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9 Ways to Make Your Wedding Reception Special

Date Posted: 19/11/2018 6:00:00 AM
Posted By: Roselen Fernandez

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Weddings are an opportunity to impress those closest to you. From family to friends, those at your reception encompass the closest people to you. How can you make your wedding reception stand out? Here are a few ideas for making your wedding reception something others will talk about for years.

1. Consider Food Stations Rather Than a Sit Down Dinner

A sit down dinner is classic but it doesn't give guests a lot of time to talk and interact. Rather than committing to a sit down dinner, you could instead create multiple food stations where guests can select their favorite dishes.  Your food stations can even be themed; guests can choose from different exotic locations, seasons, or memorable occasions throughout your life. 

2. Offer Unique Mini Foods/Canapes

Rather than relying on a few large dishes to blow everyone way, consider some inventive and creative canapes. Laissez Faire Catering is able to blend unique presentations with fresh, seasonal flavors to create canapes that have never been seen before. By using special presentations, food can be elevated into a more memorable experience.

3. Present Activities and Games

A number of optional activities and games can be carried out during your wedding reception in order to keep your guests entertained. Consider trivia contests about the bride and groom or raffles for fun items. You could even play a wedding version of bingo.

4. Actively Decorate the Space

Don't just commit to decorations; let your guests decorate too! Your guests can take Polaroid photos and place them around the reception hall, or can even do something fun and creative such as putting their hand prints on a sheet of paper that you can then take with you. Everything can be placed in a wedding memory book at the end of the event.

5. Personalize Your Invites

Every invitation is special. Rather than spending a lot of money on elegant but generic invitations, consider personalizing each invitation for the person you're sending it to. Select different colors and styles or add stickers and decoupage to show the unique aspects of your relationship with each person. That shows that you're thinking about them as well on your special day.

6. Go Unique With the Cakes and Desserts

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Rather than just having a single cake, consider a dessert bar that has a number of unique and exciting desserts that your guests can partake in. Many have two cakes: a cake for the bride and a cake for the groom. Others are even foregoing traditional cakes for things such as gourmet cupcakes or specialty desserts that are easier to distribute among guests.

7. Place Flowers Throughout

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Flowers don't have to just be a centerpiece. Flowers can also be strewn throughout the reception hall, suspended from ceilings, and otherwise integrated into your decor. If you have a favorite flower or a favorite color, this is an excellent time to really highlight it. Of course, it also depends on season; depending on when your wedding will be, different flowers will usually be available.

8. Get Creative With the Lighting

Lighting has a dynamic influence on your reception area. Consider getting creative with lighting, such as suspending holiday lights from the ceiling, using accent lights to create focal pieces, and using candles (or electric candles) for a more intimate and relaxing atmosphere. Don't forget that the coolness or warmness of the lighting will influence the colors around you.

9. Integrate Social Media

While amateur photography is best banned during the wedding itself, the reception is another story. Encourage guests to take photos and post on your special hashtag, while also creating photography opportunities such as areas for guest photos -- such as a flower or balloon arch that depicts the day, time, and event of the picture.

By thinking about your guests and the things that they care about, you can happen upon a number of unique ideas that will make the day truly memorable to them. Of course, what people remember most about any reception is going to be the food. To start developing some creative and clever food ideas today, contact the experts at Laissez-Faire.

5 Ways to Make Your Wedding Reception Special

Date Posted: 26/06/2018 11:01:10 PM
Posted By: Roselen Fernandez

 Australian National Maritime Museum WEDDING 4

Everyone wants to be remembered for their stellar wedding reception and at Laissez-faire Catering, we agree - and then we set the bar higher than that. The small details really are what makes a wedding reception go from average to extraordinary. With over 20 years providing catering services in Sydney, we know what the current trends are that will make your event stand out and keep your wedding remembered in a timeless manner. Keep reading to find out what we have identified as the key five factors that make a modern wedding reception be remembered for all time.

