What Is A Good Wedding Menu?

Choosing the right food and drink options is essential to pulling together your vision for your wedding. Your wedding menu can be impacted by which foods are in season and which are typically associated with the time of year you get married.

Keeping in mind the season will ensure that you are serving your guests fresh, flavorful food. Choosing a seasonal wedding menu also allows you to play with unique flavors and unexpected food and drink ideas. Whether you get married around Christmas or in the middle of the summer, there are plenty of options for catering your menu to the flavors of the season during your wedding reception.

The menu you choose will likely also be impacted by the style of wedding reception you are having. Whether you are serving a sit down dinner to your guests, having a buffet, or offering small bites during cocktail hour, consider choosing seasonal foods to impress your guests. Adding wedding menu cards can also add a special touch to your event. Read on for wedding menu ideas by season.

First let’s go over some of the different reception styles you might be considering.

Plated Sit-Down Dinner

The most traditional reception style, a plated meal, is what the majority of couples choose. This is when all the guests are seated and served a formal dinner. Typically, it consists of two courses (an appetizer and an entree), plus dessert if it’s served tableside. Everyone is usually served the same appetizer, and then the main course is handled a few different ways:

Guests are served the same entree with a vegetarian or vegan alternative.
Guests are able to select their entree from a menu, which is typically a meat or fish option plus a vegetarian option.
Guests pre-select their entree choice when they submit their RSVP.

Family-Style Dinner

A family-style meal is exactly as it sounds. Everyone is seated as big platters and bowls of food are passed around the table, just like you might do with your own family at home. This a great option if you want to keep people seated at tables but don’t want something as formal as a plated meal. The first course is typically served with one or two options, and the main course can include as little as one protein and two sides or can include multiple proteins with multiple sides.

Buffet-Style Dinner

A buffet features long tables topped with a variety of food options. This meal style offers the most variety for your guests, making it particularly desirable if you want a wide range of cuisines or have picky eaters. The most important thing to consider here is how to get your guests through the food lines as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Self-Serve Stations

Stations are very similar to buffets in that they give your guests a nice variety of food options. Stations typically have tables or areas specifically dedicated to certain dishes or types of food. These are often more interactive and involved than a help-yourself buffet, so you will need people to staff these stations.

This is a great opportunity to get creative and inject your personality as a couple. For example, if you love oysters, do an oyster shucking station. If you’re pizza obsessed, bring in a pizza oven and have the chef whip up pizzas made to order. Love cheese? Have an epic cheese bar put together!

Cocktail-Style Dinner

Feel free to buck tradition and do a cocktail style wedding reception. It combats a lot of issues that couples typically face while planning their wedding, like where to sit a bunch of people who don’t seem to fit at any one table. A cocktail-style reception means no seating charts, no tablescape fuss….none of that. Instead, you and your guests can mix, mingle, dance all night long, and snack on small bites (either tray passed or laid out on a grazing table) whenever you feel like it.

The most important thing here is to offer your guests a variety of options, including a few that are vegan/vegetarian, dairy-free, and gluten-free, so there is something for everyone.

Now let’s take a look at what you might consider offering at your wedding based on the different seasons.

Spring

If you are getting married in the spring, play up bright flowers, pastel colors, and light flavors that the season is known for. Make sure to incorporate the many fruits, vegetables, and herbs that are in season this time of year.

Think about asparagus, melons, apricots, lavender, and mint. Celebrate the weather by choosing foods that will complement blooming seasonal florals and bright sunshine.

Summer

The most popular months to get married are June, August, and September. It’s no surprise since summer weddings are so much fun! Choose a menu that complements your wedding venue, whether you’ll be on the beach, hosting an al fresco dinner, or escaping the heat with an indoor ceremony.

Consider featuring summer favorites in your menu like peaches, watermelon, basil, tomatoes, and cucumbers to embrace the season’s flavors.

Help your guests cool down with refreshing eats and drinks, cooling cocktails, and cold desserts. Just make sure everything is labeled with place cards, so everyone knows what’s what.

Fall

Fall is becoming an increasingly popular time to get married and the rich colors of the season make the perfect backdrop for a wedding celebration. If you’re getting married during the autumn, consider a menu full of rich flavors, tasty appetizers, warming cocktails, and hearty main courses. For a truly autumnal feel to your wedding, choose dishes that feature the unique palate pleasing flavors that fall is famous for like apples, pumpkins, root vegetables, and cinnamon. Coordinate the look of the day down to your napkins for a truly cohesive look.

