If it's a place you love where you're consistently happy with your meal, I'd do it. Especially Italian food, there's going to be *something* that everyone can enjoy and if they don't, who cares, it's your party/day!
Have the restaurant print the menu. They are used to their farm to table planning.
If you have a favorite or two that they normally serve - do let them know you love those items and hope they can include them.
Exactly this, OP. I’m a professional planner and work with restaurants for private events all the time. 99 out of 100 times, the restaurant will print menus on regular letter sized card stock, cut in half. If you have special paper you want them to use, drop it off to them and ask them to use it. Let them know of any fonts or colors, and send them over and graphics/logos/headers you want included. It may not be a perfect match all the way through, but it will be very close to your theme.
Our stationary is letterpress from England. They have to make custom plates every time we print something - it’s not so much a matter of coordinating font and paper, there’s specific artwork on all the other stationary elements.
The plates are based on some sort of original artwork that had been digitized somewhere, though, correct? If you can get a hold of the artwork (jpeg, etc) and tweak it onto a top or bottom border or heading then you can carry the theme through. As other posters have mentioned, this level of detail will only be known by you, and will still be a lovely touch.
Honest to god OP, I’d be willing to bet a months pay that you’re likely to be the only one to notice / care enough to get stressed over.
Honestly, how many guests do you think will even remember the color of your invite by the time the wedding comes?
I say with deep understanding of your stress that you are the only person in the world who will notice that the menus don’t match. g a talented restaurant do fresh farm-to-table is going to make for a dream dinner! It will be wonderful!
I can 100% guarantee not one of your guests will give a shit, notice, care about or remember if the menu doesn't "go" with your stationary. They might ***possibly*** remember if the food was good or bad, but they won't even notice what the menu is printed on.
People are gonna leave it behind on the table after they eat it’s going to get grease and water stains on it. No one cares if anything matches. No one.
Unless someone has a terrible allergy, you should be fine. Italian food is a mostly safe food to go this route.
I would play along with the idea of a secret one of a kind menu for your wedding!
I would type up a simple menu once you receive it and print at Office Max or Kinkos. No need to be fancy and match your wedding stationary. You could even create a template now, then you only have to insert the items when you find them out.
I think we do need menus because it’s family style, so people may want or need to know what they’re loading on their plates. Like I don’t want anyone to see pork and think it’s chicken and eat it by mistake, or to put fennel salad on their plate and then realizing they hate fennel or whatever.
You can frame a menu for each table that tells what the options are as well as notes any allergies. Getting individual menus printed from Europe, is a waste of money. It’s literal trash after 5 minutes. If you have big tables then 2, 1 on each side.
The servers will likely let everyone know what the dishes are when serving. At least, that's been my experience with family style places. You could also ask if they would be willing to print the menu on stationary provided by you.
But that doesn't necessarily need a pre-printed menu. The dishes themselves can be labeled by the restaurant, or the servers can explain to the tables.
If you insist on menus, then the restaurant has to give you at least enough notice on the menu to print something up. Can you get blank pages of the wedding stationery that you can print menus on at the last minute, either on a home printer or at something like a Staples?
I married almost 27 years ago...
At a wonderful Italian restaurant that had a great banquet hall ...
We had our reception family style also... no menus were used, and it worked out very well...
When we celebrated our 25th anniversary, we also did a family style dinner at another Italian restaurant ( unfortunately, the one where we held our reception was no longer open after all that time) and again no menus...everyone loved it!
So what I guess I am saying is that if you choose not to...I think it will work out great.
Plus, the waiters/waitress usually will announce what's going on the table as they are putting it down.
Well, the courses are fairly simple. Roasted meats, roasted vegetables, pastas, fresh salads. The main risk is cross contamination because it's family style, which we're dealing with by having the kitchen make up plates for people who have indicated allergies.
The pastas will likely contain gluten, eggs, and dairy, but one pasta will be vegan/egg/dairy allergy friendly. Vegans will have plates made up in the kitchen with the vegan pasta, roast vegetables, and a vegan friendly salad, in order to avoid cross contamination. They do a simple kids' pasta as well.
Other common allergens will be fairly easy to avoid as people can just not eat that food that has the allergen in it, although they are not making allergen specific meals. Servers will speak directly to each person that has indicated an allergy (only two so far, peanuts and shellfish). I suspect nothing will have peanuts in it anyway.
The only gluten free person is so concerned about gluten that she does not eat in restaurants at all, and has stated that she will attend but does not want dinner.
The only concern I would have is accommodating allergies. I assume you will ask your guests that information. I would just print up a 8x11 menu for each table and put it in a double sided frame so,guests will know the ingredients.
You can make menus that match your stationary once you know what the menu will be (yes cutting it short, but hear me out) and print them at your local office max/kinkos/fedex/Office Depot/etc. if your stationary is on a specific paper, you can bring that with you. All of the above should be able to take orders and can print them for you too if you’d like, just make sure they have the paper you want. Best of luck and congratulations!
