Food Allergies

How did you deal with food allergies when planning your wedding menu? Did you ask guests for any input, or just make sure to offer a wide enough variety of dishes to allow everyone some choice? My husband has severe seafood allergies so we wouldn’t have had any type of seafood at all, but that’s not that drastic. I know a lot of caterers include salads or vegetarian dishes to accommodate those types of preferences, but what about other allergies, such as a gluten allergy or something similar? Did you have to deal with this, or even if you didn’t, what tips do you have?

It would be virtually impossible to know the food allergies of every guest you invite to your wedding if you have a large guest list. Even if you did, what if their invited “and guest” had a food allergy? I think a good solution is to add an astrick to menu items that are made with common allergens (such as nuts, dairy or eggs) and then make a note at the bottom of the menu. Some people are allergic to fish, others gluten, others dairy or eggs, others citrus fruits, and still others, food dyes! You could drive yourself crazy trying to eliminate every potential food allergy possibility.

That being said. . . If you do know of someone’s allergy or allergies, I think you should make every effort to have several dishes safe for him/her to eat.

You caterer may not be able to make certain dishes without using particular ingredients, so it’s best to have a chat with him/her before planning the menu. The caterer might also have helpful suggestions for you, too, when it comes to planning menus around food allergies.