Having a Sustainable Wedding Part 1 - The Food

The food was one of the most important things for me at our wedding. I wanted good food, our guests to be well fed, and the food to be local and fresh. There is nothing worse than going to a wedding where you are hungry and standing around for hours.

We had Creekside Creamery make us charcuterie boards for our guest to enjoy during cocktail hour right after the ceremony. I am a regular customer of theirs and visit their beautiful farm location in Agassiz and order bottles of milk to pick up at the Vancouver farmers market whenever I am in Vancouver for the weekend. They make the cheese which is certified organic from the cream from their pasture raised A2A2 cows on their property.

My dad and I made cutting boards leftover from the custom bench we built out of butcher block when I did my reno the same year, which we sanded and varnished with a food grade beeswax base. We dropped the boards off a few days before the wedding, and Creekside Creamery delivered them to our venue a few hours before they were enjoyed. The charcuterie got devoured and unfortunately, we missed out while we were doing photos after the ceremony, but all the guest raved about it, and the cutting boards are now a nice memento from the wedding.

For drinks, we decided to keep it simple and hired Eucalyptus Cocktails to make us two signature cocktails, classic lime margaritas and Eazy Es (empress gin, elderflower, honey, lavender and lemon) which were both incredible. They hand made all of the mixes the morning of the wedding, so they were fresh. We provided the alcohol and they brought everything else including real glassware to serve the drinks in. Let’s just say we had less than a bottle of gin and tequila leftover at the end of the nigh and had a great party.

We also had lavender lemonade that we ordered from Tuscan Farm Gardens in Abbotsford, served wine on the tables with dinner and canned pops and bottled beers people could help themselves to. My dad choose the wines, and this bottle of red was the most popular on a blind taste tests. I have had dozen’s of people ask me about it. Best part is that it was $15 per bottle.

For the main event, we hired the Chef’s Acre for our catering. I found the Chef’s Acre online and was drawn to their commitment to sourcing in-season, locally produced food, and building relationships with farmers and producers. We met with chef Craig early in the year and discussed a seasonal menu that used ethically sourced ingredients that were local to the Fraser Valley, and my husband was sold after we did our tasting.

Chef Craig brought his food truck to the venue, and we did a buffet style dinner with fresh salads, seasonal roasted veggies, gnocchi with fresh herbs which was incredible (coming from an Italian who has very high standards), his to-die-for truffle chicken, roast beef and fresh bread. For dessert chef Craig served mini varieties of lemon tarts, pistachio cakes and mini berry trifles which were all a hit.

We also ordered a small cake for an intimate cake cutting which was an Earl Grey cake with caramel filling and buttercream icing from Cassandra cakes which was heavenly, and I very much enjoyed leftovers for breakfast the next morning.

Then at the end of the night chef Craig served late night tacos out of the food truck which was the perfect way to wrap up the night. We did traditional street style tacos, no ground beef or grated cheese to be seen, and the latinos were satisfied!

Honestly nerves were so high throughout the day that I didn’t eat a lot, but feedback from guests was that the food was all amazing and people are still talking about the cocktails. The food was the biggest cost from our wedding day, and we have no regrets! So take this as your sign to book the local caterers and opt for foods that are in season for the time of year, I guarantee it will be worth it.

All photos from this post were take by John Yoo @iamjohnyoo