Wedding Meal

[Kamagrian]

Not my own, before anyone thinks I'm going down the aisle! ;) Just thought I'd post this as a potentially positive thing...

I'm going to be a bridesmaid at a friend's wedding at Langdale Chase (http://www.langdalechase.co.uk) at the weekend, and a couple of months ago I put in my choices (from an amazing looking menu) for the wedding feast. Unfortunately after my close call at the hospital a month ago I had to go dairy-free, low-fat and teetotal! Obviously this meant that the venue had to be informed, and I was somewhat worried I'd be a pain to cater for.

The bride called the chef and had a word with him personally, and he said there's absolutely no problem. I don't even have to change my first two courses, as he'll reduce the fat and make them dairy-free for me (and the main course is a fairly creamy one!), and reassured her he'd personally make sure I got a great meal. The only non-fixable thing was the dessert, as all the options were creamy and fat-laden. As a solution to this, the chef said he'll make me a special fruit salad, but that he'll make it exciting with lots of fresh berries and interesting flavours so that I wouldn't feel left out and bored.

Obviously I've yet to see if this is all going to turn out well, but at the moment it sounds great and the chef was apparently very amenable and pleasant on the phone. I'm really looking forward to the wedding and the meal, so I'll report back on whether it's as good as it sounds! :D

[matt]

you do realise that we will expect a full report and photos! so time to step up and post the amusing picture time.....

[cnc]

Yes, photos have stopped appearing anymore!! I think its time to reinstate this idea :)

[Nic]

I went to a half Sri Lankan (as in the bride was Sri Lankan) wedding at a country house hotel recently, and the non-dairy option was wonderful. I think it helped that quite a lot of the guests were vegatarian, and quite a few were vegan, so some thought had gone in to it. And there wasn't fruit to start and fruit salad to finish, either, which is my usual complaint with these things! Though I have been to some awful ones - when you get the fish without the sauce and its dry and horrible, and no vegetables because someone forgot to take any out before they buttered them...

At my own wedding we had sushi at our favourite restaurant and a non-dairy wedding cake (well, two, if I'm honest) made by my mother-in-law. Yummy!

Nic

[Kamagrian]

Photos? There have been photos?? I don't do photos... ;-) Though if people are desperately nosey, there's one of me in my profile as I was feeling brave when I signed up.

Thankfully I don't have to wear a big pink fluffy gown at the wedding - it's a rather gothic dark purple velvet affair with a small tiara, so I hope I won't look too horrible!

[Steve]

If you are looking to post some photos, i would suggest waiting until after i upgrade the site next week ;)

[linny]

Hope you have a great time at the Wedding. We stayed at a posh hotel last year and the chef was wonderful about my diet. Hope all goes well:)

[cnc]

Photos? There have been photos?? I don't do photos... ;-)

Yes certain members of the site bullied me into posting photos and then I in return made them post them, as I thought it was only fair!! (I don't go in photos unless I'm forced)

I've seen your profile picture (I've already been nosy- read most new members profiles :D ) I think we need some photos posting once the upgrade has been done :P

[Copper]

I have not got round to posting mine yet - it will have to wait for the site upgrade now - shame.

[cnc]

Any excuse Copper :P Will get round to uploading all the Florida photos soon I promise/ Will make Ian sort it out all the technical stuff as I can do it, but can't be bothered :)

[matt]

call that a photo? not copping out that easily!

after the upgrade we expect the full gothic velvet experience.:lol2:

no escaping now we know

[Kamagrian]

:eek: Erm...I'm ugly enough to crack camera mirrors, so there aren't any. Really. Not any. At all. So, moving swiftly onwards...

The meal was mostly fantastic! They made a booboo with the salmon and seafood salad starter as it still had the gruyere crouton thingy on top (I was SO tempted to eat it, it looked amazing), but realised the mistake, took it away and replaced it with a dairy-free version with more salad leaves, which suited me fine.

The main course was wonderful as it was. It was a lower-fat, dairy-free version of what many others were having - a sort of chicken-and-thyme-jus dish with a small but tasty amount of pancetta, and slightly different veggies as others had theirs mashed with cream and things. Oh, and lots of baby onions, which I adore!

The dessert was, without a doubt, the most sumptuous and luscious fruit salad I've ever had. It had all sorts of berries, red apple, papaya, kiwi fruit, mango and other things in, and the juice/sauce was so good I could have drunk a pint of the stuff.

So...all in all, a very successful meal alteration. Even the canapes had something I could nibble (asparagus spears wrapped in smoked salmon). :cool:

The wedding in general was beautiful, and I very nearly cried but just about managed to retain my bridesmaidly dignity. Ahem. Isn't waterproof mascara a wonderful invention?? The couple are now happily married and the main celebration party is next weekend in Gloucester, as the actual wedding was very intimate and there were only 30 of us there. No idea what the food choices for the ceilidh buffet will be!

As a side note, we stayed in a small hotel in Windermere and I hadn't told them my dietary restrictions as we were only having breakfast there each morning. However, I brought my own Alpro milk and Vitalite margarine, and they were perfectly happy to keep them in the fridge for me so I could have them at meals. I also accidentally dyed one of their towels a stunning shade of streaky pink, but that's a different story...

Gill x

[matt]

no photos? do we believe you? no chancewe will give you a further chance or steps will need to be taken!!!

[cnc]

Indeed! Photos need to be shown :) Sounds like you had a wonderful time though.

[Kamagrian]

Will a gothic velvet experience (http://profiles.yahoo.com/kamagrian) do if it's not from this wedding? ;)

[cnc]

Nope I've checked it out! We want more photos! I wouldn't advise dancing in thunderstorms (especially not with anything metal!!):D

[Steve]

You could always use the new Photo Gallery (http://www.dairyfreeuk.com/gallery/index.php?) if you wanted to add photos :)

[matt]

seconded, you have to post the real thing no cop outs allowed.

[Kamagrian]

Yeah, yeah. ;) Well, I've uploaded a couple I'd got on my 'puter (they're awaiting moderator approval), but won't have the ones from the wedding done for a while.

Now everyone else can do the same!!

[cnc]

I posted photos ages ago, so I'm exempt :bleh:

Although I may put up a few Florida ones shortly, as we still haven't got round to uploading them all yet :)

[Steve]

I will disable the moderation on the gallery, i didn't know it was enabled. Photos have been added now.