How to Plan Your Wedding Menu: A Guide for Irish & UK Couples

Guests remember bad wedding food for a long time. They also tend to remember extraordinary wedding food. Since catering typically represents 30–40% of your total wedding budget, it is worth approaching menu planning thoughtfully.

Catering Styles: Which is Right for Your Wedding?

The catering style sets the tone for your reception. The main options:

Seated Dinner (Table Service)

The most traditional and formal option. Guests are served at their seats, typically three courses. Works best for weddings where you want a formal atmosphere. Allows precise dietary management.

Buffet

Guests help themselves from a central table or stations. Allows more variety and is often more affordable per head than table service. Can feel less formal. Can create queuing issues if not managed well.

Food Stations

Multiple themed food stations (carving station, seafood, pasta, desserts) around the room. Encourages guests to mingle and creates a festival atmosphere. Popular for evening-only weddings or where the budget is more limited.

Family Style

Large dishes brought to each table for guests to share and serve themselves. Creates a convivial atmosphere. Less formal than plated service while still structured. Increasingly popular for rustic or outdoor venues.

How to Handle Dietary Requirements

Before finalising your menu, collect dietary information from every guest through your RSVPs. Typical categories to capture:

• Vegetarian
• Vegan
• Gluten-free
• Dairy-free
• Nut allergy (particularly important — flag severity)
• Other specific allergies or intolerances
• Halal or kosher requirements

Share the full dietary breakdown with your caterer well in advance (at least four weeks before the wedding), with names per dietary requirement so waiting staff can serve alternatives correctly.

The Menu Tasting

Most caterers and venues offer a menu tasting session before the wedding. Attend this as a couple and treat it seriously:

• Taste every dish you are considering
• Pay attention to portion size, not just flavour
• Consider how dishes will perform at scale — something that is perfect for ten people in a tasting may not work as well for a hundred
• Ask about the sourcing of key ingredients, particularly if you have strong preferences

Seasonal and Local Menus

Seasonal menus tend to be better value and fresher in flavour. Irish and UK caterers are increasingly focused on local sourcing — Irish beef, seasonal vegetables, local seafood. A menu that reflects the season of your wedding (spring lamb, autumn game, summer berries) typically impresses guests more than a generic menu served year-round.

The Evening Food

If your evening reception runs beyond 10pm, plan evening food for guests. Common options in Ireland and the UK:

• Sandwiches and chips (the classic Irish option)
• Pizza
• Bao buns or sliders
• Fish and chips van
• Cheese and charcuterie board

This does not need to be elaborate, but guests who are dancing until midnight genuinely appreciate it.

The Wedding Cake

Discuss with your venue when the cake will be cut and served. Some venues include cake cutting in their service; others charge a fee. If you want wedding cake served as dessert (rather than as an additional sweet), confirm this arrangement with both your baker and venue in advance.

Drinks Package

Irish and UK venues typically offer drinks packages that include:

• Drinks reception (prosecco, soft drinks, beer)
• Wine with the meal (red and white, typically one bottle per two guests)
• Toast drinks

Beyond the package, consider whether you want an open bar or a cash bar for the evening. An open bar encourages guests to celebrate freely but adds cost. A cash bar is common at UK evening-only receptions where not all guests have attended the full day.