Personalized Wedding Catering Pairings

Ideas & Inspiration

Personalized Wedding Catering Pairings

“Planning the right food and beverage pairing is about more than putting the right bottle of wine in the middle of the table,” says Lauren Guthrie, director of sales and event production at Santa Barbara Catering in Tempe. According to those in the know—including Arizona sommeliers, catering directors and beverage directors—it’s mostly about infusing your personal likes and style into your event. Whether you love wine, enjoy a good brandy or prefer a non-alcoholic beverage, Arizona wedding vendors are more than happy to help you create something unique to sip for your special day and complement it with the right meal.

Specialized pairings
Wine always brings a certain elegance. For wine lovers, choosing to pair a multi-course meal with a complementary array of wines is an easy choice.

But why not mix it up, perhaps with tableside stories about the couple? For one small wedding, Roman Kettler, sommelier and beverage director at the InterContinental Montelucia Resort & Spa in Paradise Valley, shared anecdotes about the bride and groom’s particular choice at each table as he poured the wine for each course.

Guthrie suggests making your menu an interactive experience with chef activity stations where guests not only get to try something new, they learn a little, too, as chefs explain recipes, share tips and answer questions.

Or consider pairing your beverage with wedding-themed stations, as Heidi Vail of Heidi’s Events & Catering recommends. “A Cuban food station suggests mojitos, and a fiesta-themed party might be paired with a margarita, Corona, or white or red sangria.”

Naming your cocktails
“Nine out of 10 brides model their drinks around their likes, name or wedding colors,” says Kettler. One such couple created a drink around crimson, orange and purple; it was so colorful that Kettler later added it to his fall menu, naming it “Autumn Sunset.”
Another couple created their very own martini, the “John & GIN-ger,” which, Kettler notes, not only incorporated their names, but was a a true blend of the likes of both the bride, who likes martinis, and the groom, who favors gin.

Kettler also helped one couple create the “Strawberry Solstice,” a non-alcoholic drink made with a mix of fresh basil, lime and strawberries, for their wedding, held on the longest day of the year.

Build your own blend
Experts have also seen brides and grooms create or choose a custom wine for their wedding. Local wineries like Studio Vino in Tempe and Su Vino Winery in downtown Scottsdale provide a number of options, including handpicking a specialty wine already created by the winery.

“We have about 21 wines to choose from,” says Studio Vino owner Kari Zemper. “We can help the bride and groom pair the right wine with their meal.” Studio Vino can also design a wine label to perfectly match the couple’s wedding colors.

Su Vino Winery can create custom blends for bridal couples, says proprietor Cory Whalin—for example, more oak, less oak, sweeter, etc.

Both wineries recommend allowing enough time for the wine to age—or you could follow Whalin’s suggestion: “Add a tag to the bottle of the wine that says: ‘Attention: This bottle requires additional bottle aging. Please enjoy it with us on our one-year anniversary!’”

Both locations also offer bottling parties, where friends, family or the bridal party can bottle the wine at a bridal party or rehearsal dinner.

The wineries recommend that couples bring their wine choice to their caterer or chef for help building a complementary menu. “I work closely with the chef to develop a menu that really complements that signature bottle of wine they’re serving,” says Guthrie of Santa Barbara Catering.

Keep it local
Show off some of Arizona’s greatest features through your beverage choice: our local brews and vintages, citrus, other fresh produce and even homegrown olive oil. Local chefs, caterers, sommeliers and beverage directors can help pinpoint Arizona’s best resources, including award-winning beer from Four Peaks in Tempe and Papago Brewing in Scottsdale; wineries of the Verde Valley between Sedona and Jerome or those in southern Arizona; fresh produce from McClendon’s Farms in Scottsdale or Maya’s Farm in South Phoenix; artisan cheese from Black Mesa Ranch in the White Mountains of Arizona; and infused olive oils from the Queen Creek Olive Mill.

“Creating a wedding with a focus on local products delivers a unique benefit to the guests,” says Guthrie. “They get the chance to try something handcrafted in the bride and groom’s own backyard, as well as help support the community.”

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