Forty percent of a typical wedding budget is allocated to food. The food you you serve deserves plenty of attention and careful planning as such, we will devout a few posts to each aspect of wedding food (after all, we are caterers!). I think its only fitting that we begin at the beginning, the cocktail hour!

Many couples have confided in me that the cocktail hour was their favorite part of their wedding. Unfortunately some couples (and bridal parties) miss the cocktail hour as they are off having their formal photos taken. Make sure you talk to your photographer ahead of time and discuss the timing.

Some photographers off a “First Look” that takes place before the wedding where the bride and groom sneak off to take some photos together in their formal dress. This allows for the couple to enjoy the reception worry free of capturing those formal memories. With this option, you can consider a slightly shorter (45mins to an hour) cocktail hour.

Photo by Steve Haines Photography

Photo by The Casual Gourmet

If you decide on not to do the “First Look” then a standard time frame for a cocktail hour is between an hour to hour and a half. This allows your guests plenty of time to arrive at the reception site if it’s at a different location than the ceremony and also gives some extra timing for the bride and groom to get in the extra pictures after the ceremony.

As with all the other parts of the wedding the cocktail hour should be what you envision it to be. When you pull up to your cocktail reception do you see servers with passed hors d’oeuvres or do you see a beautiful vintage cheese display (see right)?

Many couples come to Cape Cod to enjoy the fresh seafood and the beautiful views, these are the couples that typically opt to have a Raw Bar during their cocktail hour. Here is a  great example of the Raw Bar displayed in a beautiful boat at an event (see right).

You know who your guests are, would something like a raw bar be something they would enjoy?

On Saturday, January 3^rd, the Casual Gourmet was very excited to be a part of another successful Arts Foundation of Cape Cod art opening at the Cotuit Center for the Arts.  Guests, who included both local artists, friends and members of the Arts Foundation, dined on a wonderful ROYGBIV themed menu.  (For those who are unfamiliar with ROYGBIV it is an acronym for Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo and Violet).

Orange and green linens adorned the food tables that featured vases of brightly colored hand painted sticks that fit in with the colored artwork hung all around the museum. Upon the food tables sat a Color Palette of Crudite that included Winter White with Buttermilk Peppercorn Dip, Fire Colors with Roasted Red Pepper Dip and Verdant Display with Salsa Verde.  Toasted Philly Cheese Steak Sandwiches and Coconut Shrimp sat on warmed pieces of marble and were by far the most popular items of the evening.  Two beautiful and delicious Tortas, one Apricot, Ginger & Lemon and the other a Bleu Cheese & Fig sat on bright blue platters. Filling out the tables were a Selection of Dips served with Multi-Colored Tortilla Chips and a platter of cheese, fruit & nuts.

For those with a sweet tooth, a variety of pastry cream filled tartlets topped with brightly colored fresh fruit sat on white platters on a table covered with a sun yellow linen.

The evening was filled with wonderful food, beautiful artwork and an array of colors that warmed one up on a cold winter evening!

Owner of the Casual Gourmet, Olive Chase (left) with Board President of the Cape Cod Foundation for the Arts, Maggie Van Sciver (right) and CEO and founder of College PayWay, Stephen Galvin