Many American brides and grooms are looking for the ideal place for their wedding ceremony and reception, and finding a venue is an entire topic for weddings all on its own. But finding a venue does not have to be a hassle; in fact, based on personal interests, or local attractions, a bride or groom may have just a few great venues to choose from in their home town or city. Golf courses, for example, may be a great place for a wedding reception if enough people in the guest list are interested in playing. The bride or groom, their parents, cousins, or anyone else may take advantage of a golf course during a reception and play a game before or after the reception meal. For families with many golfers, one can book a party at a golf course across the United States, and given the popularity of golf, there are bound to be many to choose from. An 18-hole golf course may contain a large lodge that will host the reception, and catering can be easily done there. Then, those who are interested can visit the field for a friendly game during the big day, and the rest of the guests may watch the game if they like. What is there to know about golf in the United States today? And in what ways may the golf industry overlap with planning a wedding reception?
Golf and Weddings
As of the year 1900, over 1,000 golf clubs could be found in the United States, and today, there are many more, and many courses can be found across the nation. A golf course will have varied terrain, from hills to copses of trees to the sand bunkers or even a pond, and courses tend to be found in more temperate parts of the United States, along with the attending golf club buildings and other features. Most golfers tend to be men, but more and more women are getting into the sport too, and today, about 23% of golfer are women, and this means that if a wedding party hosts the meal and reception at a golf course, many brides may take part in the game too, or maybe a bridesmaid or an aunt along with the men in the guest list.
A golf course offers more than just the course itself, however, the lodge may be a large one, and it may be possible to have catering done there, and the on-site kitchen staff may even offer a discount for a large party eating there. Brunch, lunch, or dinner may be served, and brunch in particular is gaining in popularity among American brides and grooms. First developed in England in the 1980s, brunch soon gained in popularity in the United States as well. This meal is often served in the mid-morning and, as the name suggests, is a combination of breakfast and lunch. Common ingredients or dishes of both meals may be found side-by-side or even combined, such as sandwiches with fried eggs in them or wine and orange juice cocktails, among many other recipes. Many wedding parties today involve brunch at some stage, either before or during the wedding day, and what is more, some larger golf courses may serve not only brunch, but also more specialized meals.
The United States is an ethnically diverse nation, and many weddings among Americans may involve ethnic foods and traditions that span the globe. Some common ethnic weddings may involve not just the proceedings at a place of worship for the ceremony, but also the meals served. Indian-American families, for example, may serve a wide range of Indian cuisine at the reception, and Jewish families will opt for kosher foods and other suitable dishes for a wedding. Muslim-American families will have halal meals that follow their own dietary rules for a wedding meal, and anything else may be requested by a golf course’s kitchen staff. Any wedding party with special foods in mind may contact a golf course resort ahead of time and not only book the space for the wedding meal, but also request the foods that they would like to have served. This makes it easier for staffs to serve less-common meals such as kosher or Indian.
