A wedding dinner for two hundred guests is a logistical project - with a near-military precision. Catering experts from European hospitality houses have a list of dishes that should never end up on a wedding table. Not because they are not tasty - but because in this specific environment they cause problems. Let us run through them.

First - tartare as the main dish. Many guests refuse raw meat, especially older ones. "Not everything works equally well in the context of a wedding," a representative of Gourmet Catering says. At a wedding nobody wants to leave hungry because the food was "an adventure".

Second - whole seafood for a cocktail. A crab with claws, prawns with heads, shellfish in their shells - they are all complicated to eat standing up. No table, no cutlery, no place to put a napkin. The result - clothes get stained, hands get greasy, and guests get frustrated.

Third - ingredients with intense smell. Raw garlic, raw onion, or strong-smelling matured cheese - classic problematic ingredients. A wedding means close-up photographs and hugs with relatives. Nobody wants to be remembered for their breath.

Fourth - heavy roast lamb with sauce for a summer dinner. "Comfortable, elegant and considerate of all guests" - that is the principle, points out Virginia Domingez of Alfonso Catering. Heavy food in 30-degree weather is a planning mistake, not a kitchen mistake.

Fifth - rice or pasta for dinner. These work for a lunch slot, but for a wedding dinner they feel like a full meal in themselves, and then the main course arrives - and guests are already overfed.

Sixth - dishes with squid ink. Culinarily excellent, photographically a catastrophe. Teeth stay black for the whole day. At the most-photographed event of your life - this is not the option.

Seventh - too many bones. Fish with lots of small bones, ribs with bone, any kind of food that requires picking. They are not elegant, not comfortable, and they distract attention from the rest of the guests and from the toasts.

Eighth - food eaten with the hands. Chicken wings, ribs, burgers - hospitality managers consider them inappropriate at weddings. "It is tasty, but it can be a problem," sums up Oscar Salmeron Hover of Estribo Catering.

In the Balkans a wedding is an institution - food is a signal of the family's standing. Menu mistakes nobody ever forgets. And that is precisely why the list of what should not be there is more important than the list of what should.