Dietary Restrictions

We don't know of any allergies in our families or friends (small wedding lol) that would physcially prevent them from eating something. We will have a good bit a vegetarians attending so most food will not be meat. We will have one chicken option at the buffet though.

No, they can skip the item if they can't eat it. But I know for sure there aren't any lethal food allergies among our guests so it wasn't such a huge deal.

My sister's BF is severely lactose intolerant AND allergic to nuts. I had the caterer make his dish without dairy and nuts but it wasn't an option on the RSVP card, I just told him I was taking care of it and let the venue know exactly where he was sitting.

I had a bunch of vegetarians and they chose the veggie option

Vegetarian, gluten-free options, and dairy-free. Our caterer was very accommodating.

My sister (MOH) can't have any dairy, and I watch her struggle, without complaining, to find something to eat on a menu. I was determined to have options for her.

God no! my thinking is...here are your choices if you can't eat them then you better stop at Burker King! lol

We haven't officially decided our menu yet - but it will mostly likely be steak, chicken, and a pasta dish with several sides, a salad, and bread. Plus cake.

I have a lot of friends who are vegetarian and a lot who very suddenly and mysteriously (all at the same time) developed a gluten intolerance (I have so many rants about this in my brain) -- but we aren't doing any special menus.

The vegetarians can eat the non-meat foods. As for the GF people - they can cheat and eat cake or they can not eat cake.

I have one friend who truly is allergic to gluten - and she has Celiac's disease. She knows she won't be able to eat cake and she's fine with it.

As long as its not just a side salad as an afterthought, it should be okay.

I feel like everyone around me has mysteriously obtained a gluten allergy too! I think it's more of a "diet" fad for most of them.

On my RSVP cards I just put:

_____accepts with pleasure

_____declines with regret

_____vegetarian meal requested

We're doing a plated dinner but couldn't afford to give entree choices (chicken, beef, fish). I was able to offer a vegetarian option at no extra cost.

We took into account the strong dietary restictions we knew of. We have quite a few diabetics and shelffish allergies. Otherwise I am leaving it off the invitation. If it is truley life/death/horrendous pain kind of situation I would assume my guests would give me a call and say hey will you be having x,y,z at your wedding?

Sarah - same here. It's like the trendy thing to do now and they've all jumped on the bandwagon. Everyday, on facebook, I read about all these foods that are going to kill me and how gluten is going to end the world.

I get that some people really DO have a gluten allergy. But, I feel like for most - it's just a diet trend/fad. Mostly annoying because everyone makes me feel like some horrible, unhealthy, psychopath because I eat things with gluten and I *gasp* drink diet coke. Oh well.

Exactly Amy! I break out in hives if I eat things from Burger King, so I stopped eating there, problem solved!

The GM at our venue said to save ourselves the trouble of putting options on the menu cards. He said if we needed a vegetarian option, let them go through the effort to contact us. We are not aware of any gluten allergies. We don't have enough gluten allergies to even think of doing a gluten free cake. I MIGHT have one kind of gluten-free cookie at our cookie table, but gluten-free is expensive. If I did that, I would probably also try to include a sugar-free cookie too, if it would be any good.

That said, I have invited a guest with a deadly peanut/all-other-nuts-too allergy. I'm really not sure if she will even attend, but if she does, I don't know how I could control what happens in the kitchen at the venue. She is accustomed to this, and as un-hostessly as this is, I would imagine she would bring her own meal from home to avoid ingesting any variety of nuts while enjoying the festivities.

My daughter has Celiac Disease so gluten free is a must. If she was to eat a speck of cake she would be very ill and there is no way we would ever want that. She is also deathly allergic to strawberries.

We will accomidate her needs. She told us not to bother with a cake.

We are not having any nuts.

We are not having any seafood.

Plenty of vegetable dishes.

Chicken and beef.

I've had a gluten allergy my whole life (in addition to soy, chickpeas, shellfish, casein, and I'm lactose intolerant), but it's something I've grown up with and got accustomed to over the past 28 years. I really don't expect people to accommodate all my allergies, that would ridiculous (and in most cases really not feasible). The only thing I will mention is the shellfish since that would actually kill me. The others just do unmentionable things to my GI tract... in which case (like others have said) I just don't eat them!!

One of the reason we chose our venue/caterer was because they were really accommodating about my allergies since I really don't want to spend my wedding day or honeymoon on the toilet. But I really don't think it is necessary for other brides or event hosts to bend over backwards for me. I always carry a pack of almonds and an apple with me in case there's a situation I can't eat anything and I don't get smashed on wine and make a fool of myself!

OH and for the most part, I agree with Amy about the gluten free stuff... I think most of it is gross. But if the mood strikes I do make some pretty banging almond flour chocolate chip cookies.

One of my BM's has severe gluten(and it's real...I've seen her after gluten and it's not pretty) and onion allergies and we have some friends, a couple, who don't eat pork or seafood (religious reasons) who I will specifially accommodate. We also have ton of vegetarian friends so there will be a vegetarian option, but overall I am not having people list their food restrictions. I think if they are that worried about it they will write it on the RSVP when they send it back or fend for themselves.

On a personal note I work at a bed and breakfast and we do try to accommodate people's dietary restrictions(to a point) and in most cases the guest is very surprised that we ask if there are any allegies we need to be aware of when making breakfast. People who are actually allergic to things are used to having to modify their food options or bring something with them when they go out so I wouldn't worry to much about each individual.

I feel like, in most cases, the person with the allergy is accustomed to their life without dairy or gluten or whatever food causes the problem. I have a friend who is pretty much paying to cater to every single person's restrictions and I'm pretty sure their catering bill is going to be astronomical.

Since I have plenty for the vegetarians to eat and only one person with a true gluten allergy (that I know about) - I'm not too worried.

I think it would be different if FH or a close family member had the allergy. We'd probably be a little more accommodating.

We aren't having any seafood of any kind though... I like seafood but I feel like that's too risky. lol.

We are actually getting the list of everything that is in every dish. This way when people ask they can be handed the list of whats in the food.

If I go out to eat I go online first or call the place to see what I can have. If it is nothing I sit and chat and drink some water.

Why do they put MSG in or on steak? and if you put it on 5 steaks you cook but not 1 whats the chance you will kill me by cooking it on the same grill? So salad it is.

I have a delicious vegetarian option, so I am covered there. I have some close friends who are vegetarian, so I wanted them to feel taken care of! I never thought of a seafood allergy. We have a lot of seafood as our wedding is on the ocean. We have non seafood options. Hopefully people will mention if they have a severe shellfish allergy!