These days, many people are moving to a meat-free diet, for a host of different reasons. You may or may not be a vegetarian yourself. Regardless, if you’re planning a wedding, you probably want to accomodate any of your guests who choose not to eat meat. If you are vegetarian yourself, no doubt you’ll want to see a variety of vegetarian treats on the menu. Perhaps you’d even like to serve an exclusively vegetarian meal. If that sounds like a major undertaking, it’s because it is!

Despite the increasing popularity of vegetarian diets, there are some definite challenges involved in arranging vegetarian-friendly catering for large events. Weddings are no exception to this. Whether you want to provide a smorgasbord of meat-free delicacies, or simply make sure that your vegetarian guests are adequately nourished, vegetarian catering requires some thought and planning. In this week’s blog post, we’d like to offer some tips and advice on serving vegetarian food at your wedding. As always, we hope you’ll find them useful.

Be Informed

As with many things, the first step to sucess here is to do your research and be informed. Whether you’re considering having the catering provided by your venue, or you’re thinking about hiring an outside caterer, be sure to know what’s on the menu. Most caterers will be able to provide limited vegetarian options, at the very least. However, you may need to specify that you want this, so be sure to discuss it with them. If you’d like to provide more extensive options for your vegetarian diners, an outside caterer may be the best option. Some caterers even specialise in vegetarian and vegan food. If you’re lucky, you may find one of these in your area.

Providing Options

It’s considerate to make sure that there is at least one vegetarian option on the menu, and no doubt your vegetarian guests will appreciate this. But what if you’d like to go above and beyond? If you’re a vegetarian yourself, or simply someone who loves variety, perhaps you’d like to offer several vegetarian options. There are a number of ways you can approach this. You can discuss with your caterer whether it’s possible to offer two or more vegetarian options. Alternatively, a buffet meal can be an excellent solution, allowing your guests to create their own vegetarian feast from several dishes. Certain types of cuisine, like Indian food, are particularly vegetarian-friendly, as well as being perfectly suited to buffet dining. Remember also that may people who don’t eat meat are actually pescatarians, meaning that they eat fish. A fish option can be a mouthwatering prospect for meat-eaters and pescatarians alike!

Going Completely Vegetarian

Some people are particularly passionate and committed when it comes to vegetarian food. If the vegetarian lifestyle is something you feel strongly about, perhaps you’d like to offer an exclusively vegetarian menu at your wedding. This is a great way to make your wedding unique and true to yourself. If you’re considering this, the best solution is probably to hire a specialist vegetarian caterer. You may wish to notify your meat-eating guests that there will be no meat available, but hopefully, if you choose the right caterer, they won’t even notice!