Im getting more nervous as time goes on about the catering at the Hotel we have booked for our wedding. I still haven't had chance to sit down and speak to the chef there but I really do need to. the Wedding co-ordinator says she does that for us but my Son Joey is a lillte more complex then we orignally had thought.

He will be 2 yrs old on tuesday and always had a bad reaction to milk since birth, I wont go too deeply into his syptoms just incase anyone reading is eating, however i can explain further if you ask, as many may have concerns about their own children.

Slowly over the 2 years we have seen doctors (6 to date) pead dr at the hospital, dietitians (3 of them) health visitors and we are now waiting to see the allergy clinic in Magherfelt. Over the past 2 years we have slowly watched as the list of foods he can eat slowly dwindle away to nothing really between what he isnt allowed and what he doesn't like. When we saw the wedding co-ordinator, his only problems were with dairy, So giggling when we asked about his menu she said we'll give him pasta, This at the time didn't fill me with much confidence that i was taken seriously, this was only 4 months ago, but as i stated his list is greatly shrinking, The pead dr and dietians have now got him on a diet that is NOT to include, Milk/or their derivitaves, soya, egg, wheat, gluten, nuts, and shellfish, oranges.

I dont even trust my sister to look after him for a few hours as his reactions are becoming increasivly worse with each reaction and even foods we could feed him last week we tend to find problems with this week and after a couple weeks we have to add that product to the list too. We send him with a pack up if there is no choice and we have to leave him behind when we go anywhere.

I need to discuss this and be in regular contact with the chef directly as I have to scrutenize absolutly everything before it passes his lips, as alot of the items he cannot have are hidden in alot of products. You may think i can trust a chef, but even if fruit is served I have to know if the fruit has be waxed to preserve it for sale as there is soya and milk derivatives within the wax.

So i guess my question is has anyone else had to deal with these kind of problems and if so what was the outcome? Also do you think I'm out of order for wanting that either i personally work with the chef or demand that i supply the food for Joey.

do u get to speak to the chef about it? i can supply alternative ingredients, he uses a very expensive milk replacer, and egg replacements amongst other things, we have to becareful bout how food is cooked as im sure u understand because of ur neice.
what bothers me is they at the time of booking said they have to supply all food except our cake itself. 0-3 eat free. so im hoping he will qualify under this section as he'll be 3 by the time of the wedding, cos they wont be losing any money if i cook for him

sounds like u have a good chef there. just hope ours is just as good. i dont want him ill and hospitalised cos someone else is cooking.

My nephew has a similar range of allergies and our venue said nearer the time we can discuss and they will sort it out or we can provide his food ourselves. If you explain the severity of his reactions then they are unlikely to refuse. They wont want the stress and problems of having to give epipen and call ambulance. or even in the best case scenario, clear up the vomit!

I'm allergic to dairy and have not yet had the sit down with the chef to discuss our food choices (we don't do it until the new year apparently) but when we do speak with the venue I will have to spell it out and tell them that I don't want anything at all on the menu cooked with dairy products, there are alternatives/substitutes that can be used and I don't want to run the risk of getting ill on my wedding day.

Also have a problem with the cake - we have our first cake tasting session next weekend and I've already asked the lady to do everything free from milk products - the last time I had something with dairy in it - well, I won't explain the effects on here.

I'm sure that whoever caters for your wedding will be doubly careful as they really don't want to make someone ill - the worst case scenario for them is that they were told of the allergy but still gave something to someone and they went into anaphylatic shock or worse! All the weddings I've been to have been really good and catered for my allergy.

Good luck hun and let us know how you get on xx

i fully understand the ceoliac side of things too, i manage mine an im bad i know but i just tend to avoid the food thats hurts the most, i also cant have milk either but that only for drinking as i can tollerate it in foods. so i know the rest of the world thinks it is as easy as just take it off your plate like Janie said but its not.

I have spoken to the ppl doing our cake, Ive chosen them to actually do it before ive even tasted anything or seen her work (chosen in my mind only i may point out) she is the only one who is happy enough to let me make the top teir of my cake myself for my son to be able to have. I can wrap it and protect it and she will decorate it into the rest of the cake free of charge, so if i want a 5 tier she'll decorate the 5 but charge me for 4. i think thats brilliant of her. I just hope the decorating skills are good. The rest of the companies ive spoken to juast are not willing for me to do this. But if u dont ask you dont get.

Ive yet to tackle the hotel. My co-ordinator is off ill so im hoping to get in touch with her soon.

But thanks to all that replied to this post. I know it took a while to respond but everyone took ill so just didnt have the time to get bk on here xxx