegetarians or celiacs or anyone with other restrictions to feel different.  It's always a bit awkward at a dinner when everyone's chowing down on delicious steak except for the one girl who has tofu on top of rice, isn't it?  Our vegetarians will get something that looks very similar to what everyone else is being served; the meat will simply be subbed out for something else with a similar structure and taste.  So, for instance, if we were doing a fish in marinade for the starter, those who don't eat fish would eat roasted red peppers prepared the same way.  Along the same lines, if we were doing beef in a sauce that was made with flour, anyone who was gluten-intolerant would get the same beef but in a celiac-friendly sauce.  I love how inclusive that is!

And that's really how The Movable Feast works.  I know I'm gushing, but we've been delighted to work with them thus far, and I can't wait to see the magic they'll work for us in a few short months!