Got a wedding written down on the calendar? Nervous? Excited? Overwhelmed? And just think, you’re only the guest. The big day is full of expectations; here’s a peek behind the veil to find out what might be on the menu.

Circulating canapés and flutes of bubbly wouldn’t be possible without that essential caterer. Some anxious clients book two years in advance, while others adopt a more laid-back approach. According to Shannon Boudreau, event planner at the Lazy Gourmet, “Some people have called and said, ‘I’m getting married on Sunday.’ And it’s no problem. Really, we need only 48 hours.”

In a phone interview, Boudreau explains that she sits down with clients to talk about the venue, the number of guests, the style of meal service, and the budget. Numbers typically range from 25 to 450 people while budgets vary wildly, from $30 to $100 per person for food alone, and $100 to $400 per person for a package that covers food, alcohol, staffing, and decorations. Some of the more popular venues are the Vancouver Art Gallery, Hycroft Mansion, and VanDusen Botanical Garden.

Lengthy plated dinners and cattle-call buffets aren’t as popular as they used to be, according to Boudreau. Catered back-yard barbecues are a great summer choice, as are cocktail parties that have guests sampling, sipping, and mingling at the same time. The Lazy Gourmet offers circulating appetizers like mini savoury blue-cheesecake tarts topped with port-infused figs, New York steak au poivre on rosemary skewers, and wild-mushroom risotto balls with creamy fontina-cheese centres.

Another trendy choice is food stations that allow clients to select themes reflecting their cultural backgrounds. Sarah MacKenzie, director of sales and events at Culinary Capers Catering, describes one couple who met in Australia and wanted to pay tribute to the groom’s Swiss and the bride’s Mexican background. The result was Swiss-style mini-sausage appetizers, Australian lamb skewers, a prawn-taco station, and a West Coast salmon station.

Other couples opt for a more family-style meal that involves food being brought to tables on large sharing platters. “People get to talk about the food as they are passing the food to one another,” MacKenzie says by phone.

She once had a client ask for an unconventional take on the plated dinner. Staff brainstormed furiously and came up with four meals on a single plate: Thai beef noodle salad, marinated shrimp with grilled melon salad, sablefish baked with miso mustard, and free-range herb-and-lemon chicken.

Restricted-diet options can easily be accommodated. For example, Culinary Capers has pulled off a completely vegan wedding, and regularly serves vegan dishes like marinated tofu salad and a summer vegetable tart. Boudreau recalls a Mad Hatter wedding at which food was piled up and tilted to look lopsided. At the Stanley Park Pavilion, marketing and event coordinator Laura Jennifer Leppard recalls a wedding that took the groom’s Tennessee roots as inspiration. Buttermilk chicken, home-style biscuits, and corn on the cob came together for the ultimate southern comfort menu.

Leppard has noticed an increased tendency for clients to celebrate B.C. in their food and wine. At one wedding, cedar-planked salmon with maple mustard glaze, local bison roasted with huckleberry glaze, and a frisée salad with Fraser Valley duck confit showcased the province’s bounty. “People are more savvy about where their food comes from and how it’s prepared,” she explains over the phone.

As for drinks, couples are keeping it simple with nonalcoholic beverages, beer, wine, and often a signature cocktail. For a white-and-blue-themed wedding, a Lazy Gourmet staff member designed the Something Blue wedding cocktail: Hpnotiq liqueur, ginger ale, and white wine served in a champagne glass. The novelty martini luge—an ice sculpture with a funnel that guests pour their martinis through for chilling—is a party hit with many caterers.

The grand finale, the cake, is still all about chocolate, with lemon a close second and fresh berries dominating the summer. Recent Culinary Capers cakes have included vanilla génoise with raspberry mousse and champagne syrup, and a “chocolate blackout” cake with Earl Grey tea–infused dark-chocolate ganache served with raspberry coulis. Boudreau’s clients frequently ask for an individual three-tiered wedding cake for each guest, with tiers in lemon, vanilla, chocolate, or berry flavour.

Final advice from these seasoned pros? Have a rough plan when you meet with your caterer, keep your guests’ palates in mind, and be open to experimentation. And above all, make sure you eat on the big day.