Winter

Comfort food is the perfect staple of a winter wedding menu, as cold weather receptions provide an opportunity to serve heavier fare than you typically would during other seasons. Choose a menu that features warming entrees, indulgent desserts, and festive drinks. Consider featuring seasonal flavors such as cranberry, mushroom, and dark chocolate to create a winter menu full of decadent delights.

Looking for some additional tips?

Don’t Procrastinate

Begin your caterer search at the same time you’re looking at venues (about 12 months before your wedding date). The two decisions go together since many venues have their own catering team and may require you to use them. Even if that’s not the case, they may have a “preferred list” of vendors they work with exclusively. If you are allowed to bring in an outside caterer, you may be charged a little extra, so request a tasting with the in-house chef or any potential caterers from the preferred list before booking the venue. If you are set on a caterer that is not on the venue’s list make sure you budget for any extra fees.

Serve Them in Style

Try thinking about the dining experience as a whole. Do you want the meal to be the focus of the night? Then opt for a sit down dinner with multiple courses. Is music the main event? Pick a less formal dining style and menu, like passed appetizers and finger foods, so guests aren’t weighted down by a big meal and can easily grab a bite before hitting the dance floor. The timing (and length) of key reception moments (speeches, spotlight dancing, the cake cutting) should help guide the menu and style. Got lots of guests looking to say more than a few words? Go the sitdown route.

Indulge Your Guests

Why force your guests to choose between sea bass and steak? Let them have both and add chicken on. For the main course offer two or three mini servings of different entrees on a single plate.

Tie in a Theme

You might love foie gras and cheese grits, but they’re not necessarily great together. Picking a theme before you set the menu will help ensure the dishes you choose work together. It can set the tone for the entire evening. We’re not saying you need to break out the maracas and sombrero, but a common idea will tie the menu together. Pay tribute to your heritage with ethnic choices like Mexican, Italian, or Japanese food. Or add a personal touch by creating a menu of foods from memorable moments throughout your relationship. When you’re interviewing caterers, bring up any themes you’re considering so you can pick a chef that’s up to the task.

Don’t Forget the Entertainment

Sometimes the way your food is served can be as important as the food itself. Even if you’re a whiz at a seating chart, don’t just rely on good table chemistry to spark conversation and get your guests through dinner.

Serve a meal that also entertains by having a sushi chef create customized rolls or a pastry chef who can whip up crepes tableside. For a guaranteed party starter, set up a tequila bar or a wine bar complete with a sommelier who can offer tasting tips to guests.

Personalize Your Bar

The finishing touch to any great menu? A signature cocktail, of course. Some of the ideas we love: naming your favorite drinks after members of the bridal party or places that have a special meaning to you (like your first date spot). Include a cocktail menu on the tables or bar listing specialty drinks and explaining their significance (for instance, a cosmos becomes “The Uptown Girl” in honor of your hip maid of honor, who loves them).

You don’t have to plan a non-traditional wedding to serve up unexpected, unique cuisine. After all, there’s so much more to your big day’s hors d’oeuvres than shrimp cocktail and pigs-in-a-blanket. There’s a whole lot more to every aspect of your menu–from the appetizers to the main course to the dessert–than you might have thought. Ultimately, there’s nothing wrong with sticking with tried and true favorites. They’re signatures for a reason, and there are many ways to make expected cuisine unexpected, including serving those staples in unique ways. Before we send you off to explore wedding foods, here’s one piece of advice: serve the foods that you love as a couple (no matter how niche) to ensure that your menu, like the rest of your wedding day, pays homage to who the two of you are.

Signature Catering & Events by SERG has years of experience planning, executing, and catering weddings in the Lowcountry.

A Signature wedding experience is characterized by a meticulous attention to detail. Celebrate your moment and let our dedicated wedding specialists create a day that is distinctively “you.” Our talented team of award winning chefs and pastry chefs will combine their culinary expertise to provide a memorable and delicious dining experience. Expect the exceptional, from finding the perfect venue to one of a kind floral arrangements. Everything will be handled to your exact specifications. Let Signature Catering and Events by SERG help you create the most magical day of your life.