Alex and I took advantage of the long weekend to make a trip to Rochester and get some wedding planning done.  While we spend quality time with our photographer, florist, and picked out some linens, the main event of the weekend was our menu tasting.  When choosing our venue, I was always upfront about celiac disease and what that meant for our event.  While most venues were receptive, Oak Hill, our chosen venue, was especially accommodating which gave me confidence and helped them edge out the competition.  When it was time to taste, I was happy to hear that everything would be gluten-free.

We were allowed to try five entrees from a list of about 40 so I was actually relived that my choices were limited because of my gluten-aversion.  In the end we chose what we thought was a good range of dishes.

We were also allowed to bring four other guests, so we brought Alex’s father for his food and wine sophistication, and Alex’s cousins (my future cousins-in-law) that were married last year for their wedding-planning know-how.  Their presence proved very valuable and helped us to get different perspectives other than our own taste-buds’.  For example, Alex’s father had the good sense to ask if the wine glasses we were drinking out of, would be used for the wedding.  The answer was no, which prompted us to get better glasses since larger glasses improve a wine’s flavor, while smaller glasses either mute it or make it worse.

For the review, let me start out by saying that we are having a plated dinner, not a buffet, with cocktail hour for appetizers, and dinner consisting of a salad and an entree.  I expected the food to be good, but not mind blowing.  This isn’t Blue Hill at  Stone Barns.  Besides, how can 150 plates of 3 different entrées be mind blowing?

I went into the tasting with my mind made us that I wanted the lamb chops.  However, the meager chops presented didn’t stand a chance next to the prime rib which was spilling off the plate.  I don’t want to seem stereotypically American with my fixation on the size of the dish, but whether you are in the wedding and haven’t eaten much all day, or a guest and maybe over did it on the cocktail hour, bigger is better.  The other crowd favorite was the fish.  It was perfectly pan-seared, with a “crust” I wish I could replicated in my own kitchen.  I actually loved the short ribs, because I love fatty, tender meat, but appropriate for a summer wedding?  Maybe not.  The least favorite of the group was the chicken, because, well, it’s chicken.  BO-RING.  All five entrées were served with delicately placed asparagus on top of ribboned mash potatoes.  Pretty, tasty, and generic enough.

Can you guess what we decided on?

Prime rib and fish were easy choices, but we had real trouble with the third option.  In the end, we went with the chicken because there are people out there that are perfectly happy with chicken and on yeah, it’s cheap.

Earlier, I wrote about weddings and dietary restrictions in the context of Chelsea’s non-vegetarian food but gluten-free wedding cake.  I wondered if it was rude in any sense to deprive my guests of gluten, because of my dietary needs.  I got over that pretty quickly, my wedding will be entirely gluten-free.

Since my wedding is a big part of my life right now, I’ve decided to introduce a new category of posts- my gluten-free wedding adventures.  My first adventure occurred over Thanksgiving Day weekend.  I took advantage of the long weekend to go to Rochester, celebrate Alex’s 25th birthday, and wedding plan.  On my list of things to do this trip was explore my dessert options.

ALex and I decided a while back that we wanted cupcakes.  The thing about wedding cake is that nobody eats it.  Even when I could eat the cake, I didn’t.   I was too busy dancing to think about grabbing a slice, a fork, a plate, and then find a seat to get my sugar fill.  So I knew from the start we didn’t want to blow our budget on something few guests enjoy.  Cupcakes are a great alternative.  They don’t require more than maybe a napkin to enjoy and they allow more flavor options.  Lastly, I think that gluten-free cupcakes would hold up better than a three tiered cake.

Rochester has two gluten-free bakeries, which is pretty remarkable considering its size.  New York City only really has two dedicated gluten-free bakeries itself (babycakes and Tu-lu’s).  Similarly, one of the Rochester gluten-free establishments is also vegan.  Since we haven’t made a decision yet on which to go with (or we haven’t told our vendors) I’m not naming names here.  We’ll call the gluten-free only bakery, GF and the gluten-free vegan bakery, GFV.

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As most of the US knows, Chelsea Clinton (or is it now Chelsea Mezvinksy?) served gluten-free wedding cake and bread at her wedding.  She also served meat.  She is also a vegetarian.  This last bit created quite a buzz among veggies and vegans and was written up in the New York Times wondering whether it was “ok” to only serve vegetarian/vegan only food at weddings.  I don’t want to go into that debate, although it is a lively one, but I do think that it is indeed “ok” although many people will tell you otherwise.  If you want to read more about that, check out the NYT article and the post about it in Jezebel.

What I want to talk about is food allergies and weddings.  When you are planning a wedding, unless it’s a tiny reception in restaurant, the food is going to be mass produced and without many options (most likely, chicken or other type of meat).  You can have a buffet to open up the options, but even then, how can you really accommodate 100 different tastes and dietary restrictions?  Well, I’d like to think you can. 

Since being diagnosed with celiac disease, I have yet to enjoy dessert at a wedding.  I have not eaten appetizers (mostly breaded or fried) and not filled up on bread.  I’m ok with this.  It isn’t my day and I won’t make a fuss about not having my cake and eating it too.  But, I am planning a wedding, and I want to make sure that folks with food allergies or dietary restrictions can be accommodated at least enough to make sure they don’t end up eating what they can’t.  I was inspired by Gluten-Free Girl (who else?), Shauna.  A while back, she posted “How to Throw a Gluten-Free Wedding.”  A more appropriate title would have said, “How to Throw a Food Allergy-Friendly Wedding.”  At Shauna’s wedding, she had guests bring the food and made food allergy cards saying, “This dish contains…” and listed a 10 or so different foods that one might not be able to eat.  When I read this, I smiled.  I knew from the start I wanted my allergic guests to not feel that pang of anxiety in their stomachs when food was served or they approached the buffet, and Shauna showed me it could be done.  Further research and some tricks from planning conferences at work brought me to this idea- that I would include a line in the RSVP for food allergies.  Guests would tell me what they can’t eat, I’d tell the chefs, and then include the allergy on their name cards for dinner.  If it’s a buffet, I’ll have the chefs create cards that list what allergens each dish contains.

That’s what I’m doing for my guests.  Now, what I’m doing for me.  I haven’t decided in my heart of hearts whether or not to serve any gluten.  I will have a gluten-free cake and other desserts.  That is very important to me since I usually don’t get to enjoy dessert.  For the sake of cross-contamination, serving gluten is probably not a good idea.  But will my guests grumble if the bread is gluten-free?  Or worse, if there is none at all? 

So, to continue the debate- what do you think?  Would you serve gluten (or whatever you can’t eat) at your own wedding?

Thanks Chelsea, for showing us gluten-free brides-to-be it can be done (and hopefully taste good)!

More here.