Dietary Needs, Handled
Your in-house chefs build a menu around every allergy, intolerance, and preference on your guest list.
Food allergies and dietary restrictions don't have to complicate your wedding. At Saxon Manor, the same in-house chefs who plan your reception menu handle every special request directly.
4.9 · 1,400+ Google reviews Three venues, one estate Booking 2026 & 2027
In-House From Day One
Your dietary requests go straight to the chefs who cook your reception, not a subcontractor.
Plenty of venues hand off catering to an outside company, which means your gluten-free cousin or your vegan best friend becomes someone else's problem to solve on a schedule you don't control. That's not how it works at Saxon Manor. The package for the Manor Barn, the Garden Room, and BoHo all include in-house chefs, which means the people cooking your dinner are the same people you talk to about allergies, intolerances, and preferences. There's no phone tag between a venue coordinator and a caterer three counties away. You tell your chef what your guests need, and your chef builds the plates around it. That's a shorter, more accountable chain than most all-inclusive venues offer.
The tiered cake that comes with your package includes a tasting, and that tasting is where dietary planning usually starts. If you need a gluten-free tier, a vegan filling, or a nut-free kitchen for the whole cake, say so before the tasting is scheduled, not after. The same goes for the reception menu. Chefs need lead time to source substitute ingredients and to plan a kitchen workflow that keeps allergen-free dishes separate from everything else. None of this changes your quoted price. It's built into the same all-inclusive number you signed for, whether that's a Manor Barn wedding or a BoHo wedding for fewer guests.
Communication continues on the wedding day itself, not just at the tasting. Your catering staff receives a plated list noting which tables and which seats need a modified dish, so servers aren't asking guests to identify themselves in front of the room. If a guest's allergy is severe enough to warrant separate prep surfaces or utensils, that's flagged to the kitchen in advance, not handled on the fly. This is part of why an in-house chef model works better than an outside caterer trucking in food: the same team that planned the menu is standing in the kitchen when it's served, and they already know the plan.
From Tasting to Table
Here's how dietary planning actually happens once you book.
Tell your chef early
At your tasting, list every guest allergy or restriction you already know about — gluten, dairy, shellfish, nuts, vegan, vegetarian, or religious dietary rules. Earlier is better; substitute ingredients sometimes take longer to source than the standard menu.
Build the substitute plate
Your chef designs a matching dish for each restriction, not a plain side salad. A gluten-free guest should get a plate that looks and tastes like everyone else's, not an afterthought.
Finalize headcounts and needs
Your final guest count and dietary list are due together, close to the wedding date. This is when the kitchen locks in exact quantities for standard and modified plates.
Day-of execution
Modified plates are marked and served by staff who know which guest gets which dish. Your event team handles this so you're not fielding kitchen questions on your wedding day.
Commonly Accommodated
These requests come up at nearly every Saxon Manor wedding.
- Gluten-free entrees and a gluten-free cake tier
- Vegan and vegetarian plates that aren't just a side salad
- Nut-free kitchen prep for guests with severe allergies
- Dairy-free versions of standard dishes
- Kosher-style and halal-conscious menu adjustments
- Low-sugar options for diabetic guests
- Kid-friendly plates for younger guests
Guests, Not Just Menus
Dietary planning is part of the bigger job of planning for your guests.
Dietary needs are one piece of a bigger picture: getting the right information from the people you're inviting before the wedding, not after. RSVP cards with a dietary line, a wedding website page, or a group text to close family are all fine ways to collect that information — the method matters less than starting early. Your Saxon Manor team will ask for a final list at your last planning meeting, but if you show up to your tasting with a rough count of vegetarians, vegans, and known allergies, your chef can start planning around it immediately instead of guessing at portions later.
This is also where it helps to separate what's covered by your package from what's a genuine upgrade. Standard dietary accommodations — gluten-free, vegan, dairy-free, nut-free — are part of the same all-inclusive price whether you're in the Manor Barn, the Garden Room, or BoHo. If you're hosting a BoHo rehearsal dinner, shower, or brunch, the same chefs handle dietary requests for that event too. The honest answer is simple: the price you're quoted is the wedding you get, dietary needs included, not billed as an extra line item later.
None of this requires elaborate systems. A simple line on your invitation or wedding website asking guests to note allergies when they RSVP catches most of what your chef needs to know. For the handful of stragglers who don't respond, a follow-up text a few weeks out closes the gap. What matters is that the information reaches your Saxon Manor team before the final planning meeting, not the week of the wedding, when substitute ingredients are harder to source and the kitchen has already planned its prep schedule around a fixed headcount.
Trusted by Couples
Couples rate their Saxon Manor experience highly, dietary needs and all.
- 4.9 · 1,400+ Google reviews
- Family owned · weddings only
- One contract · one deposit
- Payment plans available
Keep Planning
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Booking 2026 & 2027
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103 S Saxon Ave., Brooksville, FL 34601 · 45 minutes from Tampa · 90 minutes from Orlando