Messy Foods to Avoid at your Reception

Part of the success of your wedding will be determined by the quality and choice of your menu and catering, especially with the way us Maltese love our food. But we’ve all been put in a situation where, with a drink in one hand and clutch bag in another, certain foods are off limits – does a bulky chicken kebab strike you as easy to eat?

If you want to keep guests’ stomachs satisfied and morale up (everyone hates staining their meticulously-selected outfit) here are a few foods you might want to avoid at your reception.

FOOD THAT FALLS APART

Fall apart, you ask? It’s not uncommon to be served something like a medium-sized taco, pancake or other food item which, once you take the first bite, will fall apart in your hands. Avoid these foods – they’re messy, awkward and unsightly.

SKEWERS AND KEBABS

Mini kebabs – ones which you can eat with one hand as the stick itself is short and manageable to hold – are fine, but avoid large kebabs filled with chunky chicken pieces and large chopped veg, or sizeable chunks of beef which all stick together once they cook and are impossible to pull out without looking like you’re at a beach cookout. Fruit kebabs are just as bad – spraying juice or spitting pips and seeds is hardly glamorous.

SERIOUSLY, SPAGHETTI?

Can you imagine trying to eat a mini portion (or a full plate at a buffet pasta table) of spaghetti without staining your clothes? Most people can hardly manage it seated at a table, let alone standing in a fitted dress and high heels. Avoid long pasta, ideally any type of messy pasta, at a wedding – besides making your guests full and sleepy, it creates room for lots of stains.

FISH FEARS

You might think a sushi table, complete with an elaborate display of raw fish and seafood is ideal for impressing guests. What is less likely to impress them is a sushi table out in the scorching sun during a summer wedding. Be considerate of your guests’ digestion and avoid disaster with raw fish, meat and any other food – it’s difficult to keep raw food fresh, and even if it starts out that way, it’s likely to get affected by temperatures throughout the party.

SMELLY STUFFS

We all love a good cheese table, but some cheeses smell worse than sweaty feet on a hot summer’s day, so do yourself and your guests a favour by avoiding them altogether, however top quality or artisanal in nature they might be.

CHOCOLATE DISASTER

A chocolate fountain looks magnificent and inviting, but it is undoubtedly one of the messiest set-ups you can go for. We’ll never forget watching someone place a chocolate-covered strawberry in his mouth, only to end up feeding his shirt a generous dollop of molten chocolate too! It might look nice, but it’s impractical and sometimes, practicality must rule over aesthetics.

BALANCE IS KEY

Remember that a wedding menu should appeal to the masses – while a handful of menu items can afford to be more daring or risqué, avoid too much of something specific, like spice, garlic, chili or gourmet items. Your guests are attending a wedding and not a fine-dining restaurant, so keep your menu moderate with a few unexpected, easy-to-eat twists.