Multiple Food Stations at Your Reception

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Food stations add a whole new element to a wedding reception. The guests don't have to wait to be served at a table. They feel encouraged to get up and move around. You can also avoid the long wait in a line of one station that is basically a buffet style of serving. Food stations offer several visual points throughout the reception area and plenty of opportunity for your guests to mingle with each other. Not to mention that an elegant food station can be the key to starting off a great conversation among the guests.

Food stations offer your guests plenty of options to snack on whatever they feel like, as well as luscious visuals that really make the wedding reception pop with beautiful colors, flavors, and scents. Your guests will feel more like moving around instead of staying seated in one spot all night.

Our chef's team will make sure that your food choices are not only delicious but also look like works of art. Each food station is carefully thought out with everything from the best farm to table options to a beautiful display of seasonal foods to set the mood. Here are a few examples of food stations that we've done in the past.

  • Cognac and Chocolate
  • Cheese, Meat and Seasonal Fruit
  • Carving station of your choice of meats accompanied with Southern sides like a smoky pimento cheese
  • Crudites bars
  • Charcuteries

There is no limit to our imagination and we are happy to help you create the ideal food stations for your wedding theme. The food station itself can offer some of the most beautiful centerpieces and points of conversation. Your wedding reception can be a place where family and friends make lifetime friendships just by adding a few different food stations!

Click the image below to download information about our Wedding packages (and access all of our other menus!):

Wedding Packages

Popup Bar

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Depending on your theme, this could include a full bar or a simple tea and coffee station. What we really like about the pop up bar station is that it allows you to present your ambiance and theme in a unique way. By adding lighting, plants and simple decor themes, you can tie the whole reception together with your theme at a pop up bar.

Reinvent the Canape Table

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A canape table reinvented with garnishes from our talented garde mangers will give you an opportunity to highlight your wine or champagne offering with seasonal fruits and veggies. The really wonderful thing about sticking to seasonal fruits and veggies is not just the ambiance, but it helps you with your wedding budget, too. Technically, this would be another great option for a food station, but it also allows you to gracefully show off new culinary delights in traditional way.

Decor is Everything!

 

By taking the time to put a little extra flair and drama into things like food stations, pop up bars, and canape tables, you create several focal points that are great opportunities for photos of the wedding guests. You can tie your color themes into the whole area. Your guests will feel like they are all an important part to the wedding party when the decor ties the entire room together with several visual points for them to mingle or be drawn together.

Audio Visual Gear

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Audio visual gear is one of the most commonly overlooked elements by the wedding guests, but when you don't have it, everyone will notice. Do you plan on having videos playing, music, people making speeches? You'll need lighting and gear to make sure everyone can hear or see your speaker or videos. Most venues will have this available to your wedding reception, but it is important to make sure that you plan on it. No one wants to have a speech being talked over because some of the wedding guests didn't hear that the speech or the video start playing.

Contact Us for Your Sydney Wedding

Browse our website to see some of the beautiful venues that we service and learn more about our unique approach to your wedding. You can call us at (02) 9209 4810 or contact us on our website.

Seasonal Produce: What should you serve at your wedding?

Date Posted: 20/02/2018 2:15:36 PM
Posted By: Tara Connolly

What do people think about when they think of a wedding? First, there's the happy couple and, of course, the flowers, the dresses and the suits. But after that is always the food. If you want your wedding to leave an impression that lasts years to come, you need to provide the best food. Fresh, seasonal produce -- the best in fruits and vegetables -- are an excellent way to make an event memorable. Fresh produce simply looks better and tastes better, giving you something to remember.

Creating the Best Wedding Meals

Trying to come up with unique wedding menu ideas? Starting with seasonal produce is a great option. You don't want to craft a menu around produce that's difficult to source; you'll find yourself with wilted vegetables or bruised fruits. 

The best wedding meals have creative, inventive pairings, which often revolve around fresh vegetables and fruits that are unique to the area and the season. In Sydney, there are a variety of different fruits and vegetables available throughout the year. 

Often, you will want your catering menu to have a specific theme, or to be filled with items that you and your soon-to-be spouse love. But that can be difficult, especially if you aren't a chef or a "foodie." A good catering company can help you with suggestions that are intended to celebrate your union, your family, and your friends.

Of course, first you need to know what's available to you -- and that means looking at the fruits and vegetables that are in season.

Spring: Fresh and Bright

Spring brings with it citrus and berries. Lemons, mandarin oranges, and oranges can be used in refreshing drinks, salads, appetisers, and entrees. Cherries, nectarines, peaches, plums, and strawberries can also be used throughout desserts and for sorbets. 

In terms of vegetables, spring will see artichokes, fresh beans, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, cucumbers, leeks, potatoes, silverbeets, spinach, squash, tomatoes, and zucchini. There are also an assortment of Asian vegetables available, depending on the types of cuisine you desire.

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Summer: Cool and Refreshing

Want to beat the summer heat? Apricots, berries, melons, nectarines, plums, and strawberries are all going to be in season. Whether you're crafting the perfect strawberry shortcake or adding melon balls to your appetisers, you'll want to focus on chilly, refreshing foods. 

Summer will bring with it different types of beans, beetroot, chilies, eggplant, okra, pumpkins, and sweetcorn. Eggplant, in particular, is a versatile vegetable that can be used in everything from Asian cuisine to Italian cuisine.

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Autumn: Warm and Comforting

Apples are in season as of Autumn, one of the most versatile fruits available for everything from small pies to entrees. Berries, kiwifruit, pears, persimmons, and strawberries are also available, for fruit mixes and drinks.

In Autumn, fresh broccoli, Chinese cabbage, pecans, and white turnips will become available, in addition to many of the summer vegetables. Fresh pecans are especially alluring in salads and desserts, while fresh broccoli and cabbage can be used in sides and entrees.

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Winter: Savory and Sweet

Winter months can make sourcing fresh produce a little more challenging. Lemons, mandarins, and oranges are going to be your best bet. In the winter, you want something that's going to be warming and comforting. Lemons, mandarins, and oranges can all be used in mulled cider and wine recipes.

In Winter, Lebanese cucumbers, leeks, potatoes, silverbeets, and spinach will become available again. Leeks, potatoes, and spinach can be used in a variety of savory winter recipes, such as winter soups. Squash and other similar vegetables can be used to create an interesting winter mix.

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Getting the Freshest Ingredients

It isn't just the fruits and vegetables that need to be fresh. A good catering company will also be able to source everything from the highest quality meats to the best cheese. It's imperative that your food taste and look great -- and you often need to offer a variety to your guests to satisfy everyone. 

Wedding catering services have to be able to develop relationships with local distributors, not only to find the best in local meats, cheeses, wines, and produce, but also to get the most reasonable prices.

Where should you get fresh produce in Sydney?  Fruits and vegetables need to be acquired from the best local sources if they are to be their freshest. Laissez-faire Catering  can take care of all of this for you. View our wedding packages today to find out more about our boutique wedding catering services.

Laissez- faire Foodified 

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Every time you see the Foodified™ stamp, you know it’s Laissez-faire’s fresh, local and seasonal produce, and it’s a result of a leading Gold license caterer with above industry standards in quality assurance and sustainability policies.

We work with premium and local seafood and beef suppliers, artisan cheese producers and quality local fruit and vegetable growers to develop inspiring, seasonal driven menus that will bring the best produce to your table.

Protecting and enhancing the environments where our business operates, innovating with waste management techniques, working in collaboration with suppliers, venues, and clients to positively impact our local community and reducing our footprint by raising awareness are the fundamental principles of our Foodified™ philosophy. 

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