What was your wedding menu/best food you've had at a wedding?

[Fatbride]

Just that really... we're in the very early days of planning. I won't give too many requirements as just looking for some inspiration. It'll be a relatively intimate affair, in the UK mid October with less than 50 guests. Would prefer non fishy options as neither myself or the groom eat it. There'll only be 3 vegetarians. Have posted in food and recipes rather than weddings as we love food and want it to be memorable. We will be hiring in caterers as our venue doesn't provide them so pretty much have free reign.

We had steak pie or roast chicken for our mains at our wedding. We had no vegetarians etc.

I went to one recently where they had platters for the mains. Big dishes of various meats, fish, salads, potato salad etc. all placed in the centre of the table to help yourself. It was lush.

We had slow cooked meats (chicken, brisket, pulled pork) with sharing platters of potatoes, coleslaw and salads. Pate and bread to start and mini desserts. Laid back and everyone could have as much or as little as they wanted, plus it encouraged guests to chat as they passed dishes around.

We had 75 people and got married at home.

For starters we just had a massive couple of charcuterie boards of cheeses,breads, meats, dips etc all ordered from the supermarket and delivered the day before. This was straight after the ceremony

The main was buffet style
Green Salad, Cous cous salad, Lentil Salad, New Potatoe salad, 2 full tandoori roast lamb - on a spit, 8 tandoori chickens also on a pit, Vegetable Curry -cooked live in an enormous paella pan, Chutney, Rice and Salad, Nans

For dessert/wedding cake we had a wedding bake-off. Instead of presents guests could either bring a cake or a bottle of spirits to donate to the bar we set up in the garden. We ordered beer, wine, juice and mixers also to be delievered form the supermarket. This really made the party and was so much more affordable for everyone than a cash bar or an open bar.

Our midnight snack was pies from the local butcher.

Very low key but there was not a scrap of food left by the end of the day!

We had:

• sharing charcuterie board on each table as a starter
• Roast for main - choice of beef or turkey, served with roast potatoes, Yorkshire pudding, a selection of veg and gravy
• Trio of mini desserts - Eton mess, raspberry & white chocolate blondie and a chocolate tart

There were no vegetarians or dietary requirements. We figured everyone likes a roast, and the trio of desserts would have at least one thing that would please everyone. After the ceremony while photos were being done, we had drinks available inside along with a crisp wall to tide people over until the main meal. Crisp wall was my favourite part of the whole thing 🤷🏻‍♀️😂

We also had cheeseburgers and pizza served as a late night snack!

We got married a week before Christmas and had Christmas dinner as our wedding meal (with sausage/bacon butties and chips as the evening buffet) so probably not the best example for October 😅

I love a good "family style" dining wedding - as pps have mentioned, some sort of roasted meat(s) with platters of potatoes, veg, salad, sides etc being passed around. Love that.

We had a hog roast and sliced meats with platters of potatoes and veggies, people could choose what they wanted and food kept being replenished.

in recent years I went to a wedding where it was sausage and mash which I can’t stand and another with plain chicken breast which was so dry and cold. I’d either do a buffet style (but served) or a choice of two or three options where everyone picks in advance. Have a chicken, beef and veggie option.

The best wedding I've been to food wise was where the groom's family was Iranian and the bride's family was Serbian. They had primarily Iranian with additional Serbian dishes. Although I don't remember the exact menu, the wedding involved vast platters of delicious food arriving at the tables every few moments. The sense of abundance was fantastic and that's what I'd look for now.

My niece’s wedding last year :

starters were nice breads, hoummus, olives, oil and vinegar etc on huge sharing boards

Mains were mixed roasted meats or a veggie tart with sharing bowls of new potatoes, steamed vegetables and iirc cauliflower cheese

Dessert was lemon meringue pie or chocolate brownie with jugs of pouring cream

We did BBQ platters with apple sausage, salmon, chicken and pulled pork and sides of salad, potatoes and hot sauce/peppers/pickles.

A platter between 4. It was £50pp in 2024 including a desert for everyone too.

