10 Wedding Foods Your Guests Won’t Forget

10 Wedding Foods Your Guests Won’t Forget

One of the most talked about aspects of a wedding is the food — after the loveliness of the couple and the touching wedding vows, of course. Make your wedding the talk of the town by offering guests an out-of-the-ordinary spread that’s sure to delight taste buds and snap-happy Instagram junkies alike. Here are 10 wedding foods that are sure to make your festivities that much more memorable.

Risotto Wheel

Guests watch as white-clad Oliver & Bonacini chefs stir a decadent risotto into a hollowed-out Parmesan wheel. Impressive spectacle aside, the star of this show is the earthy-meets-creamy combination of flavours: wild mushrooms, truffles, crème fraîche and slow-roasted garlic mingle to create umami mouthfuls that will be gobbled up long before any guest can even pull out a smartphone to snap a photo.

Ramen Bar

Ramen is no longer the sustenance for penny-pinching university students. The long-noodle soup has shaken its Mr. Noodles image of yore, and these days, Torontonians don’t want anything but the real deal. Not only are these slurpable bowls sating, but the build-your-own aspect of the ramen bar will captivate guests. Plus, it’s great for dietary restrictions. Vegetarians can opt for a miso broth–based bowl filled with sweet potato noodles, scallions and nori, while meat eaters can enjoy the ginger-beef-broth option, garnished with a perfectly cooked 63ºC hen’s egg and some delightfully fatty pork belly.

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When you gotta get your flame on ??

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Live Fuel Cooking

Everything old is new again, which is why the O.G. way to prepare food (over a fire, caveman-style) is all the rage these days. Bringing fire into the dining room is sure to elicit oohs and ahhs. Guests will be mesmerized by the flickering spectacle and enchanted by the slightly smoked, fresh-from-the-grill masterpieces. O&B’s live fuel-cooked Mediterranean offerings, such as chargrilled octopus, lamb spiedini, chicken souvlaki and vegetable kebabs, are flavour-packed crowd pleasers.

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Weekends in Muskoka.

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Interactive Oyster Shucking

What better way to animate cocktail hour than by having oyster shuckers mingling among the crowd, shucking bivalves to order? Raw Catering has equipped their team with oyster belts: there’s a silver basin full of fresh-from-the-ocean oysters, a matching bin for shells, and a third full of accoutrements (horseradish, lemon, champagne mignonette and hot sauce). It’s a ceremonious way to kick off the festivities that sates guests’ desire to nosh, but it won’t fill them up before the main event.

Build-Your-Own Caesar

Canada’s iconic cocktail, the caesar, is turning 50 this year. Over the past five decades, the drink has outgrown its humble bloody-mary-plus-a-dash-of-clam-juice roots. Today, caesars are more about the garnishes than the actual liquid. Stir up more than a simple cocktail by offering guests the option of garnishing their own caesars. In Toronto, we’ve seen just about everything garnish a caesar, from a pizza slice to an entire Peking duck, proving that this cocktail option can double as a snack bar. For a wedding spread, traditional garnishes like pickles, olives and green beans are a good start, but to really get the crowd excited, tempting proteins such as candied maple bacon, smoked oysters, jumbo prawns and lobster tails are key.

Photo credit: Margaret Diotalevi, Avenue Photo

Cheese Wedding Cake

Add a French flourish to your affair by including a cheese course before the cake. For a savory-inclined couple, Cheese Boutique’s cheese wedding cakes are so stunning they could even replace a traditional cake. These multitiered stunners can range from a selection of familiar cheeses (brie, goat, blue, cheddar) to more exciting esoteric cheeses. If any cheesemonger in the city can source something wild and “out there,” it’s Cheese Boutique. Some might think that the on-theme presentation of the cheese course is, well, cheesy, but as ardent lactose lovers, we say, bring it on. The more cheese, the better.

Late-Night Street Eats

For many of us, a night of late-night revelling has us hankering for some Chinese food or poutine to sop up the suds. To keep your partiers well fuelled and to bring a great vibe to your event, bring in a late-night course of street eats. A food truck snack attack is sure to convince your guests into dancing for a few more hours, minting precious memories well past the witching hour. A few amazing Toronto trucks we love include Fidel Gastros (for pad Thai fries), The Untamed Chef (for avocado fries and deep-fried pies) and Feast Toronto (for Korean chicken dumplings).

Family Style

Weddings bring people together. While guests might be there to celebrate the betrothed, behind the scenes, laboured-over seating charts prove that the couple has spent heaps of time figuring out the best way to introduce their two sides to each other. For many, this will be the first opportunity to cement bonds between two newly bonded families. To facilitate friend making and to shake the stuffiness out of your wedding, consider serving your courses family style. Sharing plates will help cut through the awkward get-to-know-your-tablemates portion of the celebrations.

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Truffle Ricotta Gnudi with freshly shaved truffles ??

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Floral Flavours

For many, the Big Threes of Weddings are often the dress, the food and the flowers. Why leave flowers alone in the decor category? Add a dash of whimsy by integrating flowers into the menu, too. Lavender syrup can make for a tasty addition to lemonade (or cocktails!), while a sprig of the purple flower adds colour and elevates drinks to the next level. Edible flowers are also a beautiful way to add colour and vivacity to savoury and sweet courses as garnishes on salads, soups, cupcakes and more.

Waffles and Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream

With O&B, dinner can be part of the show thanks to the pomp and fun of their interactive offerings. Chefs look like choreographed performers as they use a puff of liquid nitrogen to transform cream into ice cream before guests’ eyes. Best of all, guests get to customize their frozen treat with add-ins such as raspberry coulis, dulce de leche, chocolate, fruit and coconut. A hot-from-the-press waffle knocks this dessert out of the park.