Catering for a wedding near Banbury - Greek style meze and whole lamb roast

Dear James

I'm sorry it has taken a couple of weeks for us to contact you to say a HUGE thank you for the catering you provided for Sarah & James' tipi wedding at Old Manor Farm on the 12th September.  A few days after the wedding, the newlyweds returned to Grand Cayman and I have travelled back to Zambia with Rebekah and my two grandchildren for a 3 week stay.

Once again, Bensons pulled out the stops and provided a fantastic service and fabulous food, despite travelling considerably "off patch".  The theme of slate platters for the mezzes and desserts worked really well, as did the sharing of salads and meat on the tables, creating the friendly, casual feel which we had aimed for in the tipis.  We have never been able to fault the food you have created for our events, or others we have attended, and we will certainly contact you again should we be planning any further events (we have no more daughters, but maybe "big" birthdays will be the next event).

During the months of planning for the wedding we have received very prompt and friendly replies from Anton in response to our many queries, which has helped us enormously.  Thanks to you James for all your hard work behind the scenes, your trips to Stratford to discuss the details, and for tidying up so efficiently well into the night.  It made everything so much easier for us the following day or two when we had to clear the field.  And a special thanks to Julie and her colleague for the construction and dismantling of the catering tent on the Friday and Sunday.  

The whole day was truly magical and luckily the weather was great, despite a few dark clouds hovering as the Pimms and canapés emerged!  Thank you to all your team for playing such a large part in making it so perfect for Sarah and James.  

Very best wishes

Di, Sarah & James

From top left to right:
1 - Dolmas - homemade vine leaves. Had great fun rolling those - recipe from the Supper Club book. Luckily there's a Turkish food shop a few streets away which sells the leaves. Thought we'd made too many - but they all went!
2 - Chillis growing for stuffed chillis
3 - Falafel and cherry tomatoes - recipe from Ottoleghi - seriously one of the most popular things we served this summer at different events. Homemade falafel are about 10.3 million times better than shop brought ones!
4 - More dolmas with olives and caperberries in pesto marinade
5 - Garlic and thyme pitta crisps and homemade spicy bread sticks with homemade hoummous & tatziki
6 - Grilled halloumi with lime & capers - again, thought we'd cut way too much halloumi, but as soon as the plates went out, they came back empty, guests just couldn't get enough. Same thing happened with halloumi at other barbecues we served throughout the summer.
7 - Greek style meatballs
8 - Baba ganoush - burn those aubergines!
9 - Flavoured butter to go with bread rolls as the bride requested - we made Black olive, sun dried tomato & basil, horseradish & chive and chilli, lime & coriander.
10 - Whole lamb roast for main course served on platters with individual dauphinoise potato with salads served on the table: Beetroot, Rocket, Fennel Radish and Apple Salad with Cider Vinaigrette, Lebanese Salad, Roast Butternut Squash Salad with Pomegranate, Crispy Squash Seeds, Olives, Rocket and Walnut  
11 - Trio desserts: Lemon and raspberry meringue roulade (made at 2am that morning), shotglass of tirimisu and their wedding cake made by the bride's mother - always good when the wedding cake actually gets eaten!
12 - The next day was Mamma Benson's 70th birthday, and what better way to spend your birthday morning that help clearing up a wedding venue! I did take her out for lunch afterwards though! 

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Country style wedding - starter served family style and hog roast main course - wedding catering on Stow on the Wold cricket field

Mud, mud, glorious mud, nothing quite like it..... when you're trying to get from the entrance of the field to the marquee. And that was just the beginning - it had been raining for weeks prior it seemed - and the rain set in as we were en route to the venue. Essential equipment for weddings - full set of waterproofs, waterproof non slip shoes and a high tolerance level. Pushing vans through mud and unpacking in the rain is so refreshing!

Wet chefs dry off after the 'get in' - the first round of chef jackets slung up to dry

Bunting and paper lanterns give a lovely homely country feel. The country look is definitely in this year - it's funny how wedding fashions go. This looked really good - especially when you compared with the dreariness of the outside!

Even the flowers had a country feel - I love the understated look - it makes it much more of a family celebration.

Beetroot rosti with goat’s cheese and rocket (there was also pear & cranberry chutney to go on top of this after the pic was taken)

Mini Yorkshire puddings with grilled fillet steak and horseradish - no 1 popular canapé

Home-cured trout blinis with dill and lemon crème fraîche

Buffalo mozzarella, sun-dried tomato and basil on skewers - suggestion by the bride - this was big on flavour, just what you need in a canape!

Homemade sage and onion bread rolls - people keep telling me it would be  much easier buying them from the bakery across the road from me. Wouldn't be the same though - noone can make them as good as you. The difference in quality is worth the time!

Also, we've noticed, another wedding fashion has definitely been sharing platters - like a buffet, but served on platters at the table for guests to pass among themselves. Great idea - much more informal, gets all the guests interacting and saves on all the queueing at buffet tables - I love it!
For this one the bride and groom had asked for platters of smoked salmon (above, with diced onion, capers, parsley and lemon scattered on top) and beetroot, wild nettle and feta filo tarts as seen here. We also served a bowl of fennel, radish and orange salad per table. 

Another addition for the vegetarians who obviously couldn't have smoked salmon we served some vegetable carpaccio.

Gloucester old spot / Berkshire breed pig roast - quite the centre piece (all the waitresses were snapping away on their phones). We plated up the pork and rosemary roast potatoes, thn served salads in bowls on the table, again for guests to serve themselves.

Colours, textures, flavours - all prepared fresh on site just before being served - makes the difference.

Greek salad

Crunchy coleslaw - request from the bride & groom. With added celariac & sultanas. There was the all-time favourite grilled butternut squash, rocket, pommegranate and walnut salad

Cotswold mess (aka Eton Mess) with local seasonal berries

"Best food we've ever had at a wedding" we kept being told by all the guests we passed outside as they took a breather outside after coffee. Wahoo! Makes it all worthwhile!

Ahhhh! That's it then. Sit back and relax. Or is it? Well not quite. Time to pack up, push the van out of the field through the mud (beats weight lifting in a gym), back to base to unload, start clearing up, back home to put the first load of laundry on, then back to the venue around midnight to pick up the next load of equipment. By this time the mood has changed completely in the marquee, and the traditional wedding tunes have changed to live rap with an MC. Just what you need to keep you going while you work! 

Completely caked in mud by this point of the day I didn't want to drive back on to the field again and get stuck in the mud again (only a tractor could have pulled us out at that point) so parked on a road nearby and had to haul all the equipment over a stone wall. 01:30 off we go again back to base via the 24 hour supermarket for last minute supplies. Back at base by about 03:15 to unload where the overnight guys were busy washing up the first load of crockery & cutlery for the wedding the next day. Finally 04:30 and time for a bit to eat and a couple of hours rest, then soon enough it's time to set up for the next wedding and off we go again! Keeps you on your toes this business - every day is a challenge, that's why we love it!   

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