A Wedding Feast Without Gluten, Sugar or Alcohol?
Creating a day to remember with delicious food no one will forget.

When Ayelet Weiselfish and Matt Connell
sat down with their caterer to discuss their wedding reception, the happy couple was explicit
in their wishes for the perfect menu: barbecue ribs with a smoky dipping sauce; Asian stir fry with veggies and rice noodles; garlicky hummus with baked crackers; tender brisket, to be carved on the spot; creamy mushroom risotto; and a duck station for make-your-own tortillas.

The couple also made another request - no gluten, no refined sugar and no alcohol.
Not many brides would take on the task of planning a wedding with these restrictions but Ayelet Weiselfish is unflappable. In addition, she chose the Riverhouse at Goodspeed Station as the site for her very special day. A beautiful banquet facility nestled atop the banks of the Connecticut River, the Riverhouse was still very much in the process of being built when she made her site selection.

This didn't faze Weiselfish; nor did the task she and her fiancé Connell set for themselves - to have their June 22nd wedding, including the celebratory meal, reflect the way they choose to live.

Here Comes the Bride
A 31-year-old physical therapist in Bloomfield, Connecticut, Weiselfish has spent the last seven years working to help others feel their best. That?s the family business. Her mother, Sharon Weiselfish-Giammatteo, Ph.D., is the developer of Integrative Manual Therapy (IMT), a form of bodywork (think chiropractic or craniosacral therapy) designed to address pain, disease and disability. Both mother and daughter practice at the facility Weiselfish-Giammatteo started, the Center for Integrative Manual Therapy and Diagnostics.

Weiselfish had been working with autistic children and adults for many years, so she was familiar with the positive results that can come from following a gluten free diet. But it was after attending a seminar on nutritional wellness that she and her mother began exploring how others, not just those with autism, might benefit from following a similar food plan. She learned that there are a great number of people who don't even realize they have a gluten intolerance - and she discovered that she herself had a sensitivity.

"About five years ago, I made it a point to stop eating gluten for one or two months every six months or so," Weiselfish says. After adding gluten back into her diet, she noticed over time that she would develop symptoms like "abdominal bloating, headaches, backaches, joint stiffness and decreased clarity of thought."

And although she eats processed sugar on the rare occasion, Weiselfish has pretty much removed sugar from her regular diet also.

"We found that processed sugar appears to be neurotoxic," she says. "It inhibits regeneration of the nerves. And for people with disorders such as autism, cerebral palsy, or Parkinson's, the body requires the nerves to regenerate if it is to heal. For me, I just feel better when I'm not eating it."