When all is said and done at your wedding, there’s one particular part that will linger in the minds and mouths of your guests: the food and drink. Every other aspect may be a well-considered and spoilsome affair, but if you don’t serve up something of a storm, your celebrations may run the risk of falling flat when it comes to flavour.
Having nailed the entertainment, originally styled the venue and timed every event to perfection, give your guests the best belly-fill that your budget and creativity can buy. Today’s catering trends allow couples the chance to design a menu that not only individually suits them, but also satisfies their guests, from the first morsel of the canapés to the main event of the wedding breakfast and the finale of the evening food…
Beautiful and the Feast
Restaurant receptions
Whether you wish to relocate post-ceremony to your favourite foodie haunt, ask its chef to do the catering or take inspiration from the setting or menu – restaurant receptions are all the rage. Many hotels boast their own fine dining eateries to allow couples to stage the ceremony and sit-down meal at the same venue, while other venues either have their own in-house catering team or require outsourcing, allowing you to bring the restaurant experience directly to them. Many restaurants and venues are flexible with their hire options, whether you’re planning an intimate celebration or elopement and only require a few tables, or are keen to exclusively book the entire restaurant for your reception.
Beautiful and the Feast
Non-formal menus
If you don’t fancy a traditional three-course meal and want to treat yourselves and your guests to a different dining experience, then personalised, non-formal menus are a must. Rather than picking a pre-set catering package, consider weaving a story into your gastronomy. In particular, family recipes, comfort foods, dishes laden with meaning and memories (such as from your childhoods and travels together), and more personalised ways of presenting and serving tailor-made menus are part of the growing trend toward informality. Think giant self-serve pans of your mum’s paella, mobile food and drinks vans scattered throughout your venue, sushi bars, live cooking and open kitchen theatres, DIY barbecues or carveries, or a 10-course tasting menu designed from your first date through to your engagement party.
Beautiful and the Feast
Sharing menus and grazing tables
As part of the informal dining movement, the craze for sharing platters and grazing tables is not only a fabulous way to inject some extra fun, flavour and personality into your food – it will get your guests mingling and create a relaxed, festival-feel wedding. Charcuterie and butter boards, fresh seafood, flame-grilled barbecued meat and veg, fruit platters, pastry plates and grazing tables crammed with goodies (dried fruit and nuts, mezze, freshly picked seasonal fruit) will ensure a feast for all the senses while celebrating the act and art of eating en masse.
Ausel Cakes & Catering Chris Armstrong Photography
Non-boozy drinks
Whether you’re catering to the kids, older guests, designated drivers or simply wanting to spruce up your drinks menu, non-alcoholic beverages are enjoying a moment. Thankfully, sober guests are no longer proffered only a jug of water or bottle of lemonade, as today’s drinks lists are reflecting the menu when it comes to creativity and flavour. Engaging all the senses, modern non-alcoholic drinks look, taste and smell delicious, and can range from health-boosting kombucha and iced herbal teas to vitamin drinks and cordials laced with botanicals. Depending on the season and venue, you might want to feature everything from specialist coffees, booze-free mulled wine and a hot chocolate bar to a mocktail list, non-alcoholic wine, bubbly and spirits, ‘pimp your drink’ stations (a fun addition for kids and adults alike), and an array of local or exotic juices. Hire a mixologist and stock the bar with plenty of non-alcoholic options, add a separate 0% drinks table or plant a selection of booze-free bottles onto each table for guests to sample.
Abi Neda Riley Photography
Interactive food stations
Food stations add another sensorial dimension to weddings, allowing guests to roam and graze at whim. Hire a few street food vans for outside your venue, arrange bespoke cocktail experiences, pop-up food tents or enhance the experience with an interactive food station for a more immersive feel. Think Korean-style barbecues set into the tables, hot rock courses, wine blending and build-your-own dessert bars (including milkshake stands, ice cream trikes, brownies and pancakes with various toppings). Combining a sense of spectacle with personal choice, interactive stations with a fiery element are one of the hottest trends du jour. Anything from barbecues to order and firepit toasted s’mores to elaborate hog roasts and grills (with griddled vegetables, chicken kebabs, prawn skewers, burnt aubergine and cheese toasties) will instantly elevate the epicurean element of your day.
Red Robin Pantry Arianna Fenton Photography
Champagne towers
Blending flavour and form, champagne towers lend a beautifully architectural and artistic edge for the ultimate sense of occasion. You might want to stick with traditional flutes or coupes, source vintage tulips or opt for colourful wine glasses in different hues. Add a sweet or savoury food pairing station including the likes of white truffle, oysters, octopus, crab cakes, popcorn and strawberries. Offer multiple towers of sweet, dry and rosé – or replace the champagne with your favourite tipple such as prosecco, Aperol, whisky or espresso martini. Alternatively, add a customised champagne wall for a statement twist on welcome or toast drinks – and prepare to watch the delight-filled faces of your guests.
I Do Film & Photos
Dessert bars
One of the easiest ways to mix things up and score extra points with your guests is to incorporate a dessert bar. You could ask guests to BYO, send requests with their RSVPs and cater accordingly or stock a bar based on your own sweet teeth. The options are practically endless and nothing is, quite literally, off the table. Tarts, doughnut towers, cookies, pies, cakes, trifles, cupcakes, jellies, macarons, churros, cake pops and sweeties will ensure a lip-smacking centrepiece. Add a delectable global element with traditional wedding desserts from across the world with the likes of croquembouche, Mexican wedding cookies, bem casados, zuppa inglese or kransekake for a crowd-pleasing endnote to your wedding breakfast.
Peboryon Danielle Veitch Photography
Local produce and plant-based menus
The sustainability trend is, quite rightly, going nowhere. Couples keen to host an eco-friendly and conscientious event continue to lean toward local produce, particularly with an emphasis on a plant-based menu. Regional flavours, seasonal produce and farm-to-table dishes all form part of the movement, and could feature small additions such as local jams, pickles, ice cream trikes and edible favours – or a feast sourced entirely from within a 50-mile radius. An increasing number of venues locally source or grow their own produce, while others will work with suppliers and couples to design menus inspired by the season and locale, created using sustainable practices. Minimal or zero food waste is another factor to consider and discuss with your venue and suppliers; this could involve everything from composting organic waste to donating leftovers to guests, animal shelters and homeless charities.
Main image Beautiful and the Feast
words Hannah May
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