Summer Fare

The hot and sunny days of summer call for a light and tasty menu whether or not your wedding is an outdoor one.  

To beat the heat bring on an appetizing chill with chilled summer soups to start your meal off right by serving flavorful favorites such as cucumber gazpacho, vichyssoise, summer berries with crème fraiche, or borscht for a more ethnic flare.

For a main course a number of options avail themselves.  Go buffet with fresh salads, fruits and seafoods, finishing the line up off with a chef placed strategically at the end of the line to barbeque steaks or other offerings to your guest's specifications.  A welcome change to the traditional buffet ending of light-warmed chef-carved roast beef.

If looking to serve guests directly from a set menu, while chicken and seafood make for summer fresh alternatives, the number of shellfish allergies in existence make seafood a better offering at a buffet where guests can pick and choose whether or not to partake.

If the wedding is small and laidback, you may want to opt for more casual fare with a menu that mimics standard picnic offerings such as southern fried chicken, sweet potato fries and fresh corn on the cob done in traditional corn roast style complete with large containers of butter for dipping.  Add produce equally fresh from the garden or from your local producer such as green beans, fixings for potato and other salads, or fresh seasonal fruit.

Of course nothing says summer like a good old fashioned BBQ.  Whether done with steaks, pork ribs, chicken or just plain burgers. If BBQ'ing is a favorite past-time of yours why not share this past-time with friends and family. Just be sure to hire out the task of manning the BBQ to a professional chef so as to ensure that not only do your guests get the finest in quality but that they also equally get a chance to relax and enjoy the day with you.

For a fresh idea to end your meal in a way that can also add a sparkle to your table, choose a cool and colorful lemon sorbet tinted to match your wedding colors.  Not only does this offer you a great way to tie in your wedding colors, and continue the task of providing a visually appealing table it also can cleanse your guest's palates between courses.

To keep in line with the fresh flavors of your menu, when dreaming up new and different ideas for guest favors, look to seasonal fruits.  Pears with a play on words tag that reads "the Perfect Pear," Strawberries in a basket tagged with "A treat as sweet as our love", or Peaches paired with a package of cream-like topping and tagged with a note that reads "Like Peaches and Cream we are meant to be together."

These and other fresh sweet treats, not only act as inexpensive favors, they also allow you to carry on with your fresh summer wedding menu with even more fabulous summer fare.  

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