How to Throw a Wedding
One arc, eight moves
If you like the crisp edges of lasagne, the soaked croutons, the whipped cream that gets icy around the chocolate scoop - you’re in the right place.
The very first wedding we put on at Stissing House was my sister’s in 2023. My quest to make it magical came with an intensity only my sister could inspire. And because she trusted me (and frankly didn’t even care about the wedding itself) I had leeway to try whatever I wanted to… A gauntlet of servers with trays of champagne that every guest must pass through on arrival! Must! Jumbo boats of gravy poured like wine over roast chicken so no one would have a dry plate. A new standard! A punchbowl piled with ice and wild mulberries for cold and juicy, dance-floor-adjacent snacking — essential! Food before speeches, midnight broth service, seconds, a pick-n-mix stall of homemade candy on the way out…for my sister, everything!
Since hers, we've put on more than 30 weddings (a number we limit so that the tavern remains—almost—always open for you), and many of my maid-of-honor antics have become protocol. Though each wedding has been entirely different—suffused with the personality and customs of the couple—they’ve shared an emotional arc. Great weddings begin with anticipation and tenderness, rise through laughter and vulnerability during speeches, and culminate in paroxysms of joy on the dance floor. Our role as hosts is to support that progression, guiding guests through it with food and drink.
Here’s how we do it:
