Having really good food at a wedding is crucial. Having superior regionally grown and farmed food is the Charlottesville wedding way. Or, it should be, says Exchange Events & Catering director of operations Jaclyn Grieger.
 
Growing up on a farm in Maine, Grieger has always been in the food business. A high school catering gig lead to the Culinary Institute of America in New York, which lead to catering Hudson Valley dinner parties. Grieger moved to Charlottesville in 2005. She catered for bands at Starr Hill and ran large-scale wedding catering for Barboursville Vineyards before teaming up with Exchange Events & Catering owner Craig Hartman to define the high-end barbecue wedding scene.
 
“This was when barbecue, barns, burlap and lace was booming in Charlottesville,” Grieger says. “That Hollywood vineyard thing hadn’t happened yet. We set the bar for what a barbecue wedding could look like.”
 
Exchange Events & Catering has since evolved into a high-touch Charlottesville wedding catering leader, offering couples everything from melt-in-your-mouth short ribs to elevated lobster rolls, paella and locally farmed oyster bars.
 
Hospitality and regional fare are paramount and Grieger loves to pair Southern and Appalachian tradition in hors d’oeuvres like Exchange’s famous shrimp and grits hushpuppies.
 
The Charlottesville wedding vendor gets to know couples’ stories, gathering details that translate into fresh, inspired personalized wedding menus. A couple from the Pacific Northwest served Oregon wines alongside a salmon station. An East Coast couple coordinated a clam bake. And another incorporated beer, cheese and pretzels — flavors from their first date.
 
“I love when we’re able to put together a menu that aligns with their values,” Grieger says.
 
Since we eat with our eyes first, Exchange ensures dishes are colorful, beautifully garnished and easy to enjoy — no awkward cocktail hour juggling of the white slurp spoon with your clutch and phone in hand. Grieger’s team focuses on making sure guests feel well met and welcomed from the moment they arrive.
 
“We greet guests with champagne and get them to the ceremony,” she says. “We make sure they have a signature cocktail and passed apps as soon as the ceremony is over. And everything is very generously portioned. That’s so important to us.”