Photo: Shannen Natasha Weddings
More and more people these days have specific dietary restrictions, whether they're vegetarian, vegan, kosher, or gluten-free. This makes feeding your wedding guests a challenge. Do you need to accommodate everyone's food requests? Our wedding etiquette experts are here to answer your wedding catering questions in our daily post.
Do we have to offer vegetarian options at the reception?
Chances are there will be several friends and family members with certain dietary restrictions in attendance—vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, food allergies, etc. But do you really have to accommodate everyone's special requests? Well, yes and no.
If you know certain guests have specific dietary restrictions, you should talk to your caterer about them and devise a plan. Keep in mind that caterers deal with special meal requests all the time, so they will certainly have a few ideas and alternatives to suggest.
Some couples ask guests to list any dietary restrictions on the invitation's reply card; others, however, feel doing this makes the card look a little too cluttered (plus, unless you have an unlimited budget, it's impossible to accommodate everyone's requests). So, if your guest lists includes a wide range of restrictions and allergies, then you may want to consider a dinner buffet, since guests can pick and choose what works for them. And regardless of what you decide, make sure the servers at your wedding are well-informed of the menu and its ingredients. That way, you're covered should one of your guests ask about a particular dish the evening of the wedding.