Starter ideas please

All I can say is dont worry about anyone else. Have what you and H2B would like most.

Thinking back I cant even remember what our meal was when I got married last time and that was only 7 years ago. I also have no idea whether anybody ate/liked it or not.

We've got three options for starters..

pan fried scallops w. Apple slices and cauliflower purée

chicken liver parfait, w. Toasted brioche and onion marmalade

Some generic vegetarian dish - they had suggested goats cheese salad, but we've veto'd that and currently waiting for the updated menu (we did pick something at the wine tasting... Then I kept drinking wine and forgot!)

What is your main meal? That will help sway what you have for the entrée. Without knowing that, here are some suggestions:

- Satay chicken sticks

- Vietnamese summer rolls

- mini quiche tart

- Stuffed mushrooms, peppers or individual, mini, harlequin pumpkins (they will be in season then)

- Soufflé, cheese, ham or something different like chestnut soufflé, because they will be in season too.

I went to a wedding last year where they had risotto to start with which I thought was unusual but went down very well with the guests.

Our venue has lots of choices but we are playing safe with melon as it fits all our guests dietary requirements! But some of our choices include salmon and crab fishcakes, chicken caesar salad, chicken and spinach tart and goats cheese, spinach and pecan nuts baked in filo pastry.

As Teal says it may depend on what your other courses are, if they are quite heavy/rich dishes you may prefer to have a lighter starter.

Have you asked your venue for suggestions or what their speacialities are?

I would agree with asking your venue- as they might have meal suggestions that you can pick from, might make your decision easier?

We are having a sharing platter, so lots of different things- hope that people won't make a fuss if they don't like something, they can just eat something else!

Good luck- food tasting was a great wedding job....

We didn't have starters as did afternoon tea but as a guest, the starter I remember going down the best was at a wedding where we had a smoked chicken salad. Really simple - mixed salad with strips of smoked chicken breast and a dressing that was reminiscent of Caesar salad sauce (although it wasn't a Caesar salad) and everyone on my table cleared their plates enthusiastically. I think it was just simple but effective - not in any way a culinary challenge but met with everyone's dietary requirements and likes / dislikes (obviously not for vegetarians with the chicken, but we didn't have any on our table so I'm not sure what the alternative was, I imagine it was just a different topping for the salad). This was also in September.

What are you having for main and dessert?

We're having deep fried egg (it's like a poached egg with light breadcrumbs on outside) with asparagus and truffles hollondaise sauce. Nice and light so not too filling.

We are having salmon fish cakes with Thai sweet chilli sauce and for the vegetarians goat cheese and caramelised red onion tart!! Tasted both at our menu tasting recently and they were gorgeous

We're having smoked salmon on rye and raclette. Nom. Depends what your main is but I would say that most people will enjoy a decent salad, a tart of some sort or a platter of cheese/charcuterie with good bread.

Thanks for all your replies!

We are having shin of beef in a bacon, shallot and red wine sauce with roasted veg and dauphinoise potatoes for main and for dessert orange chocolate cheesecake with walnut and salted caramel.

I think the problem is we can have pretty much anything we want and the caterers will do it, they do have lists to choose from but we don't have to pick from them. I'm useless at making a decision!

I like the sound of chicken satay and the Thai fish cakes so they are definite possibilities! X

I don't think satay or Thai fishcakes would go with your main at all. Would go for something more traditional like the Ceasar-ish salad mentioned above, or a blue/goats cheese and broad bean salad. Or scallops or maybe crostini.

We have three choices for our starter: one is smoked salmon and one is duck pate so they're out, but also having cheese souffle with apple, pomegranate and walnut salad.

I was talking about wedding planning wit one of my colleagues and he said 'I can't even remember what we had for our wedding breakfast except for the starter we had a chicken liver parfait which was the most exquisite thing I have ever eaten, before or since.' If I were having a formal meal again, I'd want that kind of experience, so choose something which you think that you would love but taken to the next level IYKWIM.

I think that if you're planning on a rich beefy starter, go for something light and either vegetable or fish based. Someone up thread suggested scallops which would be my perfect choice with beef, but this really needs to be about you and what you two would love.

Exactly why we're having scallops... Slow cooked lamb shank with red wine jus for main

At my my daughters wedding we had mini cheese souffle & it was gorgeous. Really nice & light & melted in your mouth.

I would go with something quite light as a starter as the main and dessert sound quite rich/heavy.

Seafood or something salady would work well.

This might be controversial, but you don't have to have a starter. You could just launch straight into the main course - which sounds absolutely delicious! And your pudding sounds amazing too.

I always find at weddings, the cake seems to get forgotten, or people are too stuffed to eat it, and loads is left over. Maybe if you have no starter, then your cake won't get wasted.

I'm not having a "pudding" - instead we are serving our cake (cupcakes) as pudding, you don't have to have the traditional 3 courses - it's your wedding, you can make it up as you go along. x

We're having afternoon tea, so no starters for us. But we did go to a food taster at our venue, and had the most incredible pumpkin strudel. H2B hates pumpkin and he ate 5 portions.... It might not be to everyone's taste, but it would be seasonal - and delicious!!

(Now we just have to work out how to get the strudel into our afternoon tea....)

Let us know what you eventually decide upon! The rest of your menu sounds delicious!!

S x