Vegan Wedding at the St. Pete Beach Community Center

Jamie + Buck
St. Pete Beach Community Center

As a couple, they decided to host a totally vegan celebration. The collaboration had amazing results!

Photos by Cassie Peech Photography

Way back in the mid-1990s, we got a request to cater an all vegetarian wedding for a bride and her firefighter fiancé. We were skeptical that we could make everyone happy with so many hearty first responder guests who kept asking "where's the beef?"

We made it through with double and triple portions of pastas and vegetables.

Fast-forward to 2019 when Jamie and Buck approached me about catering an all VEGAN wedding for almost 100 guests. By this time, vegan was much more familiar to our culinary staff. Our buffets and sit down menus already had options for plant based appetizers, side and main dishes.

Our executive chef, Robert (my husband) has always tried to capture mainstream palates through recognizable, hearty menu items. This was a special challenge to make vegan substitutions without altering the texture and taste of his most popular recipes.

Deep Fried Grit Cakes with Caribbean sauce

It was a challenge, but a productive one. We started by including vegan food items in "client only" group tastings we did prior to Jamie and Buck's wedding. That way we could test out new preparation methods.

What we didn't expect was that many of our regular menu clients would request vegan selections for their wedding day! So to say our challenge was a success speaks for itself.

Stations were created to offer a "freshly prepared" aspect to the couple's menu. Appetizers were hand-passed and they selected separate themes to highlight the food. Appetizers reflected each of the international cuisines that included Asian, Mexican, and Italian.  A salad station complete with imitation bacon bits was also part of the mix.

Besides the emphasis on food, Jamie and her mom helped design a dreamy garden look for the affair at the St. Pete Beach Community Center. The blush and gold combination enriched the already picturesque view of Boca Ciega Bay.

Here are pictures of Jamie and Buck's wedding day! 

Getting Ready was at a nearby hotel. Jamie and Buck chose to first see each other once they arrived at the community center. 

Prior to the ceremony, the bridal party got as many formal photos as possible along the shores of Boca Ciega Bay.

Our white pergola was decorated in delicate pink flowers inside a greenery garland. 

Fans with the wedding program were handed out to guests, and Jamie's mom outlined the steps with our lanterns and silk greenery.

A violinist provided ceremony music. 

Signage was a huge aspect of Jamie and Buck's celebration. They carried out the invitation graphics on everything from signature drink descriptions to the seating chart.

Besides the grit cakes, the hand-passed appetizers included Aricini Rice Balls, Caribbean Crostini, Spring Rolls.

An added accent to the guest tables were hand-made napkin rings (made by the bride and her mom) around our blush pink napkins.

Their florist provided loose flowers and petals for our guest table centerpieces.  

The toss away bouquet was simply set on the sweetheart table.

Toast to the bride and groom.

The Mexican Station featured made to order Fajitas with seasoned vegetables and lots of toppings and rice.

An Italian station offered two types of pasta including one with Marinara and another with vegan Brushetta-Pesto. Steamed green beans with potatoes were also served here.

Vegetable Stir Fry was the main feature at the Asian Station. It was finished with rice noodles and lots of toppings with Broccoli Slaw.

And not to be forgotten was a Salad Station with three different greens, an assortment of toppings, and four dressings.

Mini vegan cupcakes rounded out the food for the evening.

Thank you Jamie and Buck for allowing us to be a part of your wedding day!

Planning, Design, Coordination, and Catering: Catering By Robert / Event Concepts . FL

Photography: Cassie Peach and Company

Room Décor and Chiavari Chair Rental: Gabro Events

Creating Your Own Special Look at a Popular Venue

Courtney and Ethan
Davis Islands Garden Club
Selected Photos by Jon Montis Photography

Every wedding couple has their own "time line" for deciding how to proceed in planning their wedding. For some it is the small details they have collected on their Pinterest wedding boards. For others it is the overall design of their chosen wedding venue. But cuisine is now a much more important component for wedding celebrations now.

Courtney and her bridal party and family took this seriously in the 18 months she allotted to plan her wedding by attending as many of our client only tastings as possible.

Unlike many caterers who offer "cookie cutter" tastings for potential or booked wedding clients, we take a different approach: after making the commitment to become a client, we offer bi-monthly tastings where we rotate our regular menu items in a themed environment with added specialty cuisine that may have been requested by current brides and grooms.

Courtney's valuable input following each open house helped us create a truly unique culinary experience on hers and many other clients' wedding day.

Unexpectedly, the décor elements were easily decided as Courtney got closer to her wedding day.

We are excited to share Courtney and Ethan's very special eggplant and blush pink wedding at Davis Islands Garden Club. 

Décor translates beyond the surroundings. It is a part of food presentation as well. Above, we  took hand-passed appetizers and displayed them on a color-coordinated platter with texture with matching garnish.

After the food choices were made, everything fell right into place for the look and feel of the wedding.

 Vicki helps cue bridal party members for the ceremony which was focused in natural setting along the waterfront.

An amazing new connection was forged between Courtney's florist, Ampar, who is a traveling florist from Dallas. Her business name is Fleurs & and Events. Courtney connected with her via a family member. I was impressed with the quality of flowers Ampar was able to put together in our in-house containers, from many miles away. As a result of our connection, we collaborated on a photo shoot in Dallas for a new event venue.

Courtney was as much concerned about comfort as she was about presentation. Besides renting the in-house cushions from the club, she and her mom provided comfy purple pillows that were placed around the patio social hour space.

Our small fish bowls were available to Ampar for accent pieces in the patio area.

Guests found their seats via guest table "clothes line." The practicality of this was that if there were last table assignment changes, only a 5 x 7 card had to be reprinted. These were in visible enough that guests could take their time in pin-pointing their table location.

All guest tables were consistent with white floor length cloths, deep purple main runners with gold and white damask accents down the center. Yet every other table featured a different centerpiece look with variations in florals and containers.

Texture is a great way to pull together a color scheme yet offer some variation.

What a cake from Goldie's Goodies! 

Our Gold Medallion menu items were displayed in the front foyer. One of Courtney's past tasting favorites was our Paella. Jon Montis captured it perfectly!

Presentation is so important. Below, we featured our version of BBQ via our Smoked Pork Chop Station where guests could add crunchy onions, cole slaw, and favorite BBQ sauce to their hand-chopped smoked pork on a slider roll.

The party moved on beyond the food and because of well planned timing, Courtney and Ethan were able to have lots of dancing until the end of the event.