Wedding Planning - Any Suggestions?

[teebs in WV]

I am looking to you guys for help.......has anyone had to plan their wedding after diagnosis? I'm thinking that it would be best if I tried to find a small caterer that I feel like I can trust, but thought that I would ask for advice before I even started down that path. My problem is that I am in a rural area and there are not too many options. We've discussed trying to do most of the cooking ourselves (with the help of our families), but we want everyone to be able to enjoy themselves. I think this would put too much stress on everyone if we were worrying about preparations.

I can't wait to hear some ideas!

Thanks,

[Merika]

I'd suggest sticking with naturally gluten-free foods as much as possible. Find an attentive catering co or restaurant and go over with them really well HOW the food should be prepared, ingredients, everything. I would make the whole wedding gluten-free.

I had my wedding pre diagnosis, but me & dh made the whole affair vegetarian. No one even knew or cared. It was delicious.

Congratulations!

Merika

[gointribal]

Oh I totally understand, I'm getting married in June and even though I haven't been officially diagnosed with Celiac yet I planning on doing veggies and fruits. As far as the cake, I don't know about that one.

[gabrielle]

I am in the same boat. I am not getting married till June 2008 (we're engaged, but saving for the ring... - if that makes sense). I live in a very rural area as well. It seems like it is going to be so difficult to plan the menu because of my disease. Hmm... well I told my fiance all I want for my wedding cake is an Outback brownie! Good luck, and if i find any good suggestions I'll let you know.

[happygirl]

If I remember correctly, I think Jkmunchkin got married after diagnoses.....but got diagnosed after hiring/ordering from her caterer. Maybe she has some insight?

I am in the MOH in my best friend's wedding and I have already told her not to worry about me! Since my parents live in the same town and will be at the wedding, rehearsal dinner, etc., I am just going to be bringing my own food and having them heat it up for me!

Congratulations!!!!

[teebs in WV]

Thanks everyone for the support! We haven't set a date yet but are thinking of this summer. It is a second marriage for both of us and we have a total of 5 kids between us. We aren't having a big wedding, but we have large families and want to have a reception.

Maybe those of us who are planning weddings can keep each other up to date on plans!

Thanks again

[jkmunchkin]

Hi,

Laura is correct!

I just got married this past October. I started planning my wedding in September of '04, and was diagnosed in June of '05. Obviously this means that I no longer had the flexibility to find options where I could choose my own caterer who would specialize in gluten-free food. But to be honest I'm kinda glad that was the case. We had the wedding at a catering hall in our area and the maitre 'd was wonderful in making sure that I was fed on my wedding day and talked with me endlessly about how we could make a wedding cake that both me and my guests could enjoy. Although many people asked if my wedding and wedding cake were going to be 100% gluten-free they were not. I did not want to do that. However I made sure there were a few items at the cocktail hour I could eat (which I barely got to touch any of the food at anyway), an entree and we made the top layer of our wedding cake a flourless cheesecake, while the other layers where filled with gluten for our guests to enjoy.

How large a reception are you thinking of having? Let me know what type of event you are envisioning and I'd be more than happy to help you with some ideas. (Since my own wedding I've practically become a party/wedding planner for a bunch of my friends). I might start charging - lol!!

[Carriefaith]

I am also planning a wedding! What I decided to do was have a turkey dinner since there isn't much gluten in a turkey dinner. The chefs will cater to special diets and they are going to let me come in and look at the kitchen and explain to them what has to be done in order to prevent cross contamination.

[jerseyangel]

Carrie--are you getting married? (if I may ask)

[pattic]

congrats to all of the new brides & brides to be! how exciting!

I can't help with the wedding planning - I got married in 96, 6 months prior to going gluten-free.

In fact, I'm a vegetarian, so for myself I had (of all things!) mushroom ravioli!

I'm sure whether you go all gluten-free, or just for yourself, it will be a great day!!!!!!!

[DonnaD]

congrats to all of the new brides & brides to be! how exciting!

I can't help with the wedding planning - I got married in 96, 6 months prior to going gluten-free.

In fact, I'm a vegetarian, so for myself I had (of all things!) mushroom ravioli!

I'm sure whether you go all gluten-free, or just for yourself, it will be a great day!!!!!!!

I am getting married too, in October 06 in France.

There will be lots of gluten-free, DF, WF, and other allergies to cater for as well as vegitarians so I'm expecting a lot of headaches! I'll probably make my own cake, just with gluten free/milk free top layer.

Donna

[TinkerbellSwt]

I am also trying to plan a wedding. My first wedding date was cancelled due to me being in the hospital b/c of my undiagnosed celiacs at the time. We lost everything. The church, hall, caterers, florist, minister, DJ, and photographer. My mother lost tons of money. But enough of my woes, I am grateful that this topic came up as we are going to try to replan a wedding for later this year. As for the cake, I am going to try Mr. Ritters in Philly, they deliver too. I will try there for my birthday in March and see how it all goes. Thanks for the ideas on the rest of the stuff.. keep em coming

Tinkerbell

[elfkin]

Congratulations on all of the weddings! This isn't exactly the same thing, but. . .

