What We Did: Food for All

We're one week and three days from the big day. Each day I wake up focused on what still needs to be done. A couple of days ago I saw Miss Brooch's Looming Projects and Decisions post on Weddingbee. What caught my attention wasn't that it was another post about never ending checklists. What caught my attention was her mom's suggestion to make a "did it" list when she starts to get overwhelmed by her to do list. 

Between now and when we say "I Do" I'm going to highlight something we did that I'm extremely excited about. The funny thing is that until I started thinking about the details that are falling into place I only really saw the stressy bits. 

Other brides in the depths of planning: share your "Did It" lists or tell me what you did. I'd love to hear! I'm tired of checklists and countdowns.

Here goes my first "Did It" item. Today what I'm most excited about is the food we're going to have at the wedding.

First we have a cake that I can eat. A refined sugar free and dairy free cake. It's a cake that all our vegan friends can eat. And it's a cake that our friend who can't eat gluten can eat. 

Besides that we can all eat this cake, want to know the best part about this cake? It tastes AWESOME. This cake is SO awesome that when I shared the news with one friend she squeed and jumped up and down in delight. Definite score. Something we should be proud of. I don't remember the official name of the cake we chose from Cafe Gratitude. I do know that we call it "We Are Married."

We didn't stop there though. With help from Chef Mike of Cafe du Nord we went further. First we needed to make sure that guests who eat kosher style would be fed. Shellfish and pork were struck from the menu. Next with the exception of one appetizer and the Vegetarian entree, dairy was banished (meat and dairy cannot be eaten together) so that no one would accidentally violate a mitzvah. (This had the dual benefit of making everything but the Vegetarian entree something I could eat.)

Once the major dietary restrictions were considered we eliminated or found a second option for friends allergic to avocados, bell peppers, eggplant, eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes, and walnuts. A couple of appetizers have tomatoes but we added a third which didn't. And only the Vegetarian entree has mushrooms and tomatoes.

So that guests would easily know what they could eat we included ingredient lists in our program. For the dinner buffet, we created signs with the item name and allergens highlighted (mushroom icon, tomato icon, dairy cow icon, etc.).

We chose our caterer - Cafe du Nord - for a couple of reasons: 1) they know our venue better than any other caterer and 2) Chef Mike's willingness to work with us to provide a yummy dinner that everyone could enjoy.