Your wedding tasting at VESPER: what to expect
Your wedding tasting at VESPER: what to expect
A VESPER Grand Tasting is a seated evening where booked couples work through the menu they are choosing for their wedding. It runs from 5pm to about 7:30pm, moves from a cocktail hour with live stations to a served first course, main course and dessert station, and it is included for couples who have booked their date. You are not the only couple in the room, and that turns out to be the best part of it.
Most venues run tastings one couple at a time in a quiet dining room. We run them as a single event with the room set the way a wedding is set, because tasting food in an empty space tells you very little about how your night will actually feel.
You will not be tasting alone
A Grand Tasting brings together couples whose weddings sit across the coming season, some in September, some the following May. Everyone is at a different point in planning, which means the conversation at the table is often more useful than anything we could tell you.
The couple across from you may have already chosen their florist and be deep in seating charts. The couple next to you may have booked three weeks ago. You will hear what other people are worrying about, what they have solved, and what they wish they had asked earlier.
Bring the people whose opinions actually matter to you. Most couples bring a parent or two, and planners are welcome. We ask for names in advance so the kitchen and the floor know exactly who is at each seat.
The evening, hour by hour
Before 5pm. If you would like to walk the space again before eating, tell your coordinator and we will arrange a tour ahead of the tasting. Couples who booked months ago often want to see the room with fresh eyes now that decisions are getting real.
5:00pm, doors. A host meets you downstairs and brings you up. There is no queue and no check-in desk.
5:15pm, cocktail hour. The bar opens. This is deliberately unhurried, because a wedding cocktail hour is unhurried and we want you to feel the pace rather than read it on a timeline.
5:30pm, stations open. The stations go live and you eat standing, the way your guests will. Pay attention to how the room moves here. Station food is the part of a wedding menu people most often underestimate.
5:50pm, to the table. Everyone sits and canapes come to the table. The tables and chairs are set the way they would be for a wedding, so you are looking at the real thing rather than imagining it.
6:00pm, first course. Served properly, cleared properly, at wedding pace.
6:30pm, main course.
6:55pm, dessert station. Including a tiered cake, so you can see how it is presented and cut.
7:15 to 7:30pm, close.
The whole thing is about two and a half hours. That is roughly the length of the dinner portion of your wedding, which is not a coincidence.
You choose what you taste
You are not handed a fixed menu. Ahead of the evening you tell us what you want to try across each part of the meal: canapes, stations, first course, main course, sides and dessert. Your coordinator will walk you through the options and how many selections you have in each category.
This is worth thinking about before you arrive. Couples who come in with a rough shape in mind get far more out of the night than couples who decide at the table. If you already know you want a heavier station moment and a lighter first course, say so, and we will build your selections around that.
Menus also change with the season. What we serve in September is not what we serve in April, and your tasting is built from the menu that matches your wedding date rather than a generic sampler.
Tell us about every dietary need
Every allergy and dietary requirement is recorded per person before the evening, not gathered at the table. Across a single Grand Tasting we routinely handle vegetarian, vegan, pescatarian, dairy-free, no pork, and nut and shellfish allergies, and each of those plates is built rather than subtracted from.
That matters for two reasons. First, you should eat properly at your own tasting. Second, it shows you how the kitchen will handle your guest list on the day. If someone in your family has a complicated set of requirements, this is the night to find out how it is handled, not three weeks before the wedding.
Send anything you know now, and send updates as they come in. Nothing is too small.
Come with questions and something to write with
There are menus and pens on the table, and there is a reason for that. This is a working evening rather than a dinner out.
Things worth asking while the food is in front of you:
How does this dish hold at scale for our guest count? What changes if we move this to a station instead of a course? Can this be adapted for the dietary needs in our family? What does the timing look like if our ceremony runs late?
Take notes on the day, because you will not remember which of two similar dishes you preferred by the following week. Photograph plates if it helps. Nobody minds.
After the tasting
You are not expected to decide anything at the table. Most couples take a few days, talk it through, and then confirm their menu with their coordinator.
If you are torn between two options, say so rather than picking one to be decisive. There is usually a way to get both onto the night in different forms, and that conversation is easier while the tasting is fresh.
For a wider view of how catering works here, see our guide to wedding venue catering in Brooklyn, and the weddings overview covers the rest of the planning process.
Frequently asked questions
What happens at a wedding tasting at VESPER? It is a seated evening for booked couples that runs from 5pm to about 7:30pm. It opens with a cocktail hour and live stations, moves to the table for canapes, then a first course, main course and a dessert station including a tiered cake. The room is set the way a wedding is set.
Is the tasting private or shared with other couples? Shared. Several booked couples attend the same Grand Tasting, seated at their own tables. Couples consistently tell us that talking to others at different stages of planning is one of the more useful parts of the evening.
Who can I bring to my wedding tasting? Most couples bring a parent or two, and planners are welcome. Numbers are agreed with your coordinator in advance so the kitchen and floor team know exactly who is seated where.
Can you accommodate allergies and dietary requirements at a tasting? Yes. Every requirement is recorded per person before the evening, and alternative plates are built rather than made by removing components. Vegetarian, vegan, pescatarian, dairy-free and allergy needs are all standard. Send them to your coordinator as early as you can.
Do I choose what I taste? Yes. Ahead of the evening you select what you want to try across canapes, stations, courses, sides and dessert, guided by your coordinator. Selections come from the seasonal menu matching your wedding date rather than a fixed sampler.
Do I have to decide my menu on the night? No. Take the time you need and confirm with your coordinator afterwards. If you are torn between two dishes, raise it while the tasting is fresh, since there is often a way to use both.
What equipment do you actually use to run an event? People ask this on tours, so here is the short list of what our team reaches for. It is written for anyone producing an event somewhere without an in-house kitchen and floor team, because at VESPER the catering runs through MADRE and our team sets the room.
Holding food at temperature is the most common failure at a self-catered event. Proper chafers hold service temperature for hours: the Alpha Living 4-pack stainless set, or the 36QT rectangular set with seven food pans for larger volume. Buy the pans at the same time or you find the gap on the night: full-size hotel pans 2.5in deep, six with lids and 4in deep steam table pans. Holding food safely is not a guess, so carry a thermometer you trust: the ThermoWorks Thermapen ONE is the kitchen standard and the Lavatools Javelin PRO does the same job for less.
For prep at volume, a Vitamix 5200 and a KitchenAid Artisan 5-quart mixer are the two appliances that earn their counter space. Both are built for repeat use rather than occasional home cooking, which is the difference that matters when you are producing for a room.
On the floor, buy more candles than you think and check burn time against the length of your event, since a four-hour reception needs candles rated past four hours: 144 white votives at a 10-hour burn, 48 in clear glass, ivory votives rated to 15 hours, or tea lights for low tables. Guests seat themselves far faster when signage is legible from standing height, so use acrylic sign holders or steel ring-clip number stands.
For wellness and pilates events, the kit is simple and the quality shows immediately underfoot: a Liforme alignment mat for instructors, extra-wide mats for guests who want room, cork blocks, and block and strap sets for mixed-ability groups.
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Plan your wedding at VESPER
The Grand Tasting is one part of how we plan a wedding at VESPER, with MADRE handling the food and one coordinator with you from the first tour to the last dance.
If you have not visited yet, book a private tour.