Your choices of wedding food can have an impact on your guests and on your big day in general.

A well-thought-out wedding menu can not only impress your guests, but it can make them feel more included, loved, and important, which will make your wedding day that much more special and beautiful. So, wedding food is a very important part of wedding planning.

However, it can definitely be a daunting task to choose your wedding menu. You and your guests may have different preferences, tastes, likes, and needs.

So, it’s very important to plan ahead, do it as one of the first things when you start wedding planning, so you have enough time to give careful consideration to everything, the wedding venue, the season, your and your guests’ preferences, which types of food to serve, any specific needs your guests may have in terms of dietary restrictions or dietary requirements (like having vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, or keto options if you know some of your guests follow those diets), etc.

So, I am sharing my best practical tips, so you can decide on your wedding food, that will make you, your partner, and your guests happy and satisfied. There are many wedding menu choices, so I am here to help you make the right ones for your big day, and make the wedding planning a bit easier for you.

How To Decide On Type Of Wedding Food

You have to think about all of the foods and drinks that will be served on your big day. Whether you’ll have a 3-course meal, or something less traditional, what food will be served during cocktail hour (and the cocktail style that goes with that food), what will be the reception menu, and so on.

So, let’s get into my favorite tips for coming up with your wedding menu, and my favorite wedding menu ideas.

Set A Budget

Before you start deciding on the wedding food you’ll be serving and before you start coming up with wedding menu ideas, set a budget that you have for the food part of your wedding day and your wedding reception.

Having a clear budget will help make the process easier and faster. Instead of coming up with a whole reception menu and then realizing you don’t have the budget for it, you’ll be coming up with the wedding menu, and making the wedding menu choices based on the budget you know you have.

That way, when you come up with a menu, you already know you have the budget for it.

Decide On The Number Of Guests

Another thing you should do before you start coming up with the food ideas is having a clear number of guests that will be attending.

That’s important for many reasons - it can affect the budget (if you have a specific budget, having a big or a small wedding can determine what kind of ingredients you can get - for the same budget you can get more expensive ingredients when you have a smaller wedding, and you should look for budget-friendly options if your wedding will be huge). It can also help determine what kinds of meals are better - whether you should go with a food station, serve plated meals, or have buffet-style food, some work better with larger weddings, and some work better with smaller ones.

Find Out Your Guests’ Dietary Requirements

As I already mentioned, you need to know if any of your guests have specific dietary restrictions or dietary requirements - vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, keto, paleo, etc. Or if they have any food allergies.

You need to know that ahead of time, so you can plan specific meals for them if there are more of them that have the same requirement, add that as a general option to the menu.

If you don’t do that, some of your guests might end up hungry, which will make them feel sad and not important, and you definitely don’t want that!

Schedule A Food Tasting In Advance

When you’re doing your wedding planning and you decide on a wedding menu, or come up with a few choices and options, schedule a food tasting. But don’t make it too close to your wedding day, or you won’t have enough time to come up with a new one or make some changes if needed.

Try out a few options if you weren’t able to decide on just one, and then go from there.

A food tasting is useful for a few different reasons - you can decide on one dish if you weren’t able to decide before, and you can see how well everything actually pairs together.

It can happen that you come up with some delicious meals, sides, and appetizers, but they don’t go well together.

To avoid that, try all of it at the food tasting, and try it in the exact same order that you’ll be serving it on your big day.

That way, you’ll know for sure if it’s the best way to go, or if you need to make some changes!

Select Beverages That Go With Your Menu

Once you decide on a menu, it’s time to decide on drink choices that will perfectly complement the food.

Of course, you can (and should) have a lot of drink choices for your guests, but it’s always good to have something that you know goes well with the meals, so the waiters can recommend it to your guests, for those who are interested. When it comes to cocktails, think about the cocktail style that works the best with the food you’re serving.