Weddings can be fussy, formal affairs. The number of conventions associated with the ritual is dizzying: contracts to sign, rings to purchase, dresses to try on, guests
to invite, bridal showers, vows, flowers, music … the list goes on.Many of those traditions will likely stand for years to come. But Vermont weddings are changing with the times, according to local planners. Though the elegant full-blown ceremony still exists, many couples are toning it way down. Enter food trucks.
According to wedding planner Jackie Watson, owner of award-winning Vermont Enchanted Events in Hyde Park, food trucks are all the rage. “And they’re not totally expensive, so that’s a pro. They’re also really unique, and they take you down memory lane,” she says. “And it’s fresh food.”
Brian Stefan, owner of the food truck Southern Smoke, says customers began requesting his services for weddings last year. By the end of the season, he’d catered five. Taco bars, barbecue and fried chicken were the biggest hits, he says. This year, Stefan is already in talks with seven wedding clients and hopes to book more.
“Weddings are one of my favorite things to do, because how often does someone get to throw such a big party for you and your family and friends?” he says. “Food should be a really big part
of it.”Stefan, who spent more than a decade in Charleston, S.C., working formal events that he describes as “Ritz-Carlton,” notes that the food didn’t always give customers that much bang for their bucks.
“Weddings are notorious for chicken or fish and lazy potatoes served with symbolic vegetables for, like, $30 a plate or something,” he says. “But everyone who’s come to us for weddings has said the same thing: ‘We want down-home and casual.'”
Stefan admits that laid-back approach comes more naturally to younger couples and their guests. “We told one client’s mother that we wanted to do a taco bar at the wedding, and she turned pale and we had to get her a chair,” he remembers. “Because she’s thinking, like, Dog food and lettuce on a taco, right?”
Little did that mom know that a gourmet taco bar is one of the most popular requests from Southern Smoke customers. Stefan whips up a variety of tacos with fresh, locally sourced ingredients and “20 or 30 different toppings,” he says.
“Our generation is starting to let our hair down a little,” he continues, “focusing on what’s important — where we can put on the ritz and the snob, and also where it’s not necessary.”
Curated from Casual Cuisine: Food-Truck Weddings | Food + Drink Features | Seven Days | Vermont’s Independent Voice
More and more people are using taco trucks and carts to provide casual food at affordable prices these days. I’ve found most people at the weddings we’ve catered would rather have something simple and delicious with the ease of getting up and grabbing another couple tacos when they feel like it.
Head on over and search our taco cart listings to find a caterer in your area.
