Small bites can add fun, surprise to wedding meals

By Jenn Hall

While semi-formal sit-down dinners are still a thing for weddings, many couples are looking to add a bit of fun and creativity to their meals.

The obsession with charcuterie boards isn’t a new trend. In fact, Americans are implementing them into almost every occasion – including weddings.

“We wanted to introduce our guests to something we experienced while traveling abroad,” said Rachel Howard. “Charcuterie boards were the perfect way to do that. We’ve also heard they can be called ‘grazing tables.’”

Rachel and her husband Jeremy spent a lot of time after college in the Middle East and Asia. In those cultures, the couple said people share food placed at the center of the table. Doing this, they said, opened their eyes to how people interact with each other and how food connects them.

The Howards knew their family and friends would enjoy the boards, not only because of the variety of food but the uniqueness presented. They included meats, cheeses, olives, veggies, bread, spreads and other garnishes. Dessert boards were even created to offer guests with a sweet tooth an opportunity to indulge during the meal.

The biggest obstacle was keeping the food fresh. Since preparing charcuterie boards is very time-consuming, the couple and their friends and family made the boards the evening before the wedding, incorporating the activity into their wedding rehearsal.

“We asked everyone in our wedding party to bring a charcuterie board, if they had one, or a cutting board to add a piece of them to our day,” Howard said. “We had pizza delivered and hung out, drinking, visiting and enjoying each other. It was a lot of fun.”

The boards were covered and sealed in plastic wrap and stored in the venue’s large refrigerators overnight. Friends of the couple unwrapped the boards and began arranging them around the tables during the cocktail hour between the ceremony and reception. This allowed the food to remain chilled but not super cold.

“The look on their faces when they walked into the dining area was priceless,” Howard said. “We had little cards at each table explaining that we wanted to share a meal with those we love. The addition of simple floral arrangements between the boards made the whole thing look like a beautiful tablescape.”

Like the Howards, many couples are still feeling the hangover from the COVID pandemic with all of its limitations on life.

“Brides are really wanting their wedding to be an event,” said Margerie Cook.

Cook, an event planner and liaison to venues throughout Northwest Missouri, said people want a level of intimacy at their receptions.

“It’s all about truly entertaining,” she said. “Food and the dining experience plays a huge role in that.”

She suggests opting for meals that are engaging, which is why spreads like buffets, dessert bars and champagne fountains have grown in popularity.

But one of the most intriguing ideas she saw a couple pull off was the “late-night snack bar”. Desserts weren’t the nightcap. They had a whole table full of finger foods, comparable to what you might crave after an all-night binder.

“This was a younger couple with lots of fraternity and sorority guests, so the reception was bound to go into the wee hours of the morning,” Cook laughed. “They needed fuel. There were doughnuts, pizza rolls, milkshakes and stuff like that. It was pretty neat, and the guests really loved it.”