We do very elaborate birthdays when our children turn six- sort of a leaving preschool-hood behind kind of thing! Last year my son had already been diagnosed when I started planning my daughters' party, so I knew we would need to go at least partially gluten-free. I decorate cakes (for fun, not for profit), taught by my grandmother (a professional). I made my daughter a three tiered very light (robins egg) blue with white icing lace on top. We were decorating with blue toile. We kept one end of the table for her cake and on the other end we put my son's gluten-free cake. I made it from a mix. The Namaste foods chocolate cake mix is very good. I made his cake in my round pans and layered it. I used the same homemade icing that I had made for hers, as it was gluten-free anyway. I iced it white and decorated it in a lacy design with the decorator tips. It was beautiful! The funniest thing was that most people preferred the gluten-free cake. It was very rich and moist. We served a veggie tray with gluten-free dip and several fruit platters. We posted someone to serve the cakes to avoid any cross-contamination. I don't know if this helps at all, but it went well for us. Something like this might work for a small wedding, if you weren't serving a meal.

Also, my cousin had special dietary needs,(Diabetic family members, etc.), when she was planning her wedding. She had individual cakes made for each table at the reception. They were lovely. She served them on pedestaled glass cake plates. She had place cards for everyone and was careful to seat certain people at certain tables. Our table had no nuts (my son is allergic), other tables had diabetic cakes, you get the idea. Obviously this took a lot of work, but she is very detail-oriented and one of the sweetest people God ever made. She tried so hard to make everyone welcome and looked after. It went off well for her. She did have a meal catered. We took my son his meal, as it wasn't gluten-free. But, they did leave the rolls off of our table. She made a real effort and we appreciated it. My daughter was her flower girl. I wish I had pictures to show you of the cake I made and her table cakes. They both came off so well.

Happy wedding planning!

[Carriefaith]

Carrie--are you getting married?

Yes! My boyfriend and I got engaged on Christmas Eve. We are planning a summer wedding!

[pinkpei77]

im also getting married in june of this year and i gave up trying with a caterer. i just cant trust that everything will be okay . so we are doing the cooking ourselves.

we are having buffet. i am also vegetarian and half of my wedding party is vegan.

and my fiances mom is allergic to chocolate, caffiene, nitrates, sulfites,most cheese, msg....and the list goes on. plus his family will die if they dont eat meat at every meal so i had to compromise and allow a meat dish.

so having to deal with a caterer was annoying not to mention outrageously priced.

so we are cooking ourselves.

we are having a caprese salad .which is tomatos , fresh mozzarella, olive oil and basil leaves.

a nice pasta salad with fresh veggies ( using gluten free pasta)

a spring mix green salad with dried cranberries , walnuts and a rasberry vinegarette.

roasted red potatoes with rosemary and fresh green beans

spinach and artichoke salad/ dip thing with bread and veggies (so there is a gluten-free choice)

hummus with fresh romaine, tomatoes and a olive tapanade with pita and veggies (so there is a gluten-free choice)

italian sausage with peppers (gross )

bread with olive oil at every table

in the bar area a cheese platter, those little pinweel thingies and a fruit tray. so people can eat while they drink and not get too tipsy.

as for the cake it will be regular and then we are going to surround it with cupcakes that are vegan and gluten free that are frosted just like the cake!!

we went back and forth between doing all cupcakes or a cake and cupcakes and decided on the cake with cupcakes.

i hope that helps with some food ideas.

we also talked to a caterer who suggested since gluten-free food is more expensive just making small portions of the same dishes that everyone else is having, gluten-free and brought out to you personally.

but buffet is defintly ending up a lot cheaper for us.

[bluelotus]

Congrats to all the brides. I got married after being dx'd. We eloped, but had a reception several months later b/c our families wanted one. My mother and I were the only celiacs there, so I just ordered food and cake for everyone else and made a dinner and dessert for my mom and myself (why, you ask, didn't my mom cook for me on one of the more stressful days of my life.....long story, but typical behavioral pattern of hers...grrrrr. sorry for the tangent). No one really noticed the different dinner and desert since it wasn't a sit down meal - people were moving around and socializing, very casual approach that kept my differences from being noticed. I still cut the cake too, just didn't eat any, no big deal. The guests enjoyed their food and had a good time, and ultimately, since for me, the reception was for others, it was their happiness and enjoyment that mattered.

[pturse]

I got married after I was diagnosed and well into the diet.

We met w/the caterer and told her the situation. Not the huge deal I thought it would be. I am also vegetarian but I wanted to be sure that 1. the guests were happy first and me second when it came to food. I knew that I would be so preoccupied with "other" things at the wedding that we did a buffet type thing w/a bunch of options and one of those being polenta. It is amazing what you can do w/polenta!

The cake was the most important thing for me. I wanted us to "cut the cake" even though I was never a big cake eater. But the baker (a small town baker near the wedding location) made a gluten free cake for us, two tiers and then later made canolis (my family is Italian) for the guests. It was such a hit because the guests were so surprised to have canolis instead of cake and me and my hubby were able to take the pictures of us cutting the cake AND the best part, the gluten free cake freezes so well and tastes even better, a year later because of the lack of flour! ha ha Every friend that has eaten their cake 1 year later has said it has tasted terrible. Not our gluten free one!

We're going on a year and 4 months . . . he's great.

I am off the diet at the moment with plans to get back on (for various reasons) and my dear hubby is going to comit the month of March with me (and a few other friends who want to partake in the challenge) to get me back on track. They are doing the research themselves (which was my goal all along).

[scorpionco]

I got married about a year after my diagnosis. As far as catering goes, we kept it simple. I gave the celiac.com website to the chef, and we specified buffet items that would be easy to keep gluten free. As far as the cake, we had two layers of our cake done as a chocolate decadence flourless cake. It was very rich, but very, very good. Lastly, I wouldn't worry too much...my wife and I were so busy at the reception that we actually didn't get to eat!!! I think I managed to get down a few spoonfuls of mashed potatoes and some veggies, and maybe a bite or two of prime rib, but that was it!! We almost went out to Denny's that night after we got back to our room...