The wedding meal: which wedding menu to choose ?

The choice of the wedding menu is often a big topic. It is indeed complicated to satisfy everyone when it comes to culinary preferences. Should you offer a traditional wedding menu or opt for an original one? Should you choose a sit-down meal or a buffet dinner? Is a classic wedding cake or an assortment of exotic desserts better? 

It’s hard to choose, especially when you know that the wedding meal is one of the highest expenses of the wedding budget.

Your wedding menu will have to take into account several criteria: the season of your wedding, your wedding venue (seaside, Italian castle, trulli in Italy, monasteries or cloisters…), but also the number of guests. 

Discover in this article the different possibilities and examples of wedding meals in order to choose a wedding menu that suits you!

Discover our Apulia guide!

Traditional menus

The wedding meal is one of the key moments of your big day! It marks the end of the ceremony and the opening of the festivities. The welcome cocktail is the segway between these two important moments of the night. Traditionally, the cocktail is served standing up with a wide choice of verrines, canapés and marinated or puffed appetizers. The traditional wedding meal is often punctuated by animations between each course. A good way to share surprises with the guests throughout the evening.

Starters

Foie gras or scallops are often in the top 3 appetizers chosen in a wedding menu. Their melting texture and sweetness make them perfect wedding starters.

In traditional meals, digestives are served between courses to mark breaks and reduce the guests’ feeling of satiety.

The dish

Between meat (most often beef or duck) or fish (usually sea bream or monkfish), the bride and groom are often looking for a refined and delicate cuisine in the image of traditional cuisine. However, beware of special diets or allergies of your guests. You will have to plan an alternative and mostly inform your wedding planner.

The cheese plate

It is simply unavoidable in traditional wedding meal in Corsica! The cheese service represents the warm and friendly moment of the wedding meal, with an assortment of 3 to 5 mature cheeses.

In Italy, cheese is mostly served during the antipasti: the starters.

The dessert

The wedding cake remains the most traditional part of a wedding. It is the ideal menu for a classic, chic and elegant wedding meal without taking risks. Furthermore, more couples are going for a dessert buffet which guarantees the satisfaction of all the guests. 

The Italian wedding menu

If you have chosen to get married in Italy, this is the opportunity to let your guests taste one of the best gastronomy in the world. They will discover the specialties of an Italian wedding.

The wedding meal is an institution in Italian weddings. It is the center of the celebration and represents the most important moment of the wedding where abundance and flavors all meet on the plate. In general, the Italian wedding meal begin with a welcome cocktail. It is served with the famous Italian sparkling white wine (Prosecco) and finger food.

An Italian wedding meal is structured around 4 main parts:

1. The antipasti buffet

What better way to serve all the Italian specialties than a buffet? This is an opportunity to introduce your guests to the best of Italian specialties with several thematic angles: Italian cold cuts, fresh cheese tasting and mozzarella making by an Italian master cheesemaker, fresh fish carpaccio and fritto misto, local grilled vegetables and fried specialties, zucchini flower fritters and various fried foods, fish or baker’s angle. Its diversity and uniqueness of flavors will give a taste of la “dolce vita” to your wedding!

2. The primo

Also known as the “first course”, it’s usually a rice or pasta dish cooked with local and seasonal products. Doesn’t a truffle ravioli primo with parmesan cheese fondue, a squid ink risotto or orecchiette with “cime di rape” sound nice? 

3. The secondo

Or “second course” is a meat or fish dish cooked in the Italian way with the best of the Mediterranean products.

4. The dessert

What comes to your mind when you hear about Italian desserts? The most typical ones served at a wedding are tiramisu or rum baba. You can also opt for an animation of Italian-style ice cream accompanied by limoncello or amaretto.

Italy has a rich and fertile land that offers a wide range of grape varieties. Consequently, Italy has a strong wine heritage. The two most famous red wines of Puglia are NegroAmaro, a wine with fruity aromas most often served as an aperitif, and Primitivo, a more structured wine that usually accompanies a pasta or meat dish.

Our team of wedding planners in Italy has selected the best restaurants in the country. However, it is important that your wedding menu is unique. In order to make your choice, come and taste your Italian menu with your wedding planner a few months before your wedding!

The Italian wedding menu is ideal for an original meal combined with a typical and tasty cuisine.

Particular menus

Cultural menus

Some cultures and traditions influence the choice of the wedding menu. It is for instance the case for Eastern weddings. Their culinary traditions are often associated with spices dishes and rich pastries. They are accompanied by the traditional mint tea. For these weddings, typical dishes are often prepared to honor the cultural traditions. 

Religious menus

As for religious weddings, the meal is a very codified moment of the reception. Some foods are prohibited such. For Jewish meals, seafood and some meats are forbidden. The preparation of the meal must be watched and obey to a religious ritual. The menu of the wedding meal will thus be adapted to religious rules, may they be kosher or halal. Note that it is possible to organize your Jewish wedding in Italy as well as your henna with due respect to the casherout. 

Thematic menus

For a couple of years, the trend is to have a wedding with a theme. Sometimes, brides and grooms wish to stick to it all the way. Even inside their plates! Bucolic weddings in arranged farms or sheepfolds are popular. We offer you to discover our gorgeous wedding locations in Corsica and our Apulian masserias. They are all perfect places for a bohemian and bucolic wedding decoration. Simplicity and a dolce vita spirit characterize the thematic menus. Bucolic weddings prioritize a casual-chic style with cooked meat buffets, composed salads and plates of cheese

In conclusion, “particular menus” allow you to reach a new level of customization for your wedding menu!