Midlands, Northamptonshire, Leicestershire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Warwickshire, Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire
Phoebe & Joel’s Italian Marquee Wedding in Northamptonshire
A Big Italian Feast in the Northamptonshire Countryside
Phoebe and Joel’s August wedding in Upper Boddington was exactly the sort of celebration we love to cater.
With 144 guests, a marquee setting and a menu built around generous sharing food, they wanted the day to feel relaxed, sociable and full of the kind of dishes people genuinely enjoy eating together.
There was no formal procession of tiny plates and no need for guests to disappear off and queue for dinner.
Instead, the meal moved from cicchetti and antipasti through four different pasta dishes, followed by cannoli and late-night pizza.
It was a big wedding, so there was plenty of planning behind the scenes, but the food itself still needed to feel warm, personal and uncomplicated. That balance is one of the most important parts of good marquee wedding catering.
The guests should see beautiful food arriving at the table.
They do not need to see everything that has happened behind the scenes to get it there.
Creating a Working Kitchen for the Day
One of the biggest questions couples have when planning a marquee wedding is usually about the kitchen.
Where will the caterer actually cook?
For Phoebe and Joel’s wedding, a 9m x 3m catering marquee was set up beside the main wedding space. It had running water, power and simple overhead lighting, giving us the basic infrastructure we needed to create a proper working kitchen.
The hired kitchen equipment included:
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Two gas range cookers
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Two large electric warming cupboards
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Six trestle tables
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Crockery, cutlery and serving ware
Sara arranged the equipment hire for this particular wedding, with the equipment supplied by external hire companies rather than by Italian Celebrations itself.
This is an important part of outdoor and marquee wedding catering.
We travel to the venue and cook on-site, but if there is no suitable kitchen already there, the necessary cooking equipment needs to be hired for the day.
We can advise on what is required according to the menu, guest numbers and venue.
Years of outside catering experience mean that working from a temporary kitchen is not unusual for us. Marquees, barns, gardens and countryside settings all need slightly different planning, but with the right setup, we can create a very efficient kitchen almost anywhere.
Starting with Cicchetti
Guests arrived in the afternoon and were welcomed with drinks and a selection of Italian-style cicchetti.
Phoebe and Joel chose:
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Tuscan pork sausage meatballs with tomato sauce
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Tomato and basil bruschetta
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Zucchini fritto with homemade tomato ragù
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Mushroom and mozzarella arancini
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Sun-blush tomato and bocconcini mozzarella
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Calamari fritti with garlic mayonnaise and lemon
This is one of our favourite ways to start a wedding.
People arrive hungry, drinks begin to flow and trays of food move naturally around the reception while everyone catches up.
There is no great ceremony around it.
Just very good things to eat.
The wedding breakfast continued with antipasti already waiting for guests when they sat down.
The seating was arranged across 24 tables, mostly with six guests at each, and the food was planned around the same sharing style.
The Verdura and Formaggi platters included buffalo mozzarella with peaches, heirloom tomatoes and basil, alongside chargrilled courgette and red and yellow peppers with Provolone.
The meat platters featured Finocchiona, Speck smoked prosciutto, Spianata Calabrese and truffle salami.
Everything was served with Puglian olives, fennel taralli breadsticks, rosemary focaccia, ciabatta and Italian extra virgin olive oil.
For us, this is what Italian celebration food should feel like.
People reach across the table, pass the bread, try a little of everything and start talking.
The food becomes part of the atmosphere rather than simply another item on the wedding schedule.
Sharing Antipasti Around the Table
Four Pasta Dishes to Share
The main course was probably the best example of how Phoebe and Joel wanted the meal to work.
Rather than giving every guest one fixed choice, each table received a combination of four pasta dishes:
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Slow-cooked Fiorentina beef short rib ragù with pappardelle
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Orecchiette alla Calabrese, with cherry tomato sugo, rocket, cream, and a hint of spicy ’nduja
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Handmade tortelloni filled with burrata and black truffle, finished with black truffle butter and Pecorino
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Maria’s legendary courgette pasta, with basil, lemon, Pecorino, and handmade trofie
Four very different dishes, all arriving at the table together.
Sharing-style service works particularly well with pasta because everybody gets the chance to try several flavours.
There is no food envy and no awkward moment when you realise the person opposite has chosen something you would much rather have ordered.
Instead, everyone helps themselves.
That is far more like the way we enjoy food around the table ourselves.
Phoebe and Joel’s guest list included vegetarian guests, guests with nut allergies and one vegan guest, all of which had been planned for in advance.
The vegan main was prepared separately as Orecchiette alla Calabrese with cherry tomato sugo, rocket and chilli, while supplier meals were also arranged, including a gluten-free option where needed. The aim was simple: make sure everyone had something good to eat, without dietary requirements feeling like an afterthought.
Catering for Dietary Requirements
Cannoli for Dessert and Pizza After Dark
For dessert, Phoebe and Joel supplied cannoli, which were served to the tables after the main course.
Then, later in the evening, it was time for pizza.
The couple chose five different Pizze al Taglio:
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Il Gabbiano – Squisito Napoli sausage, passata, Fior di Latte mozzarella and Sardinian Pecorino
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Rucola – passata, cherry tomatoes, Fior di Latte and fresh rocket
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Portabello – mushrooms, garlic, Fior di Latte and oregano
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’Nduja – homemade passata, ’nduja and Fior di Latte
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Zucchini – soft goat’s cheese, courgette and thyme
Thirty pizzas were prepared and served by the slice to guests and the band.
It is hard to beat pizza as evening wedding food.
By that point, nobody wants another formal course.
They want something warm, generous and easy to eat between dancing, talking and heading back to the bar.
Italian Wedding Catering That Feels Personal
Phoebe and Joel’s wedding had everything we love about a big Italian celebration.
Generous tables.
Food passed from person to person.
Several different dishes rather than one fixed choice.
Plenty of pasta.
And pizza later in the evening.
Most importantly, it felt like their day.
We do not believe couples should have to squeeze themselves into a standard wedding menu. We start with what you like eating, how you want the day to feel, your venue, your guests and your budget, and then create the menu around that.
Phoebe and Joel chose cicchetti, sharing antipasti, four pasta dishes, cannoli and late-night pizza.
Another couple might choose something completely different.
That is the whole point.
Planning a Marquee Wedding in Northamptonshire?
If you are planning a marquee, countryside or garden wedding in Northamptonshire, Daventry or elsewhere across the Midlands, we would love to hear about it.
Italian Celebrations is a mobile wedding caterer, so we travel to your venue and cook on-site. If your venue does not have a suitable catering kitchen, Sara can advise on the setup and hired cooking equipment needed for your menu and guest numbers.
From antipasti and handmade pasta to tiramisu, gelato and evening pizza, everything can be built around the food you genuinely want to eat.