One of the pivotal moments in planning a wedding is attending a Wedding Tasting in preparation for your big day with your venue. Going into our wedding planning adventure, I had some ideas of what a wedding tasting might be like based on movies and TV shows, but I wasn’t fully sure what to expect. Today, I’m going to share our experience at our Cape Cod venue so you can go in ready to fully enjoy your wedding tasting experience.
What to expect at a Wedding Tasting for Wychmere
Around 6 months before your wedding date, Wychmere will schedule your Wedding Tasting onsite. As a May Bride, our Wedding Tasting event occurred in December. Ahead of time, your coordinator at Wychmere will pass along a questionnaire to collect insights into your wedding day expectations, vendors, menu preference and share an updated list of hor d’oeuvres, speciality cocktails, cocktail hour stations, entrees, deserts, and more!
The tasting itself is a Group Tasting, meaning it’s not just for you and your partner, but all couples getting married in a similar timeframe. Our tasting event had around 20 couples total, and each couple was allowed to bring up to 2 guests if they so desired, but some I saw were able to bring 4 guests.
Tastings at Wychmere aren’t free! I had gone into this assuming there would be no cost for a tasting since you’re already paying tens of thousands of dollars, but at our particular venue in 2024/2025 they were charging $175 per person to attend the tasting. At that price, you may rethink how many people you want with you 🙂
Brian and I opted for going alone, and not bringing our family with us. I actually preferred it this way because we were able to experience the offerings without judgement or opinions of others, and could make our own decisions for what we thought we and our guests would enjoy best. There were 2 other couples also solo during our group tasting, with most bringing one set of parents with them.
Cocktail Hour
Just like a real wedding, you attend a cocktail hour during your tasting. During this time you can try some speciality drinks, sample some butler passed hor d’oeuvres, check out some serving stations, and plated hor d’oeuvres. Here’s what our event included:
- 11 of the most popular passed appetizers
- Soup station (clam chowder and tomato bisque with mini grilled cheeses)
- Full open bar
- Speciality cocktails
- Table of appetizers
Dinner service
After cocktail hour, another room was opened to reveal tables for dinner service, as well as sample table settings at the entrance so you could check out a variety of place settings, linens, glassware and more.
What I loved about this part of the evening was that each couple/party received their own table. When I heard we were attending a group tasting, I was afraid we’d have to sit with strangers, but nope! Thankfully each group had their own round table so you could privately enjoy the offerings.
This part of the evening takes around 2-3 hours. So get ready for a lot of eating! I’ve never eaten for so many hours straight in my life! Here’s what to expect during the dinner portion of your tasting.
- 3 of the most popular salads + bread (these are already out at your table when you arrive)
- 4 popular fish entrees
- 3 popular beef entrees + 1 popular chicken entree
- Variety of Plated & Petite Desserts
- Cake samples to take home
- Full Open Bar + Tableside House Wine (that we have paired with entrees)
You also receive a menu card at your table letting you know what meal selections you’ll be trying, which was helpful to keep note of what we liked and what we’d change.
Dessert Time
This was a seemingly never ending experience! We received a platter of small desserts that had a wide variety of items, and then before we knew it, we were then being served a number of full sized desserts too! When the evening was coming to a close, each table also received a box of cake samples to take away with them, which I appreciated because it let us take a break from eating and have something we could nibble on either later that night or the next day. Cake is a big deal, so you want to choose the right kind!
5 hours later
After what was around 5 hours at the venue, it was time to head out. After meal service, you were welcome to walk around the other venue spaces on the premise to check out the rooms you’ve already booked for your wedding, see some sample tables and floor plans, and just get excited for what the vision will be for the big day! Safe to say we were stuffed and exhausted after our tasting!
Observations
- Bigger parties during cocktail hour would wipe clean the butler passed hor d’oeuvres, so you often had to wait for a second, or sometimes third pass to be able to try something since those parties of 6 often grabbed as much as they could.
- Cocktail hour for the tasting felt too long. I think we would have enjoyed 30-45 minutes max since there was often a lull in things to do or eat
- I really loved seeing sample tables done up with various lines, plates, and glassware. You could see some of the things in real life that are only listed on the vendor websites, and it really got me excited to pick things out to compliment the vision I have for our wedding.
- Takeaway cake is great! We had fun the next evening tasting the various cakes and were able to make a selection we were happy with.
- Overall, we had a lot of fun, and it really made it feel real that we’e getting married before we know it!
You can check out my Youtube Short for a video version of our experience!
