How To Build The Perfect Wedding Cheese Tower

If you're hoping to have a cheese tower for your wedding guests to nibble on, then this post is a must read. Drawing on the vast experience and talents of our The List recommended suppliers, Neal's Yard Dairy and The Cheese Plate, we've put together the ultimate guide to choosing, assembling and devouring ALL THE CHEESE...

Lydia from Neal's Yard Dairy: In terms of quantity, we would recommend roughly between 100 and 150 grams per person for after dinner, and a bit more if cheese is the focus of the meal or indeed if it is to be served as evening food. Celebrations vary - where it is served as part of an evening buffet often people come back for seconds and thirds as they work up an appetite drinking and dancing! For this scenario it is advisable to buy a cake with fewer, larger layers. This will both look better and keep better than many small bits. To help visualise weights, a good tip is to consider that a regular supermarket pat of butter weighs between 200 and 250 grams. Hope from The Cheese Plate: We offer a cutting service so we portion all the cheese ready to eat. All you then need is a napkin. If you're not using this service, a small plate for each guest and a little cheese knife is good to have. This allows the guests to properly cut what they want. Most of our cheese it laid out on our slates which suit a variety of wedding styles. If not, wooden plates or patterned crokery can also work, for a more relaxed look. Lydia from Neal's Yard Dairy: Our most popular wedding cheeses are our exclusive recipe Colston Bassett Stilton and Kirkham's Lancashire (which Northerners especially love to serve with traditional wedding fruit cake). Both feature in our Welsh Black and Friesian cakes. We have two unusually shaped cheeses which are both delicious and really popular for cakes- they look a bit like little spaceships as the are made in colanders- they are Berkswell (a bit like a British Manchego) and Ticklemore a delicate, lemony goats cheese.

Hope from The Cheese Plate: We love weird and wonderful combinations that are really special for your wedding. We like to think outside the box. Often we will do a soft creamy cheese on a sweet wheat finger with a fruity compote, like Tart Cherry and Almond. It’s basically a cheese version of a sweet cheese cake and it tastes amazing! We also do a cracking cheddar style cheese on a water biscuit with a boozy Bloody Mary chutney, this works so well and guests love it. If you are looking for something universal, good quality water biscuits go with everything.

Hope from The Cheese Plate: We are very much led by what each couple wants but we always offer the best way to create your stack and what cheeses work the best together. Usually the base is a cheddar style, this will be the biggest one and everyone loves a cheddar cheese. As it’s quite a hard cheese, it can also hold the weight of all the others. We often opt for a blue cheese next, something like a Bassingfield or Shropshire Blue. These are different to the average stilton and are a great orange colour which look fab in the stack. We love something like Nettle Yarg to be next, it has such a good texture and the green colour works so well with the oranges and yellows of the other cheeses. It’s also a lovely mild cheese so is great for guests that aren’t massive cheese fans. Including a smoked cheese is another great alternative to have something different. We carry a Smoked Godminster which is a creamy yet punchy cheddar style. The next layer is led by the couple, it may be another blue if they love blue cheeses. This could be a Cashel Blue which is creamy and salty. Or if the couple loves goat cheese, they could include a Norfolk Mardler. This cheese comes in a vibrant yellow wax and has a fruity and complex flavour. Not your average goats! The final tier would usually be a soft. The majority of our softs come in small rounds so create the perfect finish. Usually a Tunworth or Baron Bigod would feature, these are both English style bries and taste great once warmed up. Or if they love a stinky soft, they could opt for an Oxford Isis or Maida Vale. These cheeses have a gooey texture and a strong taste. We also offer a cheese shaped like a heart which perfectly finishes off a wedding stack.