Three courses, seated, plated. In a barn or a hall this is straightforward. In a marquee it is the hardest thing we do, and the reason our staffing ratio is what it is: a hundred and fifty plates need to reach the room at the same temperature at the same time, or it is not a wedding breakfast, it is a queue.

Starters

• Goats Cheese and Figs, Pomegranate Molasses (gf, v)
• Scotch Quails Egg, Garlic Aioli (gfo)
• Crab Confit, Avocado, Dill oil and Croutons (gfo)
• Duck Spring Roll, Asian Slaw, Plum Sauce

Main courses

• Roast Venison Loin, Blackberry Jus, Glazed Carrots, Thyme Potato Rosti (gf)
• Suffolk Chicken Supreme, Ratatouille, Chicken Jus (gf)
• Pork, Parma Ham and Sage, Marsala Jus and Cauliflower Puree (gf)
• Cod Loin, Pesto Crumb, Roasted Cherry Tomatoes, Parmesan and Pomme Puree (gfo)

Desserts

• Pear, Cinnamon Biscuit and Caramel
• Dark Chocolate Torte, Cornish Clotted Cream
• Rhubarb and Custard Pannacotta, Ginger Crumb (gf)
• Tangy Lemon Tart, Raspberry Sorbet

How it is served

One choice per course for the whole room is the smoothest service and the best food. Two choices with a pre-order works, and is what most couples do. A full choice on the day does not work at scale, and we will say so rather than agree and then struggle.

Vegan and vegetarian guests get the full vegan menu — a proper three courses, not the main course with the meat removed.

Speeches and timings

Speeches before the meal make the food better and the timings easier. Speeches between courses make both worse. We will build the running order either way, but that is the honest advice.

Allergens

All fourteen declared allergens are listed against each dish on request, and we ask for every dietary requirement in writing before the tasting. Our kitchen handles nuts, gluten, dairy, egg, fish, shellfish, soya, celery, mustard, sesame, lupin, molluscs and sulphites, so we cannot guarantee any dish is free from traces. (gf) gluten free · (gfo) gluten free on request · (v) vegetarian · (ve) vegan Reeves Events holds a 5-star food hygiene rating.

Plated, or served to the table?

The same menu behaves differently depending on how it reaches people, and this is the decision worth making first.

Plated gives you control of what the plate looks like and it is the fastest way to serve a large number. Everyone is eating within a few minutes of each other. It is also the most formal, and it slightly fixes the mood.

Served to the table — platters and bowls down the middle for people to pass — is warmer, noisier and does more to break up a table of strangers. It takes longer, needs more space on the table, and it needs a caterer who has judged the quantities properly, because the first table to help itself sets the tone for the last.

Neither is better. But a formal room does not suit passing platters, and a barn full of people who all know each other rarely wants three plated courses.

Timing, and why the speeches decide everything

The single most common way a wedding breakfast goes wrong is speeches before the meal that overrun. Food that has been held for thirty-five minutes is not the food that left the kitchen.

Speeches after the main course is almost always the better call. If they must come first, tell us and we will build a menu that can absorb a delay rather than one that cannot.

As a rough shape: a three-course plated meal for a hundred takes about an hour and three quarters from the first plate to coffee. Add a course and add half an hour. Nobody plans enough time for this, and it is the thing that pushes the evening back.

Courses, and what people actually eat

Three courses is standard and correct for most weddings. Four is generous and long. Two courses plus a substantial evening offering works better than people expect, particularly for a late-afternoon ceremony.

Remember that most guests will already have had canapés and a couple of drinks. A menu that reads beautifully on paper can be too much food in practice, and the dessert is what gets left.

In a field rather than a dining room

Everything above still applies, with one addition: oven capacity. A plated three-course meal for two hundred in a field is a serious kitchen build, and it is worth knowing that before falling for a menu. See marquee wedding catering, or consider sharing and feasting, which scales more easily.