Generic Wedding Food Choices on RSVP's - how do you guess which one will be best?

[The Oracle]

I received a wedding invitation yesterday. The RSVP card had 3 generic meal choices: Beef, Fish, Vegetarian.

Because of the venue (a generic wedding/banquet location), I'm thinking this will be your standard mediocre wedding food - overcooked beef and over sauced fish... so, vegetarian would be the way to go (I'm assuming it's pasta).

Assuming food preferences (allergies, restrictions, etc.) are equal, how do 'hounds make this choice? Close your eyes and see where the pen lands? or just pick your natural favorite and hope for the best?

I know there are no wedding food guarantee's and I may be missing out on a great dish with my vegetarian selection... but I find it so depressing to be served yuck food at an otherwise joyous event... and I'm thinking the vegetarian choice has better odds as being the winner of the three.

[jboeke]

I google the venue and look at their options. Most of these places post their menus on the web these days to show off their catering options. Look over a couple beef and chicken dishes on their website and see what you think. If the meat is doused in sauce and toppings (sauteed veggies, etc.), I usually avoid it. In my mind they're trying to cover up a bland piece of meat. This has worked pretty well for me.

[mojoeater]

I'd check one beef and one veggie for the two of us. That way we'll be able to try both and I'll get the one I like best ;)

[jfood]

Just choose 1, go to the evennt expecting nothing and if you have an OK meal it is upside.

Jfood theories of weddings and Bar Mitzvahs is enjoy the appetizers since once you move to the main course it is rare they are as good as the apps.

[janetms383]

Unfortunately, in these cases, it's about the event, not about the food.

[Suzy Q]

Put me as a +1 for the beef option. And with that being said...no chicken choice? I'm shocked! Rubber chicken is a STANDARD at mass-catered events!

[rockandroller1]

I agree with the suggestions to go with the beef - it holds up best over the waiting time between cooking and serving.

Keep in mind that you are not going to a wedding for good food. If you put that out of your mind completely before you go, you won't be disappointed. If you go hungry, expecting good food, you will be disappointed.

[irishnyc]

With those choices I'd pick beef. The fish will probably be salmon, which I don't like, and the veg choice is likely to be pasta primavera, and a boring bland one at that. Had chicken been a choice, I usually go with that. The beef at weddings tends to be fatty prime rib, which I hate, so I try not to choose it.

Ditto whoever said to bulk up at the cocktail hour.

[nosh]

Most couples put a lot of thought and emotion into the food choices, pondering the menu selections and options and doing tastings, and then so many guests just check off a box. I like to let them know I care and appreciate their concern. I make sure to call them, email, and send letters, giving multiple and conflicting choices that change with each one. I ask for elaborate descriptions of the dishes, including the spicing. I make sure to let them know about any allergies or mild aversions I have. I ask about the sides, and whether I can substitute one for the other and double-potatoes for the veggies. There isn't a wedding couple around that doesn't appreciate a late-night call the night before asking if it is too late to change one's decision, and also inquire about who I am supposed to be seated next to. You gotta let them know that all of their careful planning is appreciated and means something.

[valerie]

Could not disagree more. You call the bride and groom and ask about spicing, sides and substitutions??? The only way I can possibly in a million years agree with this is if you have a particular allergy, and only a life-threatening one at that. Or, if perhaps, you are kosher or have another religion-based dietary restriction. But a mild aversion to something? Absolutely not.

If you think that a wedding couple appreciates "a late-night call the night before asking if it is too late to change one's decision", you are out of your mind.

And inquiring "about who I am supposed to be seated next to"? Yikes. That is just wrong, and rude. If fact, I have never even heard of anyone doing such a thing. You are a guest, not a paying customer.

The wedding is not about you, it is about the bride and groom. As the line in my 4 year old daughter's book (Pinkalicious) goes: "you get what you get and you don't get upset".

[LindaWhit]

Ummmm.....valerie. I do believe nosh was joking. Re-read the post - the entire thing is a put-on.

[valerie]

Maybe it's time I have my coffee!

[harryharry]

Don't forget to copy the wedding planner, oh and make sure to ask to change your table as well.

[charmedgirl]

This post rulez.

To the OP: it may be blasphemy to some chowhounds, but whatever -- not every event is about the food. Weddings (usually) fall into that category. It's about celebrating the couple. Pick whichever you like best as a general matter and don't give it another thought.

(I say usually because every once in a while, it is a wedding between food lovers, and part of the celebration for them is making sure their wedding food is outrageously good. But then, if that is the case, you can't go wrong with any pick so, again, pick whichever one you generally prefer.)

[Karen_Schaffer]

I'd go for the beef on the grounds that it's the one the kitchen staff is least likely to screw up. Fish is right out since overcooked fish is so nasty. Vegetarian might be good, but even if it isn't, you might be able to feel virtuously healthy while eating it.

[small h]

I've been to more weddings than most (it used to be part of my job), and 90+ percent of the time, the food is abysmal. Bulk up at the cocktail hour, if there is one, because that will be better than the sit down dinner. I have not had the same experience as Glencora: no more care is put into the vegetarian meal - it's likely to be some dreadful overcooked vegetable medley over rice or pasta that will make you long for the delights of Birdseye. Get what you think you might be in the mood for, and exult in the fact that you won't eat much, so you can dance more, and don't the bride & groom look happy?

[valerie]

"Bulk up at the cocktail hour". Exactly! Most cocktail hours are far better than the dinner entree. Then have a few bites of the entree, or potatoes that come with it, a roll or two, and dessert and call it a night.

[viperlush]

Don't choose the same as your date. Better odds of getting something tasty.

[Glencora]

I had to make this choice recently for a garden club event. I'm not a vegetarian, but that's what I chose -- for the reasons you mention. It turned out to be a decent wild mushroom risotto. Pasta can be pretty yucky and overcooked, that 's the main risk. I'd still go with vegetarian, though. Since they make far fewer of them than of the others, they may put more care into it.