As wedding season comes around, and our anniversary week is here it was about time I showcased more from our wedding. I’ve done a post on on our venue here but I’ve not talked about much else. Afterwards I just wanted to enjoy being married and not talking about it. However, I’m so ready to share all the details a year on.

Wedding food and drink is such an important part of your day. Everyone has different opinions on food for the day. I was SO keen to make sure we had LOTS of food and drink. I’ve been to weddings before where we were starving and it was just not fun. Our wedding venue was in the middle of no where, literally so there was no way to get anything either. We were SO happy with our food, everyone said they enjoyed it and no one went home hungry!

Choosing a caterer

When we were looking for a caterer, we just googled Suffolk Wedding Caterers and checked out their menus. Mostly you’ll need to email and tell them your dates. There’s no point getting into their menu if they don’t have your date available. We went through a few but we found Jam Tartz based in Sudbury. Our venue wasn’t far away which helps as well. You could end up paying big dollar if you add a lot of mileage on too. They allowed us to go down with our mums during the week, choose a selection of plates to try see what our thoughts were.

The menu had a huge choice of canapés, then various menus. By having our mums with us, we got a good idea of what everyone liked and it was very easy to decide. We were all pretty unanimous in our decision which was very helpful!

Our food

So onto the important part. We had decided we wanted canapés after the wedding ceremony. Our ceremony finished at 3pm then we had our sit down at 4:15pm. If you’re planning a wedding, you are totally allowed to choose your times so don’t feel stressed about following rules. If you get a good caterer they will help you as they trade in weddings, they know what works!

We had chosen a selection of canapés from duck rolls, mini Yorkshire puddings, prawns and lots of other bits. These were served on wooden boards which looked awesome and went down really well.

For the main meal we had a sit down meal. I wanted a proper meal so everyone could sit down and be fed. I wrote and printed out our menus on A5 cream card so that every table had a menu to know what they were having. This was just a little touch but I think it went down really well as there’s nothing worse than not knowing what you’re eating.

We did two options, meat or veggie (and kids). I didn’t want to give a huge choice, it would just be a crazy kitchen that way.

The Meal

The starter was Mackerel Pate with toast.

Our meat option was Lamb with asparagus, butternut squash puree and potatoes.  The veggie option was a vegetable wellington.

Dessert

This was one of the most exciting parts of the day. We did our speeches in-between the main course and dessert. We wanted dessert to be an ’emporium of choices.’ It was the hottest day of the year when we got married so desserts were well needed.

We chose, Pimms Jelly, Eton mess and Honeycomb cheesecake. These were put into tall shot glasses and we allocated 3 each. Most people went for two but this was a great system as you could have exactly what you liked. These went down so well. The Pimms was properly done with all the trimmings and the Eton mess was so fruity. I know our friends went back for more!

We also did Cheese and Port. Since Dan was in the army, Port is a bit of a tradition amongst his friends. It was also a great option for cheese fans who didn’t have a sweet tooth. We got loads of cheeses, port and pickles. This was such a nice addition to our day as people appreciated a huge choice and my aim of not letting anyone go hungry was working!

Our caterers were really good with working with our ideas. The port was our bottles and they served these into their glasses. This was really helpful as some companies make you use their drinks or cheese etc. Don’t feel like you have to follow their choices, choose a caterer who caters to you!

Evening Food

In the evening, which ended up coming around so quickly, we had a buffet AND pizza oven. If I’m honest, I was too busy on the dance floor to look at the buffet which is so unheard of me! However, I know that it included all the favourites of sandwiches, sausage rolls and good party food. This meant any evening guests could graze and it kept people fed!

The pizza oven was insanely good. It was already built into the venue but unfortunately I didn’t have any photos!! The pizzas were home made and created in three flavours outside. I loved this and we got to have a slice before anyone else! If you get married at Alpheton Hall Barns, you MUST use the oven! This is normally something that costs an arm and a leg to rent!

Drink

I know there’s so much to get through! For drinks we knew it would be hot so we bought BAGS AND BAGS of ice. Alpheton doesn’t come with a corkage which makes the world of difference. I hate being charged for your own items.

We had orange juice, prosecco and beers. Not many weddings provide beers but I saw a beer cart on Pinterest and knew it would go down with the guys, and girls!

For the white we went with our now favourite white wine, the Casal De Ventozela Alvarinho, 2016 , this is now sold out on Majestic, but it’s one of the best whites out there. Its so drinkable and great for summer. It suits a lot of wine drinkers so a great one to please at a wedding. The 2017 I’m sure will be just as good, I’m very keen to try!

I think that covers it! There was a lot of food, but we were able to tinker all of the items and costs to suit our budget. I was so happy with everything we had. Everyone said later how much they enjoyed it and that was the aim after all! Our bar supplied by Jam Tartz was so well priced, guests were actually shocked at how good the prices were which made the evening more enjoyable too!

As mentioned, we used Jam Tartz Catering in Sudbury,Suffolk. I highly recommend them. Jill and the team are super helpful. You get your own manager on the day who checks in on you and quietly manages the whole day for you to keep food and drink flowing! You worry so much it won’t work, or will there be enough staff but they know exactly what they’re doing. A stellar job on clearing up too! Highly recommend for Suffolk weddings!