How to organize a wedding banquet

Wedding banquet - a special point of celebration, requiring careful preparation and considerable effort. Now more and more newlyweds prefer to arrange a wedding feast in a restaurant, cafe or club, because it frees from many worries. No need to rush in search of furniture, table linen, dishes and appliances, buy the necessary products, prepare various dishes and snacks from them, serve the guests, and after everyone’s gone, do the cleaning ... But even if you decided to play the wedding at home, preparing a banquet should be approached seriously and in advance - at least one month before the wedding.

Celebration in the restaurant

Usually in the banquet rooms from 25 to 120 seats. When choosing a room, consider the arrangement of the holiday table, a table for fruit, tea, coffee, wedding cake. It is necessary to provide a platform for dances and competitions, check availability of a wardrobe, toilet and smoking area. It is necessary to discuss with the administration who provides the products and alcohol, what the menu will be, whether the service at the table is complete or partial.

Significantly save time and effort will help kite-erie - specialist in the organization of banquets. Companies engaged in this type of service appeared quite recently, nevertheless, they are successfully gaining positions in the restaurant business, originating both on the basis of restaurants and on their own, and providing services for banquets, receptions, dinner parties, presentations and receptions. Catering includes the following items. First of all it is the help in drawing up of the menu - since various snack, hot dishes and finishing drinks and a dessert. Secondly, providing the necessary furniture: tables, chairs, bar counters. In addition, the duties of the caterer include proper design of the banquet hall and table, as well as the selection of staff.

However, organizing a holiday can be done without intermediaries by contacting a cafe or restaurant directly. Banquet order usually takes the headwaiter. It shows rooms for the reception and gathering of guests, wedding banquet and dance. As a rule, a common room is offered for dancing, where all other visitors usually have fun, or a special room prepared after the wedding party members turn into a banquet hall. The headwaiter can offer various options for the location of the wedding table in the banquet hall - in the form of a rectangle or in the shape of the letters "T", "P", "W". It is believed that the wedding is most convenient to put the table with the letter "T". Then the head waiter introduces the customer to the banquet order. After all organizational issues have been resolved, a deposit must be paid (the amount is set by the administration).

Placement at the wedding table At the festively laid table, the bride and groom take pride of place. Then the parents of the newlyweds sit down: on the left of the groom are the parents of the bride, on the right of the bride there are the parents of the groom, then the best men and honored guests. The place of each guest is usually denoted by a personal card. According to the old custom and the law of hospitality, anyone entering the house should be treated, and those who receive such attention should not abuse it.

Menu and order of serving dishes

Behind the organizational moments follows the compilation of the menu. It is better to discuss each of the dishes in detail, perhaps even to conduct a preliminary tasting and discuss the external details of the presentation (if the menu, for example, has clearly expressed national characteristics, it’s not bad that the waiters' clothing and the decoration of the hall are designed in the appropriate style). The choice of dishes depends on the tastes of the newlyweds, family and national traditions, but the main thing is that the wedding menu should be varied and quite abundant, as many guests are usually invited to the wedding, and the duration of the banquet is at least 4 ~ b hours. That is why, depending on the total time, it is recommended to take one or several breaks of 30 ~ 40 minutes. During the breaks, the guests dance, smoke, chat, and the waiters, meanwhile, arrange the table.

The sequence of serving dishes is also discussed in advance and largely depends on the wishes of the customer. Here, however, there are certain rules: first served cold and the sharpest snacks from salted and pickled fish, as well as caviar. Then comes stuffed, jellied and boiled fish, followed by crabs, lobsters, squids, crayfish, mussels, oysters, salads with fish and seafood.

For fish salads are meat salads, then - snacks from natural meat. This is followed by dishes from eggs, cheese, butter.

If the menu provides hot snacks (for example, hot sandwiches, juliens), they are served immediately for cold snacks. Some organizers, especially in the winter, include hot meat or chicken broth on the menu. The broth can be served both before cold and hot snacks (in the latter case, they make a break before serving a hot dish). There may be several hot dishes at a wedding banquet, but professionals advise to give preference not to a la carte, but to common dishes, such as a pig or sturgeon. As the experience suggests, after the hot appetizers, the guests have time to eat and get drunk, so many will surely give up the hot, and the whole, beautifully decorated dishes will not only give the banquet solemnity, but also give every guest a choice. It is also necessary to take into account the tastes and national peculiarities of the guests - agree that it will be embarrassing if there are vegetarians or believers who observe the fast among the guests, and meat dishes will prevail in the menu. If there are children among the guests, it makes sense to create a special children's menu.

Between the hot and dessert, you must again take a break for dancing and games. Usually this break coincides with midnight when the bride takes off her veil and passes it to her closest friend with the wishes of a speedy marriage. According to the rules of etiquette, before serving, desserts, bread, and spices should be removed from the table. However, an exception is allowed at the wedding. The organizers need only to put the table in order from time to time: remove empty dishes, and add the same remaining snacks to the same dish with the greens, adding other decorations. To the very end of the celebration drinks should remain on the tables.

Banquet at home Saving on renting a room, you have to take on the preparation of the menu, cooking and table service. If the newlyweds have relatives ready to help, this option is not bad at all with a small number of guests. If the wedding is “youth”, that is, the bride and groom decide to celebrate the event with a group of friends, instead of a bulky banquet, it makes sense to make a buffet that frees up space and leaves room for dancing. The word "buffet" is translated from French as "fork", which means that the dishes served on such a holiday are chosen according to a simple principle - it is convenient to pick up the fork and put it in your mouth. A variety of tartlets, sandwiches and pies - the best kind of snacks in this case. Hot dishes are also recommended. which can be eaten on the go without the help of knives and other devices, regardless of their national origin, be it Japanese yakitori skewers on wooden skewers, French julienne or Russian pies. However, even when organizing a holiday a la buffet, do not forget to put a few chairs next to the table - in case someone gets tired and wants to rest.

Traditional wedding meals and drinks

There are no certain traditions regarding what exactly should be on the festive wedding table, but there have always been some traditional wedding dishes, such as chicken. In ancient times, the bride and groom were secretly fed chicken before the holiday, since at the feast the young ones were not allowed to eat. Also chicken was served to guests. It was connected with the traditional pie-kurnik, inside of which were baked eggs, and the top was decorated with chicken head from dough. Traditionally, pork should also be on the table - a symbol of the future wealth and well-being of the young. Well, the wedding feast is crowned, of course, a cake or a cake.

As for drinks, there are no strict rules, except for beer - it is not accepted to serve it on the first day of the wedding. Usually, beer is served to guests on the second day.

At midnight, when the bride removes the veil and changes the wedding dress, which symbolizes the transition from bride to wife, it is customary to serve champagne. In general, this noble drink at weddings is drunk mainly during the first toast, then vodka, cognac and wine are used.

Based on 10 people, the following figures can be taken as a basis: 3 ~ 4 bottles of strong drinks (vodka, brandy, etc.), 2 ~ 3 bottles of champagne, 3 ~ 4 bottles of wine. This approximate amount can be adjusted based on the list of invitees. Strong cocktails can also be served on the serving trays at midnight.