Wedding Gazette

Renaissance Wedding Receptions

By Jennifer Baumann

From roast suckling pig to honeymead, find out what was served at Medieval and Renaissance wedding receptions, along with what kind of entertainment ruled the day.

The Wedding Feast

Find a reception hall to serve your guests with the finest of Renaissance/Medieval dishes from England or the Nordic lands, which includes meat pies of beef and pork, roast suckling pig, oysters, venison, and cabbage. Vegetables were for peasants, so the more meat you had at your feast, the richer you were. Bread made with ale was also a wedding reception staple, along with spiced sweetmeats and pies for dessert. The rule here: think bountifully. According to history, the Medieval wedding feast was nothing short of gluttonous.

The Wedding Beverage

If you're really inspired to recreate a 14th or 15th century wedding reception, the drink of choice was Honeymead, a rich wine mixed with honey, cardamom, and cloves. The term "honeymoon" came from the month after the wedding when the bride and groom were supposed to drink this beverage every night to celebrate - the period of one moon - thus the after-wedding celebration we know today. We personally prefer Fiji.

Entertainment

Between courses, it was customary for the guests to be entertained by musicians, minstrels, and jesters. Gather some talented friends, or hire a group that specializes in Renaissance entertainment to delight the party with songs, jokes, and music from that era.

The Wedding Cake

If you're brave, you can follow this ancient tradition that began the whole wedding cake thing in the first place: breaking the cake over the bride's head, symbolizing luck and fertility. Traditional wedding cakes at this time were not icing-covered confections (no marzipan in the hair, please!), but rather wheat cakes (another fertility symbol) made with cinnamon and other spices. Incorporate this tradition into a special time during the reception, then save the sweet stuff for your guests.