Few things bring people together like food. Because there is such a personal, social, and cultural element with our food, it only makes sense that we want the best and most memorable foods served on our wedding day. Your wedding’s menu allows you to express your creativity, your connection, and your tastes.
Fortunately, there are so many ways to make food memorable for a wedding. If you’re still searching for the ideal foods to serve at your wedding, the following seven ideas will bolster your creativity and inspire your taste buds.
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Antipasto Skewers
According to Martha Stewart, antipasto means before the meal. This Italian appetizer brings together the rich flavors of different Italian meats, cheeses, olives, and other assorted goodies. Normally, antipasto is served on a large platter in a way that’s pleasing to the eye. It’s perfect for sitting down and nibbling as you chat with friends and long-lost relatives. While you still have the option of serving antipasto at your wedding, antipasto skewers might be a better choice. You still get the same delicious flavors of the meats, cheeses, and vegetables together. However, given that many people will spend their time at your reception wandering around and chatting, the skewer option makes this appetizer more mobile. To make some delicious antipasto skewers for your wedding, you’ll need:
- Appetizer skewers
- Marinated balls of mozzarella cheese, called bocconcini
- Salami
- Prosciutto
- Cherry peppers or pepperoncini
- Olives: Green, kalamata, black
- Artichoke hearts
- Cherry tomatoes
- Assorted Italian cheeses
Skewer the meats, cheeses, and vegetables onto the skewers and arrange on large platters. Serve with platters of fresh fruits and vegetables.
2. Try Serving Breakfast
An article on the CBS News website points out that many couples have either started to do brunch at their wedding reception instead of dinner. Or they are opting to have breakfast foods for dinner instead of more traditional dinner fare. If you choose to do this, it’s still possible to make this food a standout experience. Plan on having an omelet station, piles of fresh, seasonal fruit, delicious pastries, pancakes or French toast, and one or two signature drinks. Drinks that usually go with this sort of fare include Bloody Marys and mimosas. A raspberry mimosa adds a romantic twist the normal champagne mimosa. It’s also way easy to make. For each mimosa, you’ll need:
- 4 oz. chilled Champagne or sparkling wine
- 2 oz. raspberry lemonade
- Fresh raspberries
- Granulated sugar
Sprinkle some sugar onto the raspberries. Add the sparkling wine to the flute and then the raspberry lemonade. Top with the sugar-coated raspberries.
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Milk and Cookies Seating Cards
Who doesn’t love the comfort of milk and cookies? Most people do! That’s why it just makes sense to create seating cards with a gourmet twist. To make these, buy small juice glasses, maybe no more than six ounces in size. Then, make labels with each guest’s name on them. Paste the label to the side of the glass. Next, bake enough large cookies of your choice for each glass. The cookies need to be large enough that when they are baked, you can place them on top of each glass like a cover. When it’s time to set up the wedding reception, fill each glass with a little milk, top it with a cookie, and put it at the table where each guest will sit. Just a note on putting the name card cookies and milk into place. If you are working with a directory/ organizer like HoneyWed Byron Bay, be sure to ask ahead of time if the company’s represented wedding venues can do this part of the job for you. It’ll save you and your wedding crew some time before the party gets started.
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Get Personal
The story of your wedding is the story of the two of you becoming a couple. The food can reflect this in a delicious way. For example, if you come from Maryland and your significant other comes from the South, you could serve crab cakes plus ham and turkey sandwiches. (The crab cakes represent you: The sandwiches represent your significant other.) You can also serve food that represents where you met. A baked potato bar with all the fixings could represent you two meeting in Idaho at a business conference. When you’re planning the menu for your wedding, this is one easy way to incorporate your personal history and culture into the menu.
5. Nearly Naked Cakes
There is a recent trend in wedding cakes that adds an interesting-looking alternative to the heavily-frosted cake. It’s called the nearly naked cake. The layers of the cake only get frosting between each layer, but not on the outside of the cake. The cake is then topped with fresh flowers or sugar-coated fruit. Fresh flowers and fruit provide the side garnishes to the cake as well.
6. Offer Some Vegan Options
Many people have gone the plant-based route of late. While it may not be feasible for you to serve an entire meal of vegan foods, it’s a nice nod to your vegan/ vegetarian guests if you do. And don’t worry about the food tasting bland. There are plenty of delicious vegan appetizers, entrees, and desserts that you can add to your men. Here’s a list of ideas for vegan foods that you can serve at your reception:
- Vegan pumpkin basil pinwheels
- Hummus with cut vegetables, like carrots, pepper slices, cucumbers, and other veggies
- Chickpea mint tabbouleh
- General Tso’s cauliflower
- 4-ingredient vegan brownies
This is just a small sampling of the kinds of vegan foods that you can serve. If you really want people to feel involved with your wedding, you can ask your vegan/ vegetarian guests about plant-based foods they love.
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Sugar Cookie Wedding Cakes Favors
If you’re looking for a different kind of wedding favor than the usual trinket, why not create little wedding cake replicas? They’re easy to make. All you need to do is bake an assortment of sugar cookies in three different sizes. Once the cookies are done, then frost the biggest cookies. After that, stack some smaller frosted cookies on top of the big cookie base. Finally, make a cake topper from the smallest cookies. Martha Stewart Weddings suggests that you find little plastic boxes to store the cookie cakes in. Bound them with ribbon and top them with a bow.
Final Words
Your wedding is your big day and your wedding’s food can say a lot about you as a couple. These seven suggestions give you some idea about how you can express yourself, your culture, and your passions through the foods that you serve on your special day.
I’m a 20-something stay-at-home mother and wife. I have an amazing husband, a beautiful daughter, two loving dogs, and a lazy cat. I wouldn’t change my life for anything! I love to read, listen to music, cook and blog!
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