Wedding leftovers. Photo: Kenno McDonnell, Flickr

Most caterers will over-estimate the amount of food you'll need for your happy nuptials -- at least that's what we've been hearing. So what do you do with all of those leftovers? You've paid for the food, and it really is a shame to see it go to waste. I've recently heard some great suggestions.

A colleague of mine utilized Tupperware: If you're having an out-of-town wedding that the majority of your guests are coming out for, it's nice to send them back to their hotel room or back home with something to nosh on. Simply leave containers out near the food and have it made known that everything is up for grabs. They'll appreciate it when they get those midnight cravings!

It's also a great idea to donate the leftover food to a local soup kitchen or homeless shelter. Though, brides beware, not all states permit caterers to donate leftover food. Jon and I found ourselves in this situation. We wanted the food to go to good use, but Washington, D.C., law declares we're not allowed to donate directly to shelters.

How does a celebrity Manhattan chef who has two restaurants, both with two Michelin stars and who has catered over 400 weddings, do a wedding for himself? He takes it to Montlouis-Sur-Loire France and makes it a five-day celebration.

Chef David Bouley packed himself, his bride-to-be Nicole Bartelme, 80 invited guests, a staff of 20, and specialty organic foods from all over the world, and headed out to two leased chateaus in the Loire Valley. The multi-day feast of "organic haute-cuisine meals washed down with fine wines that included some from their birth years" was also a self-catered event, with some foodie guests bringing gourmet delicacies to add to the table. Here are some highlights:

• Wine, cheese and artisanal bread baked in an oak-fired oven by Jacques Mahou, a seventh-generation French baker.
• Classic French bistro food, including roasted veal, blood sausage and cured meat.
• 55 pounds of rare tomatoes cultivated on chestnut stakes in the garden of the chateau for an improvised lunch.
• Harry Snady brought 1990 Nuit Saint Georges Burgundy wine
• A guest drove 12 hours from Barcelona with 11 kilograms of fresh tuna
• A chef from Kyoto carried a suitcase filled with special wasabi, fresh green gingko and other ingredients not normally available in France.
• The officiating priest, Father David, offered fruit jams from his monastery, the Abbaye de Sept Fons.
• One evening, a Spanish-themed meal, cooked by the Barcelona-based chef Roger Martinez, was served in the stone-lined moat of the chateau
• Of course, there were desserts and wedding cake.

Now I just wonder what they're doing for their honeymoon.