Our Allergy-Conscious Wedding
On April 26th 2025, my husband and I tied the knot in a celebration 4,376 days in the making!
Back in our home state of Michigan, our day was surrounded by friends, family, and loved ones. Noticeably absent from the guest list? Any and all nuts. Even though I grew out of my tree nut allergies at 25, I was adamant about having an entirely nut-free wedding – Just based on principle!
And I wanted that same peace of mind for my guests, too. Of our 140 guests, approximately 10% had food allergies and/or dietary restrictions – Which is on par with the national average for adults! So we made it a priority to accommodate each and every one of our guests – And from All Things Allergies, I hope they expected nothing else!
But we all know that food allergies are about so much more than “just” food. Our allergy-conscious wedding planning went far beyond simply selecting a safe menu – It required careful consideration of cross contamination, labeling, logistics, and more. Tying The Knot is a glimpse into the lengths we went to ensure a memorable, safe, and allergy-conscious wedding for ourselves and for our loved ones.
Choosing a Venue
Not only was Planterra Conservatory was the most beautiful backdrop for our wedding day, but we could not have been in better hands. Their award-winning botanical garden and next-level customer service was second to none. Because Planterra had mastered the big picture, we got to focus our attention on all of the little details that would make our celebration special. From writing “Peanut Free Menu. Bride is Severely Allergic. Check Oils.” on all of our contracts, to sending us off at the grand exit with bags full of leftovers, I simply cannot imagine having exchanged our vows anywhere else.
Collecting RSVPs
We designed our invitations and collected our RSVPs online through The Knot, where guests were able to list their dietary restrictions and preferences. I exported the information into an Excel file that could easily be shared with our venue and caterers. This method also helped us coordinate the vendor meals – Several of which were gluten free and dairy free.
Welcome Bags
For the guests staying at our hotel block, we had small welcome gifts for them upon arrival. The bags had an itinerary for the weekend, plus some local Michigan favorites – Vernor’s Ginger Ale, Sanders Caramels, and BetterMade Chips from a dedicated nut-free facility. For the two parties with milk allergies, we gifted them dairy-free Sanders dark chocolates.
Emergency Kits
In addition to the wedding day emergency kit with all my bridal essentials, we created an allergy-specific emergency kit with multiple EpiPens, allergy pills, Benadryl cream, and Well Too Wipes. We tucked it under the Sweetheart Table to ensure it was easily accessible during dinner without being an eye sore! Our bridal party and the wedding coordinator knew where it was in the event of an emergency.
Pre-Ceremony Snacks
Since I first came across Thyme and Honey, I knew I needed to find a way to incorporate them into our wedding weekend. We ordered grazing boards for our bridal party and family to enjoy during portraits. This was the perfect, bite-sized snack to keep my energy levels and blood sugar up throughout the busy day – And to my delight, the charcuterie was delivered with accompanying “NUT FREE” labels.
Walking Down the Aisle
No, we didn’t hire an allergy-friendly string trio to play our ceremony music – But my song choices were certainly inspired by my life experiences with allergies. Some of my fondest childhood memories are from family vacations to Disney World – Largely due to the way the chefs would go above and beyond to take care of me and my food-allergic brother at the parks. So, it should come as no surprise that Can You Feel The Love Tonight? holds a very special place in my heart and made for a beautiful moment as my dad escorted me down the aisle. Isn’t it fascinating the way allergies can shape our lives?
Catering
One of the deciding factors when booking Planterra Conservatory as our wedding venue was the allergy-conscious nature of their catering team. Planterra partners with Continental for in-house food and beverage services – And we were very impressed with their protocols for handling dietary restrictions, including helping us craft an entirely nut-free menu. I had specifically asked for the servers to be knowledgeable of any top nine allergens in each dish, especially when passing around hors d’oeuvre during cocktail hour.
About two weeks out from our wedding day, I submitted a color coordinated seating chart to the catering team outlining our guests dietary restrictions. In combination with the table setting procedure shown below, Continental seamlessly coordinated safe food service for all of our guests.
Table Settings
Because so much of the food allergy experience is characterized by exclusion and othering, I wanted our wedding to be a place where allergies were not just accommodated, but celebrated. So to help the servers easily identify dietary restrictions at our reception, I added these gold wax seals only to the name tags of our guests with allergies. It was a minor detail – but it was a chance for the allergy kid to get something, instead of having something taken away.
Shown above on the customized menu, our three courses were also labeled accordingly as gluten-free (GF), dairy-free (DF), and nut-free (NF).
Wedding Cake(s)
We hired Sweet Heather Anne to design our wedding cake knowing the bakery did not use peanut products, and had a protocol for reducing cross contamination with tree nuts. We offered our guests two flavors – Chocolate Raspberry with Rose Buttercream or Lemon Cake with Strawberry Buttercream.
For our GF/DF guests, we had a third option. Sweet Heather Anne partners with another local bakery called Botanical Bakeshop – A 100% vegan bakery with gluten free accommodations. Botanical Bakeshop delivered their 15-slice cake to Sweet Heather Anne, who delivered both cakes to our venue on wedding day. No one is missing dessert at my party!
Bar Service
The allergy-friendly menu didn’t stop at food – Alcoholic beverages commonly contain allergens, too! We crafted three signature cocktails – The Columbus Strawberry Basil Margarita, the East Lansing Knob Creek Old Fashion, and the Chicago non-alcoholic Lavender Lemonade.
Cappuccino Bar
To keep the energy up on the dance floor, The Cappuccino Man brewed late night coffee for our guests, topped with custom latte art of our beloved Alma Maters. The Cappuccino Man was more than happy to thoroughly sanitize all of their equipment, and leave the almond milk, pistachio syrup, and hazelnut creamers off the menu.
Floral Design
Despite the year and a half of wedding planning, I suppose there’s some things you just cannot plan for… While our floral arrangements were unbelievably beautiful, it turns out my groom was allergic! On his first day married to All Things Allergies, Connor broke out in full body hives after helping carry the bouquets home from the venue – Thankfully he did not suffer any symptoms until after the big day! After Zyrtec and antihistamine cream failed so stop the reaction, we headed to urgent care for a prednisone injection.
My better half is good as new now and ready to schedule his first allergy appointment – What are the odds?!
All Things Allergies 