And the countdown is on...only a few more days 'till Christmas! And of course, there's Holiday cheer everywhere, parang is on the radio, the tree is up and nearly everyone feels a bit more light-hearted. And so, with all the feelings of romance floating around, perhaps you're thinking...what a better time to have a wedding than during Christmas? Most engaged couples who visit our Web site www.trinidadweddings.com, tend to have their weddings around mid-year, however, weddings carded for Boxing Day, Old Year's Day and New Year's Day are also hot contenders! Many people opt for Christmas-time weddings because it's a wonderful, festive time of year; a great way to get the family together. Even foreign guests can usually manage to leave their schedules around this time.
Menu selection
The main challenge is your menu. With "Trini" Christmas food abounding during this Yuletide, many guests will more than likely predict what your menu will be. Here's your chance to serve up some traditional or classic favourites with new twists, so that you can surprise and delight your guests.
• Instead of serving full-sized pastelles, try serving a pastelle pie (a casserole with a corn meal base and meat filling layered) in your buffet, or "mini pastelles" as an appetizer instead.
• Serve your green salad with apple or pear slivers and a cranberry-orange or sorrel-inspired dressing, instead of the regular types of salad dressing.
• Have a selection of homemade bread rolls with sliced ham and turkey fillings, as a late night wedding reception snack.
• How about a Waldorf salad with green fig
• Serve turkey with sorrel jelly instead of cranberry sauce.
Wine selection
Couples who are opting for a reception where alcoholic beverages will be served, will no doubt be wondering how to choose the perfect wine that will complement their wedding feast! Choosing wine for your wedding need not be a daunting task. Generally, there are three broad categories that wine falls into: Still wines such as: red, white and rosé wines; Fortified wines, like port or sherry and; Sparkling wines such as champagne. Most weddings usually feature still wines and sparkling wines, or a combination. When choosing your wines, it is best to start the process with your menu, by letting the types of food you will be serving determine the types of wine you will serve.
Dessert buffets
Dessert buffets are in vogue at the moment. Couples are making buffets out of their favourite candies, fruits, cookies, cupcakes and desserts and featuring a variety of toppings and sauces. To add some traditional Christmas flair, you can serve sweet "paime" as one option or for a more modern approach, you can incorporate toppings in your dessert bar such as: coconut or white-chocolate shavings, nuts, cranberries, candied peel, cinnamon or caramel-rum sauce. If you don't want to go this route and you would like to have a plated dessert served instead, two selections can be: baked apples topped with cinnamon and served alongside vanilla ice-cream or warm fruit cake (or "black cake") and punch a crème ice cream.
Fabulous edible favours
Christmas time presents a whole slew of unique options for wedding favours that are often readily-available in bulk, for example, Christmas cookies or truffles. You can even "do-it-yourself" by distributing tiny bottles of spiced nuts and dried cranberries, punch a crème, eggnog, sorrel, ginger beer, homemade wine or preserved fruit.