Good food is the cornerstone of a winning event. People will immediately remember that they had bad food at an event, even if they no longer remember the exact taste of it. This is because bad food at night will inevitably sour people’s moods, especially when it’s for a long event like a wedding. Yes, people will be polite about it, but if you want them to have a wonderful time celebrating with you, then you need to give them something tasty to eat.

Choosing a Wedding Menu for a large number of people is never easy, which is why you’ll want to use this guide to help you build the best wedding menu for your big day:

Always Offer These Main Options for the Wedding Menu

Regardless of the theme you’re focused on or your budget, you will need, at a minimum, these options:

  • Vegetarian/Vegan
  • Carb
  • Protein (Beef/Pork/Chicken/Fish)

These essentials must be available regardless of whether you’re hosting a sit-down or buffet-style dinner. When sitting down, try to choose the most universally enjoyed plate of options and either a protein or a vegetarian/vegan option as your basis.

If you’re hosting a buffet, give people options and make them bite-sized, allowing everyone to enjoy their favourites first and foremost.

Ensure You Have the Right Ratio

It can be challenging to select a single Wedding Menu or even a buffet that caters to everyone. It can be tough to ensure you have the right ratio of options so that everyone fills up to their comfort level without the food they want disappearing.

That’s why it’s essential to rely on the professionals and their experience when you book your wedding catering. They will know which dishes are massive crowd pleasers and always end up eating, allowing you to pick more of the options that people, on average, enjoy the most. In general, try to have at least 50% of your food offerings be crowd pleasers, and then the other half a mix of options to suit everyone, from meat-eaters to pescatarians, vegetarians, and vegans.

Always Plan for a Late-Night Snack

Weddings are long days that include a lot of dancing and drinking, meaning your guests will need a late-night pick-me-up to keep going and eventually head home in a good mood.

For late-night food success, always opt for carb-heavy options. Things like smashed potatoes, mac and cheese, grilled cheese, or fries always go down well because they also help to sober people up. They’re the late-night drunk food that people absolutely crave. They’re also very kind to stomachs, as they generally are low in acidity.

Try The Food!

At the end of the day, it is your big day, so the most critical metric when choosing which dishes for your wedding is what you personally enjoy. You can add some foods that do very well (like a popcorn snack), but the bulk of the sit-down Wedding Menu should be foods you and your new spouse will love to eat. If you’re going for a buffet, make sure the bits you enjoy are on the table, and then fill it up from there with crowd pleasers and diet-specific options.