East Gippsland Wedding Planner

www.eastgippslandweddingexpo.com.au | EAST GIPPSLAND WEDDING PLANNER 2017 29 If you’ve a passion for food then The Riversleigh is the cream of the crop when it comes to wedding reception venues. Head chef and wedding coordinator, Felicity O’Byrne, has been in the wedding catering business for many years. Teaming up with The Riversleigh’s Rachel Bromage, they can package an event that is as individual as you. When it comes to the food, Felicity says The Riversleigh offers something a little different to most other venues. “We prefer to do a bespoke menu for the bride and groom, meeting with them to find out what they enjoy, rather than just giving them the chicken and the fish,” she said. With food being such a big part of the day, a full food tasting is an early part of the process. “They get to try everything that they want and then from there choose their own menu. It’s all very personalised,” Felicity said. “We get to know the bride and groom through the full journey and in doing so we feel we are able to put in that little bit more effort, knowing that what we’re doing is exactly what they want. “The groom, for example, might love chicken parmigiana, but there’s no way they’d have it on their menu, so we might reinvent it to become a fantastic little canapé style dish. “Those dishes that are descriptive of the couple we’ll feature somehow on their menu. “It’s all about creating an individually stylised menu for the bride and groom, meeting all of their needs and dietary requirements.” Presentation can incorporate other aspects of the couple’s GOING THE EXTRA MILE lives, for example pots of rosemary among the platters to remember lost loved ones or petals and flowers of colours that represent someone. “We try to go that extra mile to make it about the bride and groom and their wishes,” Felicity said. “The guests may not even know that these things have happened or what they mean, but the bride and groom do and that’s what matters.” Everything on the menu is made on the premises using local produce as much as possible, right down to the herbs and vegetables coming from the gardens of The Riversleigh and kitchen staff and eggs from their own chickens. The Riversleigh offers three styles of dining – feasting on your feet with a three to four course dinner menu served in a cocktail fashion; a feasting banquet, similar to a Tuscan banquet that is very social and all about the food; or the classic tradition of alternate meals for the guests. “We find, too, that we tend to over-cater, so no-one goes home hungry,” Felicity said. Working with local decorators the venue can be adorned to personal tastes, too, and even edible bombonieres can be made for a personal thank you from the bride and groom. “We offer couples the whole wedding package,” Felicity said. “The whole place can be booked for the whole weekend if that’s what a couple is after, with a welcome party for their guests, breakfast on the morning, their wedding reception and then a recovery the following day.” It is a true passion that the team at The Riversleigh has for making a bride and groom’s wedding day as special as can be.