Monday 16 May 2011

Wedding planning

Most londoners enjoyed the wedding of the year last month either by making the most of the extra bank holiday and getting away (as I did) or by soaking up the spectacle from the comfort of their sofas.

For any of you who did the latter you at least had the option of snacking whilst enjoying the proceedings unlike the guests who had to turn up early and then be on their best behaviour under the scrutiny of numerous film cameras until the event was over.

The Queen was good enough to put on a lunch for the guests, but at most english weddings you can easily wait until 5pm for the first bite to eat by which point you're ravenous. It also usually means you're having your first glass of champagne on an empty stomach - a good recipe for getting drunk early in the proceedings, leading to inappropriate dancing, speech heckling and finding yourself slumped over a table wishing you could go to bed before the bride and groom have even made their exit.

English weddings are normally around 1pm and so chances are that without a snack you'll have to go 5+ hours without any food. This is why planning some strategic snacking is usually a good idea if you've got a wedding in the diary.
Firstly it's important to start the day with a good breakfast - something slow to digest and full of fibre such as muesli with some natural yoghurt. If you have a long journey to the venue pack a small snack to eat when you arrive at your destination.

Something discreet like a Laar bar or Fruitus bar can easily fit in a clutch bag or jacket pocket and be eaten without any mess/risk of staining your outfit, on the way from the church or registry office to the venue. If it's all in one place there's still usually an interlude whilst the bride and groom have their photos taken when you can subtly snack.

Once the drinks and appetisers come out, try and have three or four morsels to eat before making headway into the champers. Anything with protein and a bit of fat - smoked salmon, parma ham, cheese etc - will help line your stomach and slow the rate at which the bubbles kick in and the room starts spinning!!

Hopefully with a bit of strategic snacking you won't be so ravenous by the time the wedding breakfast is served, so try not to go over-board on the food. Usually there's table service but in a buffet scenario it's easy to over-eat leading to a sudden drop in blood sugar and energy lull 90 minutes after the meal and then a bad case of the munchies later in the evening leading to an embarrassing raid on the wedding cake.

And don't forget in all of this to keep alternating your drinks with water. A whole day of champers and sunshine (if you're lucky) can leave you seriously dehydrated and with an unnecessarily painful wedding hangover!

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