10 Tips for your wedding reception by Feed Traiteur
1) The duration of the Vin d’honneur: timing is everything!
As a prelude to your wedding meal, the Vin d’honneur allows you to enjoy the first part of the evening with all your guests. It should be neither too short for people not attending the meal nor too long for guests who will be spending the whole evening with you! The ideal length is 1 to 2 hours, 2h30 maximum, so that you can enjoy this convivial moment without it becoming a full-blown reception.
2) Choosing cocktail pieces
It’s always difficult for future brides and grooms to know how many cocktail pieces to offer their guests for the Vin d’honneur. It’s important that those who won’t be attending the meal can enjoy it without it being too much for those who will continue the evening. Timing is also important. For 10-12 cocktail pieces, allow 1h to 1h30. For 15 pieces, allow 2h00. If you opt for the latter, we always recommend that our future brides and grooms choose an amuse-bouche-style appetizer, to create a transition between the pieces and the main course, without making the meal too large.
When choosing your pieces, we advise you to think in terms of consensus and choose those that will suit the tastes of all your guests!
3) Culinary events and theme bars: a hub in its own right
A trend for several seasons now, culinary animations are very popular with guests. A la plancha workshop, mini burgers, slices of Pata Negra, as well as cotton candy and crêpe stands for a sweet moment, the culinary animations bring dynamism and modernity to your Vin d’honneur. Don’t forget themed bars, a key trend for weddings in 2017. At Feed Traiteur, we offer a spread bar, Iberian bar, smoothie bar, vegetable bar, mojito bar and soda bar.
4) Give a nod to your origins
As the Vin d’Honneur brings all your guests together, it’s the perfect time to bring your own food or drink if you want to give a nod to your region or country of origin. At Feed Traiteur, we don’t charge corkage fees. This means that our team will be happy to serve your wine or champagne at no extra cost. Our future brides and grooms appreciate being able to add their own personal, symbolic touch and share it with their guests!
5) A refreshing opening break
With the summer heat, your guests will be delighted to quench their thirst on arrival. A refreshing break before the Vin d’Honneur will be most welcome, especially if you’re having a secular ceremony on site. Our future brides and grooms choose either to make it a welcome hub before the ceremony, or a refreshing transitional moment between the end of the ceremony and the start of the Vin d’honneur. What drinks to offer? At Feed Traiteur, we offer a bar with homemade lemonade, orangeade and iced tea served in bonbonnières, which are very popular with our future brides and grooms!
6) Choose drinks that appeal to everyone
As with cocktail pieces, we advise future brides and grooms to opt for drinks that will suit all guests. For alcoholic beverages, choose cocktails or champagne rather than hard liquor. At Feed Traiteur, our Framboisine cocktail (sparkling raspberry rosé wine) remains a favorite of our brides and grooms. You can also opt for a cocktail bar to give your guests a choice. And don’t forget guests who don’t drink alcohol: opt for a non-alcoholic fruit cocktail – they’ll love it!
7) Be careful with buffet length
To avoid crowds at Vin d’honneur buffets, give them some space! Allow at least 8m linear for 100 people. Having a number of different sections also makes for a more dynamic Vin d’honneur: a buffet for drinks, a buffet for cocktails, a buffet for culinary events… Guests will be less static and traffic will flow more freely!
8) Draw up a layout plan
We always appreciate it when our future brides and grooms draw up a layout for their Vin d’honneur. It will make it easier for our team to set up, and will enable us to advise you before the big day, based on your wishes and logistical requirements. Don’t forget to break up the buffets to make your Vin d’honneur more attractive and dynamic! If the location of the Vin d’honneur reception is different from that of the meal, a map is a plus.
9) Plan B for bad weather
Rain is one of the main concerns of our future brides and grooms! For summer weddings, good weather is more likely to be invited to the Vin d’honneur than bad. However, we always plan with our future brides and grooms a fallback solution in case of rain. Hot weather can also be a nuisance during the Vin d’honneur, so an awning or arbour is advisable in the event of a heatwave.
10) Think about decorating your Vin d’honneur!
As the opening moment of your wedding evening, you can match the decoration of your Vin d’honneur buffets to your theme. Flowers, accessories, garlands, pennants, paper straws, colorful reminders – express your desires! At Feed Traiteur, we take care to choose our cocktail napkins in the colors of your wedding and don’t hesitate to add a touch of decoration to our buffets. Our themed bars will also bring originality and aesthetics to your cocktail: for example, our lemonade bar served in a bonbonnière goes very well with a retro or country theme! Finally, to create the right atmosphere and bring your world to life, our Wedding Design team can provide advice and accessories!
And finally enjoy!
The Vin d’honneur is often the moment when the bride and groom are overwhelmed by the guests, especially if some of them are not attending the meal. Our advice: enjoy! It’s your moment, and you’re the one who took pleasure in choosing the cocktail pieces and drinks, so it would be a shame to miss out, wouldn’t it?