Every detail of your wedding should be perfect. You’ll plan essential factors like your colors, decor, and floral arrangements to create the ultimate wedding, but don’t forget about what everyone will eat. These are a few wedding reception food menu ideas that will make your wedding unforgettable, no matter who you invite or what you enjoy eating.
1. Create a Wood-Fired Pizza Buffet
Anyone can order a pizza from a local restaurant. They know they’ll get a traditional doughy crust with sauce, cheese, and maybe pepperoni in a box of greasy goodness every time. Hardly anyone dislikes pizza, so it’s an excellent option for your wedding menu.
Elevating your dining experience is the key to serving pizza at a wedding. Wood-fired pizza catering companies make that part simple. The intense heat adds a rustic, smoky flavor to the crust that you can’t recreate anywhere else.
Set up a pizza buffet to utilize one of the best wedding menu ideas. Your guests can go down the line to select their preferred crust style, choose from popular toppings, and wait for their whole pizza or individual slices while enjoying a drink. Kids will also love watching pizza experts make dinner right before their eyes.
2. Plan a Seafood Cocktail Hour
Sometimes brides forget about the importance of cocktail hour menus. Your guests will get cranky and hungry without something to snack on while you’re posing for family photos. If you’re getting married by a body of water or in the middle of summer, seafood is the perfect option for cocktail hour snacks.
Your guests will love dining on flaky crab puffs that merge cream cheese and seasoned butter with crab meat baked to perfection. Some guests may pair their champagne with half-shell oysters or bacon-wrapped scallops.
You can also add seafood to your list of family-style wedding menu ideas. All you need to do is serve one or two options in a way kids will love. Mix crab into your fried mac and cheese bites or offer popcorn shrimp to please even the pickiest young eaters.
3. Make Comfort Food Sampler Shots
You might not think of shots when you picture buffet wedding menu ideas, but they’re an easy way to take care of hangry guests or anyone who wants a snack. Set up a buffet area with shot glasses filled with tomato soup and garnished with a grilled cheese wedge.
The glasses could also feature fried chicken drizzled with hot sauce or mac ‘n’ cheese topped with pulled pork and barbecue sauce. It depends on your theme and what foods would make you happy on your wedding day.
This idea adds another layer of entertainment to your reception, but you should also consider the general ages of your guests. If you’ll have numerous young kids in attendance, it increases the risk of someone grabbing a sampler shot and choking. You may want to make a secondary menu for children to avoid this potential problem by making them bowls of snack foods or baggies they can carry around your venue.
4. Hire a Dessert Truck
Food trucks are another way to cater your wedding without worrying about guests running out of fun food options. Look into food trucks operating around your venue to find locally available vendors.
You’ll have an easier time figuring out your wedding reception food menu because each truck comes with a complete menu. Utilize them to make your desserts more fun. One could serve handcrafted ice cream cones with homemade flavors, while another provides unique cupcake designs or various cheesecake creations.
Whether you want a food truck that provides creative donut options or traditional desserts, hiring one or two for your reception will make your wedding unforgettable.
5. Miniaturize Your Food and Drinks
There are plenty of family-style wedding menu ideas for brides to consider, but people rarely think about shrinking their selected foods. There’s something extra entertaining about miniature food and drinks. People rarely experience that level of culinary creativity, so consider making it happen at your cocktail hour or wedding reception.
Guests could enjoy mini margaritas in glass bottles with tiny tacos as appetizers. Tiny corn cobs could become grilled sides for miniature pigs in a blanket at dinner. Some guests might love sampler cups with potato salad and diced veggies alongside their meals, too, depending on whether they want to use forks or fingers to eat everything.
Don’t forget about any kids in attendance, too. They could eat apples cut into ladybug shapes as a snack before dining on cheese-stuffed meatball skewers or tiny pancakes drizzled in syrup. Your menu options are endless, so enjoy shrinking your appetizers, entrees, and sides if you think it would add a fun atmosphere to your wedding day.
Make Your Wedding Unforgettable
There are numerous menu ideas to make your wedding unforgettable. Consider whether you want a laid-back vibe or a fine dining experience to narrow down your options. No matter which foods and drinks you decide to finalize with your caterers, your guests will love your thoughtful menu ideas.