My sister’s venue did afternoon tea so she planned that. But Covid intervened and the wedding was postponed. By which time the venue wasn’t offering afternoon tea anymore. But offered a ‘Cumbrian platter’. Which they charged her extra for. (CF’s) But it was delicious, pork pies, ham, cheeses, charcuterie, pickles, crusty bread etc. We went out for a pizza in the evening, but no one was hungry!

I usually read these and think they sound awful but yours sounds great

The best wedding I ever went to, the food was mostly donated by the brides family. Her uncles were fishermen, so there were crab claws, lobsters, massive prawns and I think some shellfish. It was amazing!

Our son-in-law is Argentinian so they had Argentine BBQ with side dishes. Served on big platters. Vegetarians had separate platters. All delicious and hot. Cheesecake desserts.

The best one was a massive buffet where cheese featured heavily.
I've been to many weddings where they've done the standard three course sit down meal and I don't remember what I ate at any of them.

We had scallops with an apple puree & black pudding crumb, beef wellington for main & melt in the middle chocolate pudding with pistachio ice cream. This was a winter wedding.

This sounds delicious and really elegant.

Went to a wedding once where I had a fillet of beef (posh wedding!). It was truly the best beef I’ve had in my life. How they pulled that off to scale for probably 200 people, I have no idea.

Beyond that, the one I remember the most was a cousins vegetarian wedding. They did a buffet with roast potatoes, big trays of roast vegetables, all sorts of salads, nice breads and butter. It sounds overly simplistic, but it was just really relaxed and delicious food. They had a food truck for later that did pizzas and nachos. It was far nicer than a 3 course meal.

I honestly couldn’t even tell you what we had for our wedding. It wasn’t that memorable. The only thing I do remember is that the starter was meant to have roasted Jerusalem artichokes but they used globe instead, and I’ve always wondered if there was a supply issue on the day or the chef simply didn’t know they were different vegetables entirely. 😂 I was so distracted by that mystery that I didn’t remember anything after the starter course.

I think the one thing to avoid as a main is chicken . It’s so bland & often dry when served en masse.

I thought our wedding food was scrummy but the only thing I can remember was the duck I chose as my main course.

One of my brothers got married in late April and there was really good lamb with spring vegetables, delicious.

Went to a wedding where the fish course was a whole lobster each which was absolutely stunning. Loved it.

Can’t remember any other wedding food at all from any of the billion weddings I’ve been to.

We had afternoon tea instead of a dinner, and irish stew and macaroni cheese instead of an evening buffet.

Our wedding was catered by an Indian restaurant. Every table had sharing platters so you could have as much or as little as you wanted. The staff kept topping them up whenever a platter looked low.

Starter was a choice of prawn cocktail or onion bhajis. The sauce for the prawns was also served separately and it was actually really nice over the bhajis. 🤣

Main course was a choice of roast chicken and gravy or chicken tikka masala. DH and I had a chicken korma between us instead though as we both prefer that.

I can’t remember the deserts now. Think it was chocolate gateau or cheesecake possibly.

Then the evening buffet was a huge mix of Indian foods and other easy snacky things all done by the restaurant. A vegetarian friend actually told me it was the best buffet selection she’d ever been able to have at a wedding.

Our wedding was 7 years ago tomorrow and we do actually have people still talking about how good the food was. My mum who isn’t a huge fan of a lot of Indian food was speaking to a friend who was at the wedding about the food just the other day when we were out for lunch.

I just went to an evening reception with awful food. It was dry chicken with cold rice, ham with the smallest amount of chips, one tray between over 100 guests. No veggie option or vegan. No pudding as they cancelled the pudding on the day and gave them the brownies meant for the evening do. The wedding breakfast was a choice between 2 meals, no veggie and served 5 hours after the wedding. Everyone was shocked as it was a very posh wedding in the poshest venue around. Grooms mother was mortified and kept telling people the food was nothing to do with them, it was the brides choice.

We had our wedding earlier this year, and the reception was at one of our favourite restaurants (which happens to be downstairs in an amazing Georgian house - they hold events in the rooms above and the basement below). Every time we see someone who was at the wedding they rave about the food so we are very happy with this choice! Then again, my DH was a chef in his youth, and we both love good food and wine, so it was always going to be a priority for us!