Happy New Year everyone, I hope you all have wonderful plans for 2017, and you enjoyed the opportunity to review and take stock of your goals. For many people, one of those goals may be to get married this year, and Christmas and New Year are some of the most popular times to get engaged (but don’t worry, Valentine’s Day is another good one, and it’s just over a month away!)

If you were lucky enough to be presented with a promise of love and commitment this Christmas or New Year just gone, then you are not only looking forward to planning your wedding, you’re also going to be planning an engagement party soon. Your engagement party is like a dress rehearsal for your wedding, you can work with suppliers you like, shop for the perfect outfit, put together a playlist for the night and gather all of your family and friends to celebrate.

One of the best things about an engagement party is that it is normally much more relaxed than the wedding, so you have a chance to really mingle with your guests, throw your personal flair into the decorating and really go with the flow of the party, without the constraints of a formal running sheet.

Your engagement party is also a great opportunity to sample the foods and menu styles you want to consider for the wedding day, and I love the opportunity to work with you from your engagement party, right up to your wedding, so I can truly represent your personal style through your wedding catering.

One of my favourite engagement party menus is a selection of my cocktail dishes. It’s always a crowd pleaser, there’s plenty of food, plus I’ll finish it off with cheese platters, chocolates with your tea and coffee, and cream and fresh berries with your engagement cake:

A selection of Mediterranean platters

Smoked salmon and Neufchatel on rye
Corn and spinach puffs with apricot jam
Arancini balls
Cocktail sliders
Thai chicken, snow peas and noodles
Chicken satays with minted yoghurt dressing
Lemon and lime prawn skewers
Meatballs with tomato chutney and basil

If you’ve been inspired to throw a fun and relaxed engagement party, you don’t have to wait to celebrate either – there’s plenty of time to plan and execute your party before the weather cools down again this year.

Until next time,

Love,
Cindy

Cindy Westphalen owns and operates South Australian based award winning catering business, Cindy’s Classic Gourmet.