You'll need a caterer with a sense of humor to pull this off. Of course, you always need a caterer with a sense of humor! After all, you want the food to be surprising and whimsical! So you want someone who can laugh to make it for you! If your friends want to contribute they could easily, but that would take a lot of organization!
But since everything old is new again, why not have your wedding in a park? I grew up in a small town eating picnics from the most casual sandwiches to the most elaborate grills at our wonderful park along the placid river. No matter how hot it was, it was always cooler at the park. This would probably work better for a wedding for under 150 people.
Big Caveat: Unless you've got a really big pavilion, you're going to need a rain space. Sometimes churches will rent their halls out, or schools that aren't used on weekends in the summer. Often you can reserve those places on a contingency plan for just a bit of money.
Reserve a spot in the park: Parks may or may not have a rental fee, but the fee is almost always less than other venues. Rent a pavilion or (if you think you can trust the weather) set up a bunch of tables under the trees. Personally, I never like picnic tables, they're just not comfortable and I always get splinters. I'd always rather rent the tables and chairs from a local church, school or other organization. They never charge much and can always use the donation!
Set up the drink tables: Do this before the wedding ceremony, because it's going to be hot. Many parks won't allow alcohol, so you'll want the iced tea, lemonade, water and sodas to be really special. You'll want to make sure that you have enough of everything. No matter how hot it is, some people will want coffee.
Set up early for recycling and trash. Even if the park has vessels, you're going to want things right there to make everything convenient.
Find a shady spot and set up chairs for the wedding ceremony: Say your wedding vows in a beautiful and relaxed setting in front of your friends.
Pass hors d'oeuvres: Why not have your hors d'oeuvres be good old-fashioned picnic foods? Pass deviled eggs, small cups of gazpacho and cucumber or tomato sandwiches.
Table assignments. This will work best if you assign seating, which seems odd for an informal picnic. But you're going to have things arranged in 8s or 10s, depending upon the table size. So you're going to want a table where people can pick up their table assignments. This isn't always easy, but it's fun to think about getting your friends and families to mingle and come to know one another.
Table set-up: You're going to need to have the chairs retrieved from the wedding ceremony site.
Picnic Baskets: Set out the correct number of baskets (boxes). You want each box to be a complete picnic for 8 (or 10!). Dishes, cutlery, glasses, tablecloth, serving pieces, food, table decoration and identification. Give people some clue why they're seated together!
Food: Serve cold chicken or fish (or both), marinated asparagus, potato salad and a big bowl of summer fruit. Make it simple, fabulous food. Not lots of variety, and not too much. (You may want to have a table with some extras of all things for the tables who run through!)
Dessert: Serve a local favorite. Here in Central Pennsylvania, there is only one cake to be had: a chocolate cake with peanut butter icing. Make it a sheet cake. Make it great. People will be thrilled.
Staff: You can do something like this with far fewer staff than most weddings because the tables will be setting up their food and serving one another. But you do want people organizing and making sure the liquids are kept up. You want someone to serve the cake. You want someone cleaning up, even if you ask people to help, it's great to have staff to direct everyone!
Clean-up: People will love to help you leave the park cleaner than they found it!
Linger: if there's time, have a bonfire. Don't forget the makings for s'mores!
Bottom Line?: Give your relationship the chance it deserves to succeed wildly, against all odds! After all, you deserve it. Your relationship deserves it! And now I'd like to invite you to sign up to receive 2 free templates for creating the wedding ceremony of your dreams, the wedding vows of your heart and the marriage of a lifetime: http://annkeelerevans.org/weddings/free
The Rev. Ann Keeler Evans - helping you move from "I do" to happily and healthily ever after!
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