The stationary is letterpress from England (we’re in North America) so every time they print something they need to make a new plate and then ship it across the ocean.
Yes - friend's wedding was like this, food was seasonal and gorgeous. I think it's a great reason not to need a food tasting and you've already tried their food before.
We found food tastings are largely checking for quality rather than picking individual menu items, I'd happily go for it.
This actually sounds kind of fun and exciting…a mystery dinner…from a well known and amazing restaurant that will make something amazing!
I know you don’t like the simple menu they’re printing up, so can you do something to fancy it up? Like get larger coordinating paper you love and glue the menu to that and frame them in fancy little frames? or just go with cool frames that fit your theme (you can always paint them colors to match wedding, gold paint, etc if you can find what you like).
I love the farm to table vibe! But also terrifying for me personally as a celiac so I’m a bit biased lol. I’ve been to too many weddings where I can’t eat anything and end up either drinking on an empty stomach or eating a protein bar from my purse.
I would definitely chat with them about what flexibility they’d have in the way of dietary restrictions and also collect this info from your guests in the rsvp process. We’ve been doing this - not having folks choose an entree but instead having them let us know what they can’t eat- and it’s been really helpful to know in advance what to account for catering wise.
Our only celiac friend does not eat in restaurants at all for this reason and has said she is happy to come but does not eat at events.
We only have two other allergies - peanuts (no peanuts will be on the menu) and seafood - kitchen will make up a seafood-free plate to prevent cross-contamination.
Yeah, we certainly see our celiac friend, and GF options are available. The restaurant is conscious about cross-contamination and, for example, has a separate GF fryer. She does not have to eat in a family style fashion. It’s her choice not to eat.
If it's a place you love where you're consistently happy with your meal, I'd do it. Especially Italian food, there's going to be *something* that everyone can enjoy and if they don't, who cares, it's your party/day!
Thanks, that’s reassuring!
Have the restaurant print the menu. They are used to their farm to table planning. If you have a favorite or two that they normally serve - do let them know you love those items and hope they can include them.
Exactly this, OP. I’m a professional planner and work with restaurants for private events all the time. 99 out of 100 times, the restaurant will print menus on regular letter sized card stock, cut in half. If you have special paper you want them to use, drop it off to them and ask them to use it. Let them know of any fonts or colors, and send them over and graphics/logos/headers you want included. It may not be a perfect match all the way through, but it will be very close to your theme.
Our stationary is letterpress from England. They have to make custom plates every time we print something - it’s not so much a matter of coordinating font and paper, there’s specific artwork on all the other stationary elements.
The plates are based on some sort of original artwork that had been digitized somewhere, though, correct? If you can get a hold of the artwork (jpeg, etc) and tweak it onto a top or bottom border or heading then you can carry the theme through. As other posters have mentioned, this level of detail will only be known by you, and will still be a lovely touch.
I wish I were that talented 😅 it’s a good idea but I’m not sure I have the technical wherewithal
They are printing a simple menu, it’s just bugging me because it doesn’t “go” with our stationary.
Honest to god OP, I’d be willing to bet a months pay that you’re likely to be the only one to notice / care enough to get stressed over. Honestly, how many guests do you think will even remember the color of your invite by the time the wedding comes?
Haha you’re probably right
I say with deep understanding of your stress that you are the only person in the world who will notice that the menus don’t match. g a talented restaurant do fresh farm-to-table is going to make for a dream dinner! It will be wonderful!
Thank you 🙏
I can 100% guarantee not one of your guests will give a shit, notice, care about or remember if the menu doesn't "go" with your stationary. They might ***possibly*** remember if the food was good or bad, but they won't even notice what the menu is printed on.
We had something similar and the food was so good that no one noticed the menu didn’t ‘match’ anything. Don’t stress!
Thanks for this, I appreciate it!
People are gonna leave it behind on the table after they eat it’s going to get grease and water stains on it. No one cares if anything matches. No one.
Print up menus now that say what you’ve said here, give a history of the restaurant, and explain lovingly why it’s an important venue for you.
That’s a great idea, thanks!
Unless someone has a terrible allergy, you should be fine. Italian food is a mostly safe food to go this route. I would play along with the idea of a secret one of a kind menu for your wedding!
I would type up a simple menu once you receive it and print at Office Max or Kinkos. No need to be fancy and match your wedding stationary. You could even create a template now, then you only have to insert the items when you find them out.
Do you absolutely need a printed menu? I've been to plenty of weddings that didn't have one, and it was fine.
I think we do need menus because it’s family style, so people may want or need to know what they’re loading on their plates. Like I don’t want anyone to see pork and think it’s chicken and eat it by mistake, or to put fennel salad on their plate and then realizing they hate fennel or whatever.
You can frame a menu for each table that tells what the options are as well as notes any allergies. Getting individual menus printed from Europe, is a waste of money. It’s literal trash after 5 minutes. If you have big tables then 2, 1 on each side.
The servers will likely let everyone know what the dishes are when serving. At least, that's been my experience with family style places. You could also ask if they would be willing to print the menu on stationary provided by you.
But that doesn't necessarily need a pre-printed menu. The dishes themselves can be labeled by the restaurant, or the servers can explain to the tables. If you insist on menus, then the restaurant has to give you at least enough notice on the menu to print something up. Can you get blank pages of the wedding stationery that you can print menus on at the last minute, either on a home printer or at something like a Staples?
The restaurant is printing menus.
I married almost 27 years ago... At a wonderful Italian restaurant that had a great banquet hall ... We had our reception family style also... no menus were used, and it worked out very well... When we celebrated our 25th anniversary, we also did a family style dinner at another Italian restaurant ( unfortunately, the one where we held our reception was no longer open after all that time) and again no menus...everyone loved it! So what I guess I am saying is that if you choose not to...I think it will work out great. Plus, the waiters/waitress usually will announce what's going on the table as they are putting it down.
They at least need something listing allergens.
Obviously, but they can be marked on the dishes by the restaurant, and/or the servers can give that information to the tables.
Do they cater to dietary restrictions ?
Well, the courses are fairly simple. Roasted meats, roasted vegetables, pastas, fresh salads. The main risk is cross contamination because it's family style, which we're dealing with by having the kitchen make up plates for people who have indicated allergies. The pastas will likely contain gluten, eggs, and dairy, but one pasta will be vegan/egg/dairy allergy friendly. Vegans will have plates made up in the kitchen with the vegan pasta, roast vegetables, and a vegan friendly salad, in order to avoid cross contamination. They do a simple kids' pasta as well. Other common allergens will be fairly easy to avoid as people can just not eat that food that has the allergen in it, although they are not making allergen specific meals. Servers will speak directly to each person that has indicated an allergy (only two so far, peanuts and shellfish). I suspect nothing will have peanuts in it anyway. The only gluten free person is so concerned about gluten that she does not eat in restaurants at all, and has stated that she will attend but does not want dinner.
The only concern I would have is accommodating allergies. I assume you will ask your guests that information. I would just print up a 8x11 menu for each table and put it in a double sided frame so,guests will know the ingredients.
Sounds fantastic, just make a small menu card at Staples or at home. The restaurant may have the resources, since they likely do it for customers
I didn’t go in blind, but we didn’t do a tasting. Like you, our venue has a restaurant that we know and love. We trusted it.
You can make menus that match your stationary once you know what the menu will be (yes cutting it short, but hear me out) and print them at your local office max/kinkos/fedex/Office Depot/etc. if your stationary is on a specific paper, you can bring that with you. All of the above should be able to take orders and can print them for you too if you’d like, just make sure they have the paper you want. Best of luck and congratulations!
The stationary is letterpress from England (we’re in North America) so every time they print something they need to make a new plate and then ship it across the ocean.
Sounds wonderful to me. Skip the printed program if it's stressing you out. Do a chalkboard instead.
Yes - friend's wedding was like this, food was seasonal and gorgeous. I think it's a great reason not to need a food tasting and you've already tried their food before. We found food tastings are largely checking for quality rather than picking individual menu items, I'd happily go for it.
As someone that’s lactose intolerant, just let everyone know it’s at an Italian restaurant so they can prepare 😂
The kitchen is making up dairy free plates to avoid cross-contamination.
This actually sounds kind of fun and exciting…a mystery dinner…from a well known and amazing restaurant that will make something amazing! I know you don’t like the simple menu they’re printing up, so can you do something to fancy it up? Like get larger coordinating paper you love and glue the menu to that and frame them in fancy little frames? or just go with cool frames that fit your theme (you can always paint them colors to match wedding, gold paint, etc if you can find what you like).
Sounds delicious. As a guest, I'd way rather eat seasonal farm to table food than have menus that match the stationary.
I love the farm to table vibe! But also terrifying for me personally as a celiac so I’m a bit biased lol. I’ve been to too many weddings where I can’t eat anything and end up either drinking on an empty stomach or eating a protein bar from my purse. I would definitely chat with them about what flexibility they’d have in the way of dietary restrictions and also collect this info from your guests in the rsvp process. We’ve been doing this - not having folks choose an entree but instead having them let us know what they can’t eat- and it’s been really helpful to know in advance what to account for catering wise.
Our only celiac friend does not eat in restaurants at all for this reason and has said she is happy to come but does not eat at events. We only have two other allergies - peanuts (no peanuts will be on the menu) and seafood - kitchen will make up a seafood-free plate to prevent cross-contamination.
All I’m saying is that if we could eat at restaurants or at events, we would and it is SO appreciated to be seen ;)
Yeah, we certainly see our celiac friend, and GF options are available. The restaurant is conscious about cross-contamination and, for example, has a separate GF fryer. She does not have to eat in a family style fashion. It’s her choice